Upon arriving Saturday at dawn to the beach of Crazy Horse Campgrounds, riders and teams alike soon realized in no way was the Mark Hahn 300 going to be everything but an easy feat. With winds howling, overcast skies, and white caps crashing on shore, everyone prepared for a long, hard Mark Hahn 300.

Lining up on harsh shoreline of Crazy Beach, one thing that caught the attention of many this year, was as spectators looked out across the starting line, many pro riders had come to ride in the Hahn. In years past this was not the case. Fans this year could witness riders such as Craig Warner, Dustin Farthing, Chris MacClugage, Nicolas Rius, and Mike Follmer all give it there all in a 300 mile endurance race. With all these riders putting all they had on the line in terms of stamina and strength, it made for a great race.

As the shotgun blast rang out all 60 entries pulled there skis wide open and blasted off through the crashing waves. Fans with binoculars slowly witnessed Team Kawasaki’s Craig Warner and TBM Racing’s Dustin Farthing slowly pull away from the field, with Macc Racing’s Chris MacClugage close behind. What could not be seen by most, but was said by many riders was although the front stretch off the gate looked intimidating, the back side of the course on the California side was filled with what seemed to be overhead waves rolling through to make the Mark Hahn that much tougher on the mind and body.

As the first lap came quickly to an end spectators were treated with an all out battle to the chicane between Craig Warner and Dustin Farthing. Neither rider let up and after leaving the chicane, all onlookers could see was the back of Craig and Dustin racing off out into the open waters neck and neck. Lap two was a close resemblance to one except this time Dustin of TBM Racing was able to pull away from Craig slightly coming out of the chicane. With fans on there feet cheering and made for a great moment in the Mark Hahn 300. Chris MacClugage was hungry, and in the hunt shortly behind the leaders, and was poised to potentially give them something to contend with.

In the stand up class this year there were 11 entries and only one brave enough to be an Iron Man entry. Image Pro Design’s Karen Mann and Krissy Hale teamed up on a brand new 2008 Yamaha Superjet as well as our Team Riders Jason Billings and Kurt Samuels were aboard a Macc Racing Offshore Limited SXR to tackle the Mark Hahn 300. Dave “Looter” Hardenburger was in attendance riding his 70+ mph Hydro-Doo with Wayne Smith in the 300 mile endurance race as well as riders from Kommander Industries and Walt’s Motorsports. That one person with enough heart to conquer the Mark Hahn single handedly on an SXR this year was none other than ASAP Racing’s Aaron Sanchez. Not only was it an SXR but a Limited package that could cruise in excess of 56 mph through the rough waters. Aaron amazed all and ran 14 laps by himself to take the Iron Man award and amaze all with the effort put forth. Winners of the Mark Hahn 300 standup class were Walt’s Motorsports Brandon Bailey and Tyler Kowalski with 17 hard charging laps completed.

As the day progressed Nicolas Rius’s FZR that was rumored to be traveling close to 80 mph , dropped out with problems, Kawasaki’s Craig Warner dropped out due to the carbon hull cracking from the harsh pounding of the waves, and Chris MacClugage had to stop due to losing the intake grate. Mike Follmer informed us later that day that this years Mark Hahn had more towed in broken skis than all the years past combined. As the day went TBM Racing’s Dustin Farthing could be seen way out in front of the field and was a shoe in to win, yet at 28.5 laps completed the Kawasaki Ultra broke and washed away all hopes of pulling off TBM’s first endurance championship. With all major teams down, Mark Gerner and Robert Carreon riding for PWC OFFSHORE aboard their Kawasaki Ultra 260x were there to capitalize taking an overall win and Endurance Championship.

With the day coming to an end all could agree this year’s Mark Hahn 300 Memorial Race was one for the books with big names, class acts, and great racing, but it didn’t end there…As always, the Mark Hahn award ceremony is not only one of most well produced in PWC racing, but is always a night full of tributes to icons in the industry, including a much needed tribute to the leader Mike Folmer with a gift of a new helmet signed by all the racers. Image Pro Design would like to congratulate all riders that took on the rough waters of Lake Havasu this year and thanks Mike Follmer and all that were responsible for putting on such a great endurance race that will be remembered for years to come.