Mark Allen wins Ultimate 20 North Americans
Published on August 13th, 2014
The Ultimate 20 class returned to Racine, Wisconsin on August 8-10 for the 2014 North American Championship. Twenty-two boats competed in conditions consistently in the 7 to 10 knot range with a short chop.
Fridays racing kicked off with Jim Ulatowski and team Juiced from Colorado taking the first race. In fact, 4 different teams won the first 4 races. Chris Chambers on Black Sheep from Sandpoint, Idaho won the second race, Mark Allen on Junta from Salt Lake City won the third race and 2002 Champion Don Corey and Team Utoo won the fourth race. But the day was about keeping up with the Joneses.
BJ and Emily Jones with Tom Lawton on Rumbulion was the most consistent and led the fleet after the first day with a score line of 6,2,2,2. Just 6 points behind was the Wiggins family on Running with Scissors from South Carolina with 16 year old Jordan Wiggins on the helm making it look easy. Black Sheep was third and 2 time champion Tac Boston was fourth overall.
Saturday started with a promise of more wind but it never really filled in. Mark Allen on Junta hit the tune on the aluminum rig and moved up 2 places to third with a score line of 3,1,1,1. Jordan Wiggins on Scissors had another solid day and moved into first with scores of 1,2,3,2.
For the final day on Sunday, the top 3 teams were separated by 4 points. Mark Allen came out firing winning the first race of the day, Jordan took a 3rd and the Jones were 5th. In the 10th and final race, multiple teams converged at the first windward mark, a pileup ensued and several teams got jostled around. Junta came out in good shape and came home in third behind Tac Boston and Jin Ulatowski. The Wiggins family finished 7th and the Joneses 8th giving Junta the overall title.