Southern Comfort

The Raucous Return of Region Five Racing

Text and Photography by Brian Smith

It’s a dangerous thing to withhold racing from Texans for too long. After a three-year hiatus, local watercraft racing enthusiasts were starting to foam at the mouth. After long hours and sleepless nights, R5 Water-X Racing was finally able to break the racing dryspell, and opened the first two rounds of the 2008 R5 Water-X Racing Tour, which kicked off April 19-20 at Gene’s Powersports in Baytown, Texas. Backed by the APBA, region five returned to Gene’s Powersports, with enthusiastic participants showing up as early as 11 a.m. the morning before the event to set up base camps, trailers and equipment. R5 Water-X Racing (R5WX) was inundated with daily phone calls and e-mails inquiring about the upcoming season, with riders expressing their excitement to be a part of the inaugural season.

Hard at work in the rain and wind on Friday morning, R5WX’s staff struggled to get the first track of the season up and running, busily greeting all the smiling faces who wanted to be the first to enter. Despite Mother Nature’s best efforts, the track was finished midday and opened for business.

The course itself was a major attraction. Mammoth in comparison to most local event tracks, the course was designed to mimic those of the APBA Nationals and the IJSBA World Finals, but with one key thought in mind: safety. While the longer course promised more seat time for riders, higher speeds, and more track time, the longer, wider course also allowed for greater distance between competitors to ensure less “rubbing” or contact during heats, thus, less chance of collision and otherwise greater protection from high-speed danger.

After Friday night’s rider registration, R5WX hosted a welcome party, providing the opportunity for all the racers to greet new faces, as well as familiar ones. Riders included Mark McQueen, Chris Codina (who was enlisted to be the guest race director on Sunday), Matt Anderson (Gene’s Motorsports’ own retired pro), Derek Mroski and Ron Self, just to name a few. The beginners were beside themselves with all the hospitality and help they received from the R5WX crew and seasoned racers.

Saturday morning, all the racers showed up early and were ready to rumble. The professionally run riders’ meeting was on time and informative, providing the new promoters a chance to introduce themselves and the staff, and give out all the necessary information. After a brief course orientation, the day started off with a bang with Expert Open and Pro R/A 800 Open on the line. All of those in attendance witnessed one of the greatest holeshot battles between two different classes: Trace Mills piloting the Judge MotorSports-powered Kawasaki 1200 STX-R Open built by Tim Judge vs. Corey “Space Monkey” Heimann aboard his Liquid Force Racing Polaris Pro 785.

Shadowing each other throughout the heat, they entered the final two turns dead even and came out onto the front stretch neck and neck. The buoy course-turned-drag race was a nail-biter down the 120-yard front stretch as Trace Mills slowly pulled away from Heimann, never looking back. Casey “Skinny” Moore, aboard her Sea-Doo XPL (dubbed “Pig Killa2”), chased Heimann throughout the moto down to the finish.

Next up was the Ski class that included riders such as Jeff Wright, Rusty Wilson, Merle Varner, Tony Conklin and Mark McQueen battling for the top spot. Unfortunately, Rusty Wilson was forced to wait on the line with a dead engine while the rest of the riders sped off to first turn. Wilson, waiting patiently, finally fired his engine and quickly caught the crowd’s attention aboard his Dales Jetsports-prepared Hydrospace. Rusty hunted down everyone by the time they reached the front stretch and battled Merle, Tony and Mark McQueen for the lead. Mark resisted Rusty’s pace, until the end when Rusty capitalized on McQueen’s slightest mistakes and pounced on the opportunity, taking the lead.

A couple of races later, R5WX unveiled the Beginner Ski class with five new riders. Texan “Dazzling” Darryl Schiller, who was awarded Rider of the Year in the endurance and offshore scene, battled it out from the holeshot against the five other riders, with the help from his holder, Andy Wise. The crowd anticipated a showdown between Freddy Vaca and his teammate Trace Mills to take place later in the day. Those who were hoping to see Freddy’s rumored 88-mph Judge Motorsports-built Kawasaki supercharged STX-15F were disappointed, as Vaca chose to save his 15F for the first and second rounds of the National Tour in Parker, Arizona. But, not wanting to let anyone down, Vaca put on a good performance aboard an offshore Judge Motorsports-prepared 15F. He was flawless on it the whole day, and made efforts to hang with the heavily prepped Judge Motorsports Open 1200 STX-R two-stroke of Trace Mills.

At the awards ceremony after the races, goodies were given to the racers, such as to Sport Modified-class racer Steve Issacs, who received a gift certificate to Outback Steakhouse. The recipients wore the medals they were presented with proudly.

Sunday marked round two and the tired minds and sore bodies attested to the grueling competition. Some were able to make it for Sunday while others backed out; however, Heimann returned on Sunday to fill in for “Flyin” Brian Smith as course marshal, and was a real pro out there.

But in a great surprise, Jeff Pinkleman brought his two sons to do some PWC racing on a Laser Jet PJS 550 and an old-school Kawasaki 550. The first moto was a riot – one brother fell, and then the other fell as soon as he passed his brother, and this continued. Moto two was another story, as the older Pinkleman boy fell only once, getting up to take the checkered flag, after which he took a parade lap with his brother right next to him aboard the course marshal’s boat – the crowd gave them both a standing ovation.

The Juniors are the future of the sport and Chris MacClugage of Macc Racing understands that perfectly, agreeing at the beginning of the year to support the R5 Water-X Racing Junior program. Freddy Vaca, in conjunction with Judge Motorsports and Team Pinnacle, understands how important the Juniors are to PWC racing and has come aboard with R5WX agreeing to give out to a top Junior rider a $250 American Express gift card. This, along with MacCluggage’s award, will also be given away at the last race.

There were three new Beginner Runabout riders on Sunday, and proved to be a class to watch, with Ally D taking the win over the all the men.

Another class that drew a lot of attention on Sunday was the Pro-1200 Stock class and the Am-Na Stock class. These two classes were combined, allowing racers Derek Mroski from the Pro 1200 Stock class, Joey Mauldin (a beginner) from the Am-Na Stock class and Ben Holcomb from the same class to compete on the same field.

The day before, on Saturday, it was Derek who took the lead from Joey, with the two competing on nearly identical Kawasaki 15Fs. But Sunday was another story, with beginner Joey sweeping both motos in championship fashion, taking the lead from both Mroski and Ben Holcomb both times. Joey, ecstatic, with his family in the crowd, won his very first race that day.

Sunday’s races finished promptly by 3:30 p.m. with the awards being handed out an hour later. Prizes included a brand-new set of Kawasaki 800 SX-R mat sets from AP Designs, and the weekend was a complete success, thanks to all those who helped and participated: region five racers, DC Lites Racing, Sea-Doo, Gene’s Powersports, Slippery, Monster Energy, PerformanceVinyl.net, renegaderadio.net, AP Designs, Macc Racing, Judge Motorsports, Team Pinnacle, Freddy Vaca, Outback Steakhouse Baytown, Motel 6 of Baytown, Texas, J.P. of BlueSky.

You can find the latest news and upcoming events for Water-X Racing on the Internet at www.r5waterxracing.com, or by phone at 214/498-3592.