Twenty years years ago, Jimmy Wilson, a young, talented racer — attending his very first world finals at Lake Havasu — walked by the Kawasaki semi, daydreaming a little and thinking to himself how cool it would be to race for Factory Kawasaki.
Two decades later, and that racer — now a multi-time, multi-class Havasu champion — just inked his second contract with Team Kawasaki and is currently 40,000 feet above the North Pacific, about to land in Japan to compete in the first round of the 2025 WGP#1 Waterjet World Series under the Kawasaki banner.
After Factory Kawasaki made the official introduction of the 2025 Factory Kawasaki Jet Ski Racing Team, which includes Wilson (Pro Ski Grand Prix), as well as Mao Sato (Pro Ski Grand Prix) and Team Pastorello Compétition (Jean-Bruno Pastorello/Pro-Am Endurance Open and Hugo Pastorello/Expert Ski GP), The Watercraft Journal lined Wilson up for Seven Deadly Questions (OK, maybe it was a few more than 7.)
The Watercraft Journal: Kawasaki has announced that you will be racing for the Factory Kawasaki Jet Ski Racing Team again this year. How did your relationship with Kawasaki come about?
Jimmy Wilson: So that’s a funny story. In 2022, I raced P1 (AquaX) for Yamaha and I was racing the standup. Sam (Nehme) was helping me and Cameron and Trey Frame were helping me with the GP1 and I won the Pro Runabout and Pro Ski national titles for the U.S. and we had a great year and then that winter, Yamaha dropped me. They dropped me, and Christian Daly and they dropped Sam’s partnership from the Yamaha team, and I went from winning the National Title to not having a ride at all. They went with Dustin’s team. It was disheartening. I felt like I had done all this hard work and spent all this time and money and won everything I could in the U.S. and had (nothing) to show for it. So in 2023, I really just didn’t do anything. I was way out of shape; I gained a bunch of weight — it was bad, but when Pro Watercross held their World Championship in Havasu, and it was $10,000 to win, I figured I would go out there and race that one and could win.
But because I raced the Pro Watercross race, I couldn’t race the (IJSBA) World Finals, so Sophie and I were out there just walking around. She had broken her leg and torn her ACL in September of that year, so we were just hanging out and Hot Products, who has helped me out for years, talked to me and said ‘would you like to go to Thailand,’ and I said ‘yes.’ And then he asked me if i would race for Kawasaki and I just said ‘wow, yes, of course.’
He asked if I wanted to meet them, and we walked all the way down to the end of the pits and they were in a white trailer, just tucked away quietly — not one sticker, all the skis tucked away. And I got to meet Minoru Kanamori. He asked if I wanted to test the ski. I was just in tennis shoes and shorts, and I borrowed someone’s life jacket and helmet and had no shoes on, and I went out and tested the boat for like 10 minutes and came back in and (Kanamori) adjusted the ride plate and did a couple things and I went back out and it ran a a lot better already. He asked if I wanted to race it (in the IJSBA World Finals). I told him that I couldn’t, and explained that I had raced in the Pro Watercross race, so I couldn’t race in the IJSBA World Finals. I will say this about Kawasaki, they want to be very politically correct. They don’t want to have any gray area. They have a lot of pull with IJSBA and I probably could have raced, but they didn’t want that and I didn’t either. You know me, I’ll voice my opinion if I’m pushed and I need to, but I try to stay very neutral and polite and help people.
So Kawasaki said they would be in touch and they contacted me a couple months later and asked if I would like to come back out to Havasu for a test, and I came out a few more times and then we signed a contract for just two months, to get through Thailand. I went to Thailand and had only ridden the boat a handful of times and I struggled but we got better throughout the weekend. Kanamori realized we needed to do a lot of work with the engine package and hull, so we kept in contact and I ended up signing a contract for just one year for 2024 and Kanamori went to work on his end and I went to work on my end and I was training and he built a great ski and improved on it drastically in a very short time. We raced last year and it was like from tomatoes to apples — we went from not being a contender, to, in the first round, getting second overall against Kevin Reiterer and Richardson. Then, this winter, they asked if I would like to sign another one year contract, and that was that.
WCJ: Who else is on the team?
