MEDINA, Minn. (April 29, 2014) – For Polaris snowmobile racers, the winter of 2013-2014 was a Season of Champions as they rode Polaris sleds to Terrain Domination® in virtually every racing discipline, including hillclimb, snocross, ice oval enduro, and cross-country. Polaris racers completely dominated the Rocky Mountain Snowmobile Hillclimb Assn. (RMSHA) circuit, won the legendary Soo I-500 ice oval enduro, and won the grueling Iron Dog cross-country race across Alaska. Below are highlights of the Polaris Season of Champions.
Hillclimb: Polaris Rules in the Mountains
Polaris racers demonstrated that their Polaris RMKs have the power and strength to dominate in the mountains on the RMSHA circuit. Polaris hillclimbers won 10 of the 12 Pro class season points titles, including all four Stock classes and all four Modified classes – where Polaris racers finished 1-2-3 in each class. At the season’s seven RMSHA events, Polaris racers won the Stock classes 27 of 28 times, or 96%.
Polaris Pro racers won 85% of the King of the Hill titles (18 of 21) as Keith Curtis won all seven Stock King crowns and six of seven Modified King titles. Curtis, who was voted RMSHA Racer of the Year by his fellow racers, won five Pro class season points titles: Stock 600, Stock 800, Stock 1000, Modified 800 and Open Modified.
Erin Beukelman won points titles in 800 Improved Stock, 1000 Improved Stock and 700 Modified, Tyler Crockett won the 600 Modified title, and Luke Rainey won the 700 Stock points title. Jesse Hotchkiss won points titles in all three Semi-Pro classes, and Shelley Heap won the season points titles in Women’s Stock and Women’s Improved Stock.
Polaris racers were also dominant at the sport’s premier event, the Jackson Hole World Championship Snowmobile Hillclimb, where they won every King of the Hill title, Keith Curtis won the King of Kings crown, and Polaris racers won 10 of the 12 Pro-class titles.
Snocross: Polaris Fills Up the Podium
On the ISOC National race circuit, Polaris racers claimed 59% of all ISOC podium finishes (first through third place) in the Pro, Pro Lite and Sport classes. Kody Kamm (Hentges Racing) finished second in Pro Open points standings, and Kyle Pallin (Team LaVallee) finished third.
Corin Todd (Leighton Motorsports) won the ISOC Pro Lite points title and Ryan Springer (Carlson Motorsports) won the Sport class title. In Canada’s top racing circuit, the CSRA, Iain Hayden (Rockstar Energy Polaris) won the seventh CSRA Pro Open National Snowcross Championship of his career, and Jacob Gervais won the Pro-Lite Championship.
Ice Oval Enduro: Polaris Racers Go 1-2 at the Soo
Gabe Bunke (Bunke Racing) and Aaron Christensen (AC Racing) won the Soo I-500 for the third straight year. It was the fifth Soo victory of Bunke’s career, the third for Christensen. Polaris racers Ryan Faust and Travis Faust, who are brothers and Faust Racing teammates, finished second for the second straight year. Polaris racers claimed six of the top 10 finishing positions in the demanding 500-lap, 500-mile race.
Polaris Racers Win & Dominate Top 10 in the Iron Dog
Todd Minnick and Nick Olstad teamed up to win the 2,031-mile Iron Dog cross-country race across Alaska on a pair of 600 Switchback PRO-R snowmobiles. Five Polaris teams finished in the top 10, including the third-place team of Mike Morgan and Chris Olds.
Cross-Country: Christensen Wins Pro Open
Aaron Christensen (AC Racing) won the final three USXC Pro Open races of the season to win the class points title, and he finished second in Pro Stock points. Polaris racers claimed over 53% of the season’s Pro Open podium spots, over 56% of the Sport Stock podium spots, and 59% of the podium spots in Sport Improved, where Austin Reinertson won the points title.
X Games: Moore, LaVallee Win Gold Medals
Colten Moore dazzled the crowd and global TV audience as he won the gold medal in Snowmobile Freestyle, and he won the bronze in Snowmobile Long Jump. When Levi LaVallee (Team LaVallee) won the gold medal in Snowmobile Long Jump it was the 10th X Games medal of his career, and his seventh gold medal. In X Games Snocross racing, Kody Kamm (Hentges Racing) earned the silver medal and Justin Broberg (Hentges Racing) took the bronze.
About Polaris
Polaris is a recognized leader in the powersports industry with annual 2013 sales of $3.8 billion. Polaris designs, engineers, manufactures and markets innovative, high quality off-road vehicles, including all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and the Polaris RANGER® and RZR® side-by-side vehicles, snowmobiles, motorcycles and on-road electric/hybrid powered vehicles.
Polaris is among the global sales leaders for both snowmobiles and off-road vehicles and has established a presence in the heavyweight cruiser and touring motorcycle market with the Victory and Indian Motorcycle brands. Additionally, Polaris continues to invest in the global on-road small electric/hybrid powered vehicle industry with Global Electric Motorcars (GEM), Goupil Industrie SA, Aixam Mega S.A.S., and internally developed vehicles. Polaris enhances the riding experience with a complete line of Polaris Engineered Parts, Accessories and Apparel, Klim branded apparel and ORV accessories under the Kolpin and Cycle Country brands.
Polaris Industries Inc. trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “PII”, and the Company is included in the S&P Mid-Cap 400 stock price index. Information about the complete line of Polaris products, apparel and vehicle accessories are available from authorized Polaris dealers or anytime at www.polaris.com.