Thailand secured two of the four main professional titles on offer at the recently completed Jet Ski King’s Cup – World Cup Grand Prix 2011, which was held at Jomtien Beach from December 2-4.
Sunday, December 4 saw a huge gathering of fans, tourists and media drawn to the temporary seating erected on Jomtien Beach for a grandstand view of the final day’s action. Indeed, the six and a half thousand fans that came along on Sunday raised the total attendance figure for the three-day event to a whopping 12,870 spectators.
Theerapong Khungieng raises the Thai flag after winning the Pro Runabout 800 OPEN event.
The annual Jet Ski King’s Cup is considered one of the most important competitions on the professional jet-ski calendar, and this year proved to be no exception with top racers from 5 continents and 35 nations taking part and the event being broadcast to millions of homes courtesy of ESPN, True Visions and Thai Channel 3, plus the live video feed from the venue.
The home fans were given a great excuse to find their cheering voices early on Sunday afternoon as Thailand’s Onnim Piroj from the PTT Power-R team cruised home to take first place in the Pro Sport GP category with 206 points, while compatriot Supak Settura took second place on 198.
Jet-ski legend Nicolas Ruis of France celebrates another victory to add to his long list of successes.
Piroj’s home victory was mirrored soon after in the Pro Runabout 800 OPEN class by Theerapong Khungieng racing for the Singha PTT team, whose victory in the third heat on Saturday meant that his high place finish Sunday was enough to clinch the top podium position from former winner Chokuthit Molee.
The spectators were kept royally entertained during the break between races by live DJ’s and a well received Miss Bikini contest which drew some loud cheers from the male contingent in the audience.
Masaki Wake performed some spectacular stunts to win the Freestyle event.
The action continued out on the water with the most spectacular category and a real crowd favourite, the Pro Free Style event, which was deservedly won by Masaki Wake from Japan who performed some outrageous acrobatics on his jet ski to beat off some really strong competition.
The final two events saw victory go to a pair of French racers and arguably two of the best jet-ski professionals currently operating on the World Cup circuit. In the Pro Ski OPEN, world number one Steven Dualiach of France triumphed despite failing to win a Moto (race) over the three days, but his consistent high finishes left him six points clear of runner-up Rick Sherker of the USA, who won two Moto’s after coming back from a disappointing start.
Chokuthit Molee (T4) races to second place overall in the Pro Runabout 800 OPEN.
The last race of the day saw pre-tournament favourite and 15 time world champion Nicolas Ruis of France take victory overall in the Pro Runabout 800 OPEN with a high place finish to follow on from his three wins in the earlier races. Chokuthit Molee took his second runner-up spot of the weekend, some 63 points behind the Frenchman.
The results of the other categories were as follows: Pro-Am Ski OPEN was won by Athit Wongpinta from Thailand for the Flamingo Jet Ski Team; Jet-Ski 1600 Pro-Am Runabout OPEN was won by Paul Gerard B. Del Rosario from Phillipines; the Pro-Am Runabout 4 Stroke Stock category went to Khalid Burbaye from Kuwait; and the Pro-Am Women Ski Limited was won by Belgian Yuki Kurahashi for the BNU Racing Team.
The King’s Cup trophies were presented to the deserving winners at a grand Gala awards ceremony held at the Furama Jomtien Beach Hotel on Sunday evening. It was a great way to end three days of spectacular racing and a fitting tribute to His Majesty the King on the eve of his Birthday.
(Above) Spectators came in their thousands to watch the three-day championship.
