Pattaya, Thailand - From 5 to 8 December, the world's best jet skiers competed at the annual Grand Slam at the Jetski World Cup Grand Prix in Thailand. The Lower Austrian and two-time World Cup Champion signed a factory deal with Bullett Racing. The American team is one of the most respected manufacturers of jet ski hulls and has built a racing machine for the Austrian for the first time. With 5 training days on the new vehicle, Reiterer tried as best as possible to adjust to the conditions. Nevertheless, no training situation corresponds to actual racing.
Among his biggest rivals are his Bullet Racing Team colleague Jeremy Poret (FRA), with two World Cup wins, as well as last year's winner Raphael Maurin (FRA). With some mistakes, Reiterer secured fourth place in an instructive first race. The Lower Austrian did not need a long time to adjust. Already in the second race Reiterer led the field from start to finish, with a respective lead. After a false start in the third race, Reiterer took the field up to fourth place. Despite the short time on the new hull, the final moto should have been another demonstration of dominance for the Austrian athletes onboard his Bullett V4. Shortly before the last start, the wind turned and the waves crashed onto the sandy beach, which made the conditions even more intangible for the drivers and their 200+ horsepower machines.
But Reiterer kept a cool head, secured the holeshot and had a 10 second lead three laps into the race. The Austrian seemed secure at first, but Reiterer slowed from lap to lap until his jetski failed three laps to the finish line.Unfortunately, the motorsports athlete could not live up to his full potential and had to surrender due to the technical component of the sport. According to Bullet Racing, a cooling line fitting broke, which was damaged by the high forces of the waves. At the end it was only good enough for fourth place position for the passionate Austrian.
The athlete himself mentally describes a technical failure as a particularly difficult situation. In recent years, despite the support of factory teams, he has never been able to complete all four races of the World Cup. But the passionate professional athlete looks beyond the technical defeat in a professional manner: “Yes, it is like a Dejavu, bit I really enjoyed every second of it out there, learned a lot about myself and my ski, grew from race to race and I was able to set new limits. It’s always bitter, but not the end of the world and finally I am healthy doing what I love the most. I am grateful for the experience and looking forward to the next races. My thanks to Bullett Racing for the incredible ski and the opportunity to race it and my long term supporter, friend and sponsor Knauf.”
