PWCOFFSHORE CORE RACING

PWCOFFSHORE.COM Ups The Ante For Offshore PWC / Jet Ski Racing in 2012.  

PWCOFFSHORE.COM is pleased to create a new segment of the Race Club called PWCOFFSHORE.COM CORE Racing.  PWCOFFSHORE.COM CORE Racers are extremely accomplished offshore racing athletes that have committed to specific offshore and endurance races in 2012.  These are the most committed and offshore race focused racers that PWCOFFSHORE.COM has to offer in 2012.  Congratulations are in order for KC Heidler, Craig Warner and Mark Gerner for their racer selections and Steve Friebe for his selection as CORE Technical Advisor.  Steve’s combined race and technical experience make him the ideal selection for the CORE Technical Advisor. 

PWCOFFSHORE.COM CORE Endurance Athlete Highlights:

Craig Warner of Southern California USA.  Honorary Member Craig Warner is arguably the best offshore PWC / Jet Ski racer in the world.  With countless successes in individual races throughout the years, Craig has accumulated four IJSBA World Championship Titles, two APBA Offshore National Championship Titles, Western States Series Champion, California and Arizona State Champion, National Tour Highpoints Champion; Craig Warner is now “the man to attempt to beat” in any offshore race he enters.  Craig Warner is an overall winner of the Mark Hahn Memorial 300 Mile race (with Victor Sheldon), an Iron Man winner at the Mark Hahn 300 mile race and a Monster Energy Kawasaki Sponsored Racer.  Craig is also an accomplished Motocross, Snowmobile and class 7 Off-road racer. 

Mark Gerner of Southern California, USA.  A former Marine Corps Infantry Officer and endurance athlete with a number of marathons completed in his career.  In addition to individual race successes, Mark is a Triple Crown of Offshore overall Champion, Mark Hahn 300 mile race overall Champion (with Robert Carreon), Mark Hahn 300 Iron Man winner, voted offshore Racer of the Year in 2009, and a podium (2^nd place) finisher of the APBA Long Beach to Catalina and Back Race Offshore National Championship Race behind Craig Warner.  An offshore racing purest and aggressive offshore racer, Gerner has completed in excess of 170 cross channel transits from Long Beach to Catalina and back. Mark is president of the AWA PWCOFFSHORE.COM Racing Club, founder of PWCOFFSHORE.COM and PWCOFFSHORE.COM team leader.

KC Heidler of Southern California, USA.  An accomplished Iron Man Triathlete and hockey player.  In addition to many individual race successes over the years, KC Heidler is a three time IJSBA Veteran Master World Champion, Pro Western States Cup Arena Cross Tour Champion, a podium finisher at the Long Beach to Catalina and Back Offshore National Championship Race, and a 2^nd place podium Triple Crown of Offshore finisher.  An accomplished business owner and entrepreneur, KC Heidler brings tremendous class, racing prowess and energy to PWCOFFSHORE.COM Racing.           

Steve Friebe of Fresno California, USA.  Although Steve Friebe is PWCOFFSHORE CORE Technical Advisor, there is long history of race championships on the closed course, super course, endurance and offshore racecourse.  In addition to individual race successes, Steve Friebe is a winner of the PWCOFFSHORE.COM Warrior Award, an overall Champion of The Triple Crown of Offshore, Mark Hahn 300 Mile Race Overall champion (with Matt Legerski), DJSA Enduro Overall Series Champion, East West Texas Cup Overall Champion, Team sport Series Masters Champion and BP Motorsports Overall Endurance Champion.  A “racer’s racer,” Steve Friebe is one of the best PWC race technicians in the world.       

KC Heidler of PWCOFFSHORE CORE at the 2011 LB2CAT Offshore National Championship:

Below, Mark Gerner of PWCOFFSHORE CORE Racing: 

Mark Gerner Primary Race Craft:  2007 Kawasaki ULTRA 250X, 2011 Kawasaki ULTRA 300X and the 2007 RXT for smooth water    

Mark is truly passionate about offshore endurance riding, racing and growing our great sport.  Most people who know Mark know him as a Type-A workaholic who usually has a cell phone attached to his ear.  He believes in working hard and playing hard, very few things are pursued at half speed with Mark.  When the weekend comes, he loves to blow off the steam that his business week usually generates through hard core offshore endurance riding.  It is absolutely his passion.  There are few things in life that Mark enjoys more than riding offshore with a group of riders that are equally passionate about aggressive offshore riding and racing.  Mark is known to ride with a great deal of intensity.         

