LaVallee’s First-Ever Double on His Polaris IQ® Race Sled is Talk of the Games

MEDINA, MN (January 26, 2009) – Polaris snocross racer and snowmobile freestyle star Levi LaVallee might not have won the gold medal in the Winter X Games Next Trick competition, but he’s the athlete everybody’s talking about. LaVallee became the first snowmobiler every to complete a double backflip in competition at the X Games on Friday, January 23, in Aspen, Colorado.

LaVallee, a multiple Winter X Games gold medal winner who races for Hentges Racing, is the only snowmobiler competing in all four snowmobile disciplines at this year’s Winter X Games. On Thursday, January 22, he earned the silver medal in Snowmobile Speed & Style, which combines sprinting through a race course with performing freestyle tricks.

On Friday, January 23, LaVallee landed the historic double backflip but was bucked off his Polaris IQ® Race Sled almost immediately, and thus was not credited with landing the jump. That was unfortunate because the gold medal was won by a competitor who performed a common backflip with a slight twist to the side of the landing ramp.

LaVallee finished fourth in the Snowmobile Snocross final on January 24, and placed fifth in Snowmobile Freestyle on January 25.

Snowmobile Next Trick: The Historic Backflip
LaVallee said he had not satisfactorily landed the double backflip in his practices prior to the X Games, but felt confident as he approached Friday night’s Next Trick competition. He launched the Polaris IQ Race Sled off his special, steep-angled ramp and floated through the first backflip. He made it through the second revolution just before landing. The sled came down hard on its track, then flattened out with a severe jolt that prevented LaVallee from hanging onto the sled. He was knocked off the left side of the sled and was not credited with successfully riding out of the landing.

ESPN2 reported on its Winter X Games website: “Though he didn't stick it clean, Levi LaVallee pulled both rotations on his double backflip during Next Trick. Upon returning to earth, LaVallee tried in vain to stick the trick but was jarred and thrown from his sled on impact… Still, LaVallee seemed please with his accomplishment and the crowd seemed please to see him walk away from the stunt in one piece.”

After falling off the sled, LaVallee snapped to his feet and dashed up the snowy landing ramp to soak in the cheers of the crowd. Asked afterward if he was injured, LaVallee responded, “I'm all right. My left leg is a little bit weak. You couldn't tell afterwards – I had so much adrenaline going I probably could've been running on a broken leg. But it was just such a hard impact and my left ankle and knee are a little tweaked, but not bad. I think I'll be just fine. It's tough to try it another time when you're limping on one side though, and especially with a trick like that.

“It's the scariest thing I've ever done. Going two times around is pretty gnarly. Going once around is gnarly, and that second rotation seems like it takes forever. I'm just really happy that I was able to walk away from it and I've really gotta give a shout out to everyone that's helped me do this. There've been a lot of people behind the scenes; it's not just me going out hucking myself because a lot of people have put a lot of time and effort into this and I'm thankful for that.”

He told the reporters he might not be done trying to land the double. “I wanted to go out with two double backflips in my career,” he said. “I wanted one at my house last week that I wanted to ride out of, which I didn't. And I wanted one here, which I didn't ride out either. So I don't know if I can put it on the shelf yet.”

Video of the historic backflip is available HERE on the ESPN website.

Snowmobile Speed & Style: Silver
While Snowmobile Next Trick is a new competition this year, Snowmobile Speed & Style was introduced last winter and LaVallee was the first-ever gold medalist, one of two golds he won at last year’s X Games. On Thursday night, LaVallee ran well, but not quite well enough to repeat as the gold medalist. He scored 83 points in the final, 4.3 points away from the gold medal. "I'm disappointed that I made a couple bobbles out there,” He said. But “with as much stuff as I've got going on this week, a silver medal's pretty dang sweet. I don't even have time to really think about it anymore… I can only look forward."

Snocross & Freestyle: LaVallee Just Misses the Medals
In the Snowmobile Snocross final run on Saturday, January 24, LaVallee finished fourth, just missing the medal positions. Other Polaris racers in the final were: Bobby LePage (Hentges Racing) in seventh, Brett Bender (Hentges Racing) in ninth, D.J. Eckstrom (Amsoil/US Air Force) was 11th, TJ Gulla (Hentges Racing) was 12th and Shaun Crapo (Amsoil/US Air Force) was 13th.

In Snowmobile Freestyle, LaVallee posted a best score of 81.0, which put him fifth and denied him the chance to compete in the finals. The top four advance and three of them earn medals. While LaVallee makes his primary living as a snocross racer, all four finalists are freestyle specialists – including Polaris rider Daniel Bodin, who qualified for the finals and finished fourth.

About Polaris
With annual 2007 sales of $1.8 billion, Polaris designs, engineers, manufactures and markets all terrain vehicles (ATVs), including the Polaris RANGER™, snowmobiles and Victory motorcycles for recreational and utility use. Polaris is a recognized leader in the snowmobile industry; and one of the largest manufacturers of ATVs in the world. Victory motorcycles, established in 1998 and representing the first all-new American made motorcycle from a major company in nearly 60 years, are rapidly making impressive in-roads into the cruiser and touring motorcycle marketplace. Polaris also enhances the riding experience with a complete line of Pure Polaris apparel, accessories and parts, available at Polaris dealerships. Polaris Industries Inc. trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “PII,” and the Company is included in the S&P Small-Cap 600 stock price index. Information about the complete line of Polaris products, apparel and vehicle accessories is available from authorized Polaris dealers or anytime from the Polaris homepage at www.polarisindustries.com.