Will Honda Win Baja?

What's going to happen in the 1000?

It's been a weird year. Ogilvie died. And it seems his death slammed shut a special era for Honda Offroad. Johnny Campbell took over for Honda and Precision Concepts left and JC created everything under his own name. Then Campbell makes a documentary about himself called, "True Champion" - WTF? Then Kawi jumps in and hires Precision Concepts. And Kawi hires my two currently favorite riders; Robby Bell (current 1X for the 1000), and Steve Hengeveld. Robby Bell's parents are Diane and Bob Bell who own Precision Concepts. Then Kawi hires Burce Penhall to run the 1000 effort. Now Kawi has hired Destry Abbot to ride on the 1000 team with Bell, Henge, and Penhall's two sons. Then Campbell has a yard sale at Bell Mountain and he will watching the 1000 instead of riding. Then his 2nd team lost a rider last Saturday. He'll be watching from a hospital in San Diego. I hope he's OK.

I always figured Ogilvie's BRP would have beaten Kawasaki's KX500. However, I think Kawi had the best riders ever back in the 1990s with Hamel, Roeseler, and Ty Davis. I think Honda had the better manager in Ogilvie. Kawi quit the Baja soon after Hamel got killed in the 500. Hamel would have been the greatest ever IMHO. And Ty Davis is the best rider I've ever seen in person. Ty has won in every motorcycle sport just about. The initials LR give some goosebumps...

http://www.dust-magazine.com/2009/09/penhall-signs-deal-with-kawasaki-fo-baja-1000/
http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/511/5075/Motorcycle-Article/Tecate-SCORE-Baja-1000-Motorcycle-Teams.aspx

It's only takes small parts to bring down multi-million dollar efforts but... Will Honda Win Baja? I'd bet on Kawasaki if it was me. If Honda loses then there might just be a reckoning at Honda.

Watch the start and the finish live here:
http://bajasafari.blogspot.com/


Looks like:
Honda stalls their bike on the start line. I'm not sure which bike but have to assume A team.
kawi in lead after two hours. Destry will lynch pin the team-riding the Summit and leaving Mike's
not sure where Gene is. I can't remember the web site that tracks individual teams. sh*t.
His number is 253X but he's also riding a leg for Mike Powell's team.

The following updates I am posting as I get them. So I'm just cutting and pasting without cleaning anything up. There will be some redundancies and other messy stuff.
If there are some numbers following the bike # then that is the time the bike arrived at the Baja Pit.

11:45PM PST

1x
12x
11x
18x
102x
16x
2x
100x
309x
4x
301x
103x
400x
19x
7x
500x
401x
5a
1a
402x
21x
302x
160
169
5x
153x
4a
303x
105x
311x John Roberts team
6a
3x
100a
10x
405x
308x
449
101a
8x
151x
150x
274x
503x
110a
254x
108a
260x
271x
202x
282x
403x
313x
154x

thats all through 160

12:45PM PST
Moto Results so far...1x Bell, 12x Norman, 11x Ramirez, 18x Udall, 102x

1x Bell
12x Norman
11x Ramirez
18x Udall
102x The Other Ron Wilson
16x AUSSIES
2x Theisen
301x Johnson
400x Myers
309x SURFNRIDE WILSON LEADS THE SOLO
103x Boyer
4x CORFMAN
401x Campbell
500x ONEAL


RM 270 Through Baja Pits 7
1x
12x
18x
11x
102x
2x
301x
400x
100x
103x
309x SNR
4x
500x



1x (only by 1 minute!)
12x
18x
11x
102x
2x
400x
100x
4x
103x
309x solo rider
301x
500x



The Latest from San Felipe Baja Pits 9
1x 12:58
12x 1:05
18x 1:20
11x 1:25
102x 1:55
2x 2:05
100x 2:14
400x 2:14
103x 2:24
4x 2:25
309x 2:30


Next Post
1x 2:15
12x 2:33
18x 2:45
11x 2:53
2x 2:54


3:48PM
El Coyote RM 458 BAJA PITS 12
1x
12x
18x
as of 4 min ago



4:33PM
UPDATE FROM PIT 11 San Matias
1x 2:15
12x 2:23
18x 2:45
11x 2:54
102X 3:32
400x ???
100x 3:57
103x 3:59
4x 4:00
2x 4:13
500x 4:15
401x


FINALLY GENE SHOWS UP HERE IN 37TH.

