Press Release –

The Team Vincent Motorsports/Kodiak Work Boot Race Team took the Canadian Snowcross Racing Association tour by storm in the 2006-2007 season! The racers were spread across the board, from the Junior 14-15 category, all the way up to the Pro class.

Four-time Canadian Champion, #4c, Ric Wilson took the championship in Pro Veteran and Masters Class, as well as finishing an impressive 5th in the Pro Stock class.

Even with a late season injury, Pro rider, #27, Andrew Sloot took an amazing 4th place overall finish in both Regional and National races. Andrew also took his first 1st place Pro win in the 2006/ 2007 season!

Semi Pro rider, #23, Jonathon Sloot finished with a 3rd place in both Stock and Open classes. Jonathon also came home with a 2nd place in the National standings for the Semi-Pro Open class, also despite a late season injury.

Women Pro rider, #111S, Stacey Orr finished the year as a National and Regional Champion! Stacey’s mom, Mary Orr is a multi-time woman’s champion and she’s definitely following in her mom’s footsteps.

Another member of the Sloot family, #727, Daniel raced in the Sport category, finishing an impressive 3rd, 4th and 5th. During the last half of the season, Daniel stepped up to Semi Pro and proved that he’s definitely ready to make that jump in the 2008 season.

Team Vincent’s younger riders put on quite a show this season. Junior 14-15 racer, Dylan Hall finished the season with a 2nd in not only his category, but also jumped up to the junior 16-17 class and grabbed a second there as well.

Racing in the Sport classes was Ric Wilson’s nephew Christopher Vrij who finished a remarkable 2nd overall in Trail Sport 500 and 600. Christopher entered the CSRA circuit half way through the season.

Backing the Team Vincent Motorsports / Kodiak Work Boots Snowcross team is Ski-doo, J R Hall, London Recreational Contracting, Promotional Graphics, Shoc Doc, Sloot Construction, Snow Goer, Stud Boy, Scott Goggles, Shell Oils, Power Madd, and Wilson Ponds.

Big thanks go to Mike Schmidt / Brad Maddick and crew from London Recreational Contracting, Sean Gibson from J R Hall and Ed and Dave Sloot from Sloot Construction for making sure the Ski-Doo race sleds were top notch every weekend. Thanks to ‘Papa’ John for his endless hours of travel and dedication to his family and the Team. Thanks also goes to the friends and family of the racers who spent their winter weekends bearing the cold and long travel to help the team and cheer the racers on. These amazing race results wouldn’t be possible without the great crew behind the TVM / Kodiak team.

Press Release –

On June 19th, the Canadian finals of the Yamaha Technician Grand Prix contest will be held at the Toronto head office of Yamaha Motor Canada Ltd.

After advancing from the eight regional contests carried out from February to April, the top ten scoring competitors will compete for the National title and the honour of representing Canada at the Yamaha World Finals.

The World Finals will take place at Yamaha Motor Corporation head office in Iwata, Japan. Technicians at the Canadian challenge will be evaluated from three major activities:

• Written examination: Criteria includes but not limited to: Technical questions relating to Yamaha products, Innovative developments Yamaha has introduced as a leading manufacturer in the global motorsports industry.
• Practical skills contest: diagnostic and systems analysis and repair on the latest 2007 motorcycle product.
• Customer reception interviews: technicians are tested on their ability to provide a pleasant, yet thorough and satisfactory customer interaction through a reality-based interview.

Customer satisfaction is a primary objective of Yamaha Motor Canada, as such scoring well in the customer reception interview portion will be crucial to the success of the competitor.

Technical training and superior education is a major part of Yamaha Motor Canada’s continued direction as we continue to lead the industry with product developments and dealership assistance.

Yamaha has developed the Tech GP program in order to raise awareness and increase competency of those technicians that work under the Yamaha brand and foster the development of world-class technicians.

For more information about the Yamaha Tech GP, please contact:
Andy Gale Manager,
Service Marketing Yamaha Motor Canada
(416) 498 1911 ext 2507
andy_gale@yamaha-motor.ca

Press Release –

GE Plastics today announced new grades of its tough Xenoy* resin, which are excellent candidates to help meet the regulatory, performance, and cost challenges of molding fuel tanks for lawn mowers, snow blowers, personal recreation vehicles, generators, and other small engines. Xenoy X6800BM blow-molding and Xenoy 6620-GT injection-molding resin grades provide a one-step, monolayer solution to help meet current and upcoming California Air Resources Board (CARB) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards governing vapor emissions from small engine off-road fuel tanks.

Xenoy resins avoid the high costs of traditional multilayer extrusion blow-molding processes, as well as the cost and time required for secondary fluorination of conventional monolayer molded tanks.

The new materials also provide an outstanding balance of mechanical performance and weatherability, and are available in both natural and pre-colored black.

“The increasingly strict requirements of CARB and EPA regarding fuel permeation in small engine tanks are driving the need for new material solutions,” said Craig Williams, industry manager, Transportation at GE Plastics. “Because existing multilayer and monolayer approaches involve significant complexity, GE Plastics developed the new Xenoy resins that offer molding simplicity, speed, high performance, and compliance with regulations – not just today, but into the future. Xenoy resins for small engine off-road fuel tanks provide a one-step molding solution to help customers meet new regulations while remaining competitive.”

Key applications for the new Xenoy resins include walk-behind consumer mowers, six million of which were shipped in the United States in 2006, and hand-held gasoline blowers and trimmers, with more than 8.6 million units shipped last year, according to the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute. Snowmobile fuel tanks are another large application, with about 90,000 snowmobiles shipped in the United States in 2006, according to the International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association.

Xenoy X6800BM and Xenoy 6620-GT resins not only comply with the current 2007/08 CARB standard, which limits fuel vapor emissions to 2.5g/m2/day for small off-road engines, but also comply with the tighter 2011/12 limit of 1.5g/m2/day. CARB requirements are becoming the de facto industry standard.

Compared to multilayer extrusion blow molding, a complex barrier solution that can require a capital outlay of $2 to $5 million for the equipment, blow- or injection-molding Xenoy resins is simple and may potentially utilize existing tooling.

In contrast to post-molding fluorination of monolayer parts, which requires a secondary operation and may perform unevenly, the new Xenoy resins incorporate an inherent barrier material that delivers consistent permeation resistance throughout the part.

Other benefits of the new materials include:

• Excellent high- and low-temperature ductility
• Excellent UV stability
• Efficient processing with robust regrind capability
• Ability to do hot-plate or vibration welding
• Available in black and natural color

Other applications include fuel tanks for jet skis, generators, chainsaws, rototillers, ice augers, go carts, power washers, golf carts, and other devices requiring small off-road engines.

For more information on GE’s Xenoy resin, please visit the GE Plastics’ website at www.geplastics.com.