Jason Thomas Wins Elka Yadkin Valley Stomp GNCC XC2 Pro Lites Class

In the XC2 Pro Lites Class, Welsh, U.K. rider Jason Thomas scored his own breakthrough with a win. “I’ve been back home for the last 11 months getting my Visa sorted,” said Thomas. “All I’ve been doing was trying to prepare for this, coming back and doing this.” Thomas had just signed with Elka Suspension a few days before the event. The Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series continues in two weeks with the GEICO Mountain Ridge GNCC in Somerset, Pennsylvania

Jason also wins the Enduro and Endurocross races in Ste-Véronique, QC!

Last weekend was a very busy weekend for Jason. After his trip to the USA last week to enter the GNCC race, the English rider came back to Canada to participate in three events in Ste-Véronique; the Provincial Enduro Championship, the Provincial Enducross Championship and the Extreme-cross (Vegas style). For the Enduro race, Thomas impressed again with his smooth and consistent riding as he crossed the finish line in first place on a very muddy track with his KTM 250 XC-F prepared by KTM dealership Woody’s Cycle for this event. KTM Canada Patrick Beaulé also had a very good race and finished in 4th place on his KTM 250 XC.

The Extreme-cross was held on Saturday on a closed circuit and only about 15 riders qualified for this event. KTM rider Michel Metcalfe got the Holeshot on his KTM 300 XC tied with Guy Giroux. Patrick Beaulé came around the fist lap in 3rd place. Metcalfe and Giroux battled hard all race for the first place and on the last lap they crashed into each other. Patrick who was riding close to them in 3rd place took this opportunity to pass them and he finished in 1st place. On Sunday, Jason Thomas won the Endurocross easily with a strong lead on his KTM 250 XC-F prepared by KTM dealer Enduro KTM. Patrick Beaulé rode very well and also finished on the podium.

Read an interview with Jason by GNCCRacing.com:
http://www.racerpress.com/newsmanager/templates/?a=905&z=31

2009 SA NATIONAL OFF-ROAD QUAD CHAMPIONSHIP

 Round 4: Mafikeng Mini Desert
7 & 8 August 2009
Mafikeng, North-West Province

Team Race Nation Honda’s Dirkie Baard has strengthened his lead in the overall national off-road quad standings when he finished second at the recent Mafikeng Mini Desert, the fourth round of the 2009 SA National Off-road Quad Championship held in the North-West Province.

Unofficial scoring now sees Baard leading his team-mate, Juan Coetzee, who is second, by 24.5 points after the consistent Coetzee finished the gruelling 500km race in sixth place overall. The two Race Nation Elka Suspension Honda riders are also filling the first and second places in the Pro 450 Class championship.

It was a race of attrition as many of their rivals fell by the wayside, but the two Race Nation Honda riders proved their strength as well as the dependability of their race quads by conquering the sandy and rutted route of this testing semi-desert event with their Elka suspension.

It was Baard’s fourth consecutive overall podium position, he has finished three events as the runner-up and has also become the first non-South African racer to win the Quad Roof of Africa in Lesotho earlier this season.

The Namibian, for who the Mafikeng event was an all new experience as this is his first full season in South Africa, started the main race on Saturday (8 August) in pole position after posting the fastest time after the 50 kilometre time-trail on Friday (7 August), the time-trail determined the starting order for the main race and also counted towards the total race time.

He kept his lead for the best part of the race, but the dense, twisty and sandy thorny bush terrain (Digtebos) of the first 240km as well as the heat took his toll on him as he was still recovering from a recent appendix operation. He swopped places twice with the current champion, Brian Baragwanath, and had to settle eventually for a solid second place overall as well as in the Pro 450 Class.

“It was an extremely tough event,” an exhausted Baard commented afterwards, “but I really enjoyed it. The sandy riverbed sections were really testing and to race in Digtebos was a new experience for me,” he said. “This was the first time I race at Mafikeng and I will be even better prepared next time,” he concluded.

Juan Coetzee, who has also finished every race so far this season, prefers technical racing and was in his element in the rutted-out riverbed section that formed the second half of the race. As always he brought his TRX450R home uneventfully, except that he played The Good Samaritan again by assisting a stricken quad competitor.

And with two rounds of the 2009 national championship to go, Coetzee has moved into second place behind his team-mate on the overall standings as well as in the Pro 450 Class championship.

Paulo Costa kept the flag flying high in the Open Class championship when he finished third after beating overheating problems on his TRX 700XX. The big Honda with independent rear suspension started overheating halfway through the race and Costa nursed it home to add more valuable points to his tally in the Open Class championship. 

The penultimate round of the national championship, the Caledon 400, will take place on 25 and 26 September in the Dewetsdorp area in the Free State.

Year after year, top racers coming from all over the world gather at the now famous Pont-de-Vaux race which is held once a year in the little village of Pont-de-Vaux in France.

