John Deere has announced to employees and dealers that the company will exit the All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) business. The company has not achieved an acceptable level of profitability in ATV products since it began selling the utility ATV products in the spring of 2004.

However, John Deere will remain and strengthen its presence in the utility vehicle market – a segment the company created more than 15 years ago with the GatorTM Utility Vehicle product line.

No John Deere jobs are affected by the decision since the ATVs were manufactured by Bombardier Recreational Products. John Deere said it will honor all product warranties for the ATVs it has sold and will have parts available for 10 years under the terms of the John Deere long-term commitment to service parts. The company will no longer sell ATVs once dealer inventories are depleted.

MINNEAPOLIS (July 28, 2006) — Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE/PSE: PII) and KTM Power Sports AG (“KTM”) today jointly announced that they will continue their strategic partnership at an operational and technical level but that they no longer anticipate that Polaris will acquire a majority equity interest in KTM. On July 19, 2005 the companies announced that Polaris purchased approximately a 25 percent interest in KTM and that Polaris and KTM’s largest shareholder, Cross Industries AG (“Cross”), had entered into an option agreement which provided that, under certain conditions in 2007, either Cross could purchase Polaris’ interest in KTM or, alternatively, Polaris could purchase Cross’ majority interest in KTM. Although the options are not exercisable until 2007, it is likely that under the terms of the option agreement, Cross would have the initial option to purchase Polaris’ equity interest in KTM. On July 19, 2005 the companies also announced that during the first phase of the partnership each company would be run independently and that Polaris and KTM would work on several specific cooperative projects.

“Our teams have worked well together over the past year. The strategic partnership has accomplished a tremendous amount so far and achieved nearly all our goals during the first 12 months of its existence.” said Tom Tiller, Polaris’ CEO. “For instance, in February of this year Polaris and KTM entered into a long-term exclusive engine supply agreement for ATV applications and in March of this year KTM became Polaris’ distributor in Germany. Additionally, our co-development projects are progressing nicely and we expect to make an exciting announcement about one of our projects in the near future. These and other joint cooperation projects will continue into the future. I expect the technical cooperation between our companies to continue to be strong in the coming years.”

“We are very pleased with the results of the first phase of the strategic partnership and look forward to continuing the relationship” said Stefan Pierer, KTM’s CEO. “Nevertheless, Rudolf Knünz (the other principal in Cross) and I have recently informed Polaris of our intention not to sell Cross’ interest in KTM to Polaris. We wish to remain in control of KTM and for KTM to remain an independent company.”

Tom Tiller concluded, “When we structured Polaris’ path toward complete ownership of KTM as a 2-staged process, we recognized that this was a possible outcome. Polaris continues to own a 25 percent equity interest in KTM and we continue to have confidence in the KTM management team and their ability to execute the KTM operational plan.”

Seems the recent introduction of Yamaha’s new electric power assisted steering on the 2007 Grizzly has raised the fur over at Honda Motor Corporation. Just days after the introduction of the new 700 EFI Grizzly (covered in this issue) we received an official Press Release from Honda covering the development of the “world’s first Electric Power Steering (EPS) system for ATVs”.

The release emphatically states an “ATV with this Honda exclusive technology is easier to maneuver…”. The release continues: “Honda’s first application of EPS on a production ATV is anticipated in the near future”. The 680 EFI Rincon is a brand new ATV just introduced last fall. Would it be getting an update to include the new EPS system already or is this more likely to be available on an all-new ATV?

Consider this as well: EPS, as Yamaha uses it, shows it’s strongest benefit when in diff-lock 4×4. Last time we checked, Honda currently offers no models with diff-lock. In any case, the release states September of this year is when we’ll see the EPS system on a production Honda ATV.

With EPS equipped Grizzlies already in showrooms, we wonder what the brain trust at Yamaha thinks about this?

Rossville, IN – July 22, 2006 – It’s official: Doug Gust of Team Yoshimura Suzuki is now the leader in WPSA points standings. Having survived eight grueling rounds, Gust has gotten a toe-hold on the SuperQuad Pro 450 Championship with a one point lead over Dustin Wimmer.

At Rossville, Doug was still a little banged up from last week’s crash. Gust bucked it up though for two days of all out physical punishment. His recipe for success included back-to-back wins in both qualifying heats on Saturday and a second place finish behind teammate Jeremiah Jones in the main event. Sunday started with another set of qualifying wins and a first place finish in the main. “It was a great weekend for Team Yoshimura Suzuki,” Gust humbly commented. “These LT-R450’s were going great for both of us. The Yoshimura guys had these things dialed in just right and we just rode them as fast as we could.”

But that wasn’t the only news from the fast blue-grooved track in Rossville. Teammate Jeremiah Jones, who has had six consecutive visits to the podium, snagged his third win in six races in Saturday’s main event, driving the entire race with nothing but the track in front of him. Coming out of the hole shot in first, Jones pulled out to a comfortable lead, and didn’t relinquish it for the rest of the race. Doug Gust was the only one to even come close to Jeremiah’s dust, but even he fell about 4 seconds back by the time the checkered flag flew.

Jones, who is third in overall points standings, felt incredible about his win on Saturday. “I guess I just ran away with it. I got the hole shot and I just turned it loose… Doug and I had an easy ride.”

On Sunday’s main event, Doug Gust came out unscathed from a start melee that caught Jeremiah and a bunch of other riders. In typical JJ style, Jeremiah worked his way through the crowd to seventh, but another tie up held him back and he finished ninth. Gust took the lead early and just marched around the track unchallenged securing another first place podium spot for the team.

With one final weekend of racing to go in this series, the two-day showdown in Englishtown, NJ promises to be a “can’t miss” battle for first place. Team Yoshimura Suzuki is more than a little optimistic that it’s going to put a lot of blue Suzuki shirts up on that final podium.

Press Release –

With only four events left in the 2006 ATVA ITP/Moose National MX Series, Kenda sponsored
rider Joe Byrd, Union City, TN continues to lead the points race in the Pro class. Round ten of the series was held in Pell City, AL with temperatures soaring well over 100 degrees.

The slick, dry track conditions made Joes, choice of tires an easy one…the reliable and
consistent Kenda Klaw Sticky. Joe finished the grueling event 5th overall and thirteen points
ahead of second place!

NEWS FLASH! As we go to press the news has come in that at the most recent race held in Walnut, IL on July 15, Joe rode his Kenda Klaw Sticky mounted Honda TRX 450 to a second place overall and increased his lead over second place by 29 points, thus maintaining the top spot in the series.

Kenda sponsored Heather Byrd continues to silence any critics that may be left. Heather has raced her way to the podium in 10 of 11 events and is the current points leader in the Women’s class of the ATVA ITP/Moose National MX Series. Heather also counts on the Kenda Klaw Sticky to get the holeshots and fly by her competitors to the finish line first!