The results are coming in hot from Pattaya, Thailand and the annual King’s Cup. The big news is of course, all of the American competitors who are coming home holding championship gold. And in this instance, Hydro-Turf’s favorite son, Mark Gomez shook off the rust and absolutely wowed audiences with a flawless Pro Freestyle routine.

Gomez wrote: “I have kept my head down working hard with my team to dial in my equipment and catch back up to speed over the last two days. Jet ski’s don’t seem to like traveling so far away without giving you some sort of grief. Besides that, it’s been over a month since I practiced flatwater freestyle to focus on the freeride championships in Japan. The competition field here is aggressive with some big stuff getting thrown down in the challenging rough water. I dug in and laid down the most clean and technical run as I could, incorporating variation, trick count and variety that earned the top spot!”

In the final moto, Gomez executed a flatwater routine that not only masterfully displayed moves that were Pro-level tricks in Freeride competitions only a couple of years ago, but also bested fellow Hydro-Turf athlete, Tanner Thomas who came in 4th to Gomez once the dust settled. To the victor goes the spoils (as well as a big fat check), so congrats to Mark! See him in action HERE:

https://www.facebook.com/therealtheonlyjaypontino/videos/975949089257237/

“Coo! Coo! Coo! I’m in hot pursuit!” cried Hazzard County’s fumbling Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane when ever he’d radio headquarters while chasing the General Lee. The same sadly, can be said for London police who gave chase to four jet skiers down the famous River Thames this past August.

The Metropolitan Police boat was first spotted at 6:30pm on Friday, August 3rd, speeding after the four watercraft traveling from Greenwich to Canary Wharf. According to a report in The Independent, “Scotland Yard said it was ‘able to make them change their course’, but eventually called off the chase citing health and safety concerns.”

Leigh Jackson, an onlooker to the high speed chase, watched part of the chase, “You often do see police boats coming up and down here patrolling, but you don’t often see them engaged in a chase,” he said, continuing, “Then 15 minutes later they came back the opposite way, again being chased.”

Witnesses feared the jet skis would collide with other river traffic. PWC are not allowed upstream of the Thames Barrier, to the east of where the pursuit took place. These two factors gave Metropolitan police further reason to pursue the skiers.

A spokeswoman for Metro told The Independent: “The jet skis were approaching central London and the Marine Policing Unit were able to make them change their course. Following this the decision was taken to no longer pursue the jet skis for safety reasons.”

https://www.facebook.com/ABCNews/videos/10157534837698812/UzpfSTY0MDEwNDA3NDpWSzoyMDUwNDQ5ODU4MzQ3MTQx/

In easily one of the most dramatic face-offs at this year’s King’s Cup, Christian Daly won the Pro Sport GP World Cup against fellow American and 20-plus-time World Champion Chris MacCluggage. After acing the first two motos on Saturday, Daly held a 14 point advantage over Macc when they lined up for Sunday’s final moto.

According to a report in Constant Contact, “half way around the first lap, Daly’s boat suffered an electrical failure and dropped a cylinder. MacCluggage went on to win with Daly finishing in a distant 3rd place. Daly’s lead going into the final deciding moto was now only 2 points. The final moto would be winner take all between the two Americans.”

“I couldn’t believe that a coil failed! And at the worst possible time!” said Daly. “I looked over at TJ on the beach (engine builder, Tim Judge) and he was saying just keep going, by waving his hands. By sheer chance I brought an old coil as a spare and TJ fitted it for the final.”

“I knew I had to be perfect at the start. I could see him right behind me in the early laps and then he disappeared,” commented Daly. Both Daly and Macc battled for the first four laps when MacCluggage suddenly suffered a driveshaft failure, handing over the $15,000 first place prize and the prestigious Kings Cup to Daly.

“What a day! What a year! It was a proud moment for me to hear the American National anthem on the podium,” beamed Daly. Of course, Daly has much to celebrate, who now is a three time world champion of Closed Course Sprint racing, and Pro Rookie of the Year in P1AquaX Enduros.

The Ladies Aquabike Division has a nail-biting three way title battle going into the UIM-ABP Aquabike Grand Prix of Sharjah. Khalid Lagoon is where it all comes to down to who will be crowned number one.

Lativia’s Krista Uzare, Emma-Nellie Ortendahal, the defending champion from Sweden, and Estonia’s Katriin Nilbe are the ones who are in the hunt for the title.

Uzare has a nine point lead over Orentendahl. Both produced excellent motos in Gallipoli where Uzare grabbed her first UIM-ABP moto and GP win. She and Orentendahl fought to the finish again in Olbia where Uzare came out the victor. Nillbe entered into the mix by picking up her first moto win.

