Yamaha FX Nytro RTX snowmobiles came out of gate fast and furious to start the 2013 cross-country racing season with a win and a pair of top-five finishes in key classes at the inaugural United States X-Country (USXC) Pine Lake 200 in Gonvick, Minn. on Dec. 15-16.

The 50-mile Semi-Pro Final was held on Sunday, with Ben Lindbom and Jake Muller both qualifying well on their FX Nytros.

At the start Lindbom grabbed the holeshot and led the race literally wire to wire, putting more distance between his Yamaha and any pursuers with each lap.

At the finish he was over a minute and a full mile a head of the nearest competitor. Meanwhile, Muller likewise had a great race going, charging up to third place and looking set for a podium finish in his first full season in cross-country racing for Yamaha. But a minor chassis issue scuttled his plans on the final lap and a potential 1-2 Yamaha finish.

Race distance for Saturday’s Pro Open Final was a grueling 103 miles on the Pine Lake ice surface. And just as in Sunday’s events, it was heads-up competition with each row of competitors launching simultaneously.

Yamaha Factory Racing’s Ross Erdman ran as high as fourth in the early going, with newcomer Wadena in fifth and Lindbom (Semi Pro drivers are allowed to race two Pro races to gauge talent) charging behind them from a second-row start.

But the Yamaha teammates’ race order turned upside down at about one-third distance as Erdman had a minor crash, dropping downfield to ultimately finish seventh.

That left Wadena and Lindbom to chase the leaders on their FX Nytros, with both riding strongly to claim top-five finishes in the fastest race on the 2013 USXC calendar.

“This weekend proved how fast our sleds really are at 112 mph – the FX Nytro RTX was definitely the fastest buggy out there.” said Yamaha Factory Racing’s Eric Josephsen. Josephsen also recognized Brian Strawsell, Yamaha’s snowmobile racing technical coordinator, for all of his efforts on behalf of the team. “Brian has been the driving force behind the FX Nytro on the track since we brought it out in 2008 – we simply couldn’t do it all without him.” Josephsen noted.

Yamaha snowmobile racing videos can be found on YouTube at www.youtube.com/YamahaSnowmobilesUSA.

Herkimer-based Mohawk Valley GIS, creators of NYSnowmobileWebMap.com, has partnered with the Department of Community Development, Tourism and Planning and the Oswego County Snowmobile Association to offer Snowmobiling Oswego County, a free trail app for riders in the snow blessed Tug Hill Region.

Now in its fourth year, NYSnowmobileWebMap.com began with participation from 19 clubs in the Mohawk Valley region along with the towns of Webb, Inlet and Long Lake. Statewide expansion began in the 2011-2012 season, along with profit-sharing for member clubs.

“The timing was perfect,” states Mohawk Valley GIS owner Linda Rockwood. “Oswego County wanted to include their trails in the interactive trail map website project, and we wanted to create a free app that featured the trails in one of our state’s more popular regions.”

As part of the joint promotional effort, sponsoring businesses in Oswego County were offered a discounted advertising package that includes the countywide paper trail map, web map, premium statewide and free trail apps and GPS trail sets. Over 50 businesses will benefit this year from the increased promotional efforts.

“Oswego County is blessed with a wide variety of natural resources that are enjoyed by thousands of visitors from around the world throughout the year,” said Dave Turner, director of the Oswego County Department of Community Development, Tourism and Planning. “Our annual snowfall (sometimes the highest this side of the Rockies) is near the top of the list of attractions here for outdoor enthusiasts. We were delighted to be selected as the model for this new service, and we hope that it will become the tool that helps ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for resident snowmobilers and wintertime visitors alike.”

The Snowmobiling Oswego County app works without reception and offers all the same GPS features as the premium statewide app, Snowmobiling New York State. Both apps are available in Apple’s appStore and Google’s Play Store.

Riding a sled he had only seen just days before the race, Christian Brothers Racing/Stud Boy/DRIFT Racing/Troy Lee Designs rider and reigning Pro 600 class points champion Ryan Simons swept the Pro class wins at the USXC cross-country snowmobile racing opener at Pine Lake in Gonvick, Minn., this past December 15-16.

