With its inaugural season over, the NIU Clean Snowmobile Team is already working toward its next competition.

Despite the absence of snowfall in the summer months, the team —which consists of Matt Davis, Ben Nichols, Ben Obenauf and Bryan Venhorst — plans on starting work in June. The team is working on a 2007 Yamaha four-stroke engine snowmobile for next year’s SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge in March. Davis, the team treasurer and senior mechanical engineering major, said the team’s goal is to have the sled ready for testing by first snowfall.

“As long as we have enough guys, we’ll work over summer,” Davis said. “We want to try to get in some early runs so we can find any problems before the competition.”

For next year, the team will have to convert its 2007 sled to run on Flex Fuel, which ranges from E10 to E85 fuels. Nichols, a senior mechanical engineering major and president of the Clean Snowmobile Team, said the team will have to work on noise reduction, which it will do with a new exhaust and suspension work.

Davis said the team had just six weeks to work on its snowmobile for the March competition in Houghton, Mich.

The team finished second in objective handling, third in oral presentation and was just one of four teams to finish the 100-mile endurance race. Overall, the team finished sixth, separated from the third place team by just 30 points.

“Last year, we did all right. We can do better,” Nichols said. “We had some minor technical difficulties.”

Nichols said the team has specific goals for next season.

“We want to win it, pure and simple,” Nichols said. “We were so close our rookie season. There’s no excuse why we shouldn’t win.”

Along with winning, Davis has other goals for the team. As a graduating member, he is looking for team expansion and funds to keep the team going in later years. Davis has been trying to recruit members, fundraisers and sponsors for the team.

The team has more than 25 local and national sponsors, including Fatty’s Pub and Grill, Cabana Charley’s, Monster Energy, Cummins, Road Ranger, Loves Park Motorsports and the NIU College of Engineering.