Yamaha YXZ 1000R Links 2016 Yamaha YXZ 1000R Glen Helen WORCS Report

San Bernardino, CA (10/8/2015) - Less than a month since the new 2016 Yamaha YXZ 1000R was announced, Dustin Nelson claimed a third place finish in the WORCS SxS Pro Stock class at Glen Helen Raceway. Yamaha’s new high performance SxS, YXZ 1000R, is the first of its kind with a five speed manual transmission paired with a three cylinder engine. Dustin Nelson proved that the new Yamaha is competitive with a podium finish in its debut, and Nelson was ecstatic with his third-place finish, especially after starting on the second row. Nelson also claimed the win in the Sportsman SxS class with a highly modified Yamaha Wolverine.

The Yamaha YXZ 1000R made its racing debut at the Glen Helen WORCS with Dustin Nelson driving it to a podium finish

ATVriders.com:Was this your first time racing the Yamaha YXR 1000R?
Dustin Nelson: This was the debut of the new Yamaha YXZ 1000R, and I couldn’t be happier. We got third today in the Pro Stock Class today against guys with big, long-travel suspension, shocks and gnarly setups that do this stuff all year. We came here with a car right out of the showroom with an IMG cage and a relocated CBR radiator. We just turned some clickers on the stock shocks-we didn’t have springs or anything-and we had a pretty dang good race. To come from the second row, climb all the way to third place and finish on the podium in our first time out is pretty cool.

Dustin Nelson added PRP seats & relocated a CBR radiator to the rear of the vehicle, which is common practice for all SxS racers to prevent it from getting clogged by mud up front

ATVriders.com: How long have you been working on the Yamaha 1000R project?
Dustin Nelson: I’ve known about the project for a long time. I didn’t come in until the very end of testing. I did a very limited amount of testing with the car. The test guys in the Georgia facility did a great job developing the car. The most time I’ve had in the car was doing all of the photos and the videos for the launch. I’ve been really antsy and have wanted to get into this thing on a track, and I’m pretty impressed with how it performed in its first time out.

Dustin Nelson's Yamaha YXZ 1000R

ATVriders.com: How easy is the manual shifting on the Yamaha YXZ 1000R?
Dustin Nelson: It definitely adds a little busyness to your laps. You’re not just holding onto the steering wheel, putting it in high and stomping the throttle and the brake. The clutch and the shifting does add some busyness, but, for me, I’m a quad guy and a motocross guy, and it feels natural to be downshifting and upshifting. For me, the most important thing is learning how to drive in four-wheel drive. Everything I’ve race before is two-wheel drive. The car reacts a little differently coming out the corners. I need to adjust to that. The shifting makes it more aggressive and more fun in my eyes.

Dustin Nelson also installed a DRD exhaust on the Yamaha YXZ 1000R

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