Last weekend marked the end of the 2015 AquaX season, and boy, was there excitement in the 250 class. This was not a race to miss if you have been following a rider from the 250 class or if you’ve just been following the action throughout the 2015 AquaX season.
Coming into the event, the AquaX 250 class was very close in points, and produced plenty of excitement. Peruvian Paloma Noceda came into the weekend with only a two-point lead over second place rider, Sea-Doo/RIVA Racing’s Eric Lagopoulos.
In the first moto, Brian Baldwin pulled away and got the win, and the two points leaders battled it out for second place. Lagopoulos was able to hold Noceda off and take second place, which evened up the points race. In Moto 2, Baldwin again took the win, with Noceda taking second this time, and Lagopoulos third.
Going into Moto 3, only two points separated Noceda and Lagopoulos, whichever one crossed the finish line first would leave with the AquaX 250 class championship. Noceda jumped off to a huge lead and looked to have the moto and the points lead in the bag, but after falling off, she lost a few positions and came in at a disappointing fifth position. Lagopoulos took second in moto three (behind Brian Baldwin) and the points lead for the season.
“I really love the mental side of the sport, so knowing I had to beat one rider for the overall championship was really exciting!” Lagopoulos said, “I pushed the entire race from the drop of the green flag to the beautiful checkered flag and my second Aquacross championship in a row! It was a tight race figuratively and literally. The GTR 215 simply proved it’s the better overall watercraft.”
“I’ve had so much success on the GTR 215 in regards to Aquacross because of the different conditions each round. I mean is good in every condition. The GTR 215 is good in the flat water, good in chop, and good in the big surf races. It’s a watercraft that you can ride hard no matter where its ridden.”
Lagopoulos concluded, “It was an incredibly exciting season filled with ups and downs but when it came down to who was destined to be on top the season ended in pure satisfaction with the X-Team’s second championship in two years!”
