| Yamaha
"Day at the Office" Links |
| |
| |
|
Cypress, CA -ATV’s,
snowmobiles, dirtbikes, and freestyle: This
doesn’t sound like a normal day at the
office to most people, but it sure does if you
are Yamaha. The event was actually held in celebration
of the 2008 Yamaha Race Team announcements.
In attendance were the familiar ATV faces of
Bill Ballance, Traci Cecco, Pat Brown, Brandon
Sommers, the legendary Barry Hawk, motocross
champion Grant Langston, freestyle rider Nate
Adams, and even Yamaha sponsored PBR (Professional
Bull Rider) Ross Coleman to name just a few.
|
2008
Yamaha Factory Racers |
The announcements were held outdoors at the
Yamaha corporate headquarters campus in sunny
Cypress, CA, and once again Yamaha held an exhibition
freestyle show along with several organized
competitions for the editors. There was once
again a Super Moto pit-stop challenge along
with a new snowmobile reaction time competition,
which kept many of the journalists busy through
out the day.
Yamaha Factory ATV Motocross racer Pat Brown,
who flew out to California just for the team
announcements, will be once again Yamaha’s
rider of choice for the 2008 AMA Pro ATV Motocross
series. “We have a stronger and better
program than ever this year. The factory support
level just keeps going up.” Brown stated.
“It’s great to have Yamaha step
up and back me again this year. All the effort
and support from them really motivates me to
go out there and win.” Pat’s plans
for 2008 also include the AMA Invitational,
which he won last year. “I was really
happy to see that race was on our program again
for 2008.” He added. Even current AMA
MX Champ G. Langston was happy to see the quads
added to that event. “The Pro ATV’s
went out there and hit all the jumps that we
were hitting. It was really quite impressive.”
Said Langston when we caught up with him after
an intense game of ping-pong. “Seeing
Pat out there was great, and the fact that he
won was really great for Yamaha.” He concluded.
|
|
|
Yamaha Pro Motocross Racers Grant
Langston & Chad Reed squared off in
a ping-pong competition, and Grant appeared
to dominate the table, but there are no
plans of switching careers until the pay
increases |
GNCC
Crowd (left to right) Elliot Skaggs, Ray
Martinez, Traci Cecco, Bill Ballance,
Brandon Sommers, and Johnny Gallagher
hanging out under the Yamaha Tent. For
those wondering, Johnny hasn't signed
with Yamaha |
 |
GNCC
XC2 Pro Am Champion
Brandon Sommers |
The newest addition to the Yamaha team lineup
for 2008 is the GNCC XC2 ATV Champion, Brandon
Sommers. Brandon, who claimed his 4th consecutive
championship this year, will be making the jump
to the Pro class. “Realistically, we are
shooting for a top five finish, not necessarily
the championship, but if things go just right
it could be possible.” Said Sommers, who
says he isn’t nervous at all about going
up against teammate and eight time consecutive
Pro champion, Bill Ballance. “Bill is a
tough competitor and I’d really like to
see me and him be on top next year.” Which
could be very possible for Sommers with his full
factory support. Sommers has taken his time working
his way up through the ranks to where he is now
and doesn’t regret his decision to take
it slow one bit. “My dad laid out a program
for in the beginning and wanted me to take it
one step at a time and not move up too fast. You
can always jump up later if you want to, but if
you jump up too soon, you can’t drop back.”
Concluded the 23 year old.
 |
Bill
Ballance has won his last 5 GNCC Pro ATV
Championship on a YFZ450 since making
is Yamaha debut in 2003 at the Powerline
Park GNCC |
Ballance, who was under a lot of pressure for
the 2007 season, plans to take it a little easier
this year. “There was a lot of pressure
on me this year, but next year, I want to relax
a little and have fun out there.” Stated
the eight-time champ. “I think I might even
be able to do a little better out there if I’m
more relaxed.” Despite Bill’s laid-back
attitude, he is already preparing for the ’08
season. “After the GNCC Awards Banquet I’ll
be heading home. We’ll be getting the practice
bikes ready and we already have some new products
we will be testing for next year.” He said.
“I’m pretty confident about next season.
We will be using some new products and have a
little bit better set up than we had last year.”
