Interesting article
 

Friday, May 14, 2004

Motor Sports: Local boat racing appears victim of NASCAR's explosion

By: CLIFF KIRKPATRICK - Staff Writer

As stock car racing on the West Coast prospers, motor sports on the water continues to struggle.

That's surprising since area motor racing fans for years thrived on personal watercraft racing, offshore powerboat racing and hydroplane racing. But that was before NASCAR's West Coast expansion.

Now it has come to this: There are no watercraft or powerboat races scheduled for the area this summer. That leaves cities such as Oceanside high and dry, and the remaining fans shut out.


The next major water event is the annual Thunderboat Regatta at Mission Bay, scheduled for Sept. 17-19. But even that event's headliner, the Unlimited Hydroplane Series, is facing its own financial troubles.

The International Jet Sports Boating Association restructured itself in the offseason. It decided to keep sanctioning personal watercraft racing outside the United States but can not run the domestic national tour. That leaves regional promoters to handle all the events so U.S. riders can qualify for the IJSBA world finals in October at Lake Havasu City, Ariz. The closest regional races are in Lake Havasu and Las Vegas.

Pro riders such as Escondido's Sean Workman competed in Australia and New Zealand last month to find top-level competition. Workman also is looking to ride the European tour.

"There has been talk about people putting a national tour together, but for now I'm just doing regional races to get ready for the finals," Workman said. "I think the sport will come back. I think in the next couple of years the sport will have a national tour again."

The Pacific Offshore Powerboat Racing Association has staged the Oceanside Offshore Gran Prix for seven years, but is taking this season off.

"The cost the city of Oceanside was charging us became too (much)," series vice president Craig Ferguson said. "We can't afford it. It was a big (financial) loser for us last year."

However, president Brett Seber of Escondido said the cost was worked out but the venue became unavailable because of work on the harbor. Seber said waiting until later in the year wasn't an option because that would create problems with the rest of the schedule.

"We're disappointed it didn't work out," Seber said. "We'll look into next year."

It's a five-race season with one open date, which is for Long Beach. At this point, Ventura and Huntington Beach are the closest events.

For San Diego not to be a major player in boat racing is a shame. It's also a sign of the times, showing that fans and sponsors are more attracted to fast cars than fast boats.

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