Massive couple of days for jetski racing at the recent Lake Mac Big Weekend (14/15 Oct 2017) with all credit to Newcastle local Mark Glew who has once again showed an amazing ability to step up, follow through and successfully establish a new event, in a new location  for jetski competition in Australia.

After hibernating for a decade following the much loved National Capital Cup, which ran for 3 consecutive years on Lake Burley Griffin in the centre of Canberra, Mark Glew relocated his family to Newcastle in 2013. It didn’t take long for him to consider bringing a similar style event to Lake Macquarie but he sat on the idea and it wasn’t until his return to racing standups in 2016 and interest from Mark Perlowski, the owner of the local Newcastle Jetski Centre that they hatched a plan to bring a world class event to Lake Macquarie.

“The thing that drives me the most is I just love doing what people say you can’t do or it will be impossible to deliver,” says Mark Glew “so I just like to prove people wrong and do that. I like to create something that grows. The Superboats have a 5 year contract and there’s no reason why we can’t do the same, we delivered a successful event this year, we had a lot of eyes on us and we had great support from the local community, the council and from the Mayor Cr Kay Fraser.”

Fraser agreed, “The broad range of activities, such as the Superboats, jetski racing, aerobatic flying displays, markets, exhibitions, food festival, live entertainment and an opportunity to try different water sports, made the Big Weekend highly attractive to residents and visitors, brought our community together and supported our local business.”

Lake Macquarie is Australia’s largest coastal salt water lagoon twice as large as Sydney Harbour covering an area of 110 square kilometres and a beautiful aquatic playground. The race site location at Eleebana was just about as perfect for jetski competition that I have seen in countless years covering events in Australia and just a few kilometres from the holiday accommodation, cafes and restaurants of Warners Bay.

With great support from the industry including sponsors Newcastle Jetski Centre, Terrace Boating, Lake & Valley Powersports, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Sea-Doo, Jetsport Asia Australia, Australian Jet Ski Parts, Jetpilot, Envy Graphics, Redbull and Archadia the event was run by the NSWPWC, their first for the season and their first away from their usual Sans Souci venue in the South of Sydney.

Friday kicked off with a media event and a hot lap around the track (courtesy Corey Styles) for Mayor Kay Fraser and Aaren Russell (V8 Supercar Driver for Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport) later broadcast on the NBN network across the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie region.

Saturday morning was overcast but warm and racing was on with a whole day for Endurance racing across several classes including a first for Sea-Doo Sparks and Yamaha EX Waverunners racing in their own Rec Lites class.

Sunday was all circuit racing with full grids in 6 classes that once underway had a race starting within minutes of the finish of the previous race – allowing 3 complete motos even with the 2 Superboat races that stopped racing at 11am and 1pm for 45 minutes at a time – very impressive.

Tying the event in with the Lake Mac Big Weekend was genius, with plenty of interest from the locals lining the lake’s edge and walkways and checking out the hustle and bustle of the pits with the Redbull DJ pumping out some tunes and signage all around by Envy Graphics it was impressive and fun.  Congrats to Mark Glew and Mark Perlowski in getting this event off the ground, one of the best events I’ve been to and can only get better from here.

Dave Vella (206)

Paul Leven (Pro GP Runabout)

Greg Hack ( Rec Lites)

Richard Holmes (Rec Lites)

Veerapong Maneechom (Pro Modified Ski)

Scott Hunt (Pro Am Limited Ski)

Justin Cook (113) and McCauley Casey (96)

Paul Mullens (271)

Jake Beekman (Pro AmLites Ski)

Austin O’Halloran (Junior Lites Ski)

Check out all the pics under the Gallery link

LAKE MAC POINTS OVERALL RESULTS (CIRCUIT RACES) – 15 OCT 2017

Posn# – Race# – Name# – Points#

JUNIOR LITES SKI (AJSP)
1st 64 Blair Pomery 180
2nd 18 Cooper Beekman 149
3rd 57 Austin O’Halloran 135
4th 72 Ryder Dray 134
5th 15 Bryce Pomery 82