Motovan Corporation, Canada’s leading distributor of Powersports parts and accessories, adds another outstanding brand to its offering. From now on, throughout its dealer network, Motovan will be able to share the unique benefits that Ogio offers.

With a wide range of backpacks, travel bags and kit bags infused with multiple functions, Ogio creates products ideal for Motorcycle, MX, ATV and Snowmobilers. Founded in 1987, Ogio alone revolutionized the design of powersports bags.

Motovan is proud to be the new distributor of OGIO’S products. “For Motovan to add a recognized brand such as Ogio will no doubt lead to a successful partnership!” Says Michael Paladino, Marketing Director of Motovan; “This addition is consistent with Motovan’s quest of becoming a one stop shop for our dealers. Ogio products complement our extensive offering perfectly.”

Furthermore, Motovan will be exhibiting at the Motorcycle shows in 2013 throughout Canada, starting with the one in Calgary from January 4th to January 6th.

About Motovan Corporation – Motovan focuses on building and maintaining the largest Canadian dealer network, strong leadership and customer service excellence. These key elements, paired with exclusive Canadian distribution rights on some of the most prestigious brands recognised in the powersports industry are what have ensured Motovan’s position as the industry leader for the past 30+ years.

All reference material, catalogs, industry information and product features can all be found on-line for your convenience at: www.motovan.com.

It was something that had proved elusive so far this season for Christian Brothers Racing Pro Open snocross rider Logan Christian – a podium finish.

Christian, a top qualifier at most every event so far this season hasn’t been able to find a step on the box, but the ISOC National Deadwood Snocross Shootout this past Saturday, February 2, proved different.

Christian came out second off the start and and quickly took the lead in Saturday’s Round 2 Pro Open final, setting the pace on the extremely rough, tight course set up in the middle of downtown Deadwood on the Days of ’76 Rodeo Grounds.

In setting the pace the first time around Christian did something no other rider had done all weekend – he doubled over “The Wall,” an intimidating, momentum-stopping wall of snow track builders had set up just before turn 3. It was a move every other rider behind him would have to attempt if they hoped to stay with Christian.

Seeing his example, other riders copied Christian’s leap over the The Wall. Three laps into the 16-lap race in Christian fell back to second place but began a charge to take back the lead and started putting time on the first place sled.

But Christian’s pace led to him getting caught up with a lapped rider, his sled tipped on its side and he fell back to third place before he could re-mount and give chase again. The race went by quick on the small track and before any more drama could play out it was over with Christian finishing in the third and final podium spot.

It is Christian’s first Pro Open podium of the season and his first podium since he finished second at the Michigan National Snocross held inside the Pontiac Silverdome last season. It brings Christian’s career Pro podium count up to three. His first podium came at the Hayward National in 2011 when he finished second in Pro Stock.

Meanwhile, the Christian Brothers Racing cross-country riders Ryan Simons and Brian Dick were competing in one of the biggest races in snowmobiling, the prestigious Soo I-500 in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Qualifying for the race started on Tuesday and the team arrived early in the week to start putting time on the sled.

The team used the same simple formula that landed them second place in the race last year – take a stock Arctic Cat Sno Pro 600, install a Speedwerx mod engine, block the FOX shocks to lower the sled, install Stud Boy traction products and do little else other than basic cross-country/ice racing prep.

They qualified 27th out of 42 sleds and, when the green flag flew to start the race on Saturday morning, lead rider Simons began moving the sled to the front of the pack. By the halfway point the team was in third place but a lap and a half later they had to drop out because of a mechanical problem.

“It was running good until we had a problem with one of the cylinders,” said Simons. “But that’s how this race goes, attrition is definitely a factor in success. Our team worked hard getting the sled ready and basically took the entire sled apart the day before the race, but you can only control so much and sometimes things happen that are out of your hands.”

“After finishing second last year we had high hopes this year,” said Dwight Christian. “But this isn’t a 10-lap race, it’s 500-laps, and that’s why it’s so hard to win. We’ll be back next year and we’ll be ready.”

Polaris snowmobile race teams totally dominated the grueling Soo I-500 enduro race on Saturday, Feb. 2, as the Gabe Bunke-led Bunke Racing 1 team won for the second year in a row and nine Polaris teams finished in the top 10.

Gabe Bunke teamed with Aaron Christensen and Spencer Kadlec for the victory, the team’s second straight Soo win and the fourth of Bunke’s career.