Wilson: This year we have another athlete, Mao Sato, a Japanese rider; he raced in Thailand under Speed Magic and he did pretty good. He’s younger, and he’s on the team, and they always have the Pastorello team — and they have helped me a lot as well. Their holder ended up holding for me as well a lot last year, because I don’t really know a lot of people around Europe. The whole program is pretty cool because it’s a big family, and honestly I haven’t met anyone yet that hasn’t had the same mindset and a focus on having fun while winning. Now I’m furthering that partnership. It’s been a really cool process. In 2023, I was way down on the list of people to even be looked at to ride their boats, and I just got lucky. No one else wanted to take a chance with Kawasaki and the new ski, and I did. And from that one ride, we went from being a nobody and the ski being nothing to a podium in the World Series. It was a huge accomplishment for everyone involved.
WCJ: You will be competing internationally in the WGP#1 Waterjet World Series for Team Kawasaki. What races does that include, and will you be doing any racing other than the World Series this year?
Wilson: The World Series is really what I’m after with Kawasaki. We go to Japan first; we leave on May 11 to go to Round 1 in Osaka, Japan, and then Belgium this summer and then Thailand in December. And Havasu. Havasu is not part of the series — we’re just doing Havasu because, well, because it’s Havasu — it’s such a prestigious race so we’re doing that one as a bonus. And then I also race the local AJSA race series on the East Coast for training and for fun, but mainly the focus is on the World Series.
WCJ: You have raced, and excelled, in both stand up and runabout classes in the past. Are you still racing both classes?
Wilson: Right now they have Team Pastorello on the runabout. He’s unbelievable, and he’s also great on the endurance side. I would love to do some (runabout racing) in P1, but it’s expensive (to attend all the races). Honestly, if it ever came up, I would love to, but they (Kawasaki) have their program, and I’m so blessed for this opportunity with them; I just do whatever Kawasaki wants as far as racing, but if it ever came up the answer would always be yes.
WCJ: Do you race on the same ski you practice on?
Wilson: I have a practice ski from Kawasaki at home that Kanamori built and sent to me, but it’s just a good, super reliable boat to ride every day. Then he has two race boats at Kawasaki for me. So, for example, I’m in California right now; we rode Sunday on my race boat, got it broken in and it’s in a crate and getting shipped to Japan. So we’ll have one other ski sitting in the warehouse that is a full race boat so, say, we get back from Japan and need to do some tests, we have another full race boat here ready to go. Or if something happened in shipping, or we wanted to up and go to another race, we can do that.
WCJ: Is it difficult to race and practice on different skis?
Wilson: It’s crazy. We have two “identical “ race skis — and they’re not the same. That’s the way it is with all of them. Even Motz or Kommander — they can build 10 skis and each of them will be slightly different in their own little ways. They’re all hand-made and they all have their little quirks.
We have two full race boats, and I can race either, but they’re just a little different, with different characteristics. It’s definitely nice to be racing skis I’ve raced on before. I’m not learning someone else’s boat. These two skis are set up the way I want. The bars are set up the way I want. The pole is set up the way I want. But there are little characteristics that are different between them, so it’s nice to have a number 1 boat we like and that’s the one we try to ship around the world and race on all the time because it’s just running very well, but they’re very similar, with only minor characteristic differences. But in a way, I’m also a little handicapped at the races — my practice ski is not my race boat. Some of these other guys, they ride (practice on) the same boat that they race. There are pros and cons; when they ship their boat out for a race, they don’t have a ski to ride or practice on, but when they do ride, it’s the same boat. Whereas I go from a practice ski then I come out here and jump on my race boat and it’s just a monster compared to my practice ski. It takes a little bit of getting used to because it is significantly faster, and every time, Kanamori makes it even faster, which is both good and bad!
WCJ: What is the difference in racing internationally, as opposed to racing in the U.S.?
Wilson: When I race in the United States — I hate saying this, but normally, I’m one of the best that show up for the weekend. But when we go to Thailand or Poland or races like that, I’m maybe one of five to ten people that can win. I’m not the best. I’m trying to compete with the best, but I’m not the best.
WCJ: Which do you prefer, walking into a race knowing you’re one of the best, or walking into a race knowing you have to fight for a win?
