Yamaha ATV
Racing captured 2012 season championships in motocross and
cross-country from North America to the
Southern Hemisphere, all aboard the YFZ450R.
Yamaha employees gathered
outside of the company's U.S.
headquarters in Southern California Nov. 16 to
celebrate their champions and make their annual Feed the
Children food drop along with the Star Touring and Riding
Association. This year Yamaha helped raise more than $27,000 through employee
donations and corporate fundraising efforts that will provide food and
essentials for approximately 2,000 families across the country throughout next
year. The November food drop will support 400 families in Garden Grove, CA.
Among the champions in
attendance for the Yamaha celebration and food drop were Chad Wienen and Traci
Cecco-Pickens.
Chad Wienen joined Yamaha
Racing just this season and raced his YFZ450R to his first-ever AMA Pro Championship.
He dominated the Pro class, taking six wins and 10 straight podiums before
locking in his first season championship in August. Thomas Brown, a Yamaha
racing veteran of five years, took an impressive fifth place overall in the Pro
series, helping to secure the coveted AMA ATV Manufacturer's Title for Yamaha.
Following the 2012 AMA
season, Wienen and Brown drove north to take the top two spots at the 2012
Montreal Supermotocross in Quebec
in September. Wienen topped the podium and Brown finished second-both aboard
their YFZ450Rs-in what became one of North America's
most competitive races this year in front of an estimated crowd of 40,000 fans.
In October, Wienen continued
to carry his championship momentum overseas, capturing the New Zealand All
Terrain Vehicle (ATV) Championships title over the local favorite and
Australian national champ.
In Grand National Cross
Country (GNCC) action, Yamaha's Walker Fowler and Taylor Kiser battled the
field consistently aboard their YFZ450Rs, landing second and third XC-1 Pro
class finishes, respectively, with 14 combined podiums. Yamaha's Traci
Cecco-Pickens captured her historic ninth Women's class championship a full two
races before the season ended. Known as the winningest woman in GNCC ATV racing
history, Cecco-Pickens announced her retirement at the Ironman GNCC event
October 20. In
her final season, she secured her place among the best cross country racers of
all time, finishing on the podium in every race this year including seven wins.
Longtime Yamaha rider Dustin
Nelson and his Nelson Racing team member Josh Row were joined by Travis Dillon
and D.J. Noerr to make a winning foursome in the Baja 500 Open Pro 450 class
aboard their YFZ450R this June. The Baja 500 is a world famous event and one of
the toughest tests of any racer or machine. This accomplishment was all the
more impressive for Nelson coming in the middle of his QuadX Series season.
Nelson, who holds a record five QuadX Series titles, battled for the 2012
championship all the way to the final moto, ultimately landing second.
Yamaha has worked with Feed
the Children for more than 10 years raising several hundred thousand dollars
and feeding tens of thousands of children. This is the sixth year Yamaha
employees and Star Touring members made the ride from Yamaha to the local Feed
the Children office to drop off donated supplies. Feed the Children is an
international nonprofit relief organization that delivers food, medicine,
clothing and other necessities to individuals, children and families who lack
those essentials.
