James Bushell’s team is fighting to overturn a disqualification ruling deemed unfair and ahead of time, after the PWC star won the first three motos of the US championship, only to be told his ski was underweight.

After the race, James’ new ski was found to be 78lbs underweight according to new rules – yet the IJSBA website stated that the weight change would not be coming into play until 2014.Speaking after the decision, James said: “My World Finals ski weighed in at 663lbs and this new one is heavier – 672lbs. Nobody knew about this new ruling coming into force before the stated date, and I feel the IJSBA was wrong to call disqualification.”A spokesman for 158 Racing said that the new weight ruling was announced on the IJSBA website in January, but the recommendation was that it would not come in until 2014. This statement is still live on the IJSBA website, in an article dated January 4, 2013. (Seehttp://www.ijsba.com/2013/01/04/ijsba-releases-managing-directors-recommendations-for-changes-to-the-2013-competition-rule-book/ )James’ father, Steve Bushell, also insists the weight of the Sea-Doo was race-legal: "James’ team is always extremely careful to ensure we’re working well within the rule book, so there’s no way they would have allowed him to race on a Sea-Doo that was not legal.”He added: “We have lodged a protest because we feel we have been treated unfairly, and we’re hoping the decision will be overturned, so we’ll await the outcome before commenting further.”

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