Just a summer dip
Bryce Alderton
Stalling three times on the water didn’t stop Mike Follmer from
finishing the race.
Water entering the power valves in the motor caused the stalls,
according to Follmer, a Newport Beach resident, who took 16th place
in Saturday’s ninth annual Long Beach-2-Catalina & Back International
Jet Sports Boating Association National Offshore Championship.
Follmer completed the more than 47-mile trip from near the South
Shore Launch Ramp in Long Beach Harbor to Catalina and back in one
hour, 31 minutes and 45 seconds.
With his 16th-place finish, Follmer collected 78 points toward the
IJSBA Baja Promotions Offshore Endurance Series, where he finished
second last year.
Going into Saturday’s race Follmer took a four-point lead over
second-place Tracy Malon of Barstow, but Malon didn’t race Saturday
because of an injury he suffered while racing last week in Tennessee.
Follmer said Malon could miss six weeks, which puts Mark Dobson right
back into the running to retain the No. 1 ranking which he won over
Follmer by four points last year.
Dobson finished Saturday’s race in second (1:16.52), cutting into
Follmer’s lead by 18 points, but is still 38 points behind the
front-running Follmer.
“I gained real valuable points for the No. 1 plate I’m in a battle
for,” Follmer said after the race Saturday as he unstrapped his
helmet. “
Follmer jetted out to Avalon in 37 1/2 minutes, which he said was
good time, before encountering more choppy waters on the return trip.
“It was a bumpy ride all the way back but not stopping for fuel
helped me, I was trying to conserve fuel,” said Follmer, who raced
his Yamaha XL 1200 Limited Personal Watercraft (Wave Runner) that has
a maximum speed of 64 mph. “I got back with exactly a gallon and
three quarters of fuel left in the boat. Fortunately I’ve finished
every one (of the Long Beach to Catalina races) and not many people
can say that.”
Saturday’s race featured 67 riders. Some racer’s watercraft broke
down such as Costa Mesa’s Lisa Messenger, 36, who broke down about
half an hour after the race started, said Race Director Lou Peralta
of BP Motorsports, who began the race in 1994.
The decisions riders have to make about whether to refuel or not
makes Saturday’s race different that other races throughout the year,
Peralta said.
“You can either go real fast an spend 30 to 50 seconds to refuel,
or go at 90%, giving up some top speed, but not stopping (for fuel),”
Peralta said. “The race becomes a real tactical situation which is
what racing is all about.”
Entrants came from places such as Texas, South Carolina, Florida,
Indiana, Arizona and Nevada, Peralta said.
Baldwin Park resident Chris MacClugage, 28, took first (1:11.38)
and gained 100 points in the series standings while also taking home
a trophy and prize money Peralta said would be “around $8,500.”
Saturday’s race concluded the GranPrix portion of the racing
series for the year, as Follmer looks to the last three races of
2002. One occurs Sept. 21 when Follmer will compete in two 90-minute
races at Lake Evans (a reservoir) in Bakersfield.
The September races conclude the LongCourse races before the final
race of the year, the Team Endurance 300, a six-hour and eight-mile
race in October off of Long Beach.
GranPrix races are two-hours on five to 10-mile courses with a
solo rider held on oceans or lakes. LongCourse races cover 90 minutes
on a three-and-a-half mile layout with a solo rider on a lake or
reservoir.
In 2001 Follmer won the GranPrix, LongCourse and Endurance series
individual titles, collecting five championships all together, to
finish second in the overall race standings.
A longtime friend who helps Follmer repair and tinker with his
watercraft, Scott Newton, watched Follmer finish from atop a grassy
embankment and quickly walked to get the Chevrolet Suburban to load
Follmer’s watercraft onto trailer.
Newton, 53, from Villa Park, has raced watercraft five or six
times and grew up with Follmer when the two lived in Arcadia.
Not only trying to maneuvering the watercraft to stay on course
but the physical toll it can take on the body makes the race a
challenge, Newton said.
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