It was a beating of epic proportions at the World Championships of Hillclimbs in Jackson Hole, Wyo., as Team Arctic racers out-climbed the competition to score 10 victories by six different riders, including two podium sweeps.

The star of the weekend was Kyle Tapio, whose record-breaking performance aboard the 2012 Arctic Cat ProClimb produced two class wins; both the Improved and Mod King titles; and the ultimate King of Kings crown.

Facing the steep and wickedly-challenging Snow King mountain aboard Arctic Cat M sleds, Team Arctic racers notched victories in every category, from 600 to 800, and in Stock, Improved and Mod classes.

Jeremy Archibald started the ball rolling by leading a podium sweep with Chance Buckallew and Ben Adams in the 600 Improved class.

That was followed by another podium sweep in the 700 Improved final, this time by Rob Kincaid, David McClure and Archibald. Then Tony Zollinger claimed victory in the 700 Mod final.

Having dominated the Women’s classes for several years, Team Arctic’s Amy Zollinger, Jan Ottobre and Christy Frisby once again put on a winning clinic at Jackson Hole, with Zollinger claiming the Stock class (where Frisby took third) and Ottobre winning Mod and taking second in Improved, all on M8 HCRs.

In the big iron classes it was time for Kyle Tapio to reinforce his hillclimb legend status. Piloting his M8 HCR, Tapio won both 800 Improved and 800 Mod in convincing fashion.

If Tapio felt any disappointment for taking third in the Open Mod final, he more than made up for it in the King competition, where the class winners in each category race for overall status.

There, Tapio not only won the Improved and Mod King titles, he also scored the overall King of Kings crown as the best racer of the weekend.

“Team Arctic racers and crews did an outstanding job at the World Championship, especially the incredible performance of Kyle Tapio, who was in a class by himself at Jackson,” said Arctic Cat Hillclimb Coordinator, Al Shimpa. “Ten victories by six different racers is a testament to the depth of our team and the strength of our M machines.”

Shimpa went on to say, “In addition, I’m especially proud of Rob Kincaid, who finally knocked the monkey off his back to win his first-ever pro class World Championship in 15 years of competing at Jackson and I’d also like to thank the Speedwerx crew, who worked extra-hard to ensure the success of most of our Improved and Mod-class machines.”

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

Kody Malmborg, Jr. did what many doubters thought was impossible on Saturday, March 24 – top the Snow King on a four-stroke snowmobile at the Jackson Hole World Championship Hillclimb put on by the Jackson Hole Snow Devils.

But top the mountain he did, powering his Yamaha FX Nytro MTX to the top of the steep course as the first four-stroke to do so in the 37 years the event has been held – while also becoming the first Yamaha to qualify for the Pro finals since 2001.

In all, out of nearly 500 entries, only 60 or 70 made it over the top.

The Jackson Hole World Championships are, as one observer put it, the Daytona of snowmobile events, and the mountain course practically defies description.

It presents itself as a nearly vertical face of about a half-mile in length, with 28 gates that the machines and drivers have to negotiate on the way up. Favoring immense horsepower, traction, responsive handling and of course major riding talent, the course quickly weeds out all but the best. “It’s basically like driving up a skyscraper,” said Yamaha snowmobile marketing manager Wade West.

Friday was reserved for Semi Pro finals and Stock qualifying – with Saturday scheduled for the big-horsepower modified and Pro sleds like Malmborg’s FX Nytro, and Sunday reserved for the Pro finals.

Even with the FX Nytro’s extreme horsepower and torque, the conditions were so challenging that Malmborg was making it just past halfway up during most of the classes he had entered.

The breakthrough came on Saturday afternoon, during qualifying for the Mod 700 Pro event. “The course conditions on the bottom half were slushy, and the top was really icy with rocks and stumps, five-foot ruts and six-foot trenches,” Malmborg said. “When I left the gate everything felt great, and I just told myself to stay calm and work through every gate, look ahead and pick my lines, use the trenches to my advantage and carry my momentum. I was definitely exited to make it over the top of one of the most challenging hills anywhere. There was definitely some hollering going on!”

