Greetings from the temporarily windy world’s capital of personal watercraft. Lake Havasu City has thrown a few curve balls at the World Finals in year’s past: earthquakes, competing rock concerts, evil amoeba, and other windstorms. We manage to hit it out of the park every time and this event will be no exception. The gates open in about sixteen hours from this posting and we have no doubt that the 32nd installment of the World Finals is going to be the best yet. We deeply thank Hot Products for all of their support in making this year’s event happen. Please share the following news with your friends and colleagues in the PWC Racing community.
- Check in At Havasu Powersports. Registration opens tomorrow. Ok, lets make sure there is no confusion here. There is only one place to register and/or sign in for the 2013 Hot Products World Finals this weekend. Registration for both pre paid, and new entries or unpaid, will be at Havasu Powersports which is located at 1040 Lake Havasu Avenue (in Lake Havasu City). Registration is open from 12:00 Noon, on Saturday, October 5th, until, approximately 5:00 PM. On Sunday, registration is open from 11:00 AM to approximately 4:00 PM. This is the only place to register/check in until Mon, October 7th, when registration will be at the upper parking lot at Crazy Horse Camprgrounds and Resort. Registration will remain at Crazy Horse through the remainder of the event.
- Media Credentials and Will Call. Media Credentials will be available for pick up beginning Wednesday, October 9th. Will call passes will be available beginning Wednesday, October 9th. Will call availably begins Tuesday, October 8th- so long as the host has provided their guest lists by this time. Please email IJSBA at info@ijsba.com for any questions on whether your will call credentials will be available.
- Body Beach is closed on Wednesday or Thursday. Here it is, just a week ahead, and we are still hearing conflicting stories of when Body Beach will be closed to accommodate a boat drag racing event. Most of the reports say it will be closed on Thursday, October 11. It is a royal bummer that it is closing, at all, but there really isn’t anything anyone in the watercraft family can do about it, So, lets just be sure to show how compliant we can all be and what good stewards of the lake that we are and lets just play the cards we are dealt. We are guests in Lake Havasu City and we want to be good guests by following the rules so we can be invited back.
- Anyone can win it year. We have been looking through the entry forms as they come through and it looks like this is one of those years where some serious Pro titles are up for grabs without a serious single contender making themselves known. Fortunately, Mike Rodgers, Technical Director for IJSBA will be on hand to ensure that everyone has a fair and legal shot at winning. We are reminding you that you cannot win if you do not finish. Winning because someone else did not finish is not the type of trophy that anyone wants to display on their mantle. What we are saying is: keep your head on straight, stay focused, and respect your competitors as you would have them respect you. We want everyone to have a safe and healthy World Finals and depend on a partnership with you to ensure that this goal is met.
- Racing is what you make it. Ok folks, this is just a reminder that the sport of PWC Racing is what you make of it. Your attitude is the number one determiner of how the World Finals, and the sport overall, will succeed. You cannot foster growth and attract sponsors when you are casting negative dispersion upon the sport. There are a whole lot of people out here working in some pretty rough conditions who all are giving a lot of their personal time to ensure that you have a successful World Championship. If you are, also, a person interested in growing World Finals and laying the ground work for change, and new things to come then we are counting on you to help develop an environment where persons and entities are excited to support the sport of PWC Racing. If this is not a goal that you share, then we recommend that you find another activity in which to spend your time. For those of you who do share this goal, there are some exciting times in the very near future and we look forward to partnering with you in bringing this next step of evolution to our sport.
- PWC Econ 101. Folks, you have to know that putting on the very best of PWC Racing, in the middle of the desert, isn’t the cheapest thing we could be doing. We walk a tight line in between paying for the event and keeping costs at a minimum for the participants. This takes the collective effort of a lot of people. Most everyone attending World Finals, knows someone who has worked as a grounds staff. The ground staff has not had a raise or any kind of special perks for the last five years. We also have kept prices, generally, the same since 2005. The World Finals staff leaves their families, friends, and jobs behind in order to make the event happen for you. Some of the staff even use their personal vacation time to come out here and work the event. We know that participants also sacrifice and have a lot of money, and time, wrapped up in the sport and we understand that the combination of sacrifice, expense, and pressure of competition can create a tense environment. IJSBA is asking that participants try to remember what the staff has given up to give you a venue to showcase your abilities. This week, the wind has really set the staff back. This also made the impact of regular glitches a whole lot more noticeable. Please take the time to remember that every World Finals worker is here for your benefit and has sacrificed a lot to make this happen for you. It takes the cooperation of all of us to make this work. Likewise, know that the heavy costs of producing an event in Lake Havasu City requires a whole lot of investors and team players in order to not have the costs resting on any one person, or groups of persons. We all are a team, and a family, and it is only by remaining so that we will continue to make this work. You have a very hard working staff, when things get tough, please take the time to remember what they have given for you. This extra consideration is appreciated.
- Promotions of Sari and Ria. IJSBA has two very smart and hard working women that we would like to give special recognition to in this update. Sari Smart has had the title of “Assistant To The World Finals Executive Directory” for several years. The event has run so much smoother with Sari there to offer support and assistance in the management of several integral parts of the event. During the course of her time with World Finals, she has earned a Master’s Degree in the field of managing sports and recreation matters. Sari’s hard work has resulted in a promotion for this event. Beginning this year, Sari will have the title of Competition Communication Director as she begins new duties of handling the first contact of any competition matter that is handled by the Executive Director. Sari will also author the daily press releases for the event and handle scheduling changes. Likewise, Ria Gomes has really put in her time managing the office and has done a solid job of frontloading the paperwork for the 2013 Hot Products World Finals. Ria’s efforts in preparing documents and laying the foundation for the event has helped the on-site program be much more efficient. Ria will be promoted to the title of Administrative Director of the World Finals and will be the first contact in handling business matters that are to be handled by the Executive Director. Sari and Ria are to be highly commended on their dedication to the sport of Personal Watercraft Racing. We tried contacting James L. Brooks to see if we could license the Mary Tyler Moore theme song for this announcement, but we didn’t hear back. It is probably just as well, people that receive promotions at World Finals seem not to appreciate vintage era television references to celebrate their accolades (yes, Mike Root, we are talking about you). While we are acknowledging the women that have made an impact on World Finals, lets make an additional mention of Scoring Director, Melissa Ellsion, Dianne Toll, and Continuity Manager, Carol Anne Giustina, on all of their hard work in making the World Finals a success.
- Managing Director’s soap box. Ok, here is where I say a few words before officially opening the World Finals. The truth of the matter is that it is 11:49 PM and I have been working on this release all day in between other duties. Blake and the prep team were beat up, heavily by the wind storm today. We are all pretty tired. So, I am just going to close this update by asking everyone to show each other an extra degree of respect this week so we can make the World Finals the great event that it has been for thirty two years. It is a real pleasure to work for all of you who comprise the membership body. Also, I have been very lucky to have a first class group of colleagues who have advised me and out forth tremendous effort to assist me in administering the IJSBA for you. Dave, Tim, Joe, and Scott have been more than anyone could ask for in an Executive Committee of advisors in helping set policy. Finally, I want to thank my own family who have not only supported me in my love of Personal Watercraft for twenty three years but also been patient when my support for them had to compete with needs of IJSBA. All of you who race or participate know what I am talking about and I want to extend IJSBA’s appreciation to your families who have supported your choice to dedicate a large portion of your life to the sport.
Well, that’s it. World Finals starts in less than 24 hours. Thanks Hot Products for making this happen this year and IJSBA wishes all of you a safe and successful event.
You must be logged in to post a comment.