Press Release –

On Feburary 3, the second round of the 2008 All-Japan Snowmobile Championships was held at a special course set up at the Snowmobile Land in Madarao (Nagano Pref.).

In heat one there was a stunning display of the awesome power of the Yamaha FX Nytro as Daishi Takamura took the holeshot, followed by two more FX Nytro riders, Nobuaki Eikura and Shinji Tozawa, into the first turn. Through the early stages of the race these three Yamaha riders battled in the lead, with Takamura able to stay in front of Eikura and Tozawa.

The battle for 3rd raged between Tozawa and Yohei Kubota (S) until the final lap of the race, where Kubota managed to slip past Tozawa to grab 3rd and resign him to 4th.

After leading the race in the early stages, Takamura was able to hang on and finish in the points with a 5th. He was followed in 6th by another Yamaha rider, Kiyotaka Kawagoe, who had come through the first lap in 4th position.

Recovering from his fall, Eikura was able to finish 7th. Meanwhile, Masafumi Terasaki moved up to an 8th-place finish after starting in 11th position.

In the second heat Tozawa got the holeshot, followed into the first turn by Matsuda, Tersaki and Masaki Sasaki (S). In the early laps, Tozawa ran at a strongly pace in the lead, but Matsuda was on his tail.

Meanwhile, Terasaki battled in 3rd position with Sasaki until lap four, when Sasaki slipped past him and raced on to close the gap with Tozawa and Matsuda in the lead, leaving Terasaki in 4th position. The race then developed into a 3- man battle for the lead. Eventually it was Matsuda who again emerged the winner, after passing Tozawa on the 11th lap and racing on to the checkered.

The ensuing battle between Tozawa and Sasaki lasted until Tozawa’s pace began to slow and Sasaki went past him and went on to finish 2nd to Tozawa’s 3rd.

After falling to 4th, Terasaki was able to hold that position to the finish. As for Takamura, who had been forced to start from the very tail of the pack, he managed to maintain a steady, fast pace and work up to 10th position by the finish.

And Kawagoe, who had come through the early stages of the race in 8th position, took a fall and finished 12th. Meanwhile, Eikura also took a fall in mid-race that resulted in machine trouble and kept him from doing any better than 13th place.

On the day, the overall winner was Matsuda, with Hashiba 2nd and Tozawa taking 3rd, having placed 4th and 3rd in the two heats. This put Tozawa on the winners’ podium for the first time this season.

Press Release –

With veteran snowmobile racer Corey Davidson at the controls, the Yamaha Apex snowmobile clinched its third consecutive victory in the grueling I-500 snowmobile race in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. on Saturday, Feb. 2.

The 500-mile race around the iced oval is one of the most demanding snowmobile races in the world and a huge testament to Yamaha’s four-stroke power. Besides providing a three-peat for Yamaha, the victory also gave Davidson his seventh win in this event and his 10th career 500-mile race win.

Conditions were just about perfect when 27 sleds took the green flag for the 40th anniversary of Michigan’s most famous snowmobile race – a comfortable 30 degrees and decent visibility.

With the fast sleds averaging around 85 mph per lap, the pack strung out quickly and Davidson put his race strategy to work – run fast and steady – but not too fast – drive straight over the bumps and above all save the equipment.

He qualified 12 th, and worked his way up to third by the 140th lap. At times he was battling with fellow Yamaha pilots Chad Gueco and Chad Drydahl, who led a good part of the early going on another Apex.

By lap 200 Davidson was in the lead and his sled was running strong. Davidson twice got some rest in mid-race from relief driver Jim Wilson, but remounted at 400 laps to run the remaining distance. At the flag, after nearly eight hours of racing, Davidson enjoyed a four-lap lead over Drydahl for a great 1-2 Yamaha finish.

Gueco followed in fourth on another Apex. “I like everything about the Apex,” Davidson said afterwards. “It’s got a great motor, the chassis works good, and the machine is just really well balanced. In fact some of the other teams were kind of mad that we were racing an Apex – they said it’s too fast!” Yamaha snowmobile racing coordinator Jesse Strege added, “This is just a phenomenal result for Yamaha, and a testament to the durability and power of the four-stroke Apex motor.”

1. Corey Davidson – Yamaha
2. Chad Drydahl – Yamaha
3. Gabe Bunke
4. Chad Gueco – Yamaha
5. Doug Kammeraad