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!

Joe Parsons topped all snowmobile competitors at Winter X 2013, collecting medals in each of the three events he entered, including silver in Freestyle and Best Trick.

Parsons stepped up his game to carry the torch when his teammate and defending Best Trick winner Heath Frisby suffered two hard practice crashes on Thursday.

Frisby was forced to withdraw from the Freestyle competition and limped through the Speed and Style event, in which Parsons earned the bronze medal. Frisby did take part in Best Trick on Sunday night and appeared to have a winning run when he threw out his signature Underflip, but judges saw it differently.

In his second run, Frisby tried to raise the bar even higher with a variation, but was unable to land the trick. Parsons then unleashed his Gator Wrestler backflip and added a new twist by landing it backward to the roar of the crowd, earning the silver.

In Snocross, Tim Tremblay raced to the first medal of his career finishing third and collecting the bronze. Tremblay was third off of the start and held his position throughout the race with a sizable margin over fourth. That position belonged to Warnert Racing’s Emil Ohman who battled back and fourth for the position before closing it out for his best career finish at Winter X.

Sweden’s Petter Narsa was competing in his first X Games and made an impressive debut in fifth, giving Ski-Doo three of the top five spots.

Mike Schultz put himself among rare X Games company, winning his fourth gold medal and third straight in Adaptive Snocross. Although Schultz is a perennial favorite in the event, the feat was not accomplished without drama.

In the morning practice session Schultz crashed, badly damaging his sled. Virtually everyone in the snocross pit area came to his aid, as mechanics from Warnert Racing and Scheuring Speed Sports stepped in to get Monster Mike to the starting line on time. Then, as the Adaptive final launched, Schultz tangled with another competitor and tipped over in the first turn restarting last. As the laps wound down, Schultz picked off competitors, making the pass for the win with one lap to go.

Garret Goodwin rounded out the podium in third, competing in his first X Games. For more information on Ski-Doo snowmobiles visit us on Face Book, our On Trail and Elevation blog sites and at www.ski-doo.com

Congratulations to Tucker Hibbert and the whole Arctic Cat/Monster Energy team on winning their record-setting sixth consecutive gold medal at Winter X Games 2013 in Aspen, Colorado.

Having spent two weeks prior in Colorado getting his sled dialed in and a convincing first place finish in his qualifier race, Tucker was looking and feeling confident.

That didn’t stop him from watching the other two qualifier races and walking the track prior to the final confirming his lines.

Based on what he saw, he elected to change his place on the start and move right by one position. A decision that helped him get out ahead of the pack in second place by turn one.

From there, Tucker propelled his Sno Pro 600 past Ross Martin in the first lap and had 15 laps to build his lead and finish 11 seconds ahead of second place.

This gold medal gives Tucker 11 Winter X Games medals, seven of which are gold. We look forward to Tucker going for the seven-peat next year.

Yamaha racing legend Doug Henry returns to the ESPN Winter X-Games Adaptive SnoCross track with high hopes of adding a fifth X-Games medal to his extensive motorsports trophy case.

During the 2005 ESPN Summer X-Games, and aboard his signature #19 Yamaha, Doug earned a gold medal in the highly competitive Supermoto event. He followed that up with a bronze medal in the same event at the 2004 Summer X-Games.

Four years later, and after recovering from injuries that left him a paraplegic, Doug heroically returned to the X-Games, this time during the winter where he raced his #19 Yamaha snowmobile in Adaptive SnoCross.

He earned a bronze medal in 2010, and then he struck gold in 2011 when he won in the paraplegic class.

“It feels great to compete on a world-class track against a field of talented riders like Paul Thacker, Mike Schultz and Jim Wazny, who did not let their circumstance keep them down,” said Doug, himself a shining example of determination and spirit in the face of tremendous adversity.

As the name implies, Adaptive SnoCross rules allow riders to modify their sleds to adapt to their particular physical abilities, with separate classes for amputees and paraplegics (racers with a spinal injury resulting in lower body paralysis).

Doug turned to longtime friend Steve Serafini at Fab-U-This to develop a pivoting swingarm seat for his Monster Energy/Yamaha FX Nytro race sled. The setup allows him to lean into the corners as well as hit the big doubles with confidence.

“Everything at the X-Games is bigger than you’d find on a normal track,” Doug explained. “Steve and I have been refining the suspension design of the seat to soak up the impacts and big landings. We have that dialed.”

Aside from the special seat, Doug’s Yamaha FX Nytro has some additional bracing and chassis reinforcements to make it suitable for top-level SnoCross competition.

