Making the journey to mainland Europe, team ATV World Yamaha travelled to France for the first of ten rounds in the 2008 EMX-UEM European Quad Championships. With a gruelling schedule ahead, John Mitchell is competing to retain the championship while Paul Holmes looks to improve on his third place finish last year.

Qualifying
Qualifying was a good chance to check the team Yamaha YFZ450’s were performing well and John was happy to take it steady and take fourth. Paul qualified in 11th. Working alongside the ATV World mechanics was the development team from Elka Suspension. Fred from Elka advised the riders on the set up adjustment for their Elka Factory Shocks which included; ground clearance, ride height and compression adjustment.

Race One
John had an awesome start and took the holeshot. He was leading until Jeremie Warnia past him and then Romain Couprie got through. John then overtook Warnia and went on to finish in second place, 26 seconds ahead of third place on the last lap. During the race, John landed difficultly and injured his left elbow, leaving him in severe pain for the start of the second race.

Paul Holmes got caught up in the main pack at the start of the race but made some outstanding passes to make three places on the first lap. He then went on to make a double pass coming out of a corner in the second lap and continued to battle up to sixth place. Although Paul spun out after a crash with another rider, he maintained his sixth position to the finish.

Race Two
In race two John was second into the first corner however the injury sustained to his elbow meant he was unable to push for the lead and he went on to take fourth place. Paul got a better start and in the opening laps he had worked his way up to sixth. Unfortunately Paul got tangled with another quad and lost time getting back on track however he to managed to get back to 13 th and take vital points.

After round one of the championship, John Mitchell is in third place and is still in contention to retain his title. Paul Holmes is seventh overall on 23 points. Both riders and team are very pleased with these results.

John explained: “This was always going to be a tough track. It’s a fast pace and there are guys here who know it very well. I’m thrilled with my results here. The second place was in race one was a solid start. Going into race two with an injury and taking fourth is great as I am very close to second place now in the overall results and there are tracks throughout this championship where I will be stronger. The ATV World Yamaha YFZ450 was faultless again. The team have done a fantastic job!”

The team return to the UK for this weekends action in the ACU British MMX Quad Championship at Dean Moor – Hope to see you there!

LUCKY READER WINS A TRICKED-OUT, ELKA-EQUIPPED RHINO!

May 15, 2008, Redlands, CA

We gave it away! Sorry that you didn’t get the call, but let me tell you about the call that we did make.  Greg Hines was at work in Columbia, TN, and it was just another Monday at the office. The phone rings and Charlene and Mike from Side x Side Action Magazine are on the other end of the line

Greg still doesn’t know what is coming.  We find out that he just recently subscribed to the magazine while deciding what side x side to purchase in replace of his ATV.  As I remember it, Charlene and I laughed at the same time as we announced that we made his decision for him…“Congratulations, You’ve won the Ultimate Rhino Giveaway!”

We received about six phone calls over the next couple of days while he decided if he wanted to ship it or if he was going to jump in a plane and rent a box van to drive it home.  The final decision: a one-way plane ticket and 1700 mile drive in a box van home!  Be sure to read more about Greg’s experience in the next issue of Side x Side Action Magazine!

Special Thanks to all of the Sponsors of the Ultimate Rhino Giveaway: Yamaha, OMF Performance Products, Maxxis Tires, Elka Suspension, Mastercraft Seats, Pro Armor, Dylan Motorsports, Lion Cart, Extreme Rhino Motorsports, Baja Designs, Trail Armor, and Warn.

–
Mike Lasher
Managing Editor

PGI Media
Sand Addiction Magazine
Side X Side Action Magazine

Once again, Elka riders has climbed on the podium at the “12 Heures d’Endurance de la Tuque”, a grueling endurance race in Quebec. The general “pro” class podium was full of Elka riders, with Jasmin Plante and his teammates from Ultimate Yamaha Toyota Team on the top step. They completed 166 laps in 12 hours, 8 minutes and 49 seconds on a very rough course. Team Meunier finished in second place with 159 laps, less than 2 minutes behind. Team Moto Centre St-Hyacinthe got third with 158 laps.

Click here or the image below for a video of the event and complete report (French):

Click here for full results by class (ATV).

