Tough test for 2009 Polaris 800 Assault RMK

Polaris’ brand new 2009 800 Assault RMK snowmobile will be put to the ultimate test as it will be featured in the next batch of extreme back-country videos from Slednecks.

Professional riders including Randy Sherman, Dan Adams, Dan Phillips and snowmobile distance jumping world-record holder Paul Thacker will launch, huck, whip and power the sleds this spring and next winter.

If the 2009 800 Assault RMK can survive what these riders plan to put it through, it should be able to handle just about anything. These riders make their living by piloting snowmobiles off mountain ledges, soaring over crests between peaks and by whipping their sleds after ripping uphill through cornices.

Polaris says the Assault is a race-bred RMK chassis and is powered by a 154-hp, liquid-cooled Liberty 800 Cleanfire4 twin. It also comes equipped with Walker Evans shocks, including new piggy-back Walker Air shocks up front. Traction is provided by a 146-inch Competition track with 2.125-inch lugs.

The featured riders who will be piloting the Assault for the cameras include:

Paul Thacker: In February 2007, this Alaskan braved a blinding snowstorm to set a snowmobile distance jumping record of 245 feet on a Polaris IQ sled. One year later (February 16, 2008), he re-set the record with a jump of 271 feet. Both records were set at a Shakopee, Minn., race track, but Paul is much more at home at high altitudes and in deep snow, wringing the power out of an Assault while launching huge jumps and soaring over peaks for the Slednecks cameras.

Randy Sherman: As soon as an Assault was made available, Randy left his Anchorage, Alaska, home and met the Compound Films crew in the Colorado Rockies. Videos of his first rides – which are loaded with jumps and whips – are featured on the Polaris website. Randy is featured in several Slednecks films, was featured in the ‘2 Stroke Cold Smoke’ videos and can be seen in clips on YouTube.

Dan Adams: This Wyoming-born Slednecks team rider is at home on deep snow and soaring high above it. He has been featured in numerous xtreme riding films and is considered by many to be the Godfather of backcountry free riding.

Dan Phillips: Dan is a veteran of numerous xtreme riding films, including ‘2 Stroke Cold Smoke’ videos, and he competed in the 2006 Red Bull Fuel + Fury competition.

Related Reading: 2009 Polaris Preview