Rick Sherker Recap: Colonial Beach

Colonial Beach, VA

I arrived very late Thursday night into Colonial Beach, VA for round 6 of the UWP/IJSBA National tour.  Friday was brutally hot and humid with a heat index of 110 degrees, making it a tough day to get through the routine of unloading, testing, and tuning.  Luckily everything went smoothly.  That evening we strolled over to the High Tides, a restaurant and bar, just a short walk down the boardwalk between the pits and race site only to run into several familiar faces from when I first started racing, it was like a region 8 reunion.

 Saturday, temperatures where hot again, but humidity dropped making it much more comfortable.  The race course had been finalized and set… it was a right handed course that wrapped around a rock jetting coming out of the splits, coming back to shore along the beach, than back out along and around a pier full of spectators where the finish line was located. My first race was GP ski, where I had a terrible start after a good start that was red flagged due to a band malfunction. I was caught with my ski in the air when the band snapped, but managed to make my way up to third going into the splits and coming out second behind Macclugage.  Chris ran smooth without any mistakes, I stayed within a buoy of him, and Jimmy Wilson stayed within a buoy of me for all twelve laps to the finish. In Stock class, Rob Flores pulled another holeshot.  Josh block came out in second and I came out third. I finally got around Josh after he made a mistake coming off the back straight into the splits on about lap 10 of 12.  I finished second.  Saturday evening everyone made it down the street to the Dockside restaurant and Blue Heron pub where Jettribe hosted a fashion and swimsuit contest. It’s nights like those that remind me why I love this sport.

 Sunday started out wi

th another second place finish in stock class coming up just short with a photo finish and Flores taking the win.  Second moto of GP, Jimmy Wilson grabbed the holeshot followed by Macclugage and myself.  Macclugage made the pass on Jimmy in the splits taking the win, and I ended up third behind Jimmy and just in front of Flores.  On the Final moto of GP Macclugage took the holeshot and never looked back.  I finished third again, but this time behind Flores, which gave me a second place overall finish.  On the third and final moto of stock class, my luck changed with exactly what I needed to win…happening!  Alec Hohnadell pulled the holeshot after some rubbing and bumping.  I came out second and Rob came out third.  I was able to finally get by Alec after pressuring him for several laps on the back straight.  Alec managed to hold off Flores the rest of the race giving me the cushion I needed to tie Rob with 5 points after three motos, taking the overall with the last moto counting more.

 So with a first place in Stock and Second place in GP, it was a great weekend for myself and I can’t forget to thank my sponsors Jettribe, Riva, Fly, Full Spectrum, Hydro-turf, donaldstar.smugmug.com, and the support from my parents who were able to make it to this race, for the continued support making everything possible. 

 Sunday evening everyone ended up back over at the Dockside restaurant and Blue Heron Pub for the awards ceremony.  The local community of Colonial Beach and its great location leaves me looking forward to coming back. It was great to see some old faces show up and full lines in sport spec, one of the most entertaining classes to watch.  Anyone interested in checking out some photos from the event from Don Morningstar while anxiously awaiting round 7 of the UWP/IJSBA national taking place on lake Hartwell in Anderson, SC on August 13-14, check out this link: http://donaldstar.smugmug.com/Sports/Jet-Ski-Racing and click on Colonial Beach.