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.