“Yamaha has always been good to me,” Doug said. “The snowmobile guys have been great to work with and have really helped me get my sled ready to race.”
“As a lifelong race fan, I love seeing Doug line up for the green flag on any Yamaha product,” said Yamaha Snowmobile Racing’s Eric Josephsen. “But, to have him competing on our four-stroke FX Nytro carries a special meaning to us. He’s the racer who single-handedly proved to the world that four-stroke engines can compete and win at the highest levels of motorsports competition.”

The Adaptive SnoCross final will air live on ESPN at 1:15 PM Mountain on Sunday, January 27.

The Monster Energy/Yamaha SnoCross Racing Team would like to thank its Racing Partners for their valued support and commitment to the X-Games SnoCross program: Monster Energy, Planet Fitness, Fab-U-This, GYTR, Dynojet, Fly Racing, Woody’s, Speedcell Batteries, Yamalube, Hindle Exhaust; HEAL Clothing, and Brownell’s Yamaha.

BRP racer Malcolm Chartier jumped to a commanding lead at the start of the 50th annual running of the Eagle River World Championship Derby and survived a number of red flag restarts plus a photo finish to earn his first Champ 440 world title.

Chartier was fast throughout Derby week, setting second quick time in Thursday time trials, winning the Sweet 16 final on Friday, pole position for the main event and then wrapping up the championship on Sunday.

Chartier’s win at the storied Eagle River Derby track while they were celebrating the 50th anniversary was especially sweet and one he worked hard for. The race was red flagged for an accident in the second corner of the first lap, placing Chartier on the point of a staggered restart. On this and the three ensuing restarts, His Mike Houle prepared Ski-Doo sled would rocket to a commanding lead.

With two laps to go, Chartier was challenged and briefly passed by Jordan Wahl. “I don’t want to take anything away from Jordan because he is a great racer.” said Chartier. “We got together coming out of the corner and I lost my line, but I was confident I could get back past him.” Chartier did just that, regaining his line and crossing the finish stripe less than one sled length ahead of Wahl.

The 23 year old racer from Marine City, Michigan is a rising star on the oval racing scene and solidified his place in the sport and snowmobile racing history with the big win in Eagle River.

Another Ski-Doo X-team racer and former winner, Matt Schulz of Wausau, Wisconsin rounded out the podium in third place, just .001 seconds behind the number two finisher.

In the snocross World Championship final Tim Tremblay just missed winning his second consecutive Derby title. Tremblay won his qualifying round early in the day on Sunday and raced to within a couple sled lengths of first place at the finish of the snocross feature.

Robbie Malinoski, Tremblay’s teammate on the Scheuring Speed Sport/Ski-Doo team grabbed the holeshot in the main event put was knocked off the track in the first turn by another racer, ending his day. BOSS Racing rookie Pro Open competitor Petter Narsa had a good showing in his first trip to the Derby, finishing fourth.

One of the feel good stories of Derby weekend was Quebec’s Sabrina Blanchet collecting 2 World Championship titles. Sabrina and family learned of the passing of her grandmother just as the weekend was getting under way but still was able to focus her energy on winning the Junior 1 Sprint and Semi-Pro Champ finals, as well as the Junior 1 Sprint portion of the Friday Night Thunder program.

Congratulations to the Derby staff and the town of Eagle River for 50 years of great racing. For more information on Ski-Doo snowmobiles visit us on Face Book, our On Trail and Elevation blog sites and at www.ski-doo.com

Christian Brothers Racing/DRIFT Racing/Troy Lee Designs/Arctic Cat riders Logan Christian, Garth Kaufman and Cory Davis are set to compete for Winter X Games gold medals at the upcoming ESPN Winter X Games this weekend, January 24-27.

Kaufman is a Winter X Games veteran having first competed at Winter X in 2002 when he raced the Hillcross competition. He has been a regular on the WXG snocross roster since 2006 and has made a total of seven appearances.

This will be Christian’s second appearance in the snocross competition – he was an alternate in 2010 and competed in 2011. Davis has a somewhat diverse comp history at Winter X. He has raced Speed & Style three times and has won a bronze medal twice.

He has raced snocross twice and has been chosen as an alternate in that comp three times. In all, he has competed at Winter X five times and this year he will compete in both Snocross and Speed & Style.

So far this season, Christian and Kaufman have been competing in the first six rounds of the ISOC National snocross circuit where Christian currently sits in 6th place in Pro Open points and Kaufman is in 14th. Davis has been training on his own perfecting his Speed & Style routine. All four will be prepared to compete on the slopes of Aspen’s Buttermilk Mountain, the scene of Winter X.

