February 26, 2019
The 15th annual 2019 Mark Hahn Memorial 300-mile race is in the books!
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PWCOFFSHORE Racing Pit Crew |
Yamaha wins and seizes its second consecutive victory at the famed 300-mile endurance race in Lake Havasu City, AZ USA - piloted by world champion Chris MacCluggage and Troy Snyder on the Yamaha SVHO. However, the victory didn’t come to Yamaha without a little luck; Offshore racing veteran Mark Gerner who has won the overall Mark Hahn in 2009 and the Iron Man at this event, teamed with Juan Francisco SanMartin (Juanfa) of Uruguay - led the race for 20 of the 30 laps of the race on their Kawasaki ULTRA 310R. With only a few minutes to the finish line and with a dominating two lap lead, Gerner experienced a mechanical on the last turn of the last lap with the white flag flying, doing so with the finish line in sight. This allowed Team Macc-Snyder to capitalize, catch up, pass and win on the Yamaha SVHO. Gerner has had this kind of luck many times throughout his racing career, today was another day of similar past outcomes. The age-old of racing: "Engines have to stay together and you have to finish it to win it!" Yamaha beats Kawasaki on this day.
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Team Macc-Snyder |
Cold, really, really cold. Racers would wake up on Saturday, February 23 with ice on their skis and gear. It was so cold that some craft would experience issues with intercoolers due to the extreme cold. Racers and Pit Crews alike were seen bundling up with layers of clothing to protect themselves from the elements and prepare for the grueling 300-mile race that lay ahead. Racers were focused on keeping their hands and feet warm in the frigid conditions. But that’s what makes this race great! The 300-mile endurance race is a test of man/woman and machine at full throttle for 300 miles with racers supported by well-honed Pit Crews who pursue sub two minute fueling turnaround times. Teamwork, Pit Crew efficiency, mechanical & physical endurance are what it’s all about.
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Juanfa |
Water conditions would be fairly flat at the start as the shotgun blast sent the roar of horsepower throughout Crazy Horse campground. The water conditions would end up staying that way until the final four laps of the race when small wind waves started to present themselves. These conditions were a far cry from the brutal conditions of year’s past that presented six-foot white-capped wind waves, thrown racers from boats, and broken bones (Expl: KC Heidler…)
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Mark Gerner |
The race started with team Klippenstein (the 2018 incumbent champion) going our early with a mechanical on his Yamaha PWC. Team Pastorello led this race on their Kawasaki until around lap 10 when he would go out with a mechanical giving Team PWCOFFSHORE Gerner-Juanfa the opportunity to take the lead on the Kawasaki platform; which they did in spectacular fashion leading the race and extending their lead with impressive lap times propelled by the superb pitting by the best pit crew in the business. The PWCOFFSHORE Pit Crew was executing consistent sub one minute pit times. The day would be a day of mechanical carnage as machines dropped like flies due to the cold and overall stress of 300 miles straight at high speeds on PWCs.
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Kole Cramer |
In the standup class, Kole Cramer would outclass the field on his Kawasaki standup JetSki to take the championship. He did so even after stopping to pick up a downed racer and assisting him in getting him back to his craft, exhibiting true sportsmanship.
Aaron Cress of Orange County, California won the PWCOFFSHORE.COM Pit Crew MVP award for this leadership and work in the Pit Crew.
Congratulations to Team Macc and Team Yamaha for the
momentum in victories in the recent years, and to all of the 2019 Hahn Racers!
Lesson of the Hahn is, you have to finish it to win it.
