Press Release –
Aboard his 2009 Phazer® RTX, snowmobile racer Ryan Greening delivered Yamaha a well-deserved United States Cross Country (USCC) national championship in the Sport 85 class in Warroad, Minn. on Sunday, March 15.
The event was the seventh and final stop of the rugged cross-country race series, and the championship battle between four-stroke powered Greening and two-stroke rival Timmy Kallock came down to the final round.
Greening, coming off two wins and a second in the last three races, entered the finale with an eight-point lead, and knew he had to finish close to Kallock in order to take the championship.
With 50-degree temperatures and sunny skies, the weather was most hospitable for racing on the eight-mile course laid out on the shores and across the snowy surface of Minnesota’s gigantic Lake of the Woods.
But while the weather was agreeable, the conditions were anything but easygoing, with long taxing whoops sections on both the woodsy shoreline and frozen lake surface itself. Fortunately Greening drew the number-two position in the regulated start, with one sled leaving every 30 seconds.
Without the benefit of knowing exactly where his competitor was running, Greening took an aggressive approach from the get-go, driving hard on all three grueling laps around the course. The tactic worked.
With his natural aggressiveness and his Phazer RTX’s speed and handling, Greening stretched out a lead of some 15 seconds per lap on Kallock, building up a final victory margin of an incredible 42 seconds. Backing up Greening’s win, four of the top 10 machines in his class were Yamaha Phazers.
“I am so thankful for the great machine Yamaha builds and I’m excited to bring the championship home for them,” Greening said after the race. “I want to thank Brothers Motorsports, my local Yamaha dealer, for their support and I am looking forward to next year!” Yamaha Snowmobile racing coordinator Jesse Strege added, “The amazing thing about Ryan is that while he has a strong motocross racing background, this is his first year of racing sleds. He rides the heck out of the machine and is so much fun to watch. He just throws caution to the wind and gives his maximum effort every time. Amazingly, Ryan raced the same sled all year with no DNFs, thanks to the durability of the Phazer and the tuning efforts of Rick Strobel from Fox Racing Shocks, who put his heart and soul into the preparation of the machine. It was definitely a fun experience!”