Not only did Simons take both the Pro 600 and Pro Open class wins, he was joined on the podium by teammates Brian Dick and Zach Herfindahl making it a Christian Brothers podium sweep on the weekend.

Making a departure from the timed cross-country events of recent years, USXC staged heads-up racing at Pine Lake and Pro riders had to qualify for the 10-lap, 100-mile Pro Open and Pro 600 finals on Saturday and Sunday through two heats. Simons, Dick and Herfindahl breezed through qualifiers but reigning Pro Open points champion D.J. Ekre ran into mechanical problems both days and didn’t qualify for finals. The CBR riders were clearly the ones to beat on the lake and Dick had one of the fastest sleds on the weekend, posting 110MPH on radar.

In Saturday’s Pro Open final Simons slotted his Arctic Cat Sno Pro 600 into second place behind a mod sled of another brand. Simons was slowly losing ground to the dedicated ice sled before it broke down and he took the lead and rode to the win followed by teammates Dick and Herfindahl.

Simons carried his momentum into Sunday’s Pro 600 race where he once again set the pace, grabbing the holeshot in the final and claiming an early lead in the 100-mile race. And, once again, Simons was backed up by his teammates Herfindahl and Dick on the podium.

“I didn’t know what to expect coming into this race,” said Simons. “We just got the sleds together a couple days ago and tested here Thursday and Friday. I don’t know, I guess the Arctic Cat’s are just that good!”

Meanwhile, CBR riders Tyler Adams, Trent Wittwer and Evan Christian were winning races at the ISOC Regional race held at ERX Motor Park in Elk River, Minn. Wittwer swept Junior Novice 10-13 Combined and Junior Novice Limited 10-13, winning finals in each class both days.

Christian won Transition Limited 8-12 on Sunday and took second place on Saturday and two seconds in Transition Combined 8-12 on the weekend. Tyler Adams took a hard-fought 8th place finish in Pro Lite on Saturday.

“It doesn’t get any better for Christian Brothers Racing,” said team co-owner Dwight Christian. “Sweeping the Pro classes at Pine Lake and our young riders winning all weekend at ERX – that’s a good weekend!”

For more information on Christian Brothers Racing visit christianbrosracing.com.

At the first cross-country race of the 2012-2013 USXC season, aboard the all-new Sno Pro 600 ProCross and Sno Pro 500 race machines, Team Arctic racers delivered an overwhelmingly-dominant performance that rewrote the record books.

When it was over, Team Green captured 16 of 20 classes via 14 individual winners at the Gerald Dyrdahl Memorial Pine Lake 200.

Leading the history-making assault was two-time cross-country Pro champion Ryan Simons of the Christian Bros. Racing (CBR) team, who won both the 100-mile Pro Stock and 100-mile Pro Open finals convincingly. Joining Simons on the podium of both finals were his Team Arctic/CBR teammates Brian Dick and newcomer Zach Herfindahl. Including the Pro classes, there were 13 podium sweeps by Team Arctic, making this one of the most successful racing weekends in modern history.

“We’ve enjoyed outstanding success in cross-country over the years but this reset the high mark for winning,” said Mike Kloety, Team Arctic Race Manager. “It shows what’s possible when you combine the outstanding efforts of our racers and crews with the speed and handling of our Sno Pro race sleds.”

Joining Simons as a two-time class winner at Pine Lake was Bryce Buchanan, who returned to his familiar place atop the Expert 85 classes aboard his Arctic Cat Sno Pro 500. Nearly nailing the big double, Erik Nymann went 1-2 in the two Sport 600 finals, while Jon Arneson raced a record number of laps en route to his first in Semi Pro Stock, third in Masters 40-plus and fourth in Expert 85.

“The improvements to the 2013 Sno Pro 600 in the ProCross chassis gave us an even greater handling and speed advantage on the fast lake course,” said Kloety. “Of the 14 individual class winners aboard Arctic Cat sleds, six of them were on the new Sno Pro 600.”

