About: jetskiworld

Getting on the 3DR seat and grasping tightly on the bars of this race craft was enough! Having ridden Mac’s supercharged factory Kawasaki race craft two years ago and some other race crafts of this nature, I thought I was accustomed to the unique power and was expecting to feel something similar. Well, I was wrong. This specially built race craft is a monster with enormous pumping acceleration. The acceleration on the straight was enough to glue my goggles to my face! Getting on the gas right after exiting the buoy was another story. My body had to be so tight and firm while having it in the right position before exiting the turn…otherwise, I could easily high sided. Macc Racing had definitely done a superb job in terms of handling since this monster gave you the feeling of running, as if the boat was on rails. No matter how hard I was trying to turn it, there was no sign of rear end sliding, and it was making it harder and harder to keep up with the forces in order to stay on board. Even Chris had told me that due to the fact that he had spent lots of time developing his stand up, he hadn’t enough time on the Runabout. As a result, he was getting tired much easier than before. The pump was fed properly and the hook up was great under test ride conditions. I did not have to lean on the hull in order to pin it into the turn, no matter how stiff the turn was. Therefore, the pump was operating much better; a fact that was achieved by hard work and many hours of testing different sponsons, spacers and the overall matching of them. For Havasu set up this STX-15 Supercharged to reach constantly 83mph.

Now we are talking about something that has a totally different feeling. I have heard a lot about Hydrospace and I have not ridden a Stock or Riva version. Though, this one was powerful it still had a turbo lag at low rpm not too much to worry about. Still you need to have this in mind when you hit on the brakes prior to going around the buoy, so you hit the throttle much earlier than on a two stroke. The power was coming out in a linear way without hitting hard on any particular range. The new designed ride plate made a big difference in the way that this craft was cornering. It was aggressive and sharp much more than any other stand up I rode that Monday. As soon as I was thinking to turn, it was turning. Though, you need to practice a lot in order to find the point that the power output and the steering will cooperate properly. I mean that sometimes when you want to correct your lines the engine does not respond at the same time, so you may loose your track or even fall as it happened to another journalist quite a lot of times. When I was turning around the buoy it was tracking well but straight line stability needs some improvement. In the future we will see better performance out of this craft if someone would take the time and put it back together as it had been designed to be.

The first thing that I noticed this year in Dustins SX-R was that the engine response was much more abrupt, more instant when I griped the throttle. The craft was accelerating faster and it was pulling out of the turn stronger. Then on top, the power was progressively becoming linear, a fact that in the race course looked as if Dustin did not have enough top speed. I do not carry out top speed runs with a radar gun therefore I am notin position to tell you more about that, since I believe that you know much better. Although, Dustin told me that he was using the same set tap in handling, I believe that this race craft was more precise and more aggressive during turns. The ride plate with the pattern whole provides good driving and hooks up without feeling the rear end sliding no matter how hard you push it around the buoy. The rear sponsons also include something to this, though I have noticed that the ride plate is the one that makes the big difference. Overall, this package is very good and JSU have proved it by having Dustin on the podium. According to Dustin Motzouris, his JSU Racing SX-R reaches a top speed of 63mph.

This SX-R had tremendous torque compared to any other SX-R I had ridden the last three years. It pulls out of the turns strongly from very low rpm and it gets even harder at mid range. Though, I believe that so much torque wares out the riders during the race regardless of how good his physical condition is. Still the power was not coming out aggressively as it did in Dauliachs SX-R two years ago. The front sponsons feel good, they provide better driving when you start leaning the craft into the turn and additionally have better stability and traction when you lean. Personally, I believe that the new ride plate with the 10 holes helped too, though I would have loved to test it for much longer time. The ski was hooked at a straight line well as if it was glued on the surface of the water. The Hydraulic trim made a large difference since it was smooth enough to operate by using only the index finger.. The steering felt too loose compared to Dustin’s who prefers it to be tight. Overall, Macc Racing SX-R is a good and powerful package that provides good feeling and can be pushed to its limits without getting nasty surprises; however it demands very good physical condition. So when you have three motos to race well, I do not know… even Chris said that it was too much for him! According to Chris MacClugage during testing this SX-R reached a top speed of 62,5mph.

This is the best limited SX-R I have ever ridden. The engine response is superb, limited, crispy and it revs up nicely. It pulls out quite strongly from low rpm without hesitating. You exit the turn with no problems what so ever. The power band is wide while it spreads nicely giving the most wanted top speed that is required by the class standards. Since last year, the team has made noticeable improvements in terms of engine response and crispness. Handling wise is good with no big surprises. The plate is different this year, a bit longer than last year which keeps the nose down when you hit the gas. I could level the hull easier even without using the trim system which I think was too hard to use anyway. Most probably Seiko uses it only at the start and not during the race. If I had an option to buy a limited race craft this would be one of them, at least among the ones I have ridden. The top speed of Seiko’s SX-R is 59mph.

There are two points that made this Super Jet so special. The first one is the crispy and nervous response of the engine and the second is the lightweight, in a way hip-hop feeling of the hull. The later is what makes Tera Laho happy when she is ridding to the limit and I can not disagree with her since she is 8 times World Champion. Apart from the straight line stability this Super Jet was turning in a superb way. I was in a criticism mode and Rius Racing prepared Super Jet was responding quickly without showing any signs of rear end sliding. Additionally, it was not too aggressive, a fact that has given me the opportunity to correct my exit line at anytime, without having the fear of high side. The prototype R&D ride plate enhanced the stability in the straight, and provided a better grip when I was decelerating, prior to entering the turn. Cristophe Girello, Rius Racing chief mechanic assured me that the top speed of Tera’s Super Jet was around the 59mph region.

Two times world champion, Jannelle Lund showed up with a highly tuned SX-R, turned by her husband, Parker Lund. The fact that amazed me in this Limited Kawasaki was the strong pull out at low and mid range rpm’s. The engine response was not that crispy as it was in Osawa’s SX-R thought it pulled me out of the turn in a unique way. Then, the power band was expanding linearly as the rpm went higher with no hesitation. Straight line stability was a click lower than Osawa’s SX-R, though the handling was more predictable as I approached the buoys. I could lean the craft as much as I wanted to and the pump kept being hooked up. Possibly the specially modified JSU ride plate was operating a lot better than the standard version. I could easily change direction in an aggressive manner and Jannelle’s SX-R was responding accurately. The steering system was a bit tight but that’s up to Jannelle’s preference. According to Parker this SX-R could reach a top speed of 60mph.