PowerSports Business

PowerSports Business - June 15, 2015

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www.PowersportsBusiness.com ATV/UTV Powersports Business • June 15, 2015 • 29 Can-Am Maverick 1000R side-by-side vehicle racer Kyle Chaney won the XC1 Pro UTV class at the Mountaineer Run Grand National Cross Country race the weekend of May 23-24 in West Virginia. Can-Am Mav- erick 1000R pilots swept the XC1 Pro class and also won the XC2 Pro Sport and Amateur Limited classes at the Masontown, W.Va., race. Can-Am ATV racers also earned two wins and eight podiums. "Our GNCC Maverick racers were awe- some this weekend. Maverick 1000R driver Kyle Chaney led from wire-to-wire, earning another win to regain the XC1 Pro class points lead," said Jeff Leclerc, racing project leader, Can-Am. "Our racers, with numerous wins and podiums, continue to push hard for wins. We have a bunch of dedicated ATV and side- by-side vehicle racers, all working for the same goal of putting Can-Am in the winner's circle." Chaney, the defending GNCC UTV XC1 Pro class champion, posted back-to-back vic- tories to push his Chaney Racing/TurnKey UTV/Can-Am Maverick 1000R into the XC1 Pro class points lead. Fellow Can-Am Mav- erick racers and Can-Am/JB Racing/Houser Racing teammates Larry Hendershot Jr. and Tim Farr joined him on the podium. Mouse Pratt took fourth in the class to give Can-Am the top four overall finishers on the day. "The Can-Am Maverick 1000R side-by-side worked really good. The top four XC1 Pro class finishers were Can-Am, and they are just domi- nating the woods racing scene right now. I've got a pretty good points lead, so I am hoping to keep getting podiums and get a repeat champi- onship when it's all done," said Chaney. Can-Am Maverick pilots also had great success in the other GNCC UTV classes, win- ning the XC2 Pro Sport (Dave Plavi, Offroad Motorsports/Wicked Bilt) and the Amateur Limited (Richard Travalena, Team Tra- valena) classes and earning four additional podiums. Can-Am Maverick drivers now own the top four spots in the XC1 Pro GNCC class, the top two spots in the XC2 Pro Sport class and the top spot in the Amateur Lim- ited ranks. In 4x4 ATV action, defending 4x4 Pro class champion and Renegade racer Bryan Buckhannon notched his sev- enth straight podium finish, earning second, to maintain his class points lead. Rob Smith joined him on the podium in third. Can-Am racers Ben Bruce (4x4 A/B) and Matt Ewart (4x4 C) also took home wins in West Virginia. HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT REPRESENTS POLARIS AT ROBOTICS CHALLENGE Polaris Industries Inc. has selected Patrick Henry High School student Jared Voight to accompany Polaris offi- cials at the upcoming DARPA Robotics Chal- lenge (DRC) Finals to be held June 5-6, at the Fairplex, in Pomona, Calif. Voight will be able to write about his expe- riences on Polaris' social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter. "Polaris is excited to offer Jared the opportunity to represent Minnesota robotics students at the DARPA Robotics Challenge," said David Longren, vice president of Off-Road and Off-Road Engineering for Polaris. "Jared's enthusiasm for robotics made him the perfect candidate to accompany us at the event." Voight is currently a sophomore at Patrick Henry High School in Minneapolis and is a member of the school's FIRST Team 2500 Herobotics. A core mission of the team is to encourage young people to be science and technology leaders by building science, engi- neering and technology skills that inspire innovation. High school members of the team provide mentorship to middle school and grade school students across several regional states. This outreach of Patrick Henry stu- dents to younger people influences future generations of engineers to think critically about science, math and technology at a younger age. Voight has been a member of the team for two years and will be one of the three co-captains next year. Dylan Miracle, an engineering teacher at Patrick Henry, will accompany Voight on the trip. "Representing Polaris at the DARPA Robotics Competition is the experience of a lifetime," said Voight. "This is my first time ever having such an amazing opportunity, and having it be about robotics makes the trip even more phenomenal. I can use the skills I've learned in our school's robotics program on this trip as I meet with some of the best robotics minds in the industry." The DARPA Robotics Challenge was cre- ated to spur development of robotic technol- ogy that can help humans to better respond to future disasters. The Challenge Finals will have robots perform a number of tasks in a continuous course, simulating what might be encountered in a real disaster situation. Polaris is providing DARPA with the com- pany's Ranger XP 900 EPS in one of the most difficult tasks, to help demonstrate a robot's ability to operate and to egress from a vehicle. The Polaris Ranger XP 900 is one of the best- selling vehicles in its class and is widely used around the world with disaster-relief organi- zations such as the National Guard, Salva- tion Army and other first responders. DIGEST Chaney pilots Maverick to Mountaineer Run Victory Kyle Chaney (Chaney Racing/ TurnKey UTV/Can-Am) won the XC1 Pro UTV class at Round 3 of the GNCC UTV series. JARED VOIGHT See Digest, Page 30

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