TEAM KTM/ELKA EASILY WINS THE ENDUROCROSS

The motocross portion of the event, called the Endurocross, was also won by the Elka riders from Team KTM/Elka. The team completed 63 laps in 737 minutes to easily take the win aboard their KTM bike with Elka modified suspension and steering damper.

Click here for report (French).

CHEVROT / BETEILLE 2nd – MARTIN / KRAFT AT THE TOP

For the second year , a team of 120 peoples composed of different associations coordonated by Pascal Aflatet, were on the case since many weeks to offer a great event in a classified site NATURA 2000, for a 500km race.

At the start, 100 teams were present, including 22 POLARIS ATV’s. Official pilots, Thierry Chevrot was teaming with Rémi Béteille (Quad Plus—winner of the Xtrem Indoor quad 2×4 in 2007), and Adeline Martin was associated to Betty Kraft, both team on OUTLAW 525S.

Since the start, Chevrot/Béteille had to face a tire issue and they lost few minutes that will be difficult to recover. They will be quickly back in the leading teams, to keep the second position all along the race, taking sometimes the lead with the game of the pit stops. They battled until the end and finally finished second just few minutes behind, after nearly 10 hours of race.

The other great result is coming from the women team, with Adeline Martin / Betty Kraft who did a a fantastic race by winning the women category and finishing 13th overall. Congratulations ladies!

Finally, we can not end up this resume without few words of Pierre Audoin, Sales and Racing Manager for POLARIS France. He had a terrible accident during the race and has been heliported to the hospital of Pau where he had a serious surgery. Now he is out of danger and he is doing way better. He is using this opportunity to thank all the messages he get and he will give some news soon. We also would like
to thank the promoter and his team for the incredible job they have done around this accident. Timing
was critical. Thanks to all the marshalls !

Elka rider Ben Milot won the last round of the X Rider last saturday in Mazatlan Mexico.

Ben’s comments: «The event has been great, I managed to beat Chuck Caruthers in the last elimination so I was pumped ! Thanks to all my sponsors Suzuki, Base Energy, Coor’s Light, Troy Lee Designs, Oakley, PSL, Six
Six One, Mada, Etnies, Radio Energie, Kimpex, Ipone, Ogio, FMF and Elka Suspension.»

May 1, 2008 4:04pm

For the first race of the season, MX101 Yamaha Canada Racing’s 5 member team had huge success at the Motomasters, Mexico, NY opener! New MX101 Team member Dylan Wright felt right at home after making the switch to Yamaha for 2008. Dylan’s YZ85 kept him in front of a hard charging Dan Netti of NY, for the win in the Junior 85 class both Saturday and Sunday. The team’s senior 85 rider Bradley Dool had a battle of his own with NY’s Sean Ballard as the two put on a great show battling bar to bar for the Mexico crowd. Brad edged out Sean for the win both days. Brad also continued the Ironman tradition with a great showing in Supermini with a 3rd, and in Schoolboy with a 5th.

Also new to the team in 2008, Shawn Robinson (Elka rider) made his Pro debut finishing 2/4 for 3rd overall behind Colton Harrison (Elka rider) and last weekends AMA Supercross holeshot winner Bobby Kiniry. Kevin Tyler broke in his new YZ125 in the Plus 25 Expert class finishing the day with 3/5 for 5th overall. Rounding out the Teams results was Kevin’s son Mitch in the 4-6 class finishing with 3/4 moto scores and taking fourth overall.

Other notable eastern riders making the trip to Motomasters, was Alex Gauthier (Elka rider) winning the open Expert Class, Yan Gendron (Elka rider) winning the Plus 25 Amateur, Mikael Charron winning the 65cc 10-11 class, Austin Squires finishing 2nd in the 65cc 7-9 class, Nick Giles with a 3rd overall in the 50cc 7-8 and Brett “Holeshot” Corlyon taking 3rd overall in his Intermediate debut!

Congratulations all of the eastern riders on their excellent performance in round one of the International IRONMAN of Sand Series

Paul Holmes was showing his champion credentials this bank holiday weekend with two wins at rounds four and five of the IOPD British Quad-X Championship, strengthening his lead at the top.

The championship’s fourth and fifth rounds took place at the Foxholes track in Wiltshire. Held over the bank holiday, round four took place on the Sunday and started well for Paul Holmes as he qualified in first place by over two seconds!

