Maybe only 9 people entered the contest or only 9 finalists were chosen by Yamaha.

The swinging percentages isn't that surprising when anyone can vote 5 times. It seems like whoever has more family and friends can win.

I think the idea of the contest is excellent, and I commend Yamaha. I was planning on entering, and I was very excited about it - until life threw me some unexpected boomerangs.

The implementation might need some improvement if they have it again in the future which I hope they do.