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Juanfa |
*Scroll down for the overall results
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Mark Gerner and Juanfa with Pit Crew member Steve Rasmussen |
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Juanfa |
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Juanfa |
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Mark Hahn's actual race boat from back in the day |
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Mike Follmer |
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Kawasaki |
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Pastorello |
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Mark Gerner |
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Aaron Cress and Mike Arnold |
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Mark Gerner |
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Mark Gerner with Pit Crew Dave Tew and Mike |
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Mark Gerner and Eric Graff (Course Marshall Safety Official) |
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Juanfa |
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PWCOFFSHORE Pit Crew
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Ross Wallach of RPM Racing Ent |
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The Muscle |
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Eric Graff, Course Marshall |
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Mike Follmer and Mark Gerner |
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Mark Gerner |
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Mark Gerner |
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Steve Rasmussen |
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Mark Gerner |
Overall standing for the 2019 Mark Hahn 300 Mile Race:
- Chris MacClugage, Troy Snyder 110 4SS YAM 30 Jupiter,
Bradenton FL 1
- Mark Gerner, Juan Francisco SanMartin 58 4SS KAW 310R, 29 Alisa Viejo CA 2
- Dennis Mack, Eric Francis 243 MS YAM 29 Loganville GA 3
- Andreas Kubatzki, Craig Kelling 47 4SNA YAM 29 Slovakia and
Nevada 4
- Chris Saxon, Eric Lagopoulos 361 MS YAM 29 Orange Beach AL,
Sarasota FL 5
- Mark Conroy, Lauren Conroy 525 4SS KAW 29 Phoenix AZ 6
- Renee Hill, Tyler Hill 22 MS YAM 28 Moreno Valley CA 7
- Sophie Frances, Amanda LeCheminar 62 4SNA YAM 27 West Palm
Beach, Boca Raton 8
- Santiago Kuan, Omar Leon 30 4SS YAM 27 Whittier CA 9
- Enrique Martinez Gamiz, Javier Severi 27 PA4 SD 27 Italy
& Spain 10
- Kole Cramer 202 4SMU KAW 27 Lake Havasu AZ 11
- Brian Smith, Steve Goldberg 188 MS KAW 27 Lake Havasu AZ 12
- Preston Matzdorff, Raphael Mauren 44 4SMU KAW 27 Lake Havasu
AZ 13
- Louis Nguyen, Jack Chang 69 VMO YAM 27 Temple City CA 14
- Joseph Thompson, Cataya Vasallo 81 MS SD 27 Phoenix AZ 1 lap
15
- Mark Gomez, Mike Habel 137 PA4 YAM 26 Fullerton, Discovery
Bay CA 16
- Mike Neumann, Levi Sampayo 420 4SS 26 Bullhead City AZ, Las
Vegas NV 17
- Eric Garcia, Jamie Eade 111 MS KAW 26 Corona CA, Brisbane
Australia 18
- Mike Klippenstein, Theo Beaumer, 212X 4SMU YAM 26 19
- Becky Powell, David Ekhman, Brandon Edwards 621 4SMU KAW 21
Colorado Springs 20
- Steven LePrauhan, Tyler Kowalkski, Mike Demauro 18 S2SU YAM
21 Lake Havasu AZ 21
- Peter Yauri, Adam Abadie 18X 4SMU KAW 20 Burbank CA 22
- Rod Jackson, Jack Brisco, JB Gasperone 5X S2SU YAM 17 Lake
Havasu AZ 23
- Aryana Thayer, Tera Laho, Emma Nellie Ortendahl 831 4SMU KAW
17 Lake Havasu AZ 24
- Justin Taylor, Joe Johnson 191 4SS YAM 13 Essex Maryland 25
- Brandon Briscoe, Chad Cole 13 VMO SD 11 Herriman UT 26
- Fadi Sacre, Troy Morgan 930 4SS YAM 11 San Diego, Costa Mesa
27
- JB Pastorello, Hugo Pastorello 8 PA4 KAW 9 France 28
- Mitchell Wayt, Brett Douglas 16A PA4 YAM 9 Gold Coast
Queensland 29
- Vinnie Ferrara, Chris Adams 10 4SNA YAM 9 Sun City, New River
AZ 30
- Michele Cadei, Nicolas Chamand 5 MS KAW 7 Italy 31
- Nic Verdone, Joe LaPlaca, Kyle Cameron 502 S2SU KAW 7 Lake
Havasu AZ 32
- Reese Maricich, Tyler Shinko 1 S2SU POL 7 Bakersfield,
Thousand Oaks 33
- Gerry Wong, Charles Anderson 55 VMO YAM 6 Ft McMurray Canada
& Lake Havasu 34
- Juan Cruz Lezcano, Benjamin Mantel 777 PA4 YAM 4 Miami FL 35
- Derrick Diep, Tony Hoa 789 VMO YAM 3 Canoga Park CA 36
- Paul Pham, Cassius Sanders 99 VMO YAM 3 L.A. California 37
- Anthony Radetic, 153 MS SD 3 Abbeville Alabama 38
- Jimmy Roberts, Tyler Tripp 17 4SS YAM 3 Wisconsin and
Minnesota 39
- Mike Klippenstein 212 PA4 YAM 2 Ft McMurray Canada 40
- Daniel Anderson, Urik Bernsten,Stian Schjetlein oo7 4SMU KAW
2 41
- Dante Borruso, Seth Sirrs, Tom Sirrs 57 S2SU KAW 0 San
Clemente CA 42