Chris MacClugage, the world’s fastest Jet Skier®, put the Monster Energy M-claw logo up on top of two overall national championship podiums this past weekend in Charleston, W.Va., winning the UWP/IJSBA Pro Standup Ski class – his sixth national standup championship – and taking his first national title in the Pro Runabout Stock class.
Aboard the Kawasaki-brand Jet Ski® that started it all, MacClugage, 37, pulled holeshots in all three motos and ran away with the Pro Standup overall win at Charleston, going 1st/1st/1st. And in the Pro Runabout Stock class, on an underpowered Yamaha boat, MacClugage’s 4th place overall finish was good enough to earn him the national title in the UWP/IJSBA National Jet Ski/PWC Tour’s eighth and final event of the summer.
“In the standup class we holeshot every race and that thing ran great, awesome,” said MacClugage of his Kawasaki. “In the runabout class we were definitely underpowered. The Kawasaki boats are at 300 horsepower, stock, and our Yamaha was at 206 (hp). So being an underpowered boat – and winning the championship – was a good achievement for Yamaha, my sponsors and myself.” MacClugage also got a bit of ‘allowable’ aftermarket help in the stock runabout class from his company, Macc Racing, along with Riva – another PWC aftermarket hop-up company.
This is the first summer since 2008 that MacClugage has run the entire, primarily Eastern U.S.-based UWP/IJSBA National Jet Ski/PWC Tour. Based out of Arizona, MacClugage noted the travel/time differences and UPW/IJSBA tracks he felt were “one lined and difficult to pass on … follow the leader stuff,” he added.
As for returning in 2012 to defend his UWP/IJSBA National Jet Ski/PWC Tour title, MacClugage defers to his sport’s Super Bowl – the upcoming Quakysense World Final at Lake Havasu, Ariz. – as the litmus test for a 2012 national series title defense.
“All depends on how my World Finals results are this year,” said MacClugage of the Oct. 1st event. “If I have a good World Finals I may take a break, take it easy on the national tour stuff next year.”
MacClugage’s wife, Rachael of course wouldn’t mind him taking a break as the two are expecting their first baby here soon … a son they’ll call “Mac,” as in Mac MacClugage!
For more on MacClugage, check out: www.maccracing.com
