The American Council of Snowmobile Associations held their annual DC Fly-In recently.

The event brings together the volunteer state snowmobile leadership from across the country.  This year representatives from 16 states were in attendance. 
 
ACSA, the Midwest Chapter and the Western Chapter held meetings on Sunday.  Monday was a full day of updates with speakers from the agencies, congressional staff, and partners.  Among the issues discussed were the recent court decision in Idaho, as well as other Forest Service issues such as budgets, sequestration, and the planning rule.  Yellowstone and the Proposed Rule were discussed, as were Ethanol Fuels, RTP, and new legislation introduced to limit the designation of new National Monuments. 

The council, also, learned the impact the overall budget is having on all issues.  The budget is looming over many issues, limiting discussion and progress on many issues and will continue to do so until there is some progress in the deficit spending.
 
Tuesday was a full day of meetings with the elected officials from the snowbelt states.
 
"Tell the Truth About Snowmobiling" was once again the moto used by the snowmobilers making the trek to Washington.

Wyoming snowmobilers are lobbying state legislators to increase the cost of permits $10 for private riders and $30 for commercial outfits.

The fees would likely raise $400,000 a year to help pay for the state to maintain Wyoming's 2,000 miles of snowmobile trails.

Bert Miller, president of the Wyoming State Snowmobile Association, told the Star Tribune that the investment in trail maintenance would encourage more winter tourism.

Snowmobiling brings in about $146 million to Wyoming per year and additional $29 million related to the Wyoming economy.

Wyoming's budget doesn't set aside money for snowmobile trail grooming, so the state pays for trail maintenance through snowmobile registration fees and money from fuel taxes.

Each trail mile costs more than $19 to groom.

The Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Interim Committee will discuss the proposal at their next interim meeting in August

Tread Lightly has partnered with the Boy Scouts of America  in the Scouts' Outdoor Ethics Program, according to Tread Lightly's Trails Spring Issue.

Tread Lightly is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to protecting the great outdoors for outdoor recreational use.

Beginning this year, Tread Lightly's message and principles are now officially part of the curriculum for a Scout to earn the new Outdoor Ethics award.

The new program has three components:
- An Awareness Award is tailored for youth and adults just joining the program that introduces them to the outdoor ethics principles.  The award is a patch and is earned once by an BSA member.

-The Action Award is tailored for youth that have been participating in the BSA program and wish to deepen their understanding of outdoor ethics and improve their skills in implementing them. This youth award is a specially designed name tag and may be earned at each BSA program level.

- Service Recognition award recognizes youth or adults who have completed advanced training as a Leave No Trace Trainer or Master Educator or a Tread Lightly Tread Trainer or Master Tread Traiiner or have served as a council Outdoor Ethics Advocate or staffer on traineing courses. The recipient has used the training to help teach others outdoor ethics principles.

Minneapolis, Minn. - Arctic Cat reported a 15% sales increase on sales of $671.6 million for the year, driven by strong snowmobile, ATV, and side-by-side sales.

Snowmobile sales for the fiscal year, which ended March 31, 2013, increased 5% to $263.7 million.  Overall, Arctic Cat's earnings for the year rose 33% to $39.7 million.

"We continued to pursue our strategy to enter new growth segments and launch innovative new products," said Claude Jordan, Arctic Cat's president and chief executive officer.

Snowmobile sales improved for the fourth quarter to negative $5.3 million due to sales incentives vs. negative $6.8 million last year's quarter. Also, Cat announced in February it had entered into an expanded engine supply and co-brand agreement with Yamaha Motor Corp. for the 2014 model year.

At the same time ATV sales increased 16% to $87.6 million in the final quarter. That was up from $75.8 million. Full-year ATV sales rose 32% to $299.8 million. Cat announced a new 50-inch wide, trail-legal Wildcat that will begin shipping in late fiscal 2014. Its narrower stance will allow riders to access ATV trails giving the consumer more riding options.

Sales for PG&A (parts, garments and accessories) in the fourth quarter increased 5% to $31 million vs. $29.5 million in last year's final quarter. This increase was primarily driven by snowmobile parts sales due to better snow conditions than the previous year. For the full year, PG&A sales were flat although improvements were made in the PG&A for Wildcat.

Cat's board of directors has authorized the reinstatement of a quarterly dividend and a $30 million share repurchase program based on strong cash flow and future prospects.

The company ended the fiscal year with cash and short-term investments totaling $112.8 million vs. $62.6 million in 2012. Cat had used $79.3 million in cash to buy all of Suzuki's 6.1 million shares of Arctic Cat Class B common stock in fiscal 2012.

Arctic Cat said it anticipates 2014 fiscal year sales in the range of $754 million to $768 million, an increase of 12% to 14% from 2013. The company also expects gross margins to decrease by about 80 basis points, due to additional Yamaha snowmobiles that will be built in Arctic Cat's factory and due to the Canadian currency impact.

