Greetings racers, sponsors, and fans. Today is September 29 and this is your weekly World Finals update. There will be only one more update before the big event. As always, there is news to share with you in our efforts to keep you informed and prepared for the greatest watersports competition in the world. Please share this news with your colleagues:

1. Sound Limit. It has been brought to our attention that the sound limit of 86dB at 75 ft (22.86 M), as described in Rule 19.5.2, has not been updated to reflect four stroke watercraft. In order to best evaluate whether this number needs to be changed, we are temporarily allowing up to 92dB for a sound limit. This temporary adjustment will expire at the end of World Finals unless further noted.

2. October 5th is the last day to avoid the on-site registration fee of an additional $20 PER CLASS. To avoid this fee, it means that you must have sent in a complete entry form and payment. The payment must be processed. Forms without a money order or valid credit card are not complete. If you have sent in a form already, but have not paid, you must pay your fees, in full, by October 5. Please help out the IJSBA staff by registering early. There is a significant amount of overtime and extra work required when people enter late, my staff wants to go to Kokomo's at night just like you do. Save yourself some money and us some time by finalizing your entry TODAY!!!!

3. Meet and Greet. On Thursday, October 15, your IJSBA Racer Representative, Amy Green, and myself will hold a meet and greet. This will be a social for racers only. Ice cream or popsicles will be provided courtesy of your hosts. We would like to give you the chance to have a friendly environment to discuss racing and the sport with your administrators. We are planning having a productive atmosphere and hope that this will be the result so that this can be an annual event. This can be a positive thing if we all treat it as so.

4. Supercourse. Supercourse is scheduled for Saturday, October, 15. We are moving the Supercourse competition time to immediately after Freestyle qualifications so that the spectators can get a great view of the type of competition. We would like to see more exposure for Supercourse because, if participation this year justifies it, there is a strong possibility that Supercourse will be a titled event next year. Supercourse is still open for entries. Please email your resume to the address listed below.

5. Qualifying rules and Wildcard qualifying. You must compete in races put on by an affiliate, sanctioned by the IJSBA, in order to compete in the IJSBA World Finals. Juniors and Novices without course experience are not permitted to participate in this event under any circumstance. We are still faced with a problem where there have been numerous race cancellations and natural disasters which have precluded some competitors from attending scheduled events. Nearly all of these cancelled events have not been replaced with make up days. Therefore, competitors who relied on these schedules to make the events were deprived of opportunities to qualify. The IJSBA is considering offering a last chance competition to qualify riders into the event. Should be decide to offer this wildcard qualifying, racers must meet the following criteria:

A. Be an established racer with a history of attending regular events.
B. Have a history of participating in the venue that had cancelled races.
C. Show convincing proof that you were going to attend the cancelled event(s).
D. Be willing to participate in the wildcard competition. And apply to the IJSBA by using the email listed below.

If a wildcard competition is held, the cost will be reflective of the cost of attending at least two regional events. Riders must participate in the wildcard event, and if successful, then register in, and pay for, the class which they are applying the wildcard qualification. The class must be declared before participating in the wildcard event, and each rider may have a maximum of one wildcard. We are not even sure if we will be offering this but we want to give you the opportunity to plead your case. It is the policy of the IJSBA to foster and facilitate personal watercraft racing. We want to provide alternatives for those who truly were unable to race due to cancellations. We also want to maintain the integrity of the qualifying system. This is going to be a difficult balance and we are asking anyone who considers to not abuse this process.

6. Please be prepared to adhere to all IJSBA rules and policies. We will be strictly enforcing no parking zones, no access areas (impound and tech are going to be heavily scrutinized), and compliance with parking permits and access bands. Please respect the IJSBA rules and regulations so that we can have a safe and organized event.

7. The IJSBA is proud to announce that Mike Remar has been added to the announcer list. This addition is made possible by a generous sponsorship from Stubrick's Steak House.

8. Sponsorship and other advertising opportunities are still available. Pleasecontact the IJSBA for more information.

As always, I welcome your questions and comments. This is YOUR SPORT and we are here to help you make it the best that it can be. If you have concerns, suggestions, comments, or questions, then please send them to the IJSBA. I can always be reached by email:scott@ijsba.com. We want to be of service, so please drop us a line. I, personally, look forward to meeting each and every one of you and to having a great World Finals event.

Scott Frazier
IJSBA Managing Director