5:00 PM Update from San Felipe, S. Matias, Coyote, Valley T
Baja PITs 9 San Felipe
1x
12x
18x
11x
102x
2x
100x
400x
103x
4x
309 SNR
500
501
401
105
7
302
402
21x
153x
311x John Roberts team
274x
405x
5x
408x
260x
271x
202x
303x
150x
151x
254x
154x
10x
8x
449x
253x
501x
601x
213x
403x
503x
216x
3x


San Matias BAJA PITS 11
1x
12x
18x
11x
102x
400x
100x
103x
4x
2x
500x
401x
105x
309x
301x
1a

El Coyote Baja Pits 12 rm 458
1x
12x
18x
11x
102x
400x

Valle De La Trinidad (Valley T) Meadow Baja Pits 13 RM 500
1x
12x
18x
(updated w/in 15 minutes-just like stock quotes)


We're about 90 minutes from the first bike finish, and also first overall, and the Aussies/KTM (I think that 's them-16X-are nowhere to be found in any posts on twitter or any tracking I've found.


5:45PM
Lead bikes just cleared the beach run heading to Santo Tomas

7:15PM
and the bikes are in the riverbed just outside of town. Win should be real soon.

Rider-man got there first for sure. But it looked like Norman was close enough behind to win on time.

Unofficially they are calling it for Honda. They started 3 minutes behind and finish around 30 seconds behind. The clear winner isn't clear because of all Score's new rules about cheating by course cutting and so forth.

Henge said the Kawi bike had a couple of big getoffs early on after opening a big lead on the Honda bike. Robby started fifth but was in the lead overall after 10 miles! Turns out the big getoff was Robby. Ouch. Bent the bars all up. They had to replace the header. Not sure what all. Robby had opened up a big lead over the Honda but the repairs ate all that up. Robby said the bent bars hampered the following riders. He seem to feel pretty bad about it.

Looking at some pit numbers and from this early stuff it looks like Robby had opened up at least a 10 minute lead over the Honda A bike. Minus three for start position and that's a seven minute lead. Looks like his lead was continuing to build until the repairs. By RM 305 the lead was down to a minute. So I'm reckon the fall and the repair pit happened there or before.

Probably be weeks before they crunch all the data from the recorders and see if there was speeding, course cutting, ...

KTM = Kan't Take Mexico
Keeps Taking Money
"the bike blew a piston somewhere about RM 242 on the west side of the San Felipe loop."


As usual, turns out there was a thread at TT that had it best. Just found it.


Not sure this link will work but here's the Kawi bike:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_6d2J4H20AN8/Srj--EpscTI/AAAAAAAAF5o/ZUdabicu0QY/s400/Baja+Racing+News+Baja+1000+2009+Kawasaki.jpg
I read it came straight from Japan to PC. Apparently it's pretty much a works bike in the traditional sense. Unlike our BRPs which were production bikes as I recall and after racing were stripped and sent to dealers for resale, often as slightly used bike and no hint of them being winners... many went to a dealer in Denver. PC told me that story.

cool, thanks!

First 1000 that has gotten my attention in forever. Finally some racing.

It makes me wonder what the outcome would have been if Honda still raced the big ol XR650R? Now that Sal is enforcing the rules about highway speeds some if its advantage is gone. But there's plenty of other places where the big red pig could have really opened up and showed it's extra HP and MPH on the big end. Or are the 450s really faster because they are lighter, less power, and thus easier to ride with less fatigue? I think if I did the race again I'd do it one a 250 2smoker with a big flywheel weight and PC suspension and jetting.

Enforcing the rules, which have been there forever anyway, will finally give some of the privateers a chance at a big win. It's pretty demoralizing to be a part of a team that has to follow the rules because you're not poster boys with million dollar factories behind you that forced Sal to agree ahead of time to our course cutting. It was all we could do to stay ON COURSE. He better get it together before the ranchers down there shut the whole thing down.

