Hot Water Tour Staff
Region 7 Race Promoters
- Location
- Largo, FL
2006 World Finals Recap
The Hot Water Tour Staff was in attendance this year at Lake Havasu City, Arizona for the 25th Annual Quakysense World Finals. We had a blast watching some great racing, meeting tons of cool people, checking out some sick skis, and seeing some familiar faces. Here’s a write-up of how the World Finals went through our eyes. We were there on the “Pro Days” from Saturday, October 9th and returned on Monday, October 11, 2006 so we will be recapping those days since those were the days when we were actually there. Keep in mind, these are not the official results, just what we remembered and gathered by attending the event. To see pictures of this years World Final go to www.hotwatertour.com and click on the “Pics and Vid” link at the top.
We arrived into Vegas on Saturday morning and be-lined across the desert to Lake Havasu City, Arizona which we arrived at around 3:00pm and went straight to the Crazy Horse Campground where the World Finals were held. The place was jam packed with cars and spectators alike which was great to see. We literally had a hard time finding seats in the grandstands and had to stand to watch some of the Pro Ski and Pro runabout 1200 class motos. Vendor Alley was a showcase of all the businesses that are part of this great sport and the amount of people walking through each booth was amazing.
Saturday had some great racing as everyone was trying to secure a good qualifying position for Sunday. You can view the Saturday results by clicking on this page: http://www.ijsba.com/ijsba/results/2006/wf/1007.htm. We arrived somewhat late so we wanted to make our rounds and get situated as fast as possible. We had the pleasure of attending the Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday night, which was an excellent idea and a total success. It was great to see all the “legends” of our sport under one roof and witness these key figures getting recognition for impacting the sport so much. People like Jeff “The Jammer” Jacobs, Scott “Hollywood” Watkins, Dustin Farthing, Larry “The Ripper” Rippenkroger, Chris “Mac Attack” MacClugage, Chris “The Flyin’ Fish” Fishetti, “Rad” Rick Roy, Tera Laho, Nicolas “The Fighter” Rius, Brian Bendix, and others were just some of the racers that were mingling with each other and really showcasing the fact that this is one big family of people who make up this great sport. From there, we walked over to Kokomos where you can pretty much find everyone that doesn’t have to wake up early and race the next day. We had a good time downin’ a few drinks and getting to know some of the people we met earlier in the day.
Sunday was the day for the “Big Show”, and it did not disappoint, as there were some great action out on the water. There were some very surprising finishes in some of the premier classes this year as many of them were ones that we would have never predicted.
Pro Ski: The starting line was packed 20 riders deep with just about every big name on the line. You could feel the tension in the air as they all lined up at the starting gate. Rumors were true, as Nicolas Rius was not one of those big names lined up. A huge surprise was to see Frenchman Brice Lopez pulling sweet holeshots on his #4 Hydrospace over fellow Frenchman and the Factory Team Kawasaki boat of Jean Baptiste Botti aboard his #85 Sx-r in every moto of the day. Brice was looking absolutely flawless in the first moto and was working through the lappers without any problems. However; on the final lap, the final few turns, Brice’s’ ski acted up and Botti was able to capitalize and take the moto one win away from Brice. It was all Brice Lopez this year as his blazing fast Hydrospace looked like it was in a league of its own. Jean Baptiste Botti was keeping the same pace as Lopez, but Lopez learned from his first moto mistake and did not allow it to happen in the final two motos. Getting the holeshot every moto also helped him stay in front of Botti and secure his World Championship win. Definitely two riders I did not expect to favor so well at the Finals but were clearly the riders to beat after the first moto. Motz looked consistent aboard his #1 JSU Kawasaki SX-R and had a good pace going, but did not look as quick as the year before but managed to place 3rd overall due to his consistency. Mike Klippenstein aboard another Hydrospace looked extremely fast as he was in third in the beginning of most of the moto’s but eventually made a few mistakes which placed him 4th overall on the #1 Blackfoot Motorsports Hydrospace. Jeff Troegner gets the award for having the “biggest pair” by hitting the log jumps faster than everyone else on the course in our opinion. Rob Flores takes the win for the most painful sounding get off as the log jump proved to be his nemesis. Victor Sheldon gets a huge thumbs up for looking like he picked up the pace a bit this year even though the results don’t show for it. Dauliach looked good but got some bad starts and had to battle his way up in every single moto. Mac looked good but seemed to be off pace with the Frenchman out front and looked much better in Runabout 1200. Some sick races and great riders. France, South Africa, and Canada defiantly represented in the ski class this year. Next year will be a blast to watch. The 2006 Results are here: http://www.ijsba.com/ijsba/results/2006/wf/1008.htm. A huge congratulation goes out to Brice Lopez and his crew for putting on a great show and walking away as World Champion.
Pro Runabout 1200: Pro runabout was a must see event since rumors were flying that there were several big names aboard skis that were exceeding 90+ mph and over 400 horsepower. This was sure to be great, as Chris MacClugage aboard his black #3 Macc Racing Kawasaki and Dustin Farthing aboard his #116 Factory Kawasaki were two of the favorites to win and both had skis that were blazing fast to match. One big surprise was the speed of New Zealand’s Sam Harvey aboard his DHL Sponsored Sea Doo RXP, which rumor had it, was running a pair of twin turbo’s in his four Stroke Sea Doo. Dustin Farthing looked very strong in all three motos but was always playing catch-up to Chris MacClugage after the start where Mac would always seem to have an edge on Farthing and Sam Harvey. Farthing did get passed Mac at one point as Mac seemed to have some trouble with the course and had to pick up a buoy, but as luck would have it, just as if it looked like Dustin was a shoe-in for the win, Farthings ski acted up on him on the final two turns of the race and Mac just edged passed Farthing coming down the front straight to take the moto win away from Farthing. Farthing would not let Mac make any mistakes as he was always close enough to Mac to keep him honest in all three motos. Mac did just that, as he did not make the mistake that Dustin was hoping for. Chris MacClugage aboard his Macc Racing Kawasaki looked like he was on a mission leading the pack in all three motos and taking home another World Championship. Congratulation to Chris MacClugage and his Macc Racing team!
Pro Womens Ski: The return of Tera Laho, aboard a Rius Racing Yamaha Superjet, had the crowed buzzing as to who would win the Pro Women’s ski class as defending World Champion Seiko Ozawa, as well as 19 other top women’s competitors, lined up next to her at the start line. In moto #1, Tera Laho and her fans were disappointed as she was called for jumping the line and red flagging in the first moto. This made her play catch-up throughout the race, and was not looking good for her as Seiko Ozawa had her head down and charged into the lead to take the moto one win aboard her #J2 Speed Magic Kawasaki Sx-r. Tera managed to pass nearly everyone on the track except for Seiko Ozawa and Niki Goudreau aboard her #2 Red Bull Kawasaki to take third in the moto. Moto #2 was just as fun to watch as Emi Kanamori, wife of Minoru Kamamori, took the lead and never looked back as she won the race wire-to-wire. Seiko Ozawa again charged hard and got her way into second place and take home the World Championship with her 1,2 finishes. Tera had a horrible start and could only work her way up into 4th place in the moto. She finished in second place overall with her consistent finishes aboard the Yamaha. Great job to the Japanese rider, as well as her crew members who traveled a great distance for helping her pilot her beautiful Speed Magic prepped Sx-r to the top and successfully defending her World Championship.
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