TIM BORGFIELD HOPES TO `JET' HIS WAY TO RICHES

Borgfield has won about 50 first-place awards since he began jet skiing three racing seasons ago.

Borgfield says that he doesn't have to pay for the expensive jet skis. His sponsors pay for them in return for the free advertising that goes on his skis.

Borgfield raced in the 1995 World Finals this summer in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., where he placed 10th overall. (Photo courtesy Tim Borgfield)

"If you can't race something, why have it?" Tim Borgfield of Jackson asks.

Borgfield has held that philosophy all of his life. When he was 7 he raced bicycles, when he got older he raced motorcycles.

About five years ago he turned his attention to jet ski racing and found his niche.

"I've always liked competition," Borgfield said. "I love the thrill of knowing you've beaten everybody out there, when you've done it better than anyone else."

He's raced jet skis for the past three racing seasons, and more often than not he has done it better than anyone else judging from the awards and trophies on his walls.

He has about 50 first-place wins. He's placed in the top three in Missouri and Illinois championships. He's even raced in the World Finals, which is held every year in Lake Havasu City, Ariz.

He came in 10th overall in his class, not bad considering he was up against the best amateur jet ski racers in the world, including skiers from as far away as France and Brazil.

When he was qualifying for the World Finals, he had boat problems and had to borrow a friend's boat.

"I had placed fifth in Chicago and first in Michigan," he said, smiling as he tells the story. "I had to win in Wisconsin on a borrowed ski if I wanted to go the World Finals.

He was winning after the first two and one-half laps of the five-lap race, and then the skiers had to stop because of lightning.

"When there's lightning, that's it," he says. After "sleeping on it" another night, he still managed to come back the next morning and win.

After that, he said, the World Finals seemed like "just a race."

Borgfield turned to jet skiing after motocrossing lost its luster for him. "I had done everything I had wanted to do," he said. "I had reached a plateau. I have a whole new desire to achieve in jet skiing."

Borgfield races 25 to 30 times a season, and he gets to travel all over the country to do it. He's been to Florida, Arizona, Illinois, and other exciting places. "I've got friends all over the country."

A new jet ski costs about $5,000, but after Borgfield is done "souping them up" their value greatly increases. Borgfield has five jet skis, but he doesn't pay for them. He gets big names to sponsor him in exchange for placing their name on the ski.

He says that practice and mastering a technique is the secret to success in jet ski racing.

"The key is to be smooth, to stay hooked up," he said. He explains the term "hooked up" as keeping your pump in the water. "If your pumps not in the water, you're not going anywhere."

During the summer, he practices every day in the Mississippi River, but there's technique even in practice.

"When I practice with someone, I try to ride behind them so I can ride in the rough stuff. Anyone can ride well in smooth water."

He says the rough water behind another racer is called white wash. When one is in white wash, it's much more difficult to hook up.

Borgfield is living proof that jet ski racing isn't always the safest sporting event around. He walks around with a scar on his left arm from a skiing accident he had in Springfield, Ill.

"I broke my arm completely in half," he says, pulling his sleeve up. "We were racing and a guy missed a buoy and hit me. We both fell off of our skis another guy ran into us.

"The doctor said it was like laying your arm on a table and hitting it with a sledgehammer."

But Tim Borgfield isn't about to quit jet ski racing -- in fact he hopes to someday make it his career.

"I want to go pro," he said. He says the job could earn him hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

Borgfield says he hopes to have "gone pro" by next year, which would fulfill a long-time dream for him.

"I have to do it," he says. "If it doesn't fall into play, if I didn't even try, I'd regret it."