Yamaha Cross Country Racers Win Lake Parlin 100, Podium At Beach Bar 200

Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin - The Yamaha Snowmobile Cross Country team served notice that it is a force to be reckoned with in its second week of competition, earning a victory at the Lake Parlin 100 in Maine and a podium finish at the Beach Bar 200 in Minnesota!

Big Win In The Eastern Series Opener

Aboard his 2012 FX Nytro, Yamaha’s Erik Frigon put in a commanding performance to win the Semi Pro class at the Lake Parlin 100 cross-country snowmobile race in western Maine on Sunday, Jan. 29. So dominant was Frigon aboard the four-stroke Yamaha that he finished only three seconds behind the Pro class in the grueling three-lap, 18-mile race. The victory was the talented Yamaha racer’s first of the year while Scott Brownell, another FX Nytro driver, finished seventh. “We are proud of Erik’s first win of the season and look forward to more wins on his way to a Semi Pro championship,” commented Wade West, Yamaha’s snowmobile marketing manager.

The racecourse’s six long miles encompassed a wide variety of frozen terrain – including Lake Parlin surface ice roughened by wind drifts, its nearby shoreline, and the surrounding woods. Frigon, a Maine policeman and perennial Yamaha demo ride contractor, had just a single day to test his FX Nytro race sled and set the suspension, clutching and gearing to his liking prior to the event. Riders were flagged away at 20-second intervals, and when Frigon quickly caught the first rider ahead, he knew that his FX Nytro had a power advantage. In all, he eventually passed nearly a half dozen sleds by the finish. Posting seven-minute lap times, he also averaged over 51 mph – wicked fast considering the difficult nature of the course.

A time-trial event structure made it impossible for drivers to know their overall place or class position while competing – especially since Pro, Semi Pro and Masters sleds were on-course simultaneously. This meant the only approach was to go out hard and keep right on doing it for the entire race. And that’s precisely what Frigon did, using the FX Nytro’s blend of four-stroke power and handling to best advantage – and validating the machine’s multiple American Snowmobiler Shootout acceleration awards in the process. “I was impressed with the power,” he said afterwards. “Without a lot of test time I didn’t know how much power it was going to have, but I could easily tell that I was gaining on riders in front of me.”

Lindbom Backs Up His Debut Race With Second Podium

Yamaha Semi-Pro racer Ben Lindbom backed up the second place podium finish at his first ever cross-country snowmobile race two weeks ago with another podium at the J&K Marine Beach Bar 200 in Detroit Lakes, Minn., this past January 28-29. Pro rider Ross Erdman, who won the Pro final at the opening race on Pine Lake near Gonvick, Minn., grabbed a hard-fought fourth-place finish in the Pro final at Detroit Lakes. The two-day event used combined times from each day of racing to place the riders in the final standings. The race was held on Big Detroit Lake and featured a 7.2-mile track with 44-turns.

The event was the largest in the recent history of cross-country snowmobile racing with upwards of 300 total race entries. The Semi-Pro class is one of the biggest and hardest-fought classes on the circuit and Lindbom faced a field of 22 other riders on his way to taking third in the class, posting a time just over 30-seconds out of first place after two days and 36-miles of racing.

“This is only my second cross-country race and my second race on ice,” said Lindbom. “The team has worked really hard to get me to the front and my Yamaha Nytro RTX is the best, most reliable machine out there. I’ve got a second and a third, next time out I’ll be looking for a win for sure.”

Erdman, fresh off his Pro win at Pine Lake, had an equally good showing in the highly-competitive Pro class at Detroit Lakes. After two days of racing Erdman placed fourth, missing a podium finish by just three seconds on the time charts.

Yamaha’s Eric Josephsen added, “This is the second ice race in a row and backing up our results from Pine Lake shows we’re right at the front. These guys are great riders and our crew is top notch - I see more wins coming this season for sure.”

Yamaha racers are sponsored by: DynoJet, Fly Racing, Camoplast, Woody’s, SpeedCell, Fox Racing Shox, Trail Tank, FXR, Yamalube, Ulmer Racing, Evolved Nutrition, and EVS.

