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BRP Announces 2012
Can-AM ATV and Side-By-Side Racing Team
Valcourt, Québec, January 20, 2012 – Looking
to build upon its unprecedented racing success
in 2011 – a season that saw two Pro-class
championships, two manufacturer’s cup titles,
several amateur-class titles and a successful
debut with the Commander side-by-side racing
efforts — BRP will again field a team of Can-Am
racers on both ATVs and side-by-sides in
off-road racing series in the U.S. and Canada in
2012.
“I'm very excited to see the start a new
season and feel very confident that our riders
and teams will be very well prepared to do
battle aboard their Can-Am machines, including
an AMA No. 1 plate on John Natalie's DS 450,”
said Jimmie O’Dell, Race Manager, Can-Am.
“Overall, I feel we have assembled a race team
with talented, determined and dedicated pilots
and team personnel; I'm proud to have them
competing aboard our Can-Am products.”
Team Motoworks / Can-Am
Team Motoworks / Can-Am and owner Johnny Leach
begin their defense of the AMA ATV Motocross
title with the Can-Am DS 450, offering factory
support for reigning AMA ATV Pro Champion John
Natalie. The 2011 Pro Rookie of the Year Joel
Hetrick, who finished fifth overall and had won
two overalls, was also added for the 2012
season.
Motoworks / Can-Am will also support Can-Am
Grand National Cross Country XC1 Pro class racer
Chris Bithell, who finished fourth in 2011 and
is looking for his first GNCC ATV championship.
This will be Bithell’s fourth season racing
under the Can-Am banner and first with Motoworks
/ Can-Am. Kyle Chaney will compete in all the
GNCC side-by-side vehicle races for Team
Motoworks / Can-Am. He will pilot the Commander
1000 X in the UTV XC1 Modified class.
In the World Off-Road Championship Series
(WORCS), former champion and 2011 Pro class
runner-up Josh Frederick looks to regain the No.
1 plate on his DS 450 in the ATV Pro class. He
finished two points behind teammate and 2011
WORCS ATV Champion Jeremie Warnia, who will
compete solely in Europe in 2012. Frederick will
also expand his role with Motoworks / Can-Am by
competing in a Commander side-by-side vehicle in
UTV Class 1 at WORCS and also the UTV Pro class
at selected races in both the Best in the Desert
and SCORE series. Fellow Motoworks / Can-Am Pro
class racer Dillon Zimmerman, who was sixth last
year in the Pro class, will also compete
full-time aboard the DS 450 in the WORCS series.
Team BCS Performance / Can-Am
Headlining Team BCS Performance / Can-Am is 2011
New England ATV Motocross Pro class runner-up
Josh Creamer. The former AMA ATV MX Champion
will compete aboard a Can-Am DS 450 in both the
NEATV-MX series and at select AMA ATV Motocross
series events. Creamer, who won five NEATV-MX
Pro class events in 2011 and had the points lead
going into the final race, finished just 15
points out of first place.
Team Gorilla Axle
BRP
will once again support the Gorilla Axle
Mud-Racing team this year. Racing the Can-Am
Outlander 800R X mr, Renegade 800R ATVs and
Commander 1000 side-by-side, the team will
attend selected mud races and represent BRP.
Team UXC / Can-Am
Can-Am
GNCC 4x4 ATV racers, Michael Swift and Cliff
Beasley will represent Team UXC / Can-Am in the
morning events aboard Outlander and Renegade
ATVs, respectively. Swift won five rounds and
finished runner-up in the 4x4 Open class.
Beasley, who at one time posted 30 consecutive
GNCC class victories, won the U2 class winning
all but one round. This tandem also teamed with
another rider to win the 2011 Heartland
Challenge Pro Utility class aboard a Can-Am ATV.
X-Team
In addition to its
full factory racing partnership teams, BRP
offers amateur racers the ability to compete
with factory Can-Am X-Team support. In the
Can-Am GNCC series, 2011 4x4 Open Class Champion
Bryan Buckhannon returns as a Can-am X-Team
member. Buckhannon won six class overalls on his
way to capturing the title. Other Can-Am X-Team
members who will race in the GNCC series are
2011 4x4 Lites Champion Kevin Trantham, 2011 4x4
Senior Champion Forrest Whorton, 2011 UTV
Limited Champion Team Travalena and GNCC
fan-favorite and longtime Can-Am racer Mike
Penland.
In the Courses VTT series in Quebec, Canada,
Richard Pelchat will compete in both the MX Pro
and UTV class as an X-Team member. Dave
Larochelle is the other MX Pro X-Team member in
the series. Another Canadian racer, DS 450 racer
Eric Lamontagne, is on the X-Team and will
compete in the Pro-Am ranks in the FMSQ series.
Brothers Cole and Chase Henry will each
compete with Can-Am X-Team support in the AMA
ATV Motocross series. Cole will run the Pro-Am
Production and Pro-Am Unlimted classes aboard a
DS 450. Chase also will compete in the Pro-Am
Unlimited as well as the Production A class.
Another set of brothers, Cody and Hunter
Miller, also will race for the Can-Am X-Team,
but they will focus on two racing series (TQRA
and TORN) in their home state of Texas. They
will compete on the DS 450 in the Pro / Expert
classes and together in a Commander side-by-side
vehicle in both series.
Collins Webster, who won the 2011 WORCS
Pro-Am class title, will again compete on a DS
450 in the same series for the Can-Am X-Team.
Cam Reimers will race a DS 450 in the Expert
class in both AMA District 22 (Iowa) and 23
(Minnesota) as a member of the Can-Am X-Team.
Three other racers earned Can-Am X-Team
support for both the BITD and SCORE series in a
Commander side-by-side. They are, Murray
Motorsports, Michael Lansky and Cory Sappington.
For more information on Can-Am racing, the
entire 2012 schedule, the ’12 contingency
program and Can-Am DS 450 ATV amateur racer
support program, please visit
www.can-amxteam.com.
About Bombardier Recreational Products
Inc.
Bombardier Recreational Products Inc. (BRP), a privately-held
company, is a world leader in the design, development,
manufacturing, distribution and marketing of motorized
recreational vehicles. Its portfolio of brands and
products includes: Ski‑Doo® and Lynx™ snowmobiles,
Sea‑Doo® watercraft and sport boats, Evinrude® and
Johnson® outboard engines, direct injection technologies
such as Evinrude E‑TEC®, Can‑Am™ all-terrain vehicles
and roadsters, as well as Rotax® engines and karts.
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