World Series 2025
The past weekend took the PWC racing focus to international shores as the first round of the WGP#1 Waterjet World Series 2025, with more than 200 elite jet ski riders from 21 countries across five continents—Europe, the Americas, Asia, Oceania, and Africa—competing in the OSAKA GRAND PRIX 2025 at Nishikinohama Beach, Osaka, Japan.
The season, and this weekend’s race opened with high ceremony, as is familiar to those who have had the opportunity to attend a World Series event. The opening ceremony included not only representatives from the race series, but government officials and leaders as well.
Osaka is honored to welcome athletes and fans from across the globe. Nishikinohama Beach and the city of Osaka are now recognized as one of the premier jet ski racing destinations in the world. We extend a warm welcome to everyone here for this historic event,” stated Executive Chairperson of the Osaka City Council Takashi Takeshita.
Parikhet Subsahakarn, Tournament Director of the WGP#1 and owner of WGP#1, added “This is a proud moment for the global jet ski community—and especially for Thailand. WGP#1 World Series has truly gone global. The Osaka Grand Prix 2025 has attracted over 200 top riders from 21 nations, and the event will be broadcast live to over 200 million households worldwide, cementing our status as the #1 jet ski tournament on the planet. We’re also looking ahead to the grand finale: WGP#1 Waterjet World Cup 2025, set for December in Thailand. We’re expecting over 3,000 international athletes to participate, delivering enormous economic and tourism value for the country.”/
After three days of competition in 21 classes, several USA racers brought home podium wins, with Factory Kawasaki’s Hyperion ski under many of them. Kommander Industries riders also put in an excellent showing in Osaka, and even independent USA riders fared well.
Podium highlights included:
PRO SKI GRAND PRIX
1st: JIMMY WILSON #300 – USA / Factory Kawasaki USA (Hyperion)
2nd: Mao Sato #88 – Japan / Factory Kawasaki USA (Hyperion)
3rd: Ryder Wildeboer #888 – USA / Kommander Industries
ENDURANCE OPEN
3rd: Hugo Pastorello # 88 – France – Pastorello Competition/Factory Kawasaki USA (Hyperion)
PRO FREESTYLE
2nd: DEMI MORGAN – USA / High Speed Industries
PRO AM WOMENS SKI GP
3rd: Sophie Francis #47 – UK (No Team sponsorship, but riding a Kawi Hyperion with stock class engine)
10: Carris Webster #210 – USA / Kommander Industries
EXPERT SKI
3rd: Hugo Pastorello # 300 – France – Pastorello Competition/Factory Kawasaki USA (Hyperion)
8th: Ryland Webster #210 – USA / Kommander Industries
VETRANS SKI GP
1st: Jonathan Phan #300 – USA / Kawasaki USA (Hyperion)-Hot Products USA
JUNIOR 13-15 SKI 4 STROKE LITES
2nd: Ty Smith #515 – USA / Smith Racing
Full results for the Osaka Grand Prix can be found here.
IJSBA expands partnership with Lake Havasu
In a mid-week post last week, IJSBA Executive Director Scott Frazier announced an expansion of the organization’s partnership with Go Lake Havasu through 2026. “We expect to soon announce the full details of how extensive this partnership will be to provide an all new World Finals experience for the next two years and bringing us to a new future in 2027,” Frazier stated.
Go Lake Havasu is the Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) for Lake Havasu City, Arizona.
Additional preview points for upcoming IJSBSA activities and endeavors included: A shift to multi-stop events and “ending a focus on a one size fits all single format.” Frazier added that “the goal is to branch out to multiple formats encouraging experiences in several global venues where PWC growth, travel, and relocation are goals;” announcement of the June release of a new site layout plan for World Finals, along with information on the PWC Convention and Expo Poker Run; advance notice that IJSBA will soon release new rules updates that “should be able to guide away from rogue or inconsistent rule interpretations and finalize the contributive changes posted throughout the year.”
Wednesday’s post also included notes that IJSBA will soon be releasing a conservative financial plan for the 2025 SBT World Finals and a full historic retrospect of the organization. The full press release can be read below.
AJSA made Fox News for round 1 of the 2025 season; now it’s almost time for Round 2
Coming Up
The 2nd Round of the American Jet Sport Association 2025 Season is just around the corner. After Round 1, held April 11-13 in Guntersville, Alabama, AJSA is gearing up for round 2 May 30-June 1 at Chester Frost Park in HIxon, Tenn. (outskirts of Chattanooga).
Schedule is as follows:
Friday: 8:30am: Corporate Challenge; 1pm – 5pm: Practice
Saturday: 9am: Practice; 10am: Racing; 12:00pm: Freestyle; 12:50pm: Pro Show
Sunday: 9am: Practice; 9:30am: Racing; 10am: Pro Show; 11am: Amateur Racing; 12:00pm: Freestyle; 12:50pm: Pro Show
PWC Briefs
Registration is now open for the Jettrim IJSBA Jr Nationals, which will be held on June 5 – 6 in Altus, Oklahoma. Registration Link: https://app.iraceready.com/event/jettrimjr
A Jet Ski Cruise is set for June 8 on Old Hickory Lake, a reservoir located on the Cumberland River at mile 216.2 in Sumner and Davidson counties, approximately 25 miles upstream from Nashville.
East Coast Watercross is giving away 4 VIP tickets to see the Zac Brown Band on May 30th at the Bank of NH Pavilion (Gilford, New Hampshire). Check the ECW Facebook page for details.
Jersey Show PWC Riders group will be hosting their Annual Make A Wish Charity Ride on Saturday, June 7 from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
The International Jet Sports Boating Association is pleased to announce a preview of a series of critical updates to the organization and action plans. Please share the following news with your friends and colleagues in the PWC Racing Community. Stay tuned to IJSBA for expansion of these points over the next weeks as posts will be made regularly.
IJSBA is very pleased to share that the agreement to extend the partnership with Go Lake Havasu has been extended through 2026. We expect to soon announce the full details of how extensive this partnership will be to provide an all new World Finals experience for the next two years and bringing us to a new future in 2027.
IJSBA is hopeful to announce all new partnerships for the next two years for different joint methods of multi stop events. Ending a focus on a one size fits all single format, the goal is to branch out to multiple formats encouraging experiences in several global venues where PWC growth, travel, and relocation are goals.
New media partners and plans. IJSBA has secured two new media partners for the 2025 Short Block Technologies World Finals. We are continuing to accept offers for new media and podcast partners who can each receive exclusive pre-World Finals content.
The IJSBA PWC Convention and Expo Poker Run of 2025 will be fully announced in June and will take place on October 10-12.
An entirely new World Finals site layout plan will be announced next month to host World Finals, the Trade Show, and the Owners Convention programs. The new layout will include a completely redesigned vendor and spectator area, a new entrance, and a significantly larger pit area allowing for more waterfront pitting than in previous layouts.
The week, rule updates will be posted that should be able to guide away from rogue or inconsistent rule interpretations and finalize the contributive changes posted throughout the year as well as begin a section of the rule book which includes regularly submitted rule questions that were received by IJSBA and the response given. The names of persons/contacts requesting the information will be redacted.
IJSBA will announce a conservative financial plan for the 2025 SBT World Finals fully aware that we are in an uncertain global economy. We do not anticipate any loss of amenities.
IJSBA will post a full historic retrospect of the organization, where we have been, and where we intend to go. This will be posted in the next upcoming weeks. We hope you will find the history interesting.
We hope the preview is discussion worthy and that the content will be well received when it is published. For questions or comments, please email [email protected].
AloJapan.com