Romero Gets in Shape and Into Contention

Frank Romero was mostly an afterthought on last year’s Budweiser Jet Sports Tour. But after winning the last two races of the season on the heels of five consecutive second-place finishes on the national tour, he eagerly awaits this weekend’s Super Bowl of jet skiing, the Skat-Trak World Finals at Lake Havasu, Ariz.

Riding a Polaris Pro Runabout 1,200 for the second year, he has his team riding high.

“I think we set the precedent for what you’ll see at the world championships,” Romero said. “I won the last two rounds of the national tour. The momentum has swung in our direction.”

Romero, from Dana Point, says one reason for his turnaround in the standings has been his adjusted attitude toward fitness. Under the direction of personal trainer Fred Churpa, he lost five pounds and hardened up a 5-foot-9, 175-pound frame.

“I got a lot stronger, a lot leaner and a lot more confident,” Romero said. “I didn’t realize how much of an effect it has.”

Churpa went to Romero’s practices, determined what muscles were being taxed during races, then worked on strengthening those muscles. He also became a confidant during their afternoon meetings. As Romero discovered a sounding board, he also discovered his riding improved.

“I used to love the racing, but I also loved the other things,” he said. “It was all fun and games. But this is becoming big business, and you have to do whatever it takes to keep your job. I’ve had to redo all my thinking to take this seriously, and if I want to be in this for the long run, I have to make some changes.”

His training regimen includes 60-90 minutes on the stationary bike and a 20-minute abdominal workout at 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. At midday, he does weight work for 60-90 minutes.

“After a couple rounds of racing, I was thinking I could be in better shape than this,” he said. He called Churpa, 29, a Lake Forest trainer and former bodybuilder.

He got in better shape, and got better results along with it. He just needs one more big victory to make the season complete.

Romero, 29, isn’t the only local rider among the top competitors in the pro closed course competition at Lake Havasu in the World Finals. Laguna Niguel’s Bill Pointer (Kawasaki) and Costa Mesa’s Tom Bonacci (Sea-Doo) finished third and fourth in the overall standings of the sport’s featured event, Pro Runabout 785.

Bonacci, by the way, is the defending world champion in Pro Sport, having won at Lake Havasu last year.

In past years, the closed course and slalom scores were combined to determine the world champion, but slalom has been eliminated as a part of determining the sport’s premier rider.

More than 750 riders from more than 35 countries are participating in the event, which continues through Sunday at the Nautical Inn Resort. Amateur (novice and expert) competition began over the weekend; the pros compete in closed course and freestyle competition Saturday, with the main events Sunday. Crowds are expected to fill the grandstand to its 38,000 capacity as riders compete for prize awards totaling $120,000.

Romero’s last victory was at the Jet Jam outside the Pond of Anaheim. It tied him for first place on the national tour in the Pro Runabout 1,200 class, the largest engine on the jet sports tour. But his two victories were one fewer than Vista’s Victor Sheldon, who won the tie-breaker in the 10-event tour. If Sheldon had finished third instead of second at the Pond, Romero would be champion.

“[Sheldon] did exactly what he had to do,” Romero, 29, said. “It was a little bit disappointing. I can’t say it was the most disappointing thing because we worked really hard all year and no one expected us to accomplish what we did.

“I’m absolutely happy. It puts us in good position for the world championships. The guys at the factory have been working 18 hours a day to get this stuff ready to go racing. We’re going there to win, and I think we have a good shot at it.”

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Max Papis not only finished the season racing three times for Arciero-Wells in the PPG Indy Car World Series, but finished second Sunday in the IMSA Exxon World SportsCar Championship series.

“For Ferrari, we are trying to win the championship, and that means I am capable of running in the front and I know what is needed to be a winning driver,” Papis said. “At the same time, with Arciero-Wells Racing, we are not running up front, but we are developing a package that will be winning. That is also a special feeling, like a baby coming along. We are creating something with our own hands and when we get up front, it will be fantastic.”

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After two years of planning, Team MacPherson Motorsports of Irvine unveiled “The Beast” over the weekend at the Laughlin Desert Challenge. It’s the company’s first true Trophy Truck after competing 25 years in off-road racing in classes 7 and 8.

It’s a Chevy 4x4 with a 510 big-block engine and the first all-wheel drive system in the SCORE Trophy Truck series. It also has a unique look--a lowered hood line, chop-topped cockpit and a whale-tail rear-end that makes it 20 feet from nose to tail.

The Beast was entered earlier in the Barstow Fireworks 250, but MacPherson’s director of racing operations, Jerry McDonald, said it was just for testing purposes and pulled it out of the race after only 50 miles. Laughlin, a timed 200-mile race broken into two 100-mile sessions Saturday and Sunday, represented the truck’s first chance at actually finishing a race. It is driven by San Clemente’s Jeff Lewis.

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Ricky Shelton of Huntington Beach leads the USAC Skoal TQ Midget standings despite flipping in his last race. His lead over second-place Eric Edenholm slipped to 102 points. Shelton has won 11 times in 1996, and next races at Del Mar on Oct. 19.

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The Del Mar Mile takes place Sunday at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. The Mile is the final race of this year’s AMA Grand National Dirt Track Championship series. The first race begins at 12:30 p.m. Tickets are available through Harley-Davidson and Honda dealers, Ticketmaster and Agajanian Presents Inc., in San Pedro. For information, call (310) 547-9898.

Joe Winston of Laguna Hills will compete in the Harley-Davidson 883 Dirt Track Series race.

The Orange County Motor Sports notebook will run monthly. Henderson can be reached at (714) 966-5904.