In race one Paul started well but suffered a tyre puncture. He nursed his quad round the track and held off the competition to finish in second place. Race two saw Paul take the holeshot and dominate throughout the race, winning and finishing first overall in round four.

On the bank holiday Monday, Paul powered from fourth to second place in race one, closing within a second on the lead. He then took the holeshot in race two. Never looking back, Paul steered his ATV World Yamaha YFZ450 to a comfortable first place, finishing with a 15 second lead.

Paul said: “I’m really pleased with my results so far this season. I’m up against the best UK riders and getting podium places week in, week out. I have been putting the hours in at the gym and feel fitter than ever! It really makes a difference, particularly on the rough tracks. The ATV World Yamaha YFZ450 has been superb. It’s been so well developed for 2008 – I can’t fault it! The boys at ATV World have done a fantastic job.”

Paul Holmes has now won overall at every IOPD British Quad-X Championship round, firmly placing him at the top of the leader board.

Next racing for Team ATV World Yamaha will be the EMX Quad European Championship round one on the 11 th May 2008. Held at the famous MX track in Brou, France. With ATV World Yamaha rider John Mitchell keen to retain his European title, Paul Holmes looking to improve on his third place in last years competition and Sean Goss entering for the first time, it’s going to be an exciting event!

Team ATV World Yamaha got back to winning ways this weekend with some impressive riding and solid results. Having made a difficult start to the championship in the first round, John Mitchell and Paul Holmes displayed true champion determination as they scored vital points at the Desertmartin track, John winning race two by a record beating 1min 40 and Paul finishing in second overall!

John Mitchell qualified strongly in second place with Paul a close fifth giving them both good start positions for race one. Paul was eighth off the line around the first corner. He then began catching and passing up to third place. John struggled off the line, getting bogged down and found himself in last place. He then had to stop to make an emergency wiring repair after a freak incident by which a stone broke his kill switch where it was connected to the quad and switched off the engine! Paul finished comfortably in third, just behind Wayne Tyson and Paul Winrow. John managed to rewire his quad to get the engine started and completed the race in 15th.

After some minor adjustments to his quad set-up, John started race two determined to get his championship back on track. Battling with Paul Winrow for the Holeshot, John quickly pulled into the lead and created an incredible 1min 40 sec gap from second place rider Paul Winrow. John lapped up to seventh place and had closed in all over the back of Ricky Tordoff.

Paul Holmes had another superb ride and took fifth place, finishing second overall on the day. This takes Paul into third place overall in the championships and he now leads the Under 21 Championship.

ATV World Yamaha team manager Martin Fletcher

On Paul Homes: “Paul Holmes is having an incredible third season racing quads. Very rarely do you see such young talent able to take on the big boys and beat them week in, week out. Paul goes from strength to strength and has not only done well in the British but is leading the Under 21 and leading the IOPD championship too.”

On John Mitchell: “I have never seen a rock break a kill switch like that, it’s just terrible luck. As for John’s second race today, it was unbelievable! As far as records go, John’s 1min 40sec lead is a record beater! He won here in 2007, again over Paul Winrow only this time his lead was three times bigger than last year. John is back to his winning ways.”

On the ATV World Yamaha YFZ450 : The ATV World Yamaha YFZ450 has performed well in these tough conditions. The new Duncan Racing Engine kit has increased the bikes overall performance from 2007. Elka have developed the new Elka Factory Shocks that works better than ever! The all new Goldspeed MXF tyres have given the ATV World riders an added edge in cornering and braking.

There was mixed success for other ATV World sponsored riders with Sean Goss having an up and down day. He showed his capabilities and race pace with a solid performance in race two. Dean Thompson and Josh Barrett rode in the British Supports and showed excellent potential for the future with mature riding and fantastic skill.

With both John and Paul leaving Desertmartin with strong results, they move back into contention for the championship. Round three of the 2008 ACU British MMX Quad Championship is on the 18 th May at Dean Moor, Cumbria. Hope to see you there.

The Loretta Lynn’s GNCC Race Report
Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, April 26, 2008

William Yokley finished 4th Overall today at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch.  There were 257 total entries with 23 XC1 Pro Riders.  Team Rider Mark Notman finished 23rd Overall and 10th in the 31 rider XC2 Pro Am Class.

