| Memo Gidley Podiums the "Widowmaker" |
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| Monday, 20 October 2008 | |
 What do race car drivers do when the season of racing is over? Some take a break and go on vacation, while others, like Memo Gidley, look in their garage and see what toy they can pull out and race. Grand-Am star Gidley, who just came off a successful season racing with co-driver Brad Jaeger and the Doran Daytona Prototype racing team in the Grand-American Rolex Series, pulled out one of his favorite toys and headed to the track. But this was no normal track with asphalt... it had water! This past weekend, Memo entered his first stand up jet ski race in round 12 of the DSJA Watercraft series and came away looking like he had been there before. The race is also known as the "Widowmaker" because of the challenging track, and concrete walls that surround the course which make for difficult water conditions. "I'm a big fan of riding standup jet skis for training," said Gidley. "I also have a small group of friends that ride and we set up buoys in the bay at least once a week and have our own races. One of them forwarded me information about a race coming up and I knew what I would be doing this weekend... racing!" Memo had one half hour practice before the heats started. "Honestly, I was a little overwhelmed in practice," said Gidley. "The water became so rough because of the deflection of all the waves off the concrete walls that I could barely stay on my ski in a straight line let alone [race] somebody in the turn. Two things I learned right away... keep the nose of your ski up and, even more important, keep your mouth closed or swallow a ton of water!" Memo had to wear the "rookie" stripes on his helmet and start last in the first heat. He steadily moved up with each of the following heats to claim 3rd overall in the Super 800 standup class. "Each heat, I got a little more used to the conditions and the challenges of this race," said Gidley. "I was using a lot of things I have learned over the years from cars such as racing lines, setting up people to pass, and so forth, and it was just cool to be out there doing the same thing in the water that I do on car tracks while going elbow to elbow with other riders fighting for positions." Does Memo plan to do more? "I was having a blast out there and can't wait for the next one," said Gidley. "Not only was it fun, but I am a believer that it does not matter what you race, you can still pick up little details that translate into other types of racing like my Grand-Am races." When asked what he learned from the jet ski races Gidley smiled and said, "Always have a dry towel around if you plan to get wet! Seriously though, I met a lot of cool racers and was also really impressed with the DJSA organization and all the people who ran it including the awesome rescue boats on the water that made sure you were protected in the case of a crash. I can't wait for the next one." |
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