7:39 AM Mon 22 Jun 2009 GMT
 | | 'Mark Weaver, prior to his Clarence River fall, was rated Australia’s #1 F2 skier for Belgium.'
Ian McCamish
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Final results are to hand for the 2009 Queensland Water Ski Racing championships which, this year, were conducted on NSW waterways after torrential rain and debris had rendered Queensland venues too dangerous.
It was only after a first class clean-up by the Grafton City Council that allowed the titles to be staged on the Clarence River, the end result offering some of the best and fastest ski racing scene at a recent title event.
Sadly, the titles were marred when Australian team member and #1 Formula II skier for the Belgium world titles, Mark Weaver, took a high-speed fall and sustained injuries that forced his withdrawal from the team.
 | ’Burnin’, which looked set for a productive championship with Mark Weaver up, sadly saw the ace F2 skier take a high-speed fall which cost him his place in the Australian team. - Ian McCamish |
He has been replaced by reserve skier Luke Keys, who claimed a second place in Junior Boys at the '07 World championships in New Zealand; Kris Knights takes his place on the reserve bench.
Several Australian team members competed in the Queensland titles, and other than the unfortunate Weaver all came through unscathed.
The racing was staged over two days, opening on the Saturday morning with good fields contesting the marathon events.
Mick Kelly, behind 'Category 5' and Grant Turner behind 'Havin' Fun' duelled closely throughout the race until Kelly was able to stretch his lead and claim the chequered flag.
Ben Gulley, skiing behind 'NoGo' claimed the Under 19-Years marathon.
The Women's Marathon was equally as close-fought.
Kylee Jones took an early lead over Seanne Kelly in the opening leg and the lead changed hands several times before Seanne eventually claimed victory by less than two rope lengths.
 | Grant Turner skiing behind ’Havin’ Fun’ claimed second place in the Marathon behind Mick Kelly and ’Category 5’. - Ian McCamish |
In the Over 50-Years Marathon, Nessie Hicks led the way, lapping consistently to take out the top prize.
Social for men and women saw big fields entered, with local buy Adam Schmidt ('Gale Force') taking top honours after a frantic race, with Glen Corcoran and Ben Gulley filling the minor places.
Suzie Cartwright ('2 Wild') and Kylee Jones ('Argo') fought out the Women's Social neck and neck all the way before Jones edged ahead to claim first place from Cartwright with Jo Martin third home.
Latasha Gane, behind 'Fritz the Cat' took out the 60mph Social.
Several of the ski racing's top boats came to the fore for the tightly-contested Under 19 Boys and Girls and Under 30 Women, among them 'Blazen', 'MercForce', 'Ghostrider' and 'Crimsafe Racing'.
 | Ben Gulley , clear-cut victor in Under 19 Boys behind ’MercForce’. - Ian McCamish |
Ben Gulley ('MercForce') used his first grid position to full advantage to take a strong lead early and hold it to the line, with Richard Souwer ('Blazen') second and Shannon Gane ('Crimsafe Racing') third.
Bec Stone and Amanda Weaver posted solid performances to win the Under 19 and Under 30 respectively.
Racing moved into top gear on the Sunday, and a big field of quality ski racers had entered for the prestigious Open Men championship.
Richard Souwer ('Crimsafe Racing') and Ben Gulley ('MercForce') battled hard over the opening laps before Gulley surged head to lead the field.
'Burnin', towing Mark Weaver, slowly ate into the 'MercForce' lead, but could not get closer than 30 seconds behind with Gulley taking out the win.
It was a great battle for third with Wayne Mawer ('Juggernaut') and Richard Souwer
('Crimsafe Racing') only seconds apart.
Mawer did gain an advantage only for it to disappear when 'Juggernaut' suffered mechanical problems leaving the podium to Gulley, Weaver and Souwer.
Suzie Cartwright ('Crimsafe Racing') blasted out from the start in Open Women and led all the way for a convincing victory from Kylee Jones ('Burnin') and Serena Kruse ('Stealth;).
Other results included F2, with Adam Schmidt ('Gale Force') winning from 'Havin' Fun' towing Shannon Gane with 'NoGo' next to the line; MOC also delivered some excellent racing.
Unfortunately, it was the final race of the weekend, Unlimited Inboard and Outboard, which resulted in the Australian team losing Mark Weaver.
He was up behind 'Burnin' and skiing at close to 150km/hr when he took a tumble and was rushed to Grafton Base Hospital and, later, by helicopter to a Brisbane hospital.
Although his injuries, which included broken bones, had him listed as 'serious' he will make a full recovery.
by Bob Wonders
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