Yamaha bLU cRU Racers Secure Multiple National Championships in 2020

It’s been a bLU year.

Yamaha Motor Corp., USA’s Side-by-Side (SxS) and ATV bLU cRU racers wrapped up the 2020 racing season, locking in several national championships and finishing on the podium across numerous series, including Championship Off-Road, ATV Motocross (ATV MX) and the Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) racing series.

The Championship Off-Road series’ inaugural year capped off with bLU cRU racer, CJ Greaves, finishing the season in his Greaves Motorsports / Yamaha / Monster Energy / Maxxis YXZ1000R with multiple championships after taking both the Pro Stock SxS and Pro Mod SxS titles for a combined $25,000 in bLU cRU bonuses. Battling with Greaves in the Pro Mod SxS class and keeping the standings close all year, Powersports 1 / Beyond Redline YXZ1000R driver, Rodney VanEperen, finished the season strong with a first-place finish at the final round, enough to secure second overall, just shy of Greaves by a mere six points.

In the second-annual SXS Sports “King of the Elements” three race series, featuring closed-course tracks held on dirt and ice, the pure sport YXZ1000R secured both the Pro Stock and Sportsman championships with drivers VanEperen and Dylan Marquardt, respectively.

In the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series’ Production 1000 UTV class, Brock Heger secured eight podium finishes and three first-place finishes over the course of the season in his BH Motorsports / Maxxis / Weller Racing YXZ1000R for second overall.

GNCC’s reigning XC1 Pro ATV champion, Walker Fowler, clinched his sixth-straight title and the $10,000 bLU cRU championship bonus following his podium finish at round 11 on his Mark Notman-prepared WFR / GBC / Fly Racing YFZ450R, leading with 301 points and six first-place finishes – one of which included his 60th career win. Fowler was also awarded GNCC’s prestigious “ATV Rider of the Year” award at the series’ year-end banquet. Fellow Yamaha bLU cRU YFZ450R racers Brycen Neal and Cole Richardson secured a podium sweep for Yamaha, finishing the season in second and third, correspondingly. Between Fowler, Neal, and Richardson, the YFZ450R solidified its podium-proven prowess in the GNCC series, finishing first in all but one round, aiding in Yamaha capturing the GNCC’s ATV Manufacturer’s Cup for 2020.

In support of GNCC’s annual “pink race” at the Yamaha Racing Ironman GNCC in Crawfordsville, Indiana, raising breast cancer awareness and funding local breast cancer care and research, Yamaha once again returned as a major contributor to the effort, committing $50 for each class win on a Yamaha, and an additional $50 for each 2020 Yamaha championship. This year, with 29 national championships and 35 race-day wins, Yamaha donated over $3,000 supporting the local Faith Alliance Fund, held at the Montgomery County Community Foundation.

Closing the season at this year’s virtual GNCC banquet, Yamaha awarded payout and prize opportunities to eligible bLU cRU racers competing in the majority of the XC2, Junior A, College A, Junior B, and College B ATV class rounds. Yamaha’s bLU cRU contingency for the overall winners of these GNCC classes were as follows:

XC2 ATV:
Second- $1,500, Drew Landers
Third- $750, Branden Owens
Fourth- $500, Wyatt J. Wilkin
Fifth- $250, Ronnie Rusch
Junior A: First- $500 ShopYamaha.com gift card, Nick Davidson
Junior B: First- $500 ShopYamaha.com gift card, Jacob Albaugh
College B: First- $500 ShopYamaha.com gift card, Caden Rine

In the American Motorcycle Association’s (AMA) ATV MX series, second all-time winning champion, Chad Wienen, secured his seventh AMA Pro title, in addition to the $10,000 bLU cRU racing bonus on his Wienen Motorsports / SSI / Fly Racing YFZ450R. Wienen also won the Pro Stock class for the second straight year after the category’s inception in 2019. Fellow bLU cRU YFZ450R racer, Thomas Brown, announced his retirement from ATV MX racing after another successful and consistent year on the podium, finishing third in the AMA Pro class and second overall in Pro Stock. Additionally in the ATV MX series, Andrea Berger secured the women’s championship in the WMX class on her Proven Off-Road YFZ450R.

For the 2020 ATV MX season, Yamaha’s bLU cRU racer support program offered payout and prize opportunities to eligible participants competing in the majority of the Production Stock rounds. Awarded at the year-end banquet in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Yamaha’s bLU cRU contingency for the overall winners of the 2020 ATV MX season’s Production Stock classes included:

Production Stock Premier:

First- $2,500, Chad Wienen
Second- $1,500, Thomas Brown
Third- $750, Max Lindquist
Fourth- $500, Michael Allred
Fifth- $250, Jacob Stevens
Production Stock: First- $500 ShopYamaha.com gift card, Blair Miller
Production Stock C: First- $500 ShopYamaha.com gift card, Rueger Orr
WMX: First- $500 ShopYamaha.com gift card, Andrea Berger

In addition to the bLU cRU payouts, eligible GNCC and ATV MX bLU cRU racers were entered to win a brand new YFZ450R. Through random selection during each series’ awards banquet, Mason Hunt won the ATV MX giveaway, while Cory Vandelinder won the GNCC giveaway.

Every Yamaha SxS and full-size ATV is proudly Assembled in the USA at Yamaha’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Newnan, Georgia, for worldwide distribution.

For more information on the bLU cRU program, including all guidelines and requirements for ATV and SxS racing, visit YamahabLUcRU.com. Follow Yamaha Outdoors on social at Facebook.com/YamahaOutdoors, Instagram.com/YamahaOutdoors, Twitter.com/YamahaOutdoors, or by searching the following hashtags on all social platforms: #YXZ1000R #YFZ450R #Yamaha #YamahaRacing #bLUcRU #ProvenOffRoad #REALizeYourAdventure #REALizeYourPodium #AssembledInUSA