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Race 3 of the 2011 World Water Ski Racing Championships has seen three Aussies crowned 2011 World Water Ski Racing champions. Jack Houston and Kelsey Feros took out the Junior Boys and Junior Girls titles earlier in the day, with Jack being the first skier to win back to back Junior World Championships.

The final race for the day say Chris Stout take out the 2011 Open Men’s World Championships after completing an Epic 1 hour race, battling to the end with Peter Procter. It was an intense battle from start to finish, with Stout leading Procter for the majority of the race. In the last 15 minutes of the race Peter Procter made his move and overtook Stout taking an inside line on the course, finishing the race with about a rope lengths lead.

Although Procter crossed the line first, Stout was still in front with championship points, therefore being awarded the 2011 Open Men’s World Championship Title. With a post race protest, Procter’s team was penalised and the final results showed Stout with a win over Procter and Troy Hooker from the USA, coming in third. This in turn gave Chris Stout a clean sweep of the first 3 races totalling 3000 points.

The final race for the day also saw the F2 Men’s race heat up, with Grant Turner stealing the win and three race clean sweep away from Mark Weaver. This in turn bumped Turner and his team marginally into the lead of the F2 Men’s Championship Title, forcing Mark Weaver and the TWR team to fight it out to the end in Race 4 to be held on Saturday.

Congratulations to the 3 new World Water Ski Racing Champions - Jack Houston, Kelsey Feros and Chris Stout and good luck to the Open Women and F2 Men and Women who will take to the water for the final race of the 2011 World Water Ski Racing Championships.

The 14th of September 2011 has seen both Jack Houston and Kelsey Feros take out the 2011 World Water Ski Racing World Championships for Junior Boys and Junior Girls. Jack is the first to ever take out, back to back junior world championship titles.

Junior Boys and Junior Girls Race 3, of the 2011 World Water Ski Racing Championships was an awesome spectacle seeing a minor delay prior to the race due to dolphins on the course. Both Jack and Kelsey led their respective races for the duration of the 30minute, plus one lap race, with very close racing for the second and third place getters.

Not only have two Aussies taken the clean sweep of the Junior World Championship races, but Force Boats have now provided boats to 2 of this year’s world championship teams. By the end of today’s racing we could see another two Aussie world champions crowned, in Mark Weaver and Chris Stout, once again, both racing behind Force Boats.

Congratulations to both Jack Houston and Kelsey Feros and their respective teams, Team Stinga Racing and Prima Donna Racing. 2011 Junior World Water Ski Racing Champions.

Entering the 2011 World Water Ski Racing Championships as one of the favourites to take the Open Women’s world title, Lauryn Eagle has had a nightmarish campaign. Racing behind the black F1 Force, Superman, Lauryn has had no shortage of dramas throughout the first three of four world title races.

Race 1 saw Lauryn and her team controversially penalised for missing a turn buoy while placed quite well in that race. Lauryn entered race 2 with her sights on a podium, to make up for the disappointment of the previous days racing. The race format of the 2011 Worlds consists of 4 rounds, with teams dropping the worst of their four races. This still left Lauryn in the hunt for her second world championship.

Race 2 dealt Lauryn another awful blow, with the mighty Superman suffering massive mechanical failure with a broken rocker resulting in further engine damage and the retirement of the team from the second round. With two races down and no points for the Superman / Lauryn Eagle Open Women’s Team, their world title hunt was not over, but well and truly hampered.

After a busy day and night between races the Superman team shipped engine parts from across the country and rebuilt the twin turbo charged big block chev just in time for race 3. The team entered race 3 with fire in the belly and were out to make up for the previous two rounds, resulting in no points.

Race 3 saw Lauryn Eagle fire off the start line with awesome pace, showing the Open Women’s field she was out to win the days racing. After building a nice buffer on the rest of the field through the first 13 minutes of the race, the red flag was shown and the race was cancelled. The cancellation was due to a pod of dolphins crossing the race circuit, resulting in all teams having to pull their boats out to refuel, rehydrate and prepare to race again.

The restart of race 3, once again saw Lauryn fly off the start line behind Superman. This time the rest of the field had quite considerable pace and were staying in touch with their lead. Only minutes into the restart, after rounding the front turn buoy, Lauryn had a massive fall. Laying in the water with her ski off in the distance the crew turned and returned to Lauryn in the water. The observer joined her in the water and assisted her back into the boat. Lauryn was obviously shaken up and in some pain.

Several laps down and much to everyone’s surprise, Lauryn got up onto the deck and strapped on her ski. She wasn’t finishing the 2011 World Water Ski Racing Championships without a fight. Lauryn completed the race and collected some much needed points. Although it was a disappointing result for the team, it was a mighty effort. What can they put together for Race 4 on Saturday. Hopefully Lauryn’s luck takes a turn for the better and sees here grab a swag of points in the final race of the 2011 World Water Ski Racing Championships.

There have been quite a few news stories in the newspapers and on the news websites raising doubt about the 2012 Southern 80. I found an article not so long ago covering the recommendations and concerns from SRA about the Southern 80.

Here is a great little article from ABC Local confirming that this years Southern 80 will be held in it's usual February calendar slot. That is great news.

Future of annual water ski race guaranteed