In a historic first, Steve Taylor put his four-stroke Yamaha FX Nytro into the Snocross final at the 2008 Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado on Saturday, Jan. 26. He very nearly made the podium too, finishing in fourth place by just a fraction of a second at the end of 25 grueling laps. Even so, with its huge acceleration and dialed-in handling, the modified FX Nytro proved that Yamaha four-stroke snowmobiles are competitive at the highest levels of the sport.
With starts a critical factor due to flying snow, Taylor knew he needed to charge hard. The combination of Yamaha’s massive torque and taking a broad line through the first turn slotted Taylor immediately into third behind Tucker Hibbert and D.J. Eckstrom. However Brett Turcotte quickly muscled his way into third and Taylor spent the whole race chasing the top three, using the sled's acceleration and stability to best advantage. He closed to within striking range in the final laps as other riders faded, but needed just a few more laps to make the pass.
“I could see the guys ahead of me getting tired so I pushed extra hard, but it was really hard to pass on that track,” Taylor said after the event. “But we are getting killer starts because the motor is so strong, and that’s half the battle in snocross. I’m really thankful to the whole team for working so hard to make this happen.” Yamaha Snowmobile Racing team manager Greg Marier added, “Yamaha is bringing our four-stroke technology to the snocross world, and what better place to showcase it than at the Winter X Games. Steve's strong run proved our competitiveness at the most visible race of the year and we plan to continue to improve during the rest of the season.”
Pro Open |
| 1 |
Tucker Hibbert |
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| 2 |
Brett Turcotte |
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| 3 |
Dennis Eckstrom |
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| 4 |
Steven Taylor - YAM |
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| 5 |
Zach Pattyn |
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| 6 |
Levi LaVallee |
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| 7 |
Ross Martin |
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| 8 |
Robbie Malinoski |
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| 9 |
Shaun Crapo |
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| 10 |
Willie Elam |
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