Bunke, a Polaris cross-country racing specialist, was also a successful team owner in the 2013 Soo race, which was shortened to 455 miles from the usual 500-mile distance on the 1-mile Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, ice oval. The Bunke Racing 2 team finished second with Ryan Faust and Travis Faust sharing driving duties. Finishing third was 131 Racing, with Bobby Menne (Bunke’s cross-country racing teammate), Mike Babcock and Ivan Hanson piloting a Polaris sled.

Polaris race teams finished first through seventh and took ninth and 10th places as well.

The Bunke Racing 2 sled driven by Ryan Faust was leading as the race passed the 440-mile mark in the early evening darkness. Gabe Bunke, aboard the Bunke Racing 1 sled, had to work his way through the pack after a pit stop, and he drove masterfully, powering through traffic despite the blinding cloud of snow dust that hung above the track.

Bunke took the lead on lap 451, and four laps later a caution flag flew. Race officials stopped the field on the backstretch, discussed the racing conditions – most notably the poor visibility for the racers – and they declared the race was over.

The 2013 Soo I-500 was a race determined by Polaris reliability and durability, as well as the top teams’ excellent teamwork and on-track skills.

Qualifying well did not prove beneficial this year as few of the top qualifiers finished the race, and only one sled that finished in the top 10 had started in the top 10. The winning Bunke Racing team had started 12th, while the runners-up started 17th and the third-place 131 Racing team started 15th.

In recent years, Gabe Bunke has played a key role in the development of Polaris cross-country and enduro race sleds. The Polaris Racing program has struck on a winning sled setup for the Soo, and Bunke said success at the famous track always requires hard work as well as strong sleds.

“We certainly worked hard in the off-season, and we came out with three bulletproof sleds,” he told i-500.com after the race. “There were a lot of Polaris [sleds] out here today, and they did pretty well. Hopefully we can carry it along next year and other years. The Faust boys ran a heck of a race, and Bobby Menne, we built the [131 Racing] sled in our shop. We didn’t have the same program for him, but he didn’t do bad for his first time. It was an awesome day. It’s the 45th [Soo] race, and it was dedicated to my good friend Leroy Lindblad. It’s pretty special,” Bunke said.

Lindblad, a Polaris cross-country star who raced in the 1970s with Bunke’s late father Jerry, passed away in the past year. Lindblad was on the Polaris team that won the Soo I-500 in 1974.

All Polaris racers at the Soo, as well as snocross racers who raced in an ISOC event in South Dakota, raced with heavy hearts after the Jan. 31 death of Polaris snowmobile freestyle star Caleb Moore.

Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE: PII) today announced its Board of Directors voted to elect Scott Wine, Polaris’ Chief Executive Officer, as Chairman of the Board. Wine succeeds Greg Palen, who has been Chairman for 11 years and has nearly 20 years of service on the Board.

“I would like to congratulate Scott on his election to serve in the additional capacity of Chairman of the Board. Under his leadership, Polaris has delivered consistent and profitable growth while successfully executing the company’s ambitious strategy, generating record results and shareholder returns. Scott has accomplished tremendous things since he started in 2008, but I am convinced that the best is yet to come for Scott and the Polaris team. Scott’s stellar track record as CEO of Polaris, coupled with his experience sitting on the Boards of Polaris and Terex, leaves me confident that the role of Chairman will be in good hands,” said Palen.

Scott will assume the role of Chairman effective immediately. Palen will step down from the Board following the Annual Shareholders meeting on April 25, 2013.

“Greg has been a beacon of leadership and wisdom on our Board of Directors for nearly 20 years, and his contributions were instrumental to the unprecedented growth Polaris enjoyed under his direction,” said Wine. “We thank Greg for the steady guidance and keen insight he provided as Chairman, and he can take great pride in the legacy he leaves, embodied by Polaris’ record of product, geographic and shareholder value expansion. While we will greatly miss his presence on our Board, we wish him the best as he enjoys a few less challenges and more time with his family and friends.”

In addition to changes in the Chairmanship, after nine years of service Bob Caulk announced his decision not to stand for re-election at the 2013 Annual Shareholders meeting.

Caulk’s board experience across several industries, as well as his strong background in mergers and acquisitions, proved invaluable in ensuring that Polaris maintained a trend of profitable growth even as the Company expanded its portfolio in recent years.

“During his time on the Board, Bob has supplied valuable insight into strategic marketing and complex acquisition transactions, contributing significantly to our recent ability to accelerate growth,” said Wine. “We are extremely fortunate to have had access to Bob’s experience, and we greatly appreciate the guidance he provided the Company throughout his service on the Board. We wish Bob the best of luck in his future endeavors.”

Finally, the Board also announced it has elected John Wiehoff as Lead Director. Wiehoff, who has served as CEO of C.H. Robinson Worldwide since 2002 and as the company’s Chairman since 2007, possesses an extensive background managing complex corporate financial issues.