Yamaha's Racing Show heads to Sandpoint, Idaho for the last race of the RMSHA season, Schweitzer Sledfest.

The recap features Cable Willford, Nathan Titus and Chad Jorgenson.

Catch all the action here.

East Coast Snocross Pro Champion Corin Todd and ISOC Sport Champion Zak Mason have joined the Pro Lite Superteam, according to a press release from Leighton Motorsports.

Twenty year-old Todd of Malone, New York won the 2013 ECS championship riding a Polaris for the Bailey/Hulten team. He will be relocating to the Midwest for his first full effort on the AMSOIL Championship Snocross tour.

Eighteen year-old Mason of Gaylord, Michigan also captured his national championship riding a
Polaris and will be moving to Minn., along with his father and mechanic Rob, to makes his debut as a Pro Lite rider this fall.

At the conclusion of the 2013 season, Leighton Motorsports planned to focus their efforts on the Pro Lite class.

“Right after the X Games, crew chief Ray Hulten and I started talking about how we wanted to move forward long-term,” said Trace Leighton. “We decided to step away from the Pro Open class for now and really focus on the Pro Lite class next year.”

To accommodate the new lineup, which will still include two-time Women’s Pro-Am Champion Jennifer Pare, the Fly Racing/Bully Dog-backed team has purchased the former Blair Morgan Racing trailer with multiple slide-outs and added work space.

For more information visit www.leightonmotorsports.com

Ski-Doo's parent company, BRP, has filed for preliminary public offering in each of the provinces and territories of Canada.

The offering is being made through a syndicate of underwriters led by BMO Capital Markets, RBC Capital Markets, UBS Securities Canada Inc. and Citigroup Global Markets Canada Inc.

No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of the offering.

These securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any U.S. state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States except in compliance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws or pursuant to an exemption therefrom.

Pleasant Prairie, WI— Aboard his Nytro MTX, Yamaha Snowmobile Racing’s Chad Jorgensen powered to a third-place podium finish in the Pro 600 Modified class at the fifth round of the 2013 RMSHA hillclimb series at Beaver Mountain in Garden City, Utah on Saturday, April 13. The finish is a huge achievement for the Nytro, as it represents the first podium of the year and the second podium in history for a Yamaha four-stroke in this ultra-competitive series. There was more good news at event, as Jorgensen added a top-five finish in Pro 600 Improved, with Cable Willford finishing eighth in the class. Willford then grabbed a sixth and Kody Malmborg a 10th in Pro 700 Improved, while Jorgensen took a sixth in Pro 700 Modified and Kolton Malmborg added a sixth in Semi Pro Modified. And finally, Kolton put his Nytro MTX into the Semi Pro Stock final, marking the first time a Nytro has qualified among its 800cc two-stroke rivals in a stock class.

Situated at the Beaver Mountain Ski Area, the racecourse uniquely started downhill, then made a turnabout and zigzagged up the hill nearly 1000 vertical feet – with plenty of jumps, bowl turns and gates along the way. Snow arrived just in time during the week to offer excellent conditions for hillclimbing, and the weather was equally agreeable with sunny skies and 60-degree temperatures during Friday qualifying. In all, Yamaha riders including Jorgensen, Cable Willford, Kody and Kolton Malmborg, and even Nathan Titus – available now that the woods- and ice-racing season is over – qualified in 12 different classes.

Jorgensen was revved up for the event and his top-five finish in Pro 600 Improved fired him up for Pro 600 Modified, where he quickly staged his Yamaha and raced to his dramatic podium finish – just 1.5 seconds behind the winner. The trip up the hill was a strong one, with Chad flowing beautifully, making each turn count and keeping his corner speed up. Now fully energized, Jorgensen lined his Nytro MTX up for his third final of the day, Pro 700 Improved. This time he was totally in the zone, flying up the hill at an incredible rate and building a nearly two-second lead on the clock by the halfway point before catching a bump while driving hard into a corner and then unloading. Although Chad was only credited with 12th place in the class, his run served notice that it’s only a matter of time before a Yamaha four-stroke claims an outright RMSHA class win.

“The team really pulled together this weekend,” said Yamaha snowmobile hillclimb technical coordinator Troy Johnson. “Kolton performed really well, qualifying in all three classes, and his sixth in Semi Pro Mod was his best result of the year. Also Chad was ready to win the Pro 700 Improved class and he nearly did it. I’m looking forward to more podiums in the next round, and maybe even a win.” Yamaha Snowmobile Racing’s Eric Josephsen added, “I’m very proud of how the team has improved this season. At first just qualifying our four-stroke Nytros for the finals was an achievement. Now we’re on the podium and knocking on the door for an outright win. I can’t wait for the season finale in Idaho next weekend!”