We raced today at historic Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in scenic Tennessee.  This is the oldest race on the GNCC circuit, and draws a huge crowd every year.  The soil is sandy with sections of small shale rock which makes for a very physically demanding whooped out course.  The weather was perfect for the race with cool temperatures and a few rain showers the night before.

I was looking forward to a good start, but that wasn’t the case when my bike failed to crank when the official threw the flag.  I was next to last off the line, and I knew I had to ride smart and fast to make something happen.  I was able to pass a few riders as we made our way around the famed National level motocross track, and was able to pick my way by some others once we got into the woods.  When I came through the scoring barrels on the first lap, I was in 5th place, and things were starting to look up.  On the 2nd lap, I was passed by Adam McGill and Brian Cook; Adam stretched out some distance from Brian and me, but we held a nice strong pace throughout the day.

On the 3rd lap, we had gotten a little closer to one another to begin a pretty decent battle.  At one point, I looked up to see a bunch of riders in front of us moving pretty good, and I thought we had our work cut out for us to get around these lapped riders.  I was surprised to find out that it was the leaders instead of the lappers!  It’s always a plus to look up and see the lead pack that you’ve been chasing all day.  Going into the 4th and final lap, the top 7 riders were nose to tail.

I stopped to get some fresh goggles as mine were out of tear offs heading into the final lap.  I caught up to Cook again, and we battled it out.  I was right on his bumper going up a steep hill when I saw a lapper in front of us, thinking to myself to take another line in case the rider stalled or got stuck.  I didn’t, and wouldn’t you know, he stalled and there sat all three of us stuck on this hill.  I beat myself up a little for not taking the other line because that would have put me in 3rd place.  The KTM guys had a bad run of luck on the last lap with motor trouble of some sort, and dropped out of the top 10.  That didn’t hurt my feelings though because I came into the finish barrels in 4th place for the day!

My teammate Mark Notman got off to a slow start also as his bike did not fire on the first kick, leaving him last going into the woods.  Mark passed a lot of riders and was 12th going into the 2nd lap.  He had a nice rhythm going and made his way up to 8th place going into the last lap.  About 2 miles from the finish, while trying to pass for another position, he hit a tree pretty hard with the rear wheel.  The impact knocked him and his seat off, as well as injuring his leg.  He put the seat back on and remounted to finish the lap out in 10th place.  Even though Mark was disappointed, he had a good points day and sits in 6th place in the Pro Am Class.

This was a tough day as the track became extremely rough and whooped out, but I was pleased how Mark and I rode.  I want to thank all my sponsors for helping make things possible as usual.  Our team also received great support from the National Guard Recruiters and members, we really appreciate their involvement.  We move on to Millfield Ohio in 2 weeks, see you there!

Yokley Racing Team Sponsors are:  The Army National Guard, Rocky Mountain ATV, Polaris Industries, ITP Tires, Elka Suspension, Roll Design, HMF Exhaust Systems, IMS/Roll, Tire Balls, Andrews Cycle, Douglas Wheel Technology, Baldwin Motorsports, CGR, O’Neal Clothing, Panolin Lubricants, IMS, Hinson, 317 Graphics, Intense Fabrication & Design, Tsubaki Chains, Hardkor, Shoei Helmets, Axcalibar Axles, Streamline, Powermadd, Moto Pro Training and KG Clutch Factory.

Elka On Top, with two Wins in Two Races

The three Superbike riders of the “Junior Team Suzuki France” were loaded for bear when they arrived in the Bordeaux wine country of South Western France for the second round of the French Superbike Championship.  

Two sunny days of racing yielded four podium finishes in two races. Better yet, the three Suzuki GSX-R1000 riders, Guillaume Dietrich, Lucas De Carolis and Emeric Jonchiere, now occupy the top three positions of the 2008 Superbike Championship with two of the seven week-end series in the books.

After finishing first and second in the Superstock class (Fifth and ninth overall) in the previous weekend’s Le Mans 24 Hours race, round 1 of the World Endurance Championship, the team had the momentum and knowledge to maximize performance of the three GSX-R1000 machines for the tight, bumpy track. Eamonn Cleere, the Tech2000 suspension and geometry specialist, gave the riders exactly the handling they needed to finish up front and build upon their lead in the Championship.

The next round will take place in Le Vigeant (Central France) on May 24 and 25.