Last month, The Watercraft Journal dared the elements and a whole lot of common sense to compete in the annual Long Beach-to-Catalina Offshore National Championship. Known as possibly one of the most grueling open ocean races in the United States, the event has all been claimed by the all-time record-holding winner, Craig Warner with five championships – three of which he earned consecutively.
But as ventured to compete in this fantastic event, we were permitted to race alongside Kawasaki’s perennial guru of go-fast testing and development, multi-time World Champion Minoru Kanamori. The units Kawasaki proved us to race were identical bone-stock 2014 Kawasaki Ultra 310R JetSkis, qualifying us for inclusion in the lauded Manufacturer’s Stock class – requiring zero modifications other than traction mats, seat covers and handlebars.
Below, we’ve included an incredible point-of-view video of Kanamori’s effort on July 20th. Kanamori did his best to give chase to Warner’s Monster Energy turbo-powered Kawasaki.
Although Kanamori held tightly onto second place for most of the race (including an impromptu fuel stop), Kanamori was bested by KC Heidler in the final moments, leaving Kanamori to claim third place overall and first in the Manf. Stock Class.
Here’s what the caption has to say:
“Kawasaki swept the entire top ten of the Long Beach to Catalina and Back Offshore National Championships, with Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Craig Warner winning for a historic 5th time on the Jet Ski Ultra 310R and Kawasaki’s Minoru Kanamori taking third place overall and first in the stock class. Watch some of Kanamori’s run in this GoPro video.”
http://youtu.be/lNvnH2XXjgA