Wilson: I like the attitude I have when I’m racing in the States, because I can be sick, or not sleeping or working on the skis, or there’s some little fiasco, and I don’t even think about it because I’m like “it’s OK.” I wish I could take that same mentality into the international races and I would do better.
So that’s a trick question, because I want to go race the best of the best — I don’t enjoy just getting a hole shot and winning. Honestly, it’s cool to win, don’t get me wrong, but, for example, last year we went to Poland and I was racing (Jayden) Richardson and (Kevin) Reiterer and we even beat Kevin. I finished second at the first round in Poland, and Number #4 from Thailand, he got the hole shot and we were having to battle and having to pass — I prefer those races. Even when we went to Thailand, I was under the weather and I really struggled and had to battle for fifth, but I’d rather get my butt kicked and get fifth than not have to fight.
Of course, yes, I want to podium and I want to win, that’s our goal, but the competition level is important and makes a difference. That’s why we didn’t really like going to the Pro Watercross race. The AJSA races are really good, and we’re trying to support the new series. It’s good practice, and it’s all positives and it’s a fun weekend race, but it’s not Thailand. Going to the World Series is different. On the East Coast, it’s pretty much me, Deven and Camden. That’s pretty much it. They’re great, I’m not taking anything away from them. They have great skis, they’re very talented and they’re a lot younger – they have a lot going for them and they push me. But when we go to some place like the World Finals, it’s different. Last year was the first year since 2018 that I really put my head down and had to try. Sophie was training me hard and I was working on my diet and Kanamori built a great ski and it was the first year I really did something. I was battling with Kevin (Reiterer) and we went to Thailand and whoever won Thailand won the World Series, and he beat me fair and square, but I was still there (head to head) against someone like Kevin.
WCJ: I see on your Facebook page that you’re working on skis and building skis; talk to me about that.
Wilson: So, with this deal with Kawasaki, I travel a lot, so having a full time job is almost impossible. Last year, I moved to Florida and I took a job with Sam working at Broward Motorsports and then this opportunity with Kawi came and it’s been a dream of mine since I was a kid to race for Factory Kawasaki and I started working and realized almost immediately that the schedule just wasn’t going to work with all the travel. I didn’t want to look back some day and think ‘I pissed away this opportunity with Kawasaki.I figured I can always make more money tomorrow, but I’ll never get back this opportunity (with Kawasaki) if I screw it up, so I wanted to take a year off work, and last year, I did just that.
We went to a few races where I could make a little money, and I did some side stuff here and there at home and then this year came and I knew I really needed to find a way to make some more money. So, I have a lot of friends and customers that needed help, and over the winter, I started building skis and it just kind of snowballed into 300 Motorsports. I do some general maintenance, but mostly I’ve been building a lot of race boats for local guys.
So 300 Motorsports started as just kind of a way to make some money and then it kind of took off and I’ve been so busy with it, it’s been insane. Also, I’ve always raced for Brad Hill, who owns AJSA. He is a good friend and mentor to me and Sophie and he helped me and Matthew Richuk, and his son Teagan, and he said to me, “you’re building all the boats, why don’t you just take the team.” So this year, I have a small team for regional races with Sophie and Teagan and Matthew. So really, 300 Motorsports just stared as a way to fund my “hobby” of traveling and racing, and it turned into something more than I thought it would already, which is great, because it means there is more potential than i ever thought, so we are just slowly building that side of things up to see where it can go.
WCJ: Any final words?
Wilson: It’s funny. You know Craig Warner, and you remember when we were going back and forth with each other in 2016, 17 and 18. And then I stopped racing for a little bit and when I saw Craig in Alabama at the first AJSA race and we talked and he told me that, when he retired, they (Kawasaki) asked him who he would recommend and he said “you were the only name that came out of my mouth. You’re the only person that gave me a run for my money.” It was pretty cool because there was a time when I wanted to be Craig. He was Monster Energy Kawasaki, and to have a compliment like that from him meant a lot to me. So it’s pretty cool to think that, years later, I kind of happened into this situation, but it’s like you said, the road was paved a long time ago, it just took a while to get here. These dreams and oppoturnities don’t come about very often. You have to chase them.”