In Sunday’s Pro finale, Malmborg finished eighth among the world’s 25 top hillclimbers after encountering a few problems on his way up the course. But his achievements on Saturday had already made history for Yamaha, for four-stroke snowmobiles, and for Kody’s newfound career in hillclimbing. “Our goal was just to get one sled over the top at Jackson Hole, and we are elated to be the first four-stroke in history and the first Yamaha team to do it since 2001,” said Yamaha’s Eric Josephsen. “Doing it on our first try makes it even more incredible, and I really want to thank our crew chief ‘Big Kody’ Malmborg for working so hard to make it happen. I’ve always said that the FX Nytro can do everything that a two-stroke sled can do and today we proved it.”

The CSRA snowcross season came to an early ending after the final two events were cancelled due to the lack of snow and unseasonable temperatures.

The team always looks forward to ending off the season at Horseshoe Valley in front of the hometown crowd.

Fortunate for Jamie, with his success and consistency this season, he made history and wrapped up both inaugural CSRA Pro-Lite Stock and Pro-Lite Open National Championships!

Malone, NY

After the announcement from the CSRA, Jamie still had one more race left in him to end off the season and travelled to Malone, New York to compete in the East Coast Snocross (ECS) finale at Titus Mountain.

Everywhere you looked was green grass on the drive to the event but they were impressed with the amount of snow and the size of the track that the ECS circuit was able to put together.

The sun was playing peek-a-boo on Saturday but mainly stayed damp and overcast. The ECS circuit uses a stop light start that Jamie was unfamiliar with and struggled with starts all weekend. Jamie’s sled sat and spun on the start of moto 1 and started dead last. Once up and moving, he rode a hard race finishing 5th.

He got a better start in moto 2 and was battling for 3rd all race. As Jamie was going for the pass on the last lap, he was T-boned by 4th place turning the sled sideways and forcing him to go over the berm finishing 8th. He started back row in the final, which was a huge disadvantage on the hole-shot oriented track. Jamie battled with visibility from roost but rode strong and stayed on the sled finishing 8th.

The weatherman was wrong once again on Sunday and fortunately the rain held off for the racers and spectators. Jamie rode a solid 6th and 5th place finishes respectively in Sunday’s qualifiers having some exciting battles.

Jamie had a bad start in the final once again and went down the downhill rhythm section at the back of the pack. Jamie had an awesome line coming down the hill and was able to make up time and make some passes finishing 6th in his last race this season.

“There is some tough competition down here and the start meant so much on this track.” Jamie said after the weekend. “I’m glad we were able to get one last race in this season.”

CSRA Season

The end of Byers Motorsports 9th race season was the best year thus far with Jamie taking home both of the Pro-Lite National Championships in Stock and Open.

Jamie trained hard prior to the season and had his eyes set on the Championships. His consistent finishes throughout the year paid off with an average overall finish (Motos and finals) of 2nd in Stock and 3rd in the Open class.

He finished the season with a 48-point lead in the Stock class and 12-points in the Open Class. In the CSRA Regional Standings, Jamie finished 4th in the Stock class and 6th in the Open class, 21 points from second place after missing one event.

“It feels awesome to have won both National Championships. The team worked really hard this year and it paid off; it’s been a long time coming!” said Jamie. “I would like to thank all of the people and sponsors that have supported me throughout my career and making this possible. I look forward to stepping up into the Pro class next year.”

Kyle was running select races this year competing in the Sport Class but his season was cut short with the Lindsay, Kitchener and Horseshoe races being cancelled, which he had planned on competing at.

He was looking forward to the final races where they were back-to-back and would have had more seat time on the sled. He raced at the Barrie and Sudbury events where he rode strong races and had fun.

We can’t thank our sponsors enough for their continuous support, many of which have supported us from the start of our racing career, and we’re pumped to have given them a championship: Supertrax Magazine, Byers Equipment Motorsports – Polaris, Gamma Sales- Fly Racing, Coldwave, Dragon Optics, Amsoil, Dayco Belts, Creechers Design, Woody’s Traction, CMSports.com/Clean Media – Photography, Powermadd and TekVest.