Del Rosario 2nd in world jetski race
2004 Dec 20, Manila Bulletin
THE COUNTRY'S ace jetski rider Paul del Rosario proved he's one of the best in the world with his impressive feat during the World Watercross King's Cup Thailand Open 2004 at the Korat Airforce Base here.
Using a jetski boat not fit for the small tight closed course track, Del Rosario, a two-time RP national champion, pulled through the exciting finish to rule the final race and capture the overall runner-up trophy in the 13-man field of the premiere Professional 1200 cc class that includes Australian champions Anthony Antees and James Masterton.
"My 2004 Yamaha GPR boat, which American tuners Mark Dobson and David Harvey rushed to build and test for only 2 weeks, wasn't favorable for the track compared to the powerful Seadoo RXP and XPL of the Thais. It was one tough event and I'm proud to bring home the runner-up honors for the country," said Del Rosario, who's backed up by Petron Corporation, Manila Cordage Corp., Networx Jetsports, Stoked Inc. and D7 Media Vision.
Del Rosario had just recovered from dengue fever and still experiencing asthma attacks when he came here together with RP-Networx team manager Dong Arcilla, mechanics Yannick Elnar, Edwin Copino, brother Robert Raymond del Rosario and dad Bobby del Rosario in this annual event held to honor the King of Thailand.
Still, he came up with an amazing performance on his Pro class debut that created quite an impression here. Japanese jetski magnate Ted Saito even said "the Philippines has the best Yamaha Runabout rider in Asia" while King's Cup race director Justine Lee described his performance as "Philippine Show of Force" and now considers the Philippines as a jetski power to reckon with in Asia.
"The RXP was tested to reach speed of 83 miles per hour which is 8 mph faster than my Yamaha GPR that requires the racers to ride aggressively and always to be constantly on the throttle," he said.
"This is for our country and we've proven we're one of the best in the world," added Del Rosario who'll be competing against such giant names a Chris MacCluggage, Nicolas Rius and Dustin Farthing next year.
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