The 2nd Round of the New Zealand Community Trust 15th IWSF World Water Ski Racing Championships have now been completed and again we saw some of the best world championships racing ever on the beautiful Lake Taupo.Â
The Women’s event was again the first race on the card and it provided drama and some fantastic racing across both the Formula 1 and Formula 2 Classes. At the end of the race it was again Australian dominance in classes but it didn’t start off this way. On the rounding of the 1st corner the 3 place getters from round 1 – Ann Procter (AUS), Katelin Wendt (USA) and Kim Lumley (GBR) all came round together but Procter’s Boat Merc Force made a hard turn rather than a sweeping turn like the other 2 which was corrected but momentarily dropped her back to 3rd and caused her and Wendt’s boat to travel in between the timing boat and the bouy incurring a 1% time penalty for both competitors. It only took one lap for Procter to regain her lead though and she never looked back from there. Lumley took a solid second with Wendt 3rd, Lauryn Eagle of Australia 4th and Hannah Humphreys of New Zealand a well earned 5th spot. Â
In Formula 2 it was much the same as race one with Tania Teelow taking a commanding lead only to be caught up later by Lori Dunsmore, but withstood the challenge to win by 42 seconds in the end and take her total to 2000 points. Emma Carson from Australia, grabbed 3rd spot and first round second place getter Janine Doherty from USA took a big fall and was unable to complete the race.Â
In the Juniors event (Under 17) where New Zealand gained 3 podium finishes in round one it was a very different picture for round 2. In the boys class Brady Hoggins (USA) and Rory Brien (AUS) both went out hard with Rory in the end grabbing the win with Hoggins placing 2nd followed very closely by Cameron King of the USA and Jaaron Fritz from NZ.Â
The girls race was a great spectacle with current World Champion Mallory Nordblad leading as she has done right through the competition but the real battle was just behind her where Trudi Stout of Australia and Adelaide Cox of New Zealand changed positions in 2nd and 3rd every lap. The last straight, an absolute drag race with Trudi snatching 2nd by less than .8 of a second with Cox in 3rd.Â
The men’s race was again a thriller in both F1 and F2 classes. Round one winner from Australia, Jason Walmsley and Current World Champion Todd Haig from USA had a great battle for the first ¼ hour before Walmsley stretched his lead to 200meters. They lapped at this consistently before Karl Brooks from Great Britain had a go at Haig without much success. At around the 40 minute mark Haig’s boat stopped with a blown engine which slipped Brooks into 2nd and Daniel Campbell of Australia into 3rd. Campbell however, was not satisfied with this and put on the hard charge through the last 15 mins of the race to gain 2nd place and bump Brooks back down to 3rd. Grant Turner also of Australia and Marshall Cole of USA battled almost the entire race side by side before Turner crossed the line 9 seconds ahead of Cole after 1 hour 8 mins of racing for 4th and 5th respectively.Â
It was an intriguing race in Formula 2 with 1st round winner Ben Gulley of Australia withdrawing with injury, pre race leaving fellow countryman Chris Stout and USA’s Brad Raine to battle for victory. Stout led most of the race with a couple of lead changes, but it wasn’t until the last lap where Raine really stamped his mark coming from 5 – 8 seconds down to win by under 1 second. Circulating well throughout the race was Brit David Sewell, but mechanical failure half way round the last lap destroyed any chance of a podium finish, and opened the gate for Rick Powell of New Zealand to sneak into 3rd with Chris Holman also from New Zealand to gain 4th.Â
All in all, another absolutely fantastic days Racing. Another amazing day for Team Australia with 4 race wins and 4 other podium finishes. USA grabbed the other 2 race wins with New Zealand snatching 2 3rds and Great Britain taking a 2nd and a 3rd. It was great weather and conditions to test the best in the world. The Formula 2 Mens’, Junior boys and girls classes are still very close in the overall points and round 3 will be the clincher for this years world champions. Please join us on Wednesday on the Lake Taupo waterfront for round 3 of the New Zealand Community Trust 15th World Water Ski Racing Championships.    Â
Brad Dutton
Marketing, Media and Promotions Director2007 World Water Ski Racing Organising Committee WK: 0064 7 8494809 ext. 820MB: 0064 27 4102383AH: 0064 7 8541944
