Muscle Milk MEGA athlete, Memo Gidley, had a very strong performance in round #1 and #2 of the DJSA Outlaw Jet Ski season this past weekend despite battling numerous mechanical problems.
Leading up to this weekend, Gidley had problems with both his primary Muscle Milk 800cc standup machine, and his Cytosport backup practice ski that kept him out of the water and not as strong as he would have hoped leading up to the season opener. “This has been quite a frustrating last two weeks,” said Gidley. “It seemed that whenever I went to practice one or both of my ski’s were having problems. In the last two weeks, I have taken my motors out five times, and the pumps out three times, trying to fix these issues. They say when it rains it pours, but in this case it was more like a hurricane of problems.”
Gidley did get everything running strong by the time he headed down to Salt Spring Valley Reservoir, in Copperopolis, CA. “I want to give an extra thanks to Derek at the Ski Clinic and Mitch at M&M Marine, for getting me the parts I needed to get my ski’s put back together.” said Gidley
Even with the pre-race ski drama, Gidley responded like the true competitor he is by holeshoting the first heat race. Gidley went on to finish 2nd in Saturdays race #1. “Even after it looked like the problems were done, my Muscle Milk ski had an electrical issue in heat race #2, and I had to switch to my backup ski,” said Gidley. “Still, it felt great to get back on the water and go race!”
On Sunday’s race #2, Gidley once again was the holeshot king and was first around the buoys in most of his heat races. “I had my buddy Jason “Psyco” Ward as my holder and we were completely nailing every start!” said Gidley.
Memo looked good for another strong second place in the race #2 final when with one lap to go, his ski stopped running. “That was a shame,” said Gidley. “I had another nice finish in the bag when my ski had another issue. Either way, it was a great weekend, I felt pretty strong, and I can’t wait to come back for the next round.”
In the junior “B” division, eight year old Rachel Gidley had a great season opener by finishing fifth out of a strong field of anxious kids. The junior division is becoming one of the most popular classes of the weekends since DJSA president Jim Lambert added the division last year.
“I applaud Jim Lambert for what he has done with the junior division,” said Gidley. “There is nothing better than racing to teach kids positive life lessons.”
Rachel had a trouble free practice and race, including one heat race win going head to head against her nearest competitor, eight year old Cienna Ward. “Cienna did really great and I liked the race we had together,” said Rachel. “I really like to ride my jet ski and wish I could ride it more.”