In early September Polaris announced they would be bowing out of the personal watercraft (PWC) business.

Polaris had been struggling to respond to the PWC industry’s dramatic move toward 4-stroke power for the past 24 months. Although long overdue, new 4-stroke models just debuted by Polaris were very impressive.

It was probably too little, too late for the company to achieve any serious market share in an industry under steady decline the past seven years. Sales of personal watercraft reached almost 250,000 units in the middle 90’s but have dropped to about 80,000 units this season.

Interestingly, Polaris is exiting the PWC market after developing an incredibly potent 750cc, 2-cylinder, DOHC, 8-valve, turbo charged and intercooled 4-stroke manufactured for them by German vendor, Weber Motor.

If you would like to see where Redline was obviously buying (or intended to buy) their engines and where Polaris has been doing business ,go to www.weber-motor.com.

Now let’s think for a second here. Could a lightweight, 4-stroke twin making 150 ponies be adaptable to a snowmobile? Yeah.

Searchmont Resort hosted the second round of the CSRA’s National Championship Snocross series on a huge ski-hill course this past weekend.

Natural snow combined with a man made base providing racers from the USA, Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec with an exciting weekend of Pro and Semi-Pro snocross competition.

PRO RACING:

In Pro 440 National racing it was 2003 CSRA National Champion Iain Hayden’s (OTSSF/Arctic Cat) day. Hayden qualified 1,1,5 for the top spot on the front row and appeared unstoppable when he lit the fuse on his 440 Sno-Pro Arctic Cat.

Up the hill first and in front Hayden gave no gate to Michael VanDolder (2,2,3) (Factory Recreation/Royal Distributing/Ski-Doo) who also appeared to have the starting drilled nailed this weekend. An interesting mix of US Pro’s followed which included Joshua Zelinski (5,3,2)(Team Stud Boy/Ski-Doo), Jon Zelinski (4,4,4) Team Stud Boy/Ski-Doo) and Justin Walesky (3,2,1) (Team Flintriggers/Ski-Doo).

These five pilots tore up the course but as is often the case at Searchmont, once the starting order was established these drivers held their positions until the finish.

In Pro Open National competition St Felicien, Quebec racer Karl Allard used the holeshot power of his Sno-Pro Arctic Cat Open Mod to qualify 1,1,3 and appeared blistering fast throughout the day. In fact, Allard was fast – so fast he was unbeatable.

Michael VanDolder (2,2,1) looked quick on his 126 inch long track Rev and did displace Iain Hayden’s equally fast Arctic Cat for second after a battle which saw VanDolder’s Mod simply out-pull Hayden up the 80 MPH uphill straight. In a strange twist from the past two seasons, Arctic Cat has changed the rules in CSRA snocross with new found Pro-Class dominance.

SEMI-PRO RACING:

Semi-Pro Open racing has become the domain of a young man from Clearwater BC. Brett Turcotte (1,1,1) simply rode the wheels off his Blair Morgan Racing/BDI/Armstrong Speed Sports/Ski-Doo in qualifying and then wicked it even harder to outclass the Semi-Pro field in the final.

Riding fast in second but in what seemed like a different race was John O’Malley from Ajax (Ski-Doo) and Lee Butler (OTSSF/Arctic Cat) charging in third. Butler seemed to have more but suffered from some untimely bobbles to capture third at the checkers.

Semi-Pro 440 was to be another Brett Turcotte event with qualifying results of 1,2,1. Turcotte was fierce in his ability to holeshot but in this final it was Joey Sagan (1,2,4) (Factory Recreation/Royal Distributing/Ski-Doo) who launched first and rode the skis off his Rev 440 to get out front early. Turcotte was in second with a highly motivated Lee Butler in third. Turcotte settled down by lap three and took advantage of a slight bobble by Sagan to take the lead. He never looked back. At the finish it was Turcotte, Sagan then Butler.

Semi-Pro/Pro Women was an all US show with Millington, Michigan’s Jamie Walesky (1,1,1) (Team Flintriggers/Ski-Doo) leading the final as she did all three qualifiers. Victoria Hawley from Negaunee, Michigan (2,2,2) duplicated her qualifying results for a strong second while Sarah McQuestion (10,4,4) from Tustin, Michigan railed for third at the checkers.

CSRA / WSA National Racing Moves To Winnipeg, Manitoba, December 11th, 12th 2004

Searchmont Resort near Sault Ste. Marie hosted the second round of the Canadian Snowcross Racing Association’s (CSRA) National Championship series this past weekend. The resort provided a huge man made race course which thrilled crowds with the longest uphill straightaway in all of North American snocross. With speeds in excess of 80 MPH in Pro Open and jumps which pushed riders and sleds 100 ft through the air, the event was – as always – a crowd pleaser.

AJ Lester showed he’s back in strong form for the 2004/05 season by carding impressive results in Pro 600 Qualifying and with the crowds support he carded a well deserved fifth in Saturday’s only Pro Final.

