Press Release –

Polaris Industries announced Rushford Minnesota Dealer, M&M Lawn & Leisure has provided Sportsman ATVs and RANGER side by side vehicles to help with the Southern Minnesota flood relief.

“Southeast Minnesota has been devastated by the recent flooding,” said Mike Burns, owner of M&M Lawn & Leisure. “As a local business and also a victim of the floods, I knew the best way I could help with the rescue efforts was providing these units.”

M&M Lawn & Leisure has provided more than seven ATVs and 19 Polaris RANGERs to immediately to aid in the effort.

Until two days ago, the Polaris vehicles were the only ones permitted to enter the flooded town of Rushford, Minn.

Press Release –

The Can-Am X Package just hit the market, and the new Can-AmX.com site is loaded with everything you need.

No BS. No hype. No fluff. Just stats, facts and features.

Check out Can-AmX.com to get the lowdown.

Pro ATV NASMOTO defending champ, Nic Granlund, is set to defend his National Championship Title at the September 2nd 2007 Extreme Cycle Jam NASMOTO ATV SMGC contest in Nashville at the Music City Motorplex. Granlund will be aboard his ultra fast Yamaha YFZ 450 racer aiming at the ultimate goal.
 
Music City Motorplex is home to the  3rd annual NASMOTO Extreme Cycle Jam ATV Championships for SMX ATV Pro-Am and Amateur ATV SuperMoto. This is a winner-take-all format with a winning purse in excess of $3,000.

The Extreme Cycle Jam will be the most demanding ATV race of the season. The high banks of the Music City Motorplex creates a terminal velocity of over 90 mph combined with the dirt section that is both tight and flowing produces set up challenges for all the competitors. Too much emphasis on the asphalt leaves the racer open to attack on the dirt and visa versa. Dedicated ATV promoter practice is scheduled for Saturday morning. The premier ATV race is scheduled as the featured race on Sunday and includes the fan-favorite urban jump.

As a tune up to the Nashville round Granlund competed and won in the August 18-19 SMUSA Vet National and NASMOTO qualifier at the Reno Fernley Raceway.  When asked about his Yamaha YFZ
performance Granlund has this to say, “The guys were catching me on the straights so I’m going to have to build more horsepower to stay competitive on the high banks of Nashville .” 

The team at the Music City Motorplex has a treat in store for the fans as well. “We have modified the dirt section so that fans can really enjoy the jumps and see the passing lanes,” said Norman Partin, General Manager of Music City Motorplex. “This is the premier event for ATV racing in 2007 and our most exciting event to date!”

By combining the two disciplines in one weekend, fans of both 4 wheel and 2 wheel racing will get to experience the excitement of the other’s events.

Suzuki will be sending five riders to this prestigious event that will be held Saturday, August 25th:

Team Rockstar/MSR/Suzuki/Yoshimura/Pro Taper rider and 2006 WPSA SuperQuad Pro 450 Champion – Doug Gust

Team MSR/Suzuki/Yoshimura/Pro Taper rider and 2006 second place WPSA finalist and current title contender – Dustin Wimmer

Team Rockstar/MSR/Suzuki/Yoshimura/Pro Taper rider and current third place points leader – Chad Wienen

Suzuki/Yoshimura Pro Rider and current ITP QuadCross Series Points Leader – Kory Ellis

Suzuki Support Rider and 2006 WPSA “A” Class Champion – Russell Shumaker

“Suzuki is honored to be asked to join the other three major ATV manufacturers in what is sure to be a truly special event,” Rod Lopusnak, Suzuki’s ATV Operations Manager commented. “Pitting the best of the best will be enjoyable for riders and fans alike, plus we will be elevating the awareness of the sport to a whole new audience.”

Look for 7 Suzuki QuadRacer R450s to be out front when the checkers fall as Lost Creek Cycles has also been invited and will be sending riders Joe Haavisto and Jason Dunkleburger.

An amateur meteorologist from Toronto has embarrassed NASA scientists by catching an error in recent climate-change data. The resulting flap has led to accusations and finger-pointing over whether NASA’s error was genuine.

CBC News
Thanks to blogger Stephen McIntyre’s calculations, climatologists at NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Science (GISS) in New York now concede that 1934 was the hottest year in U.S. history, and not 1998 as it previously reported.

McIntyre first emailed NASA on Aug. 4 saying he’d discovered an error in its climate change data from 1999-onwards. He noticed inexplicable jumps in temperature around that time and, as it turns out, NASA’s temperature readings have all been too high since then, to a maximum of 0.15 C.

NASA has since adjusted its numbers. They now show that 1998 is the U.S.’s second-hottest year and that five of the 10 warmest years on record in the U.S. date from before 1939. The worldwide numbers remain unchanged, with 1998 and 2005 tied as the hottest year on record.

McIntyre’s findings did more than just embarrass NASA, though. They have triggered a storm of criticism from climate-change skeptics who accuse NASA of inflating the numbers to promote global hysteria over the environment and others accusing NASA of trying to keep the error quiet.

Meanwhile, climatologists at GISS say their critics are making a mountain out of a molehill and that the differences in the recalculated temperatures are so insignificant that they have no impact on the overall trend towards global warming.

They attributed the error to a new data collection system established in 2000 that used different methods than the previous one.

Yamaha’s 2008 intro was a little underwhelming. The company launched a price-point version of the new 700 Grizzly sans EPS power steering and a new 250 Raptor. That was it.

Both these units are nice rides and meet important segments head-on but we believe the company needs to ramp-up their meat-of-the-market offering – the Kodiak/Grizzly 450.

This ATV has continued to sell well but is among the oldest designs in the sport’s most popular class. We’re looking for a new, EPS equipped, powered up, EFI inducted replacement for the 450 very soon.

All indications are for more factory involvement in ATV racing at virtually every level. The well-established GNCC circuit provides opportunities for OEMs to provide equipment in classes from 450 Pure Sport to Sport-Utility segments.

WPSA racing is another venue offering classes for almost all stock Pure Sport and Sport/Ute ATV’s. Here’s what’s occurring now and expect to see more of it soon. Can-Am has gravitated to GNCC and WPSA Sport/Ute Divisions with, big league factory backed teams using one-off, ultra trick, modified stock ATVs to gain ground in classes which were, up until the BRP racing machine arrived, dominated by privateers on basically aftermarket modified stock ATVs.

When BRP Can-Am shows up at the races with its 53-foot tractor-trailers, factory mechanics and enough trick stuff to sink a ship, you just know the other OEMs will have to follow soon. We think BRP is just scraping the surface with its participation thus far.

Next year, when production DS 450s are legal for racing in the Pro classes, this racing-motivated company will take the sport to another level of professionalism. For the most part, the rest of the industry has been largely sitting on the fence, supporting private teams but being careful not to appear like they’re really into factory racing.

Can-Am could care less if you think they’re into factory supported racing, because they are and they’re proud of it. It’s going to get very interesting next year.

Stories of roll-overs in UTVs are becoming more prolific. Here’s what we think. More UTV’s are being sold than ever before and more buyers are using them for recreational purposes.

This is major shift from only two years ago that saw most UTVs sold being used for work duties. If today’s UTV buyers are running around dunes, trail riding and generally pushing the envelope with these versatile and fun vehicles, roll-overs are going to occur.

All-Terrain Vehicle magazine will officially go on record here with this strong recommendation – don’t drive or ride in a UTV without a helmet and seatbelt.

It’s just common sense.