With 75 points on offer at the upcoming Grand Prix in Khalid Lagoon, Nillibe has her work cut for out for her because she trails Uzare by 23 points.

Britain’s Mollie Fearn would like nothing more than to play spoiler in Orentendahl’s attempt at a trifecta at the Grand Prix. Fearn has had a solid inaugural season on the UIM-ABP tour with her best being a third in moto and placing fourth overall in Olbia. We can’t count out Estonia’s Jasmin Yprause who has six top six finishes.

Sofie Borgstrom is also another woman in search of a good finish. She picked up a third and fourth overall finish in Gallipoli, her best results to date in moto and GP. Jonna Borgstrom is hoping for a good result after coming back from a crash in Sharjeh last year, which resulted in a broken arm.

Uzare and Nillbe each have their eyes on their first UIM-ABP world titles and they will be ready to throw down the gauntlet. However, the two will have to really bring it in order to take down Orendahl. She wants to remain unbeaten on the circuit and is up for the challenge against Uzare and Nillbe. This is going to be one heck of a competition!

P1 AquaX news’s latest article pertaining to ratings, states that American rider Eric Francis continues to dominate the number one spot on the leaderboard. P1 AquaX, the international personal watercraft promotor announced the updated world ratings at its USA Annual Awards Ceremony held in Daytona Beach.

The P1 AquaX World Rankings began in 2014 and are based on the riders with most consistency and talent. Standings are disclosed every three months and are calculated by using two years of previous race results, the latest results being the most relevant. The most recent results spotlight riders who are in the best form along with other significant factors such as how many competitors raced, water conditions, the level of race class, and who raced.
Francis was hailed as national champion at the final event in Fort Lauderdale in November. Brian Baldwin, Chris MaClugage, Eminio Iantosca, and Chris Saxon round out the top five riders for the USA.

Longtime rider, Eric Lagopoulous entered the top ten after the Englishman Joe Harvey dropped down to eighth place. French rider Thomas Favolini climbed 3 places to make his way into sixth. He is also the EuroTour champion in AquaX Pro Enduro. Sophie Francis is the highest ranked female rider, sitting in 18th during her first season as a pro. Christian Daly, 13th was named ‘Rookie of the Year’.

Lisa Barsby, Global Head of P1 AquaX said, “With over 250 AquaX riders having appeared in the World Rankings over the past 5 years, they have become a major talking point in the sport. Eric is no stranger to heading up the rankings and P1 AquaX is delighted to have attracted so many world class racers to our series. The next announcement will be our 2019 international race calendar which will see us race on three continents.”

Jenny Harrison hasn’t ridden competitively in 20 years…until now. She made one heck of a comeback by grabbing three wins from three starts at Round 2 of the NSW Personal Watercraft Club’s five-round Watercross series. The series was held at Chipping Norton Lakes in Sydney on a hot and windy day on the water. The combination made for some tough conditions for the competitors.

Harrison began her racing career in 1987. She raced 550 standups and was backed by Ray and Rhonda Goodwin of R&R Jetskis. She began racing sitdowns in the mid ’90’s around the time when they were just coming on the scene. Harrison rode with Sea-Doo Australia and Great White Racing.

She remained undefeated for ten years in a row. She was the Australian Pro Womens Champion on standups and runabouts with a total of 45 wins. Those wins include five Australian Surf Titles, three trips to the World Finals, and two New Zealand Championships. Harrison is absolutely incredible and her record winning streak will most likely never be broken.

During an old interview, Harrison was asked about her most memorable moments and she said it was winning her first Australian Title in 1989 and the World Finals in ’90 and ’91. She was also asked if she would ever return to racing. She claimed she would happily ride for fun and would not again race. Needless to say, it was a pretty big deal when Harrison came back and claimed 3 more victories!

“I found coming back to racing was exciting,” said Jenny, “like a new challenge for myself to see if I can still compete. I actually found after the first race, I got the hang of it again and it all comes back to you, like it was yesterday. I didn’t expect to win, I was happy just to go out and have some fun and support the other women. It was great to see a lot of old and new faces in the sport and all the women in the class were lovely to meet and talk to and gave me a warm welcome.”

The one really great thing about being in the Southern Hemisphere, is that all of that Christmas shopping can go straight to performance jet ski parts. That’s precisely what Gold Coast, Queensland–located Australian Jetski Parts (AJSP) is thinking when they unleashed a whole bunch of seasonal shopping news recently on their Facebook page.

Of course, AJSP, who has been the sole Australian distributor for RIVA Racing parts for over 20 years, also excitedly announced, “This Christmas season, AJSP would like to remind you we have the option to Afterpay your orders up to $1000. This means you can get those things without breaking the budget! Remember no interest on your purchase and you get your parts ASAP.”