This event is getting more and more popular each year and the 23^rd edition proved that it is now recognized as a premier race. In fact, some say that to win this gruelling race is like winning a championship.

 13 nations were represented on the starting grid and a total of 486 racers came there expecting to win either in the endurance race or in the Quad Contest that is reserved for amateur level riders.

 100 journalists from 10 different countries were present to relate the event either live on the web, radio and television which translates in an international exposure that is unique to our favourite sport. No other ATV race gets so much media coverage and that explains the growing popularity of this venue.

 Elka Suspension had technicians there who worked around the clock in order to assist the many teams that were running on Elka Shocks. Richard Pelchat who is  a  factory racer for Can-Am finished in the 10^th position while riding his Can-Am 450 even though the sub frame was broken. If it were not for the broken part, he would have probably finished in the top 5 position. It only proves how hard this endurance race is on a quad and also the rider. It is a very demanding race. – Team Mackin Joinery | MG Oil finished in the 6th spot.

Louis-René Sauvé who is an Elka engineer was a very popular man during this race.

 Le Mans type starts are always spectacular

This shows how demanding this race is on a machine

This is not a scene you’ll see often

The Elka technicians were greeted in France by PSR owner Bryce Mazarrico who is the exclusive distributor in France of every Elka products sold in that country. Bryce is well known and he is very respected at Pont-de-Vaux because of the quality of service he provides to every Elka riders. – For the 23^rd edition of this endurance race, Bryce demonstrated to everyone that PSR ( Pièce-Service-Racing )is committed when comes the time to cater to the racers needs.

Two day’s prior to the race, Bryce organized a full day of testing on a private track and he invited riders who ride with Elka Shocks to come to this track and have the chance to exchange with the Elka technicians. – Thanks to this class act, riders were able to attend set-up clinics and about ride heights and many other important factors that help maximise the full potential of their shocks. – On top of preparing this free event, PSR owner also invited Sean Goss, SONIK Rafal (PL) / NOSS Justin (USA) / DIETRICH Timothy J. (USA), Max FREUND Maximilian and RISLENBIELER Kevin who all race at the Pont-de-Vaux endurance race.

Unofficial results

The unofficial results of the last Vegas to Reno desert race are coming in and Elka Suspension scores high as three racers using Elka shocks were on the podium in the Quad Pro class. – In the UTV Pro category,  Brandon Schueler won the division class.

Details have just started to be posted on the Best in the Desert website.

 Unofficial results

 QUAD PRO

 1 – Stuart, Greg 1 Quad P 06:34:39.118 07:33:59.703 05:43:01.375 19:51:40.196

2 – Matlock, Wayne 2 Quad P 06:36:31.227 07:36:38.328 05:45:57.109 19:59:06.664

3 – Scott, David 3 Quad P 06:50:22.571 08:05:31.453 05:59:05.890 20:54:59.914

UTV PRO

 1 – Schueler, Brandon 1 UTV P 10:36:42.446 11:49:30.187 08:03:08.140 30:29:20.773

During the highly popular DuneFest event held in Winchester Bay (Oregon), Elka’s professional technicians were kept busy all weekend sharing their knowledge of suspension with all atendees. The Elka booth was highly popular because of massive following Elka has earned over the past five years of attending DuneFest.

No matter the make of the ATV, mini ATV or Side X Side, Elka’s dedicated crew didn’t hesitate to help with rider and vehicle-specific preload, compression and rebound settings. The technicians offered support, servicing, and tuning advice for all Elka customers or prospective customers. In fact, Elka’s staff even helped people riding stock shocks to enjoy a good weekend of riding by setting their suspension as much as possible; within the limited adjustability range available on those. Quite a few simply opted to purchase Elka shocks at the event and benefit from the technicians’ presence to have them dialed-in properly for them.

The crew then performed clinics for Elka customers on how to properly set up the shocks for their vehicle and riding style, as it applied to the dune terrain at DuneFest. “This has been our philosophy at Elka since day one 10 years ago, we love coming to this event and seeing our customers each year and teaching them how to properly set their vehicles up.” - said Eric St-Louis, sales representative present at the event.

This effort contributed once again to the success of Elka’s presence at DuneFest. Be there next year to experience, once again, customer service at its best!

110 teams showed up for the 2009 edition of the famous Pont-de-Vaux 12 hour endurance race, but one of these teams was running with a totally different type of engine.

For the first time in the racing scene, a race quad was using an engine that is fed by Ethanol. This FlexFuel engine was developed by Dominique
Maingret and Julien Ferrand. – Their goal was to build an engine that would be eco-friendly and still as powerful as a conventional race engine that runs on gas.

Cellulose ethanol is a fully renewable, advanced biofuel that can be used in today’s cars.  It is one of the most cost effective ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The number 100 Suzuki LT-R was the chosen ATV that would receive the Hyoshung 500cc prototype engine which was prepared by SIMA in Beaune France.