The next race on the USXC cross-country circuit is Jan. 5, 2013, in Detroit Lakes, Minn.

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.

It’s no secret that over the past few years times have changed and many customers are not spending like the use too. Many have turned to Chinese Make/Model units due to the low cost and availability from online sales and box stores etc. As I am sure we can all agree finding trusted replacement parts for these units has been difficult if not nearly impossible.

Marshall’s new partnership with Outside Distributing has made quality parts available to replace and in fact improve the reliability of these units. Many Repair shops & OEM dealers stand to benefit. How you ask? By providing the parts for these units thus attracting new customers.

“At Marshall Distributing we are always tracking the industry and looking for quality products that can benefit our dealers, Outside Distributing’s product line of easy to find replacement parts for Chinese Make/Model units is something we feel will complement our dealers OEM business. By providing part support for these import units many dealers will be able to attract new customers, increase apparel & accessory sales and further drive their OEM business as customers progress in the sport. In these tough times its important to keep customers riding and coming in the doors. We are very excited to introduce quality replacement parts from Outside Distributing for Chinese Make/Model units for the 2013 season.” Say’s Doug Gilbert of Marshall Distributing. “We are very excited to introduce quality replacement parts from Outside Distributing for Chinese Make/Model Units for the 2013 Season”

Outside Distributing is North America’s leading provider of parts for Chinese Powersport units currently supplying thousands of dealers across North America.

Our roots are from the Powersports Industry and we also operate a retail/repair business Outside Powersports. We noticed that many people were looking for repairs & parts for their Chinese units and found that this demand is not just in our town but all across North America.

The few parts these vehicle distributors were providing our shop were low quality and inconsistent; We could not risk ruining the reputation we had built with our customers over the years. This led us to begin sourcing quality parts and has since led to very strong relationships with the factories producing these items.

We work directly with the manufacturers to ensure the reliability and quality of our products first and foremost. “Our buying volume helps us to control all quality aspects of the process to ensure a positive experience for our customers.” Said Andrew Hepburn, Owner. “Our quality parts are now distributed by some of North America’s largest distributors, Kimpex, Gamma, Royal Distributing and now Marshall Distributing. The massive pent up demand for parts and service for these units is now easily satisfied through our dealer network. Servicing these units has helped keep shops in business through these tough economic times.”

Outside Distributing is extremely proud to announce our partnership with Marshall Distributing. This will create exciting new revenue streams for Marshall’s customers coast to coast across the USA.

Arctic Cat returned to the top of the snocross scoreboard during the third and fourth round of the ISOC series in Bessemer, Michigan, where Team Arctic racers scored nine class victories in the combined National/Regional event. Leading the charge once again was the indomitable Tucker Hibbert, whose sweep of the Pro Open classes was as powerful as it was complete.

“That was the kind of Pro class domination that only Tucker is capable of,” said Mike Kloety, Team Arctic Race Manager. “He won the first final with a 35-second margin of victory, and the second final with an 11-second margin. He firmly reestablished himself and the new 2013 Arctic Cat ProCross Sno Pro 600 as the ones to beat.”

Bolstering Team Arctic’s performance in the top classes in Bessemer were Joshua Zelinski and Matt Pichner. Zelinski scored a first and a third in the two Pro Am Plus 30 finals, while Matt Pichner took a bittersweet fourth in Pro Lite after having led for several laps. Also landing a strong performance in Bessemer was Travis Kern, who scored a third in Sport at the national event and a third in Pro Lite during the regional competition.

In other classes, both Trent Wittwer and Evan Christian scored two wins apiece, while Ryan Trout and Ian Eboy Buchman nearly notched doubles of their own. And of the nine class finals won by Team Arctic racers, four were full podium sweeps.

“We had a great weekend in Michigan and our new Sno Pro 600 with the ProCross chassis is working excellent,” said Kloety. “What we need now is for some of our racers to log some seat time before the next race, since many of them hadn’t ridden since the opener in Duluth.

The next ISOC National Snocross is Jan. 4-5, 2013, at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn.

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..