Making the trip out to Havasu this year was a bittersweet experience for me. This is one of the races that I always look forward to the most, but this would most likely be my last trip to the World Finals for awhile so that I can focus on starting my future career after graduation this spring. The trip to Havasu was a frustrating and exhausting one filled with flight delays and late night driving. But all the frustration was worth it so that I could have a week-long vacation where I could have nothing but hot weather and hot racing action.The first few days were filled with riders’ meetings, practice, and making sure everything was running like it should. My first two races took place on Tuesday and I made it through my heat race with no issues, but when it came time for my first moto the ski didn’t want to start. After having my team of mechanics putting their heads inside the ski and throwing parts left and right trying to figure out what was wrong we just barely got it running before the start of my race. It was such a close call that my ski was delivered to me down on line right before the skis were fired up. I finished with a 7th place for the day and still had to get in my final moto the next day on Wednesday. When Wednesday rolled around I had similar issues with my ski but we got it running so that I could get through my last moto and I ended up finishing 7th overall. My results were disappointing but I was grateful that my ski survived through all of my races and I was happy that I could even be in Havasu to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the World Finals.
When I wasn’t racing I was spending most of my time working at the Jettribe booth which was also a sad experience because it would be one of my last weeks working for them. But it was definitely a fun experience getting to meet some of the new Jettribe staff and being able to interact with so many of the foreign racers who add so much to this event.
And when I wasn’t racing or working I was in the stands or down on line catching the intense fiberglass warfare. Hands down my favorite classes to watch were Pro Ski Open and Pro Ski GP. It was so amazing to see how fast some of these guys can go on stand-ups. But the whole weekend was filled with awesome racing action and it was cool to see the vintage skis and sport boats brought back to the starting line.
The week came and went so fast and my trip to Havasu was over before I knew it. My days in Havasu were filled with memories and new friendships that will last a lifetime. I was so happy to be part of such an awesome event and I can’t wait until the next time that I’m able to be out there. I would like to thank my amazing dad for for loving this sport as much as I do (and footing the bill for my racing expenses). I also have to thank the Block and Carroll families for being such an awesome pit crew, these two families are truly some of the most hard working and honest people around; they also, with the help of Bill Haig, got my ski running so I could race my last two motos and I would have been so lost without them. I would also like to thank the Jettribe team for being such a big part of my racing life. Hopefully I’ll be out at some races next summer so I can enjoy the racing scene for a little bit longer and see all of my racing family again!
Chelsea Schneider #240
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