I feel bad for Robby. He's the guy who dropped the ball on a superstar effort. The look on Henge's face a few times at the finish was sad. You could tell he's not a blowhard who goes on about winning. The defeat really bothered him. I think Honda had the faster bike. Norman basically said at the finish that he could reel Henge in when he wanted to but the dust was too much. So he just made sure he was deep within the 180 second start gap. Probably not a position Henge is used to. That won't set well with him.

It'd be neat if Kawi surprised everyone with like a 550 to 650CC very light EFI version of our BRP. Perhaps even a 2-stroke.

Interesting that KTM choked again. I think their bikes do well in Dakar because the pace is slower for the 12 days or so of Dakar than the all-out often-pinned effort required for Baja. And the big power has to carry several times the amount of fuel and also spares and all. Reading Hacking's book I was surprised how his mantra seemed to be, "save the bike, save the bike, it's a long race..."

I also think KTM likes to show up with far too much power. Team Honda rarely ran the HRC piston even milled down for pump gas because the riders said the bike tended to come out from underneath them. That may change though with the new Dakar rules limiting to 450CC.

My buddy across the street had is 1/2 1600 car come in 2nd or so he thinks.

let me know if anyone finds anything on 253X

Thanks for the report. Having just acquired the brp I was interested but your first post got me more interested. I didn't have any luck getting to online coverage. Where can I find the best wriiteup of the bike portion, thanks. Out for my third ride today. Guys at the parts dept told me how to get to their favorite place. It was magnificent. Long road perfect for the brp. I gained quite a lot of confidence today. Why have I done without a dirt bike all these years?

has a couple of speeding penalties... No problem because Henge and Norman finished what seemed like an hour ahead of the 3rd place bike, the honda b team.

Tecate/SCORE Baja 1000, November 20, 2009

Robby Bell:

The 42nd running of the Baja 1000 was again a loop race, starting and finishing in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. This year’s race course was one of the toughest yet as the quantity and quality of the pre-runner trucks, cars and bikes have lead to deeper whoops, choppier straight-aways and more rocks showing there ugly heads. The new-era Baja races offer less spreading as land owners are becoming increasingly more protective of their property. I feel it’s for the benefit of the race as gone are the days of controversy over who took what line and it makes for more honest competition.

Bruce Penhall came to me a couple months ago and said he wanted to win the Baja 1000, the biggest desert race in North America and we put together an effort that I was very confident in; our team consisted of me, Destry Abbott, Steve Hengeveld, Ryan Penhall and his brother Conner. With the JCR Honda team, made up of Kendall Norman, Timmy Weigand and Quinn Cody, being the main competition, I felt speed for speed we matched up really well. Having ridden for Johnny Campbell and Honda the previous four years I knew exactly how tough their program is to beat; they have eleven years experience winning in Baja, the pits are flawless, the bike is proven and the riders are quality. Our effort had great riders, but the pits, and especially the bike, were as yet unproven; it turned out, however, that both would prove to be top quality the whole race long.

The start line always has a cluster of people, little kids asking for autographs, guys wanting a last minute picture and media personnel asking the standard “are you ready?” start line question. I was fifth off the line and my goal was to be in the lead within the first twenty miles; Kendall started for the JCR team six bikes behind me so the sooner I could get into the lead the more time I was going to pull. The green flag waved and I was off. I had a great feeling on the bike, a confident feeling, and I passed into fourth less than three miles off the line tucked in doing ninety eight mile an hour. Just a couple miles further and I had caught up to third place, he looked back and waved me by and I set out for the two leaders. With a 6:30 start time the sun is always an annoyance in the morning as the course runs directly into it at times, add in some blinding dust and the threat of crashing or hitting something you don’t see is a real one. I played it smart through a silty section and as I came out I was right on the back of the second bike; I throttled by and could see the leader just in front. I followed him up a hill and at the top of it there was a left hander onto a road, this is where pre-running shows its importance. Just before the left hander some locals had switched the course markings and routed up a silty hill and then back onto the race course, the lead bike took that line but I took the original marked route which got me out of the dust and as he came back onto the course I was able to fly by; eleven miles into the Baja 1000 I was in the lead. From there I felt fantastic, I was keeping up my momentum, hitting the right lines, the best I’ve ever felt in Baja; and I know he bled Honda red, but something told me Bruce Ogilvie was smiling down on me for those first one hundred miles. I came into pit two and handed the bike off to Destry, who would ride the next one hundred miles to pit four, sticking around to see that I had pulled over five minutes on our competition; I had a feeling it was going to be a great day.

