April 8, 2008
Spring SX Finals
…must come to an end
Early Sunday afternoon, I found myself standing at the foot of the Horseshoe Valley Ski Resort / CSRA snowcross track 
watching the vintage sleds challenge the ‘bunny hill’. The mercury was over 15C (60F) under clear blue skies, awesome conditions to spectate the final races of the season. Greg Marier and the Yamaha Factory Race team were on site and both Martin and Taylor had placed very well in all their qualifying runs. The Pro-open main was set to go off later in the day so I had to entertain myself cheering for the only other Yamaha on the track. An old black Enticer 340 that was dicing it out with a cherry red Rupp in the vintage class, (the ET won by the way 
)…
I met several Sled Talk ‘bloggers’ at both the Big4 spring show in Barrie and last weekends snowmobile race. I was reminded-amongst other things- of my obligation to write the SRX development story which currently resides as a stack of old documents in my ‘to-do’ basket. It’s clear to me in talking with many you, we are coming off a long snow season and most have had the opportunity to rack up some serious miles on their sleds. We have a lot of new potential customers looking at Yamaha now, after one too many expensive engine repairs or, riding days lost. Many of our existing customers are considering a new sled if not this season, then next and everyone is considering what maintenance and parts are required before putting the sled away for summer storage… This all helps to preserve snowmobiling in a healthy state going into next winter.
Total industry snowmobile sales in Canada are up over last season and the pipe line of non-current models has been largely depleted. The mountain segment has shown the most growth, which now represents almost a quarter of all the sleds sold in Canada. Yamaha Motor Canada also attained growth within this market and we still retain our market share position of second (next to Skidoo). The sales of trail permits are reported up in the key provinces and it appears snowmobile related, serious injury (and death) is in decline. This is especially good news considering the extra miles and hours spent by everyone on the snow this year.
…So here I am 100 feet in front of the start line with my daughter perched on my shoulders. Two blue sleds are in the front row and the flag is about to drop for the Pro Open final. Braaaap, a blur into the first corner and Taylor exits in first place for a strong drive up the long ski hill face with Hayden in second and Martin on the other Nytro in third. It looked good for Taylor until a bad line at the half way point saw Hayden slip by and hang on for the win with Steve a couple seconds behind. I snapped this shot of Taylor and Martin making a Hayden sandwich at the start finish line. It was really
cool to see (and hear) the power of 4-strokes going up the mountain. I spoke with Greg at length today as they are staying on at Horseshoe for a few extra days of testing in preparation for next years snowcross assault. He’s already getting pumped for next year. It was apparent to me, standing in the crowd, how big an impact these two sleds are having on the spectators, especially when they are running stronger with each outing. Perhaps winning isn’t everything-yeah I know… but it sure is exciting to be in the hunt.
Jon and Pete are attending important meetings in Japan and a bunch of interesting events are happening around me, here at Yamaha but that’ll all have to wait until next week. Until then, if you are getting out for another rip as the snow melts, I envy you. But I have lawns to rake and tires that need air not to mention the makings of a ‘winter boiler’ that’s demanding some serious ‘cardio’.
Heres a couple of last minute race reports out of YMUS
yamaha-factory-snocross-canadian-finale.doc
cheers cr
Great to see you guys still racing,but one question remains.I been reading alot on the web about WPSA being sold or about to go out of business.What does this mean for sno-cross racing in the future for YAMAHA?Any truth to these COB-WEB stories from internet spiders?
Kent I haven’t paid much attention to the rumors. Suffice to say SX is a business (show business in fact). If the existing org gets sold I hope and assume the new owner(s) would inject new life. If they wind it down, I think someone will step forward to pick up the pieces. If they continue I hope this year with its great snowfall eased the pain of track logistics and helps them looking forward.