In Pro 440 a frustrating ride netted him but a twelfth at the finish. Good news was AJ’s points tally for the weekend – netting him 8th and elevating him to 3rd among CSRA full season riders for the 440 National Championship points chase.

When the green dropped in Pro Open AJ again struggled with traffic up the hill and posted a disappointing 11th at the checkers. While not a stellar weekend AJ left with 8th overall for the weekend in Pro Open and among season long CSRA Pro’s AJ is now in fourth for the Pro Open National Championship.

Matt Turner came to Searchmont with a severe case of the flu which spread through the LBR trailer like a plague – affecting almost everyone before the weekend was over. Matt has a tough as nails drive to win and rides with his heart every time he pulls the trigger. Although he was very sick, Matt went out in Pro 600 and pulled good starts netting a front row start but his energy was seriously compromised by the time the green flag dropped. Matt still shot up front at the start – showing his snow flap to most of the field but finished exhausted – a disappointing 14th. Matt was ready for bed to rest for Sunday’s National program.

In Pro 440 qualifying Matt pulled convincing holeshots but determined he would ride until his energy gave out and then stay on the sled – rather than risk an off. This mind set netted him a three moto tally of 4, 4, 7 and a front row start in the final. In the final Matt struggled after a strong gate to end up 13th with a broken rear axle. Among season long CSRA riders Matt is 3rd in 440 National Points.

In the Pro Open final Matt rode hard but had more mechanicals and ran out of energy to net 10th at the checkers. Among season long CSRA riders Matt is in 7th in National Pro Open points.

(Press Release) Work is under-way on an Internet blogging application devoted to snowmobile enthusiasts. SNOWMOBILER.COM is asking everyone with an opinion to visit the website and vote. The question: Are you likely to utilize the snowmobiler.com web blogging application?

Blogging is the most effective way for you, the snowmobiler, to be heard on the web. Unlike traditional news sources, web blogs (or weblogs); contain un-edited and un-contaminated stories that infuse the same newsworthy topics with the opinions and prejudices of the author. Agree or disagree, bloggers celebrate this new movement as a claim to their independent voices and an exercise in freedom of speech.

SNOWMOBILER.COM users will be able to publish personal stories, opinions, reviews of the latest equipment and products, or anything relating to Snowmobiling. Once the article is posted, it is listed chronologically and instantly made accessible to all. Then browse and respond publicly with your own comments.

Andrew Sullivan of the New York Times writes in issue 10.05 of Wired Magazine, “The phenomenon is real. Blogging is changing the media world and could, I think, foment a revolution in how journalism functions in our culture.”

Visit SNOWMOBILER.COM to cast your vote or offer your feedback. The full-launch of the website is slated for February, 2005.

(Press Release) Les Collett, President of Collett Electronics Ltd., located in Winnipeg, Canada, announced his company would be producing another 2000 Groomer Warning Beacons over the next 2 years.

Groomer Warning Beacons or GWB’s are devices that are installed on snowmobile trail groomers and transmit a 900MHz radio signal ” dee-da ” …. “dee-da “, similar to a back-up alarm, that can be received on channel #1 of all Collett ‘900’ series Communicators. This signal warns snowmobilers that a groomer is near and they should slow down and be prepared to stop.

“In past years we have produced and supplied, free-of-charge, about 3500 GWB’s to groomer operators in the U.S. and Canada” says Les Collett. “As we often gave them to federations and associations to distribute, we had little direct knowledge of how many were actually needed. We thought 3500 would surely be enough to equip every groomer at that time and into the future. Well, we were wrong. Almost every day we get faxes, e-mails, and calls asking for more GWB’s. So I talked things over with our production people and we’ve decided, even though we are at our busiest time of the year, we will make every effort to produce at least 500 GWB’s, this season.”

As in the past, these will be given free-of-charge. Groomer operators desiring a GWB should visit www.collettcommunicators.com and register their request.

A word of caution: Snowmobilers can’t count on every groomer transmitting a warning signal. They must always expect the unexpected and adjust their speed accordingly. Ride Safe! Visit our website to hear a Groomer Warning Beacon.

Arctic Cat Snow Blast will be the center of snowmobiling attention, March 11-13, 2005 in West Yellowstone, MT. The event will immediately follow the 2006 Arctic Cat Model Year Snowmobile Dealer Show. Snow Blast events to include: Demo Rides, Radar & Poker Runs, Live concerts with Teri Clark, Sawyer Brown, Trick Pony & Big & Rich.

Consumer Information
The following 800 numbers are available for Snow Blast consumer information and ticket sales.

Consumers wanting to purchase weekend packages for Snow Blast can call Ticket Works at 877-693-2456. The cost per package is $99.00 through December 31, 2004. Starting January 1, 2005 they will increase to $129.00.

Weekend packages can also be purchased on the Arctic Cat website at www.arcticcat.com/snowblast, and click on Entertainment . That will link to Ticket Works.

Consumers wanting information on Snow Blast can contact the West Yellowstone Chamber Of Commerce at 877-691-2456 or visit their website at www.westyellowstonechamber.com or the Arctic Cat website at www.arcticcat.com/snowblast..