This experience, along with John’s many other talents, has contributed significantly to Polaris’ success during his time as a member of the Polaris Board, which began in 2007.

About Polaris – Polaris is a recognized leader in the powersports industry with annual 2012 sales of $3.2 billion. Polaris designs, engineers, manufactures and markets innovative, high quality off-road vehicles, including all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and the Polaris RANGER and RZR side-by-side vehicles, snowmobiles, motorcycles and on-road electric/hybrid powered vehicles.

Polaris Industries Inc. trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “PII”, and the Company is included in the S&P Mid-Cap 400 stock price index.

Information about the complete line of Polaris products, apparel and vehicle accessories are available from authorized Polaris dealers or anytime at www.polaris.com.

Four-stroke Yamaha snowmobiles enjoyed a tremendous Jan. 26-27 race weekend in everything from the snowy X Games in Aspen, Colo. to frigid cross-country competition in Minnesota and Maine.

Spectacularly leading the charge was Yamaha legend Doug Henry, formerly a motocross champion and now a snowmobiling inspiration, who led most of the X Games SnoCross Adaptive race aboard his FX Nytro RTX before ultimately finishing a close second.

In Minnesota, Ben Lindbom won the 50-mile USXC Semi Pro Improved event, while in Maine, Erik Frigon grabbed a strong third in the 20-mile USSC East Pro Open race, both aboard Nytro RTXs.

Henry rewrote the motocross rulebook when he won the 1998 AMA Motocross title on Yamaha’s revolutionary YZ400F four-stroke.

After suffering a career-ending spinal injury in 2007, he then rewrote the rulebook for handicapped athletes by outfitting a Yamaha snowmobile with a special shock-absorbing seat to race snocross. After taking a bronze in X Games 14, this weekend Henry returned to Aspen and led nearly the entire final aboard his specially outfitted sled before finishing second to Mike Schultz and claiming a silver medal.

“My Yamaha gave me a great start and put me out front, and after that I just tried to have fun,” Henry said. “Thanks to Yamaha Snowmobiles for getting me the equipment and to ESPN for putting on the event.” Yamaha Snowmobile Racing’s Eric Josephsen added, “Doug started the four-stroke motocross era for Yamaha, and it’s awesome to see him continuing today with the four-stroke Nytro RTX. But even more important, Doug continues to prove that even the toughest challenges can be overcome with vision, focus and hard work.”

Cross-country racers in Oslo, Minn. faced brutal weather for the USXC Oslo 100, with temperatures of -5 degrees plummeting to -25 degrees due to icy winds. The 24.6-mile course was just as difficult, with half made up of natural terrain and the other half following a winding river – and plenty of concrete-hard snowdrifts in the ditches.

“Racing over this type of terrain is like driving a car over railroad tracks,” said Yamaha Snowmobile Racing technical coordinator Brian Strawsell. “It’s so unpredictable that it makes setting up the sleds particularly hard.”

Nonetheless, despite various challenges during the day, Lindbom had it all sorted out by the time the Semi Pro Improved race lined up. Although he drew the last starting position of 16 drivers, he passed every other sled in his class after two long laps to win by an amazing 2 min. 30 sec. – a total domination of the event. In other results for Yamaha during the day, Ross Erdman and Lindbom both put in top-10 performances in the morning Pro Open event.

Yamaha’s Josephsen added, “I’m proud of Ben and Brian for working through their early setup issues, and then coming back to win the Semi Pro Improved race.”

Over in Parlin Pond, Maine, the 2013 USCC East series began with the equally frigid Lake Parlin 100. Here a five-mile course featured half woods trails and half frozen lake surface. Besides brutal wind chill, snow dust was a significant challenge, regardless of whether you were a race leader catching lappers or else a lapper yourself.

Erik Frigon found this out after starting in fifth place and then working his way past the four sleds ahead of him one by one, ultimately setting the third fastest Pro Open time to grab a podium in the top race of the day.

“It’s awesome to ride this Nytro RTX on such cold days – the motor runs so good!” he said happily. “Some of the two-strokes teams have to mess with jetting on a day like this but the Yamaha’s EFI gets the mixture right automatically. Plus the motor has a great powerband and tons of torque!”

Backing up Frigon’s podium finish, 19-year-old Raymond Petrin finished second in the Pro 600 race on another Nytro RTX, a great result for his first-ever event on a Yamaha.

As well, Scott Brownell finished third in Semi Pro Improved on a Nytro RTX and Michael Ewaschuk finished third in Sport Improved on a Nytro XTX.

Congratulations all!