The Winter X Games kick off Thursday, January 24 and run through Sunday, January 27. Fans can watch Speed & Style live Saturday on ABC and ESPN 3D from 3-5PM CST. Fans can watch the snocross event live Sunday on ESPN, ESPN3D and WatchESPN.com from 3-5PM CST. For more information on Winter X Games visit xgames.espn.go.com.

The Christian Brothers Racing/Stud Boy/Arctic Cat cross-country riders will head to Oslo, Minn., to compete in the USXC Oslo 100 this Saturday, January 26. The Oslo 100 will be the team’s first race on traditional cross-country terrain including road ditches, fields, treelines and river. The first three cross-country events have all been ice races and CBR riders have claimed 15 of 18 Pro podium spots so far including all six Pro class wins. After three of eight races Brian Dick, Ryan Simons and Zach Herfindahl sit 1-2-3 in Pro 600 points and in Pro Open the order is Simons, Dick and Herfindahl. The team is looking to continue its string of wins and extend their points leads this weekend.

Team Arctic honored the tradition and history of the 50th Anniversary Eagle River World Championship Snowmobile Derby with excellent finishes by its cadre of oval racers as well as the company’s appreciation of its past champions.

Armed with the formidable duo of four-time World Champion P.J. Wanderscheid and two-time World Champion Gary Moyle in the Champ 440 class, Team Arctic was in good position to notch its 11th Championship crown. And when Moyle logged the fastest qualifying time, the possibility of another win looked even better.

But the history of the World Championship is full of twists, turns and upsets. The 50th edition was no different, with Moyle and Wanderscheid delivering excellent performances (despite Wanderscheid competing with a broken ankle, heavily bruised shoulder and ribs, plus pneumonia), taking fifth and ninth respectively.

Commenting on his ninth place finish, Wanderscheid acknowledged both his injuries and the tough visibility of the final: “I always knew that injuries would affect me. My plan in the final was to go for it if I was out front, but play it safe if I was in the pack simply because [with the injuries] I knew I couldn’t recover sled if it got away from me. After the first restart I was always behind a few sleds and, with the snow dust sticking to my face shield, I played it safe in traffic.”

Moyle had his own challenges in the Champ final: “Starting on the back row of the final, I moved up to seventh before the maintenance break that separates the first 10 laps from the final 20 laps,” said Moyle. “At that point a suspension adjustment we’d planned to make wasn’t possible due to a frozen component, leaving us with less suspension travel than we needed for the big bumps that formed. So to finish fifth overall was the best that we could have hoped for given the circumstances.”

In addition to the spectacular racing, special ceremonies during Derby weekend commemorated past World Champions, including Team Arctic racers: Roger Janssen (1969), Bob Elsner (1979), Jim Dimmerman (1984), Wanderscheid (2002, 2003, 2006, 2011); Larry Day (2004); and Moyle (2005, 2007). Arctic Cat congratulates these great champions and all the racers who have competed at Eagle River over the past five decades.

Several of Team Arctic’s cross-country contingent competed at the CORPowersports event in Hayward, Wis., notching eight wins, three class sweeps and victory in both Pro classes. Wes Selby recorded his first-ever victory in Pro class cross-country competition, winning Pro Distance and Pro Sprint ahead of Zach Herfindahl.

Team Arctic’s national-level cross-country and snocross programs resume January 26 – 27, 2013, at the USXC event in Oslo, Minn., and the ESPN Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo.

About Arctic Cat – Arctic Cat Inc., based in Thief River Falls, Minn., designs, engineers, manufactures and markets all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and snowmobiles under the Arctic Cat brand name, as well as related parts, garments and accessories. Its common stock is traded on the NASDAQ National Market under the ticker symbol ACAT.

More information about Arctic Cat and its products is available on the Internet at www.arcticcat.com.

The USCC East regrets to inform its racers and fans that the race tentatively scheduled for February 2, 2013 has been cancelled.

The original promoter had decided to back out of the race for this season, leaving a short period of time to find a place to step up and take it over. We were not able to find a location that was willing and able to fill the spot.

“New York has proven to be a tough place in which to get an event secured,” said Erik Frigon, the head of the USCC East. “From what we have seen, the economy seems to be the greatest hurdle in securing a race there.”

“We are disappointed that we aren’t able to get a solid site for a race in New York,” Frigon continued. “We have a lot of good racers there and we would like to give them a ‘home race. We know New York has a lot of great places to hold a race, we just need to find one that is willing to pull it off and that will happen, it’s just going to take more work on our part.”

The USCC East is in its fourth year of competition in the Northeast and in its first year under new ownership. The USCC East has continued to grow each year and is looking to continue growth in the future. The season kicks off with a race in Parlin Pond, ME on January 26.

Please keep an eye on the website (www.uscceast.com) and on Facebook for updates on that race and the others on the schedule for this year.