Destry had to navigate over the tight and rocky “summit” and then down a fast desert section into Borrego and he rode flawlessly, pulling another three plus minutes on the JCR bike. From there he gave the bike to Ryan Penhall for another hundred mile section down Morelia Road and through all twenty six miles of Matomi wash, unfortunately he was up against Quinn who I feel knows that wash better than anyone. With legal lines all over the place through that section I had a feeling Quinn’s experience might best Ryan’s speed and it proved true as when Ryan got to me at pit six we had just a minute and a half physical lead. I would ride the next one hundred fourteen miles up Old Puertocitos Road, through San Felipe, back through Borrego and San Matias, getting off the bike at the turn-off to Mike’s Sky Ranch. I had two goals as I mounted the bike: stretch back away and give Destry a perfect machine. I couldn’t believe how well our KX450 worked in the rocks; I consider the first fifteen miles of Old Puertocitos Road to be the rockiest and scariest section in Baja to go fast and it was in those first fifteen miles that I pulled almost four minutes on the Honda and by the time I got to San Felipe I had stretched it out further to almost six minutes physically. The next thirty miles are the most physically demanding as it consists of non-stop three to five foot deep car whoops and my back was feeling pretty toasty already. I kept pushing forward through the pain and kept saying, “…one more whoop, one more whoop!” The bike handled all of the whoops extremely well and I came through Borrego with around an eight minutes physical lead. From there it was just ten more miles of whoops, a fun sand wash, three miles of a fast, hard pack road and two miles on the highway before I would hand the bike to Destry once again. I made it through the whoops, worked the sand wash well and had only a half mile left on the hard pack road before getting on the highway when disaster struck. I was feeling the effects of how hard I pushed myself through the whoops, which may have played into my concentration dropping slightly, and I hit a hidden rock in the shadows that kicked the back end out sideways. I thought at first I could save it but when then the back end caught I didn’t have enough strength left to bring it back and it whipped back again and sent me off cart wheeling. I got back up really quickly but the damage was done as I had bent the right side of the bars down to what now resembled a speedway bike, and smashed the muffler completely flat like a pancake, which would lead to it blowing a hole out the side. I got the bike to Destry and after taking a bit of time in the pit to once over the bike he decided to ride with the bars rather than take the time to change them. I have to say I was really impressed with his ride over the next thirty nine miles. When he left me at pit nine our lead was back down to about four and a half minutes and after taking a minute to change the pipe at pit ten he still had five minutes on the JCR bike in second; so with horribly bent bars and an underperforming motor thanks to my job on the pipe he still pulled a minute and a half. From there Connor was scheduled to get on the bike and ride the next forty two miles down to pit eleven; I had every intention to keep Destry on the bike for this section with the way he was riding as I felt he could pull even more time, but the decision was made to put Conner on. Conner did ride well considering the condition of the bike, but Timmy was able to put time into him and by the time he got to pit eleven our lead was down to two minutes. Our pit crew did a stellar job hanging the lights, changing front and rear wheels and the air filter and actually pulled time on Honda, which did the exact same maintainence, by over thirty seconds. From here darkness was falling and it was in Steve’s capable hands for the final one hundred seventy two miles. Kendall got on at the same pit and it was quite a fight to the finish with both riders doing all they could to pull time. I consider Steve to be the fastest night rider in Baja, but I feel the bent bars hindered him quite a bit, not taking anything away from Kendall who really impressed me with his pace at night. Steve crossed the finish line first, but less than minute later Kendall came through and since he started three minutes behind us it meant they won the race by less than two minutes.

