After revealing the full ATV Series Schedule earlier this week, officials have announced the Side-by-Side (UTV) racing schedule for the 2012 Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series. The six-round UTV series kicks off Saturday, Mar. 17 in Washington, Ga. at The General GNCC and wraps up Saturday, Oct. 20 at the crowd favorite Ironman GNCC in Crawfordsville, Ind.

UTVs compete for one hour on a specially designed course throughout the woods at select GNCC events during the season. UTV competition begins at 4:30 p.m., following the ATV racing program on Saturday afternoon.

“The 2012 UTV schedule is fairly similar to what we ran last season,” says GNCC Trail Boss, Jeff Russell. “By adding the new West Virginia round and John Penton, the UTV schedule is evenly spread throughout the GNCC season and gives competitors time in between rounds to prepare their machines.”

It’s not often we post articles about stock sales and the like, but we found it interesting that Arctic Cat has purchased approximately 6.1 million shares of Arctic Cat Class B common stock from Suzuki Motor Corporation for $79.3 million.

The stock buyback reduces Arctic Cat’s outstanding shares from 18.4 million to 12.3 million, increasing non-Suzuki shareholders’ ownership of outstanding common shares by approximately 33 percent, and leaves Arctic Cat’s public share float unchanged. Arctic Cat funded this purchase with existing cash on its balance sheet. The company expects to end its 2012 fiscal year with more than $60 million in cash and no debt, after deducting cash used for the share purchase from Suzuki.

Dumont, Glamis and High Lifter event attendees caught a glimpse of the new Polaris RZR XP 4 900 during the past month. The special, blacked-out vehicles were used as part of the introduction of the newest member of the RZR family. Now, the three unique “Phantom 4s” will be donated to the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP).

Starting today through January 10, WWP alumni can enter an essay contest to win one of the three vehicles. More information can be found here.

BRP, in cooperation with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, has recalled approximately 1,600 Can-Am Outlander and Renegade ATVs. According to the recall notice, the Dynamic Power Steering (DPS) main shaft can crack and pieces can detach. Those pieces inside the DPS can block gears and cause limited steering ability.

BRP has received two reports of broken DPS resulting in limited steering ability. No injuries have been reported.

This recall involves 2010 and 2011 Can-Am Outlander and Renegade model ATVs. The ATVs were sold in black, yellow and red and have “Can-Am” and the model name printed on the side panels. Models included in the recall are:

Model Year 2010: Can-Am Outlander 500, 650 and 800R, packages XT, XT-P and Ltd; on MAX and one-Up models Can-Am Renegade 800R, package X xc only

Model Year 2011: Can-Am Outlander 500, 650, 800R, packages XT, XT-P, X xc, X mr and Ltd; on MAX and one-Up models Can-Am Renegade 800R package X xc only

With the 2011 Best In The Desert (BITD) season complete, Brandon Schueler and the Jagged-X desert off-road race team fell just a few points short of capturing their fifth Pro-UTV championship in as many years. Despite falling short, the factory-sponsored Polaris racing team still viewed the season as a success. The team managed to win its fifth consecutive Vegas-to-Reno race, currently the longest race in North America and by far the most difficult in the BITD series. The team also managed to collect two wins and three second-place finishes on the season.

With UTV racing growing at such an impressive rate, Jagged-X felt that the time was right to take its race program a step further for 2012. So for the upcoming season Jagged X / Polaris Racing will add a second car to the desert program. 2011 BITD Pro UTV Champion Matt Parks is now a member of the Jagged-X race team. Parks will be piloting his #1932 Polaris RZR-4 at the 2012 BITD season opener at the Parker 250 with a whole new look.