SHANE HURNDELL
The death of a fellow competitor hasn't dampened the appetite Hawke's Bay waterski racers Logan and Jaaron Fritz have for Australia's Southern 80.
A freak accident saw a 38-year-old Sydney man die in the February 11-12 race on the Murray River after he lost control of his ski and hit the water at high speed on a hairpin bend known as Dead Man's Bend.
"Such accidents are always in the back of your mind but you can't do anything about them," said 14-year-old Jaaron.
"I want to go back and give the race another crack next year ... hopefully, we can beat the record," he said, referring to the fact that he and his Australian partner, Troy Arlow, won the short-course SMOC race in a time seven seconds slower than the race record.
On the second day, Jaaron, skiing behind the same Aussie boat, Redneck - a Bullet hull powered by a 225hp Mercury outboard - finished fourth in the junior boys' expert 80km race, which was taken out by the bigger Superclass 8 Litre boat, The Gun.
His 20-year-old brother, Logan, who also raced in an Australian team in the world's biggest race, collected a first placing in the MOC short-course race with a time two seconds faster than the previous record and in the MOC Expert section of the main race was beaten into second place by one second.
"I loved all the corners ... it's one of the better races I have done. I'll be back with the same crew if they want me," Logan said.
The race, which attracted 475 boats and involved 35 classes, was Logan's first since an operation on an arm injury. He was thrilled with the success of the operation. Success continued to flow the Fritz brothers' way at last weekend's Atiamuri-hosted round of the national series. Jaaron collected two first placings, one in the junior section and one in the 16-19 years' section, where fellow Napier competitor Paul Mitchell was second.
Logan collected second and fourth placings.
Next weekend they will tackle the North Island championships in Taupo and on March 26 they will be back in Taupo for the nationals. At the nationals they will aim to secure berths in the Kiwi team for the transtasman test to be raced in Taupo from April 20-23.
Having beaten many top Aussie competitors in the Southern 80, they would fancy their chances of repeating those feats on the more familiar waters of Lake Taupo.
WATERSKIING: Fritz brothers hooked by big Aust river race
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