SCORE's Sal Fish talks to us at the start finish line about this year's Baja 1000 course and the challenges it presents to racers.
Craig and his band of baja brothers are going for a repeat! Something that is very hard to do in desert racing. The ATV team races a very well prepared Honda TRX450r. Leonard Duncan from Duncan Racing does the prepwork for this championship team. His co-riders include Steve Abrego, David Scott, current BITD champ, GNCC racer Andy Lagzdines. They have been down in Baja pre-running all week. Tommorow is contingency and tech inspection and hopefully some relaxing.
Here is the Spot tracking link for Team Christys Racing.
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0sTDZsCDIuLD12ktoc2yglX4ypiqLGbGV
Jason Wade racing with Reid Rutherford on the ThunderCat at this years Baja 1000. Catch the pre running here.....via Spot GPS Tracking.
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0hfzusXEpUjlFuM2WfdM08miPoOik52l4
Other udpates to follow when they come in....
Right now there are 50 plus pings on there......Looks jumbled.....I will hide the pre running data on race day, this saturday.
Update 1117/09
Prerunning went well. Jason says the course is a bit harder than he anticipated. Not sure if its the equipment he isnt used to ??? So far he is getting used to the Arctic Cat Thundercat. Handles a little different than the Can Am Renegae he has. The Mikes loop is tough and the road out of Matomi Wash is tougher than it has ever been.
Video from the 2009 Searchlight GP on board with Pro Class winner, Yamaha's Justin Waters.
The top 2 pros completed the 10 mile lap in right around 20 minutes, so you are only seeing a portion of the track. Once again went through town and through people's back yards and shops. The entire course was extremely whooped out.
INTERESTED IN BECOMING ONE OF THE ATV CALENDER GIRLS. I AM A FLORIDA HIGHWAY PATROL STATE TROOPER. I AM SINGLE WITH THREE BOYS. I LOVE THE OUTDOORS, AND PLAYIN IN THE MUD.
I was a little bit of a failure this weekend in the way of Media. I have no video or pictures to show from my weekend in Dumont. I dumbly forgot my helmet cam... and so did a couple other friends that have them. And its just too hard to carry my camera out when I go ride.
I found a few jumps. Nothing spectacular. A couple of the same jumps from last year. Spotted a dirtbike doing a 130+ ft double with a gap in the middle. I didn't have the cajones to even make a run at it.
One night we spent a while watching a group of drunk people try and get their trucks un-stuck behind competition. First a Toyota dug in and decided to just keep spinning the wheels until they were completely barried. They brought another truck, broke the front driveline and barried that one also. One more truck and tried to pull the second one out at an angle instead of straight... no surprise, another one stuck. Somehow found another truck and pulled the third out. Then get that one stuck again trying to turn around to give another pull. Found an even bigger truck, managed to pull a few of them out, then broke the driveline in that one also. At one point, had 4 trucks stuck plus another pulling. One vehicle of every major brand stuck, a few too many beers, no real tow straps, and all in the middle of the night.
Seemed like there wasn't all that many people out there...
Anyone else got any good stories from the desert, sand, snow, or mountains during Halloween?
I planned on taking this week and weekend off from riding/racing. I deserve a weekend off after a season of racing right? Plus I was hurt and waiting for parts so I couldn't go to the Quadcross race anyways...
So for my weekend off, I spent Friday working on my broken quad, and someone elses broken quad. I got up really early saturday morning and went to Dumont dunes. Since my quad was broken I drove a borrowed yamaha rhino. And today Im going to Red Rock to go hiking/ mountain biking for a work out...
I guess I never really take any time off from quads or the off-road industry. My life is just so much wrapped up in it I dont know what else to do with my time. When I get bored and have nothing to do my first thought is always to go work on my quad...
Is anyone else so involved that they find themselves not knowing what to do when they can't ride?
Coming in to the final World Off Road Championship Series ATV Nationals in Mesquite NV, HotSeat Powersports/Yamaha rider Justin Waters sat 10th in points – but in a tight battle. Six riders sat with only 7 points separating them. He knew he had to finish well to reach his goal of a top ten for his first season on the Pro circuit. And have some luck on where the other riders finished, so the points would fall his way.
"Our goal from the beginning was a top ten this season. It seemed to be a realistic goal based on my lap times and the riders I know I can run with, but then as the season went on, several top national-level Pros also came out to try the series and the competition really ramped up. I’ve never worked this hard – on and off the track."
The Mesquite race had all the excitement and drama fans could ask for, with several top GNCC and ATV MX pros coming out to shake up the mix in Sunday’s Main Event - but when the dust settled, Waters had the finish he needed, earning the #10 plate.
"I'm even prouder of finishing with no DNFs. The companies I'm working with are turning out the best equipment in the industry. They understand the extra demands racing puts on their products. The Yamaha YFZ450R is a bike that anyone can get on and ride, you don't have to hire a master mechanic or pour thousands of dollars in to maintain it. Fox Racing Shox, Teixeira Tech A-arms and a Rekluse clutch were absolutely key to several of my best finishes this season. It was also great to have Maxxis support right at the track. I can’t thank them enough, and I’m anxious to work with them all again.”
His sights are set even higher for 2010.
“Now that we’re on the front row, I want to put my sponsors on the podium. Get a single-digit number for the year.”
#95 Justin Waters (WORCS #10) would like to thank his 2009 sponsorship partners, including:
Hot Seat Powersports, Yamaha, Teixeira Tech, Fox Racing Shox, Precision Racing Products, AC Racing, G4-Graphics, Rekluse, Spider Grips, Powermadd, GYT-R, MotoX Nutrition, Flexx Bars, MSR, Scott USA, Gaerne, DP Brakes, DWT, Maxxis, Motion Pro, Spectro Oil, Quadtech, Regina Chains, SkorBordz.
Ok, so every weekend in Vegas is a busy weekend, but its a busy weekend for racing outside Vegas. In Primm this weekend is the final round of BITD racing for the quads. The top 5 spots in the Pro class are still yet to be decided. Watch for Cody Mitchell and Jeff Hancock to be battling all race long. If you are thinking about maybe going and doing this grand prix, ( apprx. 8, 8 mile laps) the pro entry fee is $475.... Make dang sure you have a good reason to even do this race.
If paying over $8 a mile to race is way too steep for you also, maybe head out to the WORCS race in Mesquite, NV. For the same price you could do 3 or 4 hours worth of racing. Being the final round of the year, this race is sure to be packed, and the Pro class is guaranteed to be exciting. Beau Baron hasn't secured the championship yet, but only has to finish better than 12th. There is currently about a 5 way battle including myself for 7th through 11th position in points. Everyone wants to earn one of those single digit numbers for next year. I plan on getting all of you some helmet cam from Pro practice this weekend so keep your fingers crossed that something doesn't go wrong again.
On a non-offroad side note, this week and this weekend is also the NHRA finals at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
So if you live near Vegas, pick a race, and have a good weekend! Im headed to the track in Mesquite in just a few short hours.