Georges Beigne and Sébastient Limonet managed to bring The FlexFuel Elka suspension equipped race quad to the chequered flag in the 105^th spot. Although the end result might seem disappointing, for the builders, it was a victory because it was the first ever race quad using this type of technology in an endurance race.

Round 8 ACU British MMX Quad Championship
Sunday 16th August, 2009
Blaxhall, Suffolk

ATV World Yamaha’s John Mitchell returned to the 2009 YFZ450 in race two this weekend and dominated with a 16 second lead and a victory to make up for the technical problems encountered in race one.

With a well prepared track, the Blaxhall circuit was going to guarantee some fast action in the penultimate round of this year’s championship. Qualifying saw promising results for some of the ATV World Yamaha riders with Leon Beda getting the second fastest lap and John Mitchell right behind him in third.

Race one did not start well for John because of technical problems on the 2010 development YFZ450R. John was able to nurse it round and finish in 15th place. Leon continued his strong form from qualifying and took a superb fifth place finish.

John had a much better start to race two, almost taking the holeshot on his 2009 Yamaha YFZ450. With Honda’s Paul Winrow in front, John pushed hard and passed on the first lap. He went on to win race two by 16 seconds! Leon Beda finished in 11th place.

John said after the race “I was pleased with my performance today and glad that I finished on a high. We can go back to the ATV World workshops now and look at what happened to the development YFZ450R, improve it and make sure it’s ready to challenge in 2010.”

The final round of the ACU British MMX Quad Championships takes place on September 20th at Culham.

Mitchel races on Elka Shocks

Elka Suspension is recognized in the Powersports industry due to the unique and outstanding after-sales services they offer.

Every Elka customer is treated on an individual basis, as we believe that every rider has different needs.

To better satisfy the needs of our customers, Elka Suspension is proud to announce a new partnership with IMPACT SOLUTIONS, located in Parkersburg, West Virginia, as the new AUTHORIZED ELKA SERVICE CENTER IN THE U.S.A.

«Our objective was to make things easier for our loyal customers when they needed their Elka products serviced. Now that we have created a partnership with a company that can offer service by means of Elka standards in the U.S., this will allow Elka Suspension to maintain the recognized reputation that we have built and proven in the Powersports industry.  Elka Suspension is committed to providing added value to our products, and is dedicated to satisfying all Elka shock owners to offer the level of service they deserve. This new partnership will also offer a quicker turn-around time for servicing Elka products at a lower cost.» – said Robert Jetté, PR & Communications Manager at Elka.

Jay Gobel is the owner of IMPACT SOLUTIONS, and is recognized in the racing community as a top level Elka specialist. Another well know face in the industry, Jeff Horton, has been brought on board as Operations Manager.

To receive a quote or to get information about servicing your Elka products, please contact Impact Solutions at:

IMPACT SOLUTIONS

985 Harris Highway
Parkersburg WV, 26101

PH : 304-863-0025
specconllc@gmail.com

ROBERT JETTÉ
Public Relations & Communications Manager
robert@elkasuspension.com

Phone: 450-655-4855 ext.259
Toll Free: 1-800-557-0552 ext.259 (North-America)

Round 6
Atlantic Motorsport Park – Shubenacadie, NS
August 8-9, 2009

Friday morning, after  four days of relaxation at the beach and eating lobsters, Raphael was in great shape and ready to race for the 6^th round of the Parts Canada Superbike Championship …

Raphael won the CBR 125R Challenge race at Atlantic Motorsport Park last year, but this year, after his first practice session, he said …

« It is really not the same, it’s felt like I was not on the same track! »

Saturday morning, after a long night of preparing the bike, I was ready to go back on the track. In the practice session, we tried to put a taller gear, but it was a little too tall, so we changed it just before the qualification…

Saturday afternoon, we were ready, but not exactly sure about the setting … finally after 25 minutes at Atlantic Motorsport Park, we were third ( 1:13.214) with 0.071 second from the pole position !

Sunday morning, after a final touch on the rear suspension, the bike was completely ready! This time we had the perfect set up
Raphael won the race by 0.197 second and almost broke the lap record of Cody Matechuk (1:12.551) with a time of 1:12.592 !

Raphael is now the points leader with 42 points in front of Rob Buzby, so to win the championship he needs to be in the top 16 for the Round 7 of Parts Canada Superbike championship at Shannonville Motorsport Park.

Here is his plan for the next and the final Round of the 2009 championship …

“All I want to do is just go out there and play hard. If I do that, good things will happen. It’s as simple as that.”

We would like to thank our sponsors … Picotte motorsport, Elka suspension, Accelerated Technologie, Sunoco Race fuel, Hindle exhaust, Performance friction brakes, Hotbodies, Dezo air brush, Pirelli and Suzuki

Team Archambault Racing

www.archambault-racing.piczo.com