When you get a big cloudy, windy day, the odd shower and chopped up water in the bay you know its most probably a NSWPWC club meet but hey this time no one cared because after the winter layoff its great to be racing again.

Sunday 8th November marked the first event of the new 4 round NSWPWC Aqua-X Championship series with a great turnout especially in the standup class which has run hot and cold in previous years but looks set for a terrific battle this year with some brash new youngsters mixing it up with some of the old guard.

Nick Pilgrim

The day kicked off with the first Enduro race comprising 3 classes with Nick Pilgrim (RXP-X) taking first in Enduro Showroom Stock ahead of Corey Styles (RXP-X) and Ash Deadman (300X). Canberra’s Chinni Rao (Ultra 310) scooped Enduro Stock Runabout and Open Runabout.

Then it was onto the Circuit racing and Lites Ski/Open Ski with 11 runners of all ages and experience including Newcastle veteran and ex AJSBA President Michael McMillan on his trusty 750 SXi up against a bunch of youngsters including 14 year old Jett Cavanagh on his stock Superjet who immediately wowed the crowd with some talented racecraft amongst the big field including the welcome return of Mark Glew, organiser of the legendary National Capital Cup races in the mid 2000’s, current Australian Lites Ski Champ Tom Aitken, 2014 World Amat Vets Champ James Xuereb and Aussie Pro Open Ski #2 Michael Stevens.

Tom Aitken

Fast charger Aitken bolted from the gates but within a lap or two was handicapped by a broken hood latch in the first race. he continued all laps with the pole held flat down on top of the hood – quite an ordeal. This defined the way the day would unfold with Michael Stevens offering his Open Class 1200 triple Kawi to Aitken for the remaining 2 motos which of course meant he had to forgo his Lites class aspirations at the same time dropping a moto in Open. James Xuereb took advantage and cleaned up the Open Class overall from Aitken with Michael Stevens third.

Jett Cavanagh

Lightweight young charger Jett Cavanagh scooped the overall in Lites from Jackson Chambers and Brendan Parry all on Yamaha Superjets. The old dog Michael McMillan showed he’s still got the skills taking a well deserved 4th.

Corey Styles

Showroom Stock Runabout was all Corey Styles on his midnight black RXP-X from Nick Pilgrim (RXP-X) with Ash Deadman (300X) in 3rd. Big effort from Richard Holmes who brought out his trick Seadoo SPX and was right up in the mix until he started blowing fuses.  Styles was again victorious in Stock Runabout this time from Sam Burkett-Barratt (RXPX-X).

Great to see Queenslanders’ Brendan Boyd (TWT Pumping RXP-X) and Justin Belczowski (RXP-X) make the trek down to the Sydney to compete in the Open Runabout class against current Pro Open #2 Paul Leven aboard his new Dans Jetpower RXP-X. There was no stopping a dominant Brendan Boyd though who appears to have sorted his wickedly fast RXP-X to perfection. Boyd took the overall from Paul Leven and Belczowski in 3rd.

Brendan Boyd

A top day completed and massive thanks to the commited NSWPWC team of Nathan Wethered, Dean Jeffries, Paul Leven, Michael Richards, Taylor Aitken and Harriet Green with commendable helping hand from Michael Stevens who jumped aboard the safety ski after offering his Open class ski to Tom Aitken.

Next round of the Aqua-X Championship is 31st January 2016 at the same location, St George Sailing Club at Sans Souci – mark it in your diary now and come down to say hi or better still pull out the skis and get racing!

Check out the full gallery of pics from Rd 1 here and stay active and up to date with on OZPWC on Facebook.

For more info on the Aqua-X series check the NSWPWC website and Facebook page

ROUND ONE RESULTS – Circuit

Lites Ski

Open Ski

Showroom Stock Runabout

Stock Runabout

Open Runabout

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ROUND ONE RESULTS – Enduro

Enduro Showroom Stock Runabout

Enduro Stock Runabout

Enduro Open Runabout

Open Runabout

Showroom Stock Runabout

Lites Ski

Open Ski

Enduro Stock Runabout

Enduro Open Runabout