Stay up to date with the Yamaha Race team on the Yamaha Snowmobiles, USA Facebook page.

Work Continues On A Long-Term Winter Use Plan For Yellowstone

Public Open Houses Scheduled in February

January 31, 2012 –The National Park Service (NPS) continues working on a long-term plan to guide winter use in Yellowstone National Park. The NPS and the park will host a series of open houses in February during a scoping period for that plan.

In May 2011, the NPS released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for public review on the potential effects of the plan for motorized oversnow travel in the park. After months of public comment and review, the NPS decided additional study was needed before putting a long-term plan in place. While the final plan is being developed, the NPS chose to manage snowmobile and snowcoach access in the park this winter under the same transition plan used the previous two winters.

The NPS is preparing a Supplemental EIS to create a final winter management plan to take effect with the 2012-2013 winter season. Among the subjects identified for further analysis in the Supplemental EIS are requirements for entry into the park by 10:30 a.m. daily, sound and air quality computer modeling assumptions, “best available technology” standards for snowcoaches, the impacts of Sylvan Pass avalanche hazard mitigation, and opportunities for park access by non-commercially guided snowmobile groups.

The first step in developing the Supplemental EIS is to ask for further public comment and suggestions on potential approaches to winter use, including any additional issues not yet discussed. This process, known as public scoping, will officially open for a 30 day period upon the publication of a Notice of Intent, which is expected to appear in the Federal Register in the next few days.

The NPS has released a draft range of alternatives for public review and comment during scoping. The alternatives cover a wide range of possible approaches to winter uses in the park.

The "no-action" alternative would eliminate all snowmobile and snowcoach travel in the park after the end of the current winter season. A second alternative looks at continuing winter operations at the present temporary limits, plus analysis of limited access for non-commercially guided snowmobiles. Under a third alternative, park roads from West Yellowstone and Mammoth Hot Springs to Old Faithful would be plowed to allow commercially operated, wheeled vehicles into the park. Also under consideration is a proposal to phase out snowmobiles and allow motorized entry by snowcoaches alone. This alternative includes analysis of closing the park’s east entrance over Sylvan Pass to motorized oversnow use.

Two other draft alternatives would take a new and different approach to winter use: Regulating park entry according to the number of “sound events” created by snowcoaches or guided snowmobile groups, rather than by specific numbers of snowcoaches or snowmobiles. One of these alternatives also assesses the effects of two-week ‘shoulder seasons’, where entrance to the park during the first two and last two weeks of the season would be via wheeled vehicles or rubber-tracked snowcoaches.

Park staff members will host a series of open houses during the scoping period to answer questions about winter use issues, the draft alternatives, and the process of preparing the supplemental EIS:

• Monday, Feb. 13 in Cody WY: Holiday Inn, 1702 Sheridan Ave.

• Tuesday, Feb. 14 in Jackson, WY: The Virginian Lodge, 750 W. Broadway

• Wednesday, Feb.15 in West Yellowstone, MT: Holiday Inn, 315 Yellowstone Ave.

• Thursday Feb. 16 in Bozeman, MT: Holiday Inn, 5 Baxter Lane

All four open houses will run from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Additional details on the Supplemental EIS, the draft range of alternatives, and an electronic form to submit comments can be found on the NPS Planning, Environment and Public Comment (PEPC) website at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/yell, or by writing to Winter Use Supplemental EIS, P.O. Box 168, Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190.

Written comments may be submitted through the PEPC website, in person at either the open houses or at park headquarters, or by mail. Comments will not be accepted over the phone, by fax, or e-mail. All public comments must be received or postmarked by midnight MST 30 days from the beginning of the comment period.

Park staff members will analyze the scoping comments and other additional information as they refine the draft alternatives and prepare the Supplemental EIS. That new document is expected to be released for public review and comment in spring 2012. The NPS intends to have a final Supplemental EIS, a Record of Decision, and a long-term regulation for winter use in Yellowstone in place before the mid-December start of the 2012-2013 winter season.