Press Release –

As a series champion on the GNCC Racing Circuit, Kevin Johnston knows a good machine when he rides one and what to do with it.

On November 6, 2005 at Burnt Mill Creek cross-country course near Laurens, SC, Johnston rode a KYMCO Mongoose 250 to a first-place finish in the Utility class, beating entries from Polaris, Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki in the process, then he did it again in December at the Mid East/Interstate winter race held in Yadkinville, NC.

At Burnt Creek, the Mongoose was so strong that Johnston finished a full lap ahead of the competition, even though most of them had 200cc to 400cc more displacement. The same was true at Yadkinville, where Johnston started dead last out of 42 entries, then managed to pass half the field, even though most were bigger, and supposedly faster, sport quads.

“The KYMCO is a quality product,” Johnston said after he rode the Mongoose to win two Utility-class races in a row. “We were definitely the smallest quad out there.”

Johnston, 34 and a road-grading supervisor from Denver, NC, even tested the Mongoose’s toughness by jumping a 15 foot creek on the Burnt Mill Creek course. “I was rather impressed,” he said in a post-race interview. “It definitely performed better than the other ATVs in the tight turns.”

The 2005 national champion (Johnston won the 2005 GNCC Unlimited Utility Class) decided he wanted to try out a KYMCO after seeing the Mongoose on display at the ATV World¹s Fair in Louisville, KY.

“Kevin called me the week before the hare scramble and said he wanted to pick up the quad we had at the show to run in an event,” said Joe Wofford, Vice President, Operations for KYMCO USA. “So we prepped the Mongoose and he picked it up on Friday. I spoke with him afterward and he advised me that he did ³pretty good² with it.”

The Mongoose 250 he used was stock with the exception of Elka shocks, an exhaust system, 2 A-arms from Desert Toys, and a EX 300 extended axle from RPM.

More information on KYMCO racing is available at kymcousa.com/racing.

Press Release –

Team Suzuki/Yoshimura ATV started the season with a mixed result today. Perennial crowd favorite and ATV racing legend “Digger” Doug Gust put the all-new Suzuki QuadRacer LT-R450 on the box with a 3rd place finish. Teammate Jeremiah Jones suffered bad luck though and was forced to take a back seat.

In the first race of the day both Jeremiah and Doug gated well and were running at the front of the pack. Going into a packed corner, virtually all of the leaders came together causing a large melee. Another rider drilled Jones right in the rear axle/swingarm area. Jeremiah and several other riders ended up on the ground and scrambling for their machines.

Jones ended up climbing back on and up to an eventual 14th place finish for moto-one while Gust finished 4th. In between motos the bikes were gone over and prepped for moto-two. But what no one noticed was that the impact on Jeremiahs Quad had been so severe, it had bent his swingarm.

Moto-two saw Gust get a good start and start the moto in 3rd. Jeremiah meantime was further back having been pinched coming off the gate. Jeremiah was on a mission and started climbing through the pack.

Just past the halfway point he was up to second place and starting to close in on the leaders when the rear suspension broke on his quad. The bent swingarm had created a bind that after half the moto finally let loose. A dejected Jones limped back to the pits.

It took the crew the better part of two hours and a lot of measuring to finally figure out what happened. Although imperceptible to the naked eye, when the bike was placed on a chassis jog, the swingarm was indeed bent to the side by almost an inch!

When asked what could be done to prevent a future occurrence of this happening again, team manager Wayne Hinson said. “Nothing really, it’s just one of those racing deals. It takes about an hour to jig the frame up and get the measurements.

There isn’t enough time in between races to do it. There’s no way to prevent it either, you get a 400 pound quad wide open in 4th gear hitting your swingarm and there’s nothing on God’s green earth is going to keep it from getting bent!”

On balance Wayne was happy with the outcome of the race. “I found out that we are very competitive today.

We had some bad luck, but this new bike is really fast. I think we are going to win a lot of races this year and be in serious contention for the title.

I’ve never brought a brand new quad to a race and been this dialed in so quickly. The LT-R450 is unreal.”

Gust was philosophical after the event, “I had trouble getting my head into the race today,” the Wisconsin native said, “I didn’t really feel 100% for some reason so I tried to ride smart. It paid off in the end. I’ll go into Texas with good points and we’ll whip ’em out there hopefully.”

Watch for the Jones and Gust show to put their LT-R’s up front in Texas as the series hits round two.

Joe Byrd ended up winning the race. The Yoshimura supported rider went 2-1 for the win.

1. Hon. Joe Byrd; Union City, TN
2. Hon. John Natalie; Houtzdale, PA
3. Suz. Doug Gust; Salem, WI
4. Hon. Keith Little; Russellville, AL
5. Hon. Joe Haavisto; New Ipsmith, NH
6. Hon. Travis Cain; Mckinleyville, CA
7. Yam. Jason Luburgh; Zanesville, OH
8. Yam. Jason Dunkleberger; Trevorton, PA
9. Hon. Chad Wienen; Galena, IL
10. Hon. Jeremy Lawson; Battlelewn, KY
16. Suz. Jeremiah Jones; Bowling Green, KY

Press Release –

After sixteen very long challenging days and more than 9,000 kilometers from Lisbon, Portugal to Dakar, Senegal, Spanish ATV rider Juan Manuel Gonzales, also known as ‘Pedregà’, placed first in the ATV category at the 28th edition of the Dakar Rally. Frenchmen Antoine Morel, last year’s Dakar winner in the ATV category and his son Alan Morel placed second and third respectively in the ATV category.

Pedregà, who maintained the lead in the ATV category from beginning to end, rode to victory on a DS 650™ X ATV by BRP. Antoine and Alan Morel, also riding DS 650 X ATVs, were in hot pursuit of Pedregà as he raced ahead to Dakar.

Pedregà won 9 of the 13 stages of the rally with 92 hours and 25 minutes, followed by Antoine Morel with 96 hours and 28 minutes and Alain Morel with 96 hours and 28 minutes. This outstanding performance by all three Bombardier* ATV riders placed them 79th, 83rd and 85th in the overall classification for motorcycles.

Antoine and Alan Morel, father and son, completed most of the specials riding together as fast as they could. once their closest competitors were out of the race, their strategy was to make sure to make it all the way to Dakar and assure a triple podium finish for the Bombardier ATV team.

“I would like to congratulate the Bombardier ATV team on this outstanding achievement. This is the third consecutive victory for Bombardier ATV at the Dakar Rally, but by far the most impressive! This triple victory demonstrates the talent and endurance of our ATV team who braved some of the most challenging terrains, we are very proud of their accomplishment,” said Michel Hade, Vice-President and General Manager, International Sales and Marketing.

The Bombardier ATV team was supported by a superb assistance team of French and Spanish mechanics that rode with them all the way to Dakar and made sure the team members and their ATVs were in top shape. The team’s DS 650 X ATVs were virtually ‘out-of-the-box’ with only a few minor modifications made.

“This victory would not have been possible had it not been for the sturdiness and reliability of my Bombardier ATV and the fantastic support team we had. The organization was excellent and they deserve to share in this victory along with us,” declared Pedregà.

The two weeks of the race were particularly testing for the Bombardier ATV team, with some stages totaling more than 850 kilometers a day on extremely difficult terrain, going from the wadis(steep-sided and flat-bottomed alleys found in arid regions) of Morocco to the dunes of Mauritania and the winding trails in Mali.