April 8th, 2008 at 5:50 pmFrom the OEM’s POV the exposure is quite important and we look for a television component to bring the racing into as many households as possible. The X-games is the biggest deal in snowmobiling because of the network coverage it gets us. Again I don’t know whats going on within the WPSA but I believe sled racing will survive regardless. cheers cr
Nooooo!!! It can’t be over…. must climb higher….. must!!!!
I can’t wait for next season already. 502 miles for myself mountain riding this year. All time record for me.
0 days down on the Nytro.
1 Belt replaced (my fault, parking brake)
1 Belly belt popped out (known issue, but happened on last ride of year)
Good times, good times indeed!
April 8th, 2008 at 5:55 pmProlly make sledding go to the end of April and have another ‘blowing out of the candles’. Dang time flies as you reminded us of the ET 340, cutting and lifting the running boards. Good times.
Now I think I’m going to get a hair cut.
Yes sir, I was also smiling remembering when few sleds could touch my ‘mod’ ET on the hill. Suggest you get a bunch of them cut!
April 8th, 2008 at 6:18 pmI got ALL the members of my family on Yamaha sleds finally this year, and we are now all loving the sport together. Bought the wife a 08 Phazer MTX and she wants to ride all the time. My daughter and son shared a 00 Mountain Max, and can’t wait till next year when the snow flies again. My Nytro MTX needs boost and all is good, thanks for great year YAMAHA! No downtime or repairs!
As it should be! But I wonder how long your son and daughter will be willing to share
cheers cr
April 9th, 2008 at 3:03 pmWe had rain here today! The melting has started. We were off roading tonight on the ice roads in 6 inches of water on top of the ice with the Power Wagon.
I plan to ride into May, one way or another!!
April 10th, 2008 at 1:08 amJust wondering. Are the racers for sale after the season??
I’m not sure about Steve Martin but Steve Taylor’s girl friend would not likely agree to him being sold!
April 11th, 2008 at 9:17 amSeriously… the short is answer is no.
cheers cr
Seems someone already beet me to it, but here goes anyway. Where still counting on you for the grand revealing, the biggest event in the off season, the first write-up of it’s kind, 4 months in the making, The SRX Story.
Coming to a computer screen near you.
the pressure is on!!
cr
April 14th, 2008 at 7:43 amNow Carl (the afore poster) has revealed, SRX Motorcycles.
Look it up on Wiki.
Funny you mention SRX motorcycles as that is one bike I still desire to own in a big way… Carl is reminding me of my promise to publish a story on the SRX development which I fully intend to do… eventually…
cr
April 14th, 2008 at 10:16 pmHey cr,
when can we upload a photo to share on your blog.
Provided your liking, and looking over first….it might be nice to have a 1 or 2 photo limit on our response to your blog.
But then again ….. judication is the hard part, and blog space might be a short.
Interesting thought, at this time I don’t believe our host can support rich media uploads to comments but it does support links to other sites like Flikr and YouTube, I would be happy to approve links to other social media sites provided the direct content was appropriate to the discussion… cheers cr
April 15th, 2008 at 10:16 pmYou mentioned the new 1.75″ track for the XTX. Wouldn’t this affect the benefits from the tipped up rails? Would be great option but I’d hate to lose the trail benefits.
Rod
Rod IMHO, the guy who opts for the 1.75 shouldn’t be spending a lot of time on hard pack, which is where the tipped rails make a difference. The 1.75 will have hy-fax issues and break down the lugs if run on hard groomed trails at higher speeds… there is a compromise here and it boils down to choosing the track which is best for the majority of the conditions where you ride… theoretically, the higher lugs wouldn’t effect the rails angle as the lugs would lift the whole machine .5 inch- cheers cr
April 20th, 2008 at 7:17 pmI still log in once a week for my Yamaha fix. Can’t wait to hear the SRX’s story!!
April 21st, 2008 at 2:16 pmMe to, still waiting on the SRX story, off to get my Rhino for yama fun in the summer months.
April 23rd, 2008 at 1:18 pm