And if delaying payment on a new crop of go-fast parts isn’t enough to get you excited, AJSP is “helping you count down until Christmas with our Free Freight Friday!” While this coupon code is very unlikely to work for us Yanks up in North America, we’re certain our readers sharing the same continent as AJSP is happy to oblige. Just use correct code on the corresponding day to get Free Regular Shipping! For free shipping on 7th December, use “FFF3.” For 14th December, use “FFF2.” And lastly, use “FFF1” to get free shipping on the 21st of December.

https://www.facebook.com/RIVARacing/videos/1791382300991277/UzpfSTExMjM0MjA4MjE3NjE3ODoxOTE4MDc1NTY4MjY5NDc4/

“Hey Chief,” came Mike’s usual greeting. Most conversations would begin the same way. “Chief” was Mike Follmer’s go-to nickname for pretty much everyone, I found. “Could you put this up on the magazine?” The entry form for the 15th annual Mark Hahn Memorial Havasu 300 had been live for a month or two, and we had shared the new poster back in September. “You got it,” I relied. And that was it. All I knew as of last week.

So the news that this coming February’s “Hahn 300” (as many of us called it) was going to be the last one came as a complete shock. Citing surmounting costs and “practicality” as the key deterrents, Follmer and DSM Events’ Jim Russell decided that the 15th anniversary of the “world’s longest continual PWC race” would be its last. Suddenly, I began rifling through my budget for early 2019 to see if I could not only attend but maybe even participate.

Follmer began the race back in 2004 after his long-time friend died suddenly during a race the year before. The first few years were far more frantic than what many know the Hahn to be; refueling was done in knee-to-ankle deep water, often by the racer and co-pilot themselves; no extravagant quick fuel systems or pit crews had even been imagined. Only once the race was moved to the Crazy Horse Resort further down the island did the maxim “the race is won or lost in the pits” coined.

Racers from across the globe came to compete. Australian teams flew in early, purchased brand-new machines from Southern California dealerships, and towed their skis to Lake Havasu with rented trucks. French teams shipped in finely-tuned Kawasakis, spending nearly a week in the desert down adjusting fuel mixtures and boost pressures to correct for barometric pressures. Dyed-in-the-wool US teams practiced pits stops again and again in empty parking lots.

These stories, like so many others, will remain as the race’s unique history. I personally competed twice, only finishing once. The cost to compete – to truly compete – is substantial, and that I fear was the race’s Achilles’ Heel. Of course, there are other factors: Follmer had retired from racing Yamaha WaveRunners back in 2011; Mark’s widow, Sandy had passed away from cancer in June of 2016; Follmer’s long-time sponsor and partner, R&D Performance, closed earlier this year; and so on.

So come February, we lose an event that has been unique to this sport for 15 years. While I am sorry that I cannot be there in person to hear Jim’s shotgun ring one last time, I know what it’s like to lose track of how many laps I’ve completed, to reek of gasoline for hours afterwards; to feel the numbness in my hands for days later; and to hear Mike say as I pulled up the beach for the last time, “Great job, Chief!”

Here’s the Facebook post published yesterday afternoon, where Mike Follmer wrote,
The Hot Products Mark Hahn Havasu 300 will be presented for the 15th and final time in 2019!

[An] agreement was reached today between Mike Follmer of Follmer Specialties and Jim Russell of DSM Events LLC to confirm the production of this historic race for Saturday, February 23, 2019.

The entry deadline previously announced is now removed. The ever escalating costs to produce this, the world’s longest endurance race for personal watercraft, had created some questions as to the practicality of continuing with this most challenging race, but Follmer and Russell have agreed to proceed as originally planned for the 2019 competition. However, please note it will be the last one!

Thanks to the long term sponsorship by Yamaha, Hot Products and the IJSBA, we will be able to again offer this unique race to the toughest endurance racers in the world. Three hundred miles of non-stop, guns-on-the-table racing for the 15th and final time.

If you have ever wanted to accept the challenge and join the legends of the Mark Hahn 300 now is the time to get your entry in to as there will be no more. As of today there are only 45 slots still available in the starting line on the beach when the shot gun fires to signal the start of this internationally famous race for the last time.

Whether professional factory team or family fun team this is truly a team competition with rider changes and refueling all on real race time…just like a NASCAR race! As always the race will be followed by the world renown dinner and awards presentation with those super trophies by Follmer Enterprises. Enter now to reserve your spot. For entry and information go to www.MarkHahn300.com. But do it now, don’t miss being part of PWC history.