All in all I couldn’t be happier with the way the bike worked, it held up really well as Phil did a great job prepping it, and each rider put in every ounce of effort they could. It was one of the closest races in a long time, but that just makes it all the more disappointing to come so close and see it slip away. I have to admit that had I not crashed there is no doubt in my mind we would have won that race; I failed to give the next rider a perfect bike, which is always my ultimate goal in Baja and this crash is going to haunt me for quite some time. The pit crews did an incredible job and to rival the Honda pits which have had such a solid program for years was really impressive. I want to thank the ridres: Steve, Destry, Ryan and Conner for putting everything they had into the race, Bruce Penhall for giving us the opportunity to go down and race, Bob, Phil and everyone at Precision Concepts for all the effort they put into building a great bike, and everyone who helped us in the pits for making them the best down there. I feel that now I have some unfinished business in Baja and I hope to be back next year to put an exclamation mark on it.

Robby Bell

BAJA 1000
Baja, Mexico
November 20, 2009

Race Day:
At the Baja 1000 I had four other teammates (Robby Bell, Steve Hengeveld, Ryan Penhall, and Connor Penhall). This is the first time I’ve ever raced a SCORE race, which makes it my first Baja race. Robby was starting the race and was going to ride to mile 100 and then hand it over to me. Robby was the 5th bike off and they were starting every bike 30-seconds apart. Our main competition was going to come from a few Honda teams that were starting behind us. While I was waiting at mile 100, I heard that Robby was leading it overall on adjusted and physical time. When he got to me I was super pumped to see how fast he was going. I took off and a little bit later the helicopter radioed to let me know that we were physically 5-minutes ahead and about 2-minutes ahead on adjusted time. I was on the bike for a little over 100-miles over the summit, which was way rougher then I thought it would be (before I got to Baja). Right off the bat you go into a lot of rocks and have to go over this summit, which was about 20-miles long. I was on the tight side, but felt like I still had a good pace going to keep the lead. Halfway into the loop, I was feeling good and had to make my first pit stop. The guys did a great job and I was back off. Then around the 180-mile mark I was in this sand wash and had one close call and almost took a soil sample. I hit a rock with my rear wheel and never saw it. It was a scary moment and I had the bike in full panic rev trying to pull it out. Luckily I did, and just got back into my pace again. When I arrived at mile 201, I got off and they switched wheels and topped off with gas. Ryan Penhall got on here to do his sections (which was a little over 100-miles). We sat there for a little bit before the next bike came in (around 10-minutes). It was Honda’s A team (Kendall Norman, Timmy Weigand, and Quinn Cody), and they had to stop for tires too. When they took off, I was feeling really good about our chances today. The KX450 was working awesome and things were going pretty smooth, but this is Baja so I knew it was far from over. Jonny and I didn’t have any radio communication with anyone from this point on until I got back on at mile-520, so I’m not 100% sure what happened from when I got off to when I got back on. I do know Ryan had a tough time with his section, and when he got off we were physically 1 ½ - minutes up on the Honda A team and now losing by 1 ½ - minutes on adjusted time. Robby got back on for the whooped out San Felipe section, and of course he was back on the gas again. He got us back up on time and back in the lead. Then about 3-miles before he gave me the bike, he went down hard and bent the bike up. He pulled into the pits, but the problem was he was ahead of his scheduled time and it was just Jonny and I at this pit. There wasn’t much we could do , because we didn’t have an exhaust system and bars to change the two worst things. I just told them I’m riding it and will deal with it until the next pit (39-miles). This section I was riding was Mike’s Sky Ranch loop, and there’s a lot of traffic on the road for the first 15-miles. The helicopter had to refuel and I had no one to tell me if I was clear around the corners or in the hills. I was passing cars left and right, but I definitely wasn’t taking any chances. Finally around the 10-mile mark, I heard the guys on the radio telling me they could see me and that was a huge relief. Once they got to me, I hammered down and rode as hard as I could since we were basically tied on time with the Honda boys. I knew Timmy Weigand (who is a really great rider) was on the bike, but he had already ridden over 100+ miles without a break so I knew he was probably a little tired. The top of Mike’s section was my favorite stuff down there, and was a lot slower than most of the Baja race. When I got to my pit I jumped off, and the guys started to change the exhaust can. It turns out that the whole side of the can was blown out and it wasn’t running the best. They did a great job on changing it and I was planning on getting back on the bike, since I knew I could put more time on Timmy. I had actually put 2-minutes on him in my 39-miles section and I wanted to try to put more time on him going down the hill with a bike that would actually run on top-end. Unfortunately there was a lot that went on in this pit, and I was ordered not to get on the bike and to let Connor ride instead. I can honestly tell you I wanted on that bike and was doing everything I could, but as you can tell it didn’t happen as planned and I wasn’t too happy about it! Connor took off and then Timmy came by a little less than 5-minutes later. Connor had a 42-mile section back into the meadows, (mile 600) but a lot of it was slower stuff until the end. When he got down to the bottom, he turned the bike over to Steve Hengeveld. They had to put lights on it, change tires and a filter. Honda had to do the same thing so we figured we weren’t going to lose any time in the pits. When Steve took off the Honda was around a minute back and now leading on time. From this point on, I really don’t know what happened since I got to the finish right before they got there. Steve is one of the best night racers and I felt confident in him, but Honda had Kendall Norman on the bike and he’s a great rider too. Steve needed to put a couple minutes on Kendall and he just wasn’t able to since he was still riding a bent up bike and Kendall was really wanting the win which would also give him the Score championship. Steve came across the finish in first, but Kendall was less than a minute back and that gave the Honda boys the win on adjusted time. It’s hard to believe we raced for 14-hours and the win came down to less than 3-minutes.

