Unquestionably, the annual I 500 is the most strenuous event on the USXC calendar, with 500 miles of racing spread over three days. Just finishing requires extraordinary toughness and near-perfect reliability from the sleds. For instance, event rules allow only one hour of work to be performed nightly on each sled – just enough for routine servicing and a safety check – no major repairs. Among the Yamaha team riders, Erdman put together the best overall effort to earn a historic I 500 podium for the Nytro RTX. Jake Muller followed up with a ninth-place finish in Pro Open and a fifth-place finish in the combined Semi-Pro Improved class. As well, teammates Ben Lindbom and Re Wadena were both running inside the top 10 in their respective classes on day three before Lindbom dropped out after difficulties during a pit stop and Wadena crashed at a railroad crossing. Yamaha support racer Korey Kilinski also finished an impressive eighth in Semi Pro Improved.
“This race is hard on everything,” said racing technical coordinator Brian Strawsell. “Ross’ podium Nytro looked like it was in good shape after the race, and in fact all of ours sleds held up just as well as the competition. Our suspension held up especially well this year.” Yamaha Snowmobile Racing’s Eric Josephsen added, “Only 32 percent of the total field finished the race and Yamaha finished with 60 percent of our team – that’s Yamaha quality!”
| Semi-Pro Improved |
| 1 |
Nathan Moritz |
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| 2 |
Casey Pries |
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| 3 |
Tyler Johnsrud |
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| 4 |
Travis Faust |
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| 5 |
Jacob Muller - YAM |
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| 6 |
Cody Breitbach |
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| 7 |
Peter Mikkelson |
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| 8 |
Korey Killinski - YAM |
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| 9 |
Adam Brandt |
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| 10 |
Ben Lindbom - YAM |
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| Pro Open |
| 1 |
Ryan Simons |
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| 2 |
Aaron Christensen |
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| 3 |
Ross Erdman - YAM |
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| 4 |
Cody Kallock |
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| 5 |
Eric Gausen |
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| 6 |
Wesley Selby |
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| 7 |
Jordan Torgerson |
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| 8 |
Bobby Menne IV |
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| 9 |
Jacob Muller - YAM |
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| 10 |
Ben Lindbom - YAM |
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