Mark is a former Marine Corps Infantry Officer and a veteran of Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.  He also deployed to most of Europe, Israel and  North Africa.  He has served in Fortune Ten companies in varying management and executive level roles; he is currently engaged in Business Development for a fast moving technology company.       Mark has been riding offshore for 13 years, almost exclusively offshore off the coast of  Southern California.  He loves the aggressive “hard core” nature of riding hard in the ocean, especially in rough water.  He relishes the intensity and aggressive nature or riding in the ocean when the seas are up.  Mark seeks out the unique challenges that the open ocean presents to man and machine while pushing the envelope at full throttle.  He rarely rides the lakes or river; the Havasu trips usually involve racing the Mark Hahn 300 mile endurance race or the new Walt’s Endurance Race.  

Race History and Highlights:  Mark has completed the  Long Beach to Catalina and back race five times. After a mechanical took out Mark's RXT just before the 2006 LB2CAT, he was still able to finish second in his class on his backup Yamaha 1200 XLT.  In 2007, Mark broke the infamous 60 minute mark with a round trip time to Catalina and back of 58.01 and came in 9th in Pro Am 1 Class.  Mark won the Veteran class in the 2007 Long Beach Sprint Nationals.  The 2007 Mark Hahn race challenged him with a mechanical issue that resulted in him missing the first 60 minutes of the race.  After fixing his craft, Mark was still able to complete over 20 Iron Man laps in the remaining few hours of the race!  2008 Mark Hahn 300 mile race, winner of the Iron Man for greatest number of Iron Man (single rider) laps.  2008 LB2CAT Offshore National Championship:  Took a launch while in third place only to return in top ten in ProAm Class.  2009 Mark Hahn 300 Mile Race National Championship Overall Winner (with partner Robert Carreon).  PROAM Winner at the 2009 Mark Hahn 300.  2009 Dana Point to Avalon Offshore Sprint, 9th Overall  (mechanical), 2009 LB2CAT Offshore National Championship 2nd overall and second in PROAM, 2009 Dana Point to Oceanside and Back Race 5th overall, 2009 Overall Triple Crown of Offshore Race Champion, voted by peers as the 2009 Triple Crown Offshore Racer of the Year. November 2010 DJSA Enduro Overall race winner, April 2011 DJSA Enduro Overall Race winner, 2011 Dana Point to Avalon and Back 2nd Overall and 2nd in PROAM Class, 2011 Dana Point to Oceanside and Back 2nd Overall and 2nd in the PROAM Class.  2011 LB2CAT Offshore Natl. Championship leading the race only 1/4 of a mile from the Queen's Gate Entrance back into Long Beach Harbor and experienced a mechanical taking him out of the race.  7th Place overall at the 2012 Mark Hahn 300 Mile Race (raced as an Iron Man / single racer). 4th in PRO Class .  Mark is the President of the AWA PWCOFFSHORE Club.            

Mark has been an athlete all of his life.  He has engaged in weightlifting, competitive cross country running and mountain bike racing.  Running - Marathons:  4, Ten Mile Running Races:  4, 10K’s:  Multiple (one of which he won 1st in his class).  Mountain Bike Racing - “Twenty-Four Hours of Adrenalin” Races:  4.

Mark was selected to be one of the 2006 WaterCraftWorld Magazine Dream Demo Riders.  This experience provided him with the unique opportunity of riding literally every product on the market.  He has owned the Yamaha WaveVenture 1100, Yamaha 1200XLT, 2005 SeaDoo RXT, 2007 RXT and the 2007 Kawasaki ULTRA250X. Pictured below - Mark at the 2009 Long Beach to Catalina Offshore National Championship Race where he came in second place overall: 

Given that Mark rides every weekend, he estimates that he has done the  Long Beach to Catalina and back ride approximately 150 times (at least).  As many of you know, there are very few people who have done the Catalina round trip over a hundred times (let alone ever a single time).  This experience, knowledge and offshore expertise that he has generated through these multiple full throttle Catalina rides has been invaluable and the basis for much of the content on pwcoffshore.com.          

Fun fact about Mark:  A number of years ago, Mark had a soft tissue injury and fractured bone in one of his legs that required rather extensive surgery.  Having committed to do the race, he refused to miss the annual LB2CAT and back race and against Doctor’s orders and just out of surgery, he tucked his injured leg and did the round trip 58 mile  Long Beach to Catalina and Back Race on one good leg.  Yes, he finished the race.  He laughs about how he had a hard time just walking to the ramp to mount his craft for the start of the race and how he thought he could feel the newly implanted screws in his bones rather painfully moving around as he negotiated waves throughout the channel.  Now that’s hard core! (OR maybe a little crazy?!? Yea, he’s all healed up now!)  Mark also laughs about he time when his GPS locked up in the channel and he ended up next to a shark fishing boat that had just dumped chum in the water.  Gotta love the all of the dynamics of the channel.  
Sponsors:  PWCOFFSHORE.com, R&D, Hydro-Turf, Fly Racing  

Below, Gerner at the 2009 LB2CAT