#PolarisRzr

Polaris Factory Racers William Yokley, John Yokley, and Scott Kiger, along with 30 other XC1 Modified Racers, took to the starting line at the Big Buck GNCC in Union, SC, the second of six UTV races on the GNCC calendar.

When the dust settled, William Yokley, in his Polaris / Coastal / CST / National Guard / Yoshimura / Yokley Racing RZR XP 900, took the checkered flag with teammate Scott Kiger taking third. John Yokley, after finishing first at The Washington in his Big Country Powersports RZR 900, crossed the finish line in fourth. The win catapulted William Yokley into first place in the series standings, with teammates John Yokley and Scott Kiger in second and third.

WORCS Round 4 returned to Sand Hollow OHV area in Hurricane, Utah, and Polaris Factory Racers Beau Baron and Mitch Guthrie Jr. finished one/two in the Pro Class.

Sand Hollow presents the racers with a different type of terrain from most of the other WORCS races. The six-mile, hour-long course travels through sand and sandstone and is one of the more scenic races in the series.

The 2014 WORCS season kicked off this past weekend in Honolulu Hills, Calif. and the Side-by-Side field was dominated by Polaris RZRs. Of the 29 vehicles to start the race, 22 were RZRs – including the top three finishers.

New Polaris Factory Racer Mitch Guthrie Jr., who moved from the Production 1000 class to the Pro Class for 2014, grabbed the holeshot in his Guthrie Racing RZR XP 1000 and finished in second. Polaris Racer RJ Anderson in his new Holz/Walker Evans/Polaris RZR XP 1000, started on the second row and ultimately won the Pro SxS class. Anderson passed several racers and battled with Holz/Maxxis/Polaris Racer Beau Baron, who finished thirteenth due to a mechanical issue. Cognito/Polaris Racer, Ryan Piplic in his new RZR XP 1000, rounded out the Podium in third.

Xtremplus’ Will Alcaraz is no stranger to the Dakar podium and this past Saturday he graced it for the third time, winning the prestigious and challenging race in his Polaris RZR 900. Xtremeplus brouht four RZR teams to Dakar and claimed the top two spots on the podium.

The last special stage of the Dakar 2014 was located in the hilly roads of Canela, surrounded by cacti on slippery tracks due to the morning rain. All drivers were required to stay focused to avoid any mistakes before the checkered flag announced the race was over. Willy Alcaraz, famed for taking on Dakar on his own, would, once again, cross the line alone and, while Xtremeplus teammates Nicolas Duclos and Sebastian Delaunay claimed second.

The off-road rivalry between Minnesota-based ATV and Side-by-Side manufacturers Polaris and Arctic Cat is heating up. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune Polaris is suing Arctic Cat for allegedly violation a patent (#8,596,405).

That particular patent covers a lot of ground, so we’re not entirely sure exactly what part of the patent Polaris believes Arctic Cat violated. You can see the patent for yourself here. However, one of the many details on this patent is the vehicle width. Here’s an excerpt: “It may be appreciated that width C may be defined by both the outer surfaces of tires and fenders of front panel, should the respective dimensions be substantially equal. In the illustrative embodiment, width is about 50 inches. In other embodiments, ATV may be constructed to other suitable widths, however the present invention contemplates ATVs having a trail compliant width or less than about 54 inches.”

Ryan Piplic made history at the second annual Fuel Fest in St. George, Utah by jumping his Polaris RZR XP 1000 to a world record.

Piplic hit the ramp at more than 75 mph and sailed through the air for 155.8 feet before touching down, breaking RJ Anderson’s previous record of 129.75 feet.

Terracross racing made a big return last year and Polaris is back as a presenting sponsor of the Mystik Lubricants Terracross Championship for 2013.

“Polaris is excited to be part of Terracross for its second year,” says Jason DiFuccia, marketing manager for Polaris RZR. “The Terracross tracks provide an incredible challenge to the racers and are perfect to showcase the capabilities of our products.”

Polaris has a new RZR coming out in 2013, according to a report the company gave it its investors.

Unfortunately, we’ve got no idea just what Polaris has up its sleeve, but it should be fun to find out. Will it be another limited edition model like the RZR XP 900 H.O. Jagged X Edition? Or will it be something completely new and game changing?

If we had to hazard a guess, we could imagine Polaris putting the high output engine from that Jagged X model into its two-seat RZR XP 900 chassis. That model, according to the investor report, sold out in 24 hours. The consumer demand for more power is never ending and Polaris is not one to ignore that demand.

Polaris made a presentation to its investors earlier this month, which contained some stunning claims.

Riding the success of its Ranger and RZR side-by-sides, Polaris’ presentation shows it has a significant North American market share advantage over any of its competitors. While no direct comparative numbers were provided in the presentation, Polaris did include one graphic which showed its rise in market share from 2005 through 2012.

According to this graphic, in 2005 Polaris was just behind Yamaha in third place with Honda in front by a comfortable margin. By 2008 Polaris and Honda were neck and neck, but Polaris was only beginning its ascent. The graphic seems to imply that in 2012 Polaris sold about twice as many models as any other manufacturer. Of course, this should be taken with a grain of salt as side-by-side data for Polaris competitors is only an estimate. Regardless, while Honda and Yamaha are shown to have dipped significantly since the recession started, Polaris has gotten much, much stronger.