Greetings to the Personal Watercraft community. The June update is a little overdue, but we were waiting to put some big news. Now that we have a lengthy update to provide, I am happy to present it. To make up for lost time, we will be bringing you an IJSBA update every other week until the last week of August when we will move to weekly updates all the way to World Finals.
On the note of World Finals...
The 25th Annual IJSBA World Finals preparations have begun at Crazy Horse Campgrounds and Resort from September 30 through October 8, 2006. Site plans and placement calculations started yesterday marking Lake Havasu City as the exclusive location for all World Finals activities. The World Finals Pages will start launching on July 17 and registration will begin the first week of August.
The event will be co-produced by Desert Steel Motorsports. DSM CEO, Jim Russell and myself will be working diligently to ensure that this is the best World Finals to date and exceeds the expectations of a 25th Anniversary Event!! I, personally, would like to extend special thanks to Dan Cunning at the Lake Havasu City Bureau of Tourism, the Havasu Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management, and Joe Labarbera of Crazy Horse Campgrounds for going beyond the call of duty to make the World Finals a possibility in Havasu.
While there will be many special surprises in store for the participants and spectators at the World Finals. The IJSBA is most proud to announce that the first group of inductees into the IJSBA Hall of Fame have been finalized. The Hall of Fame shall be named after a historic figure in the sport of Personal Watercraft, this person’s name shall be announced shortly. In the meantime, I am very happy to present the inductees.
These originating inductees were selected by the criteria of examining the sport as a whole from inception to today and placing special focus on those who were most influential in shaping the culture of Personal Watercraft racing. We chose to induct 25 persons in honor of the 25th Anniversary. It was very difficult to narrow down the list. Chris Lauber was crucial in helping set the frame work and building the candidate list. Some of the final names were selected by asking the candidates themselves who they most respected as one of their peers. Here is your first group of IJSBA Hall of Fame inductees (in no particular order):
- Doug Silverstein
- Larry Rippenkroger
- Dave Gordon
- Scott Watkins
- Rick Roy
- Mark Sickerling
- Eric Malone
- Allesander Lenzi
- Mike Yellich
- Jeff Jacobs
- Victor Sheldon
- Steve Stricklin
- Dan Fitzgerald
- Brian Bendix
- Tim Judge
- Karine Pautrel
- Tera Laho
- Christy Carlson
- Chris Fischetti
- Chris MacClugage
- Dustin Farthing
- Nicholas Rius
- Dustin Motzouris
- Minoru Kanamori
- Shawn Alladio
We will be making every effort to contact these individuals. If you happen to be in touch with any of them, please pass on the news and ask them to contact the IJSBA. I hope all of you will be on hand Thursday, October 5th for a ceremony celebrating the accomplishments of these deserving individuals.
In another note, the Rider Representative nominations for the 2006-2007 season have begun. If you are an IJSBA competitor, this is your chance to make a difference in the policy direction of the IJSBA. For those considering a run for this position, please bear in mind that you will be representing the interests of all of the other racers in the world for the purpose of working towards the best racing future possible.
You will be expected to be an active participant and your peers will be counting on you to be a good steward of the powers they have vested in you. You will be the voice of the racers to the IJSBA Board and the figure that communicates with the Manufacturer, Aftermarket, and Affiliate representatives. You will have specific duties to your electorate and the IJSBA as an entity. The IJSBA racers are the best competitors in the world and we know that this position will be taken seriously and given the respect it deserves. The IJSBA looks forward to working with the racer constituency and their choice of representative. Please visit the IJSBA home page for more details on this election process.
While we are gearing up for the World Finals please be sure to continue to support your local racing efforts. The Western States Cup is about to host its popular Benecia Round. The US National Tour will be wrapping up in New York, the Eastern States Cup will be concluding in Ohio. The well known Can-Am cup is happening this weekend in Harbor Beach, Michigan.
In Europe, the Mirandela Portugal event, known as the crown jewel of the European Tour, is about to go into swing with numerous international participants vying for top honors. Exciting race news is about to come out of Thailand as their race circuit completes their season and prepares for their prestigious Kings Cup event. There will be much to report over the next couple of weeks.
As always, it is my pleasure to serve you as your IJSBA Managing Director. If I can be of any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. I can be reached by telephone at the IJSBA office at (714)-751-8695. I can also be faxed at (714)-751-8609. You can email me at scott@ijsba.com. And, for you traditionalists out there, you can send letters to:
IJSBA
330 Purissima Street
Suite C
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
I look forward to seeing all of you at the World Finals.
Scott Frazier