Overall Summary:
This was really a tough race to lose for me (and the rest of the team). It felt like I lost a championship that was right in our hands. I’ve lost plenty of races before, but this one was something I really wanted to add to my list of wins. I was really happy with the way I rode and the way the bike held up for that long of a race. All of us riders gave it everything we could, but we just came up a little short. I was a great experience and fun to be part of, so I don’t regret any of that. I just really wanted to win it for Kawasaki and Danny Hamel (someone I’ve always looked up to)!

Overall Results (top 4):
1st Kendall Norman, Timmy Weigand, and Quinn Cody
2nd Destry Abbott, Robby Bell, Steve Hengeveld, Ryan and Connor Penhall
3rd Colton Udall, Brent Harden, Matt and Max Eddy
4th Ivan Ramirez, Mike Childress, Shane Esposito, Brandon Prieto, and Noe Ibarra

Other Notes:
I enjoyed the pre-running and trying to get my sections figured out. I would estimate that I put in over 800-miles of riding before the race. The best part about it was the fact that the whole time I was down there I never crashedJ

The worst part of my trip in Mexico was hearing about a good friend of mine Dave Chase. Dave passed away Thursday, November 12, 2009. I heard Dave went to the hospital to be treated for the H1N1 virus (Swine Flu) where it was discovered that he had advanced leukemia. Chase reportedly passed only days later. I met Dave in the early 90’s and he was such an awesome guy and did a lot for me. He was truly one of the good guys in our sport and will be deeply missed.

I’ve had a ton of people ask me what I thought of Baja and if I would go back down there again to race. First, I really enjoy Baja and had a lot of fun hanging out and meeting some great people. The experience was something I’ll never forget (especially contingency row) and I was happy I did it. Hopefully the next time I race it I’ll be in a race truck or car though J

I don’t know where to begin on thanking all the people that were part of this race. It’s one of those races you have to have a huge amount of support and volunteers for (just for our Kawasaki team). Bruce Penhall was the biggest part of putting this together and I really want to thank him for the opportunity to go down there and finally race. My teammates were all really cool and the only reason I was down here was because of them and knew we had the riders to win with. I also had my mechanic Jonny, Bret Leaf, Bob Bell, John Braasch, Phil, Sean Reddish, Steve Achy (who were both in the helicopter), and a ton of other people that were a huge help. Thanks!

One of my sponsors Dragon Fire Racing won the Sportsman UTV class in their Kawasaki Teryx. Todd Romano (owner) and Reid Nordin were two of the drivers in the car. I’m not sure who else was in the car.

I attached a variety of photos from Baja. As you could see one of the t-shirts had me on the back, which was pretty cool. I ended up buying someJ There’s a few of them from Art Eugenio. In one of the photos you can see where the exhaust system blew out the side and how bent the right side of the bars were.

I also wanted to congratulate the Honda team. They’re a great group of guys and I know the three of them rode extremely well and worked really hard for the win today. Great job guys!