TIME FOR SOME BIKE TALK-BAJA 500 EDITION

So now the news is out that Marc Coma is coming. My guess is he will be riding with Kurt and Ivan, Kurt is still hurting and sat out last weekends H&H, so this should help him out but I don't see it being enough. Kendall Norman will be riding solo on a CRF 450, but without the JCR Honda pits. As the races get longer I look for the pit work to make more difference on the outcome. If the KTM and Kawasaki are going to beat Colton, David and Timmy it will need to be in outright speed. So it looks like Quinn and Mike may have the speed, and Robby Bell has been on a hot streak lately. Both the KTM and Kawasaki teams have former JCR racers (Quinn with KTM and Steve Hengeveld with Kawasaki) but have the teams done the work to put the right people in the right places?

On a personal note- I will be touch and go on chat for this one. We will be racing at the So.Cal MC big 6 GP, and with half of my club going down to pit for JCR I will be pretty busy pitting Hilltoppers. This will be one of the first times my guys will have cell phone contact from the pits, so I should get a leader update shortly after 07:30 ish. One of our pits is Honda 2 so all the hard work will be done in time to get some photos of the Hummer flying by.
Update on the Hilltopper 2 stroke team- The boys got the fever after their finish in the 250 and are planning to run the SCORE series next season. They are using the rest of this year to prepare and execute the plan they have set in motion. The most important thing they learned at the 250 is that it is damned hard to find mixed gas if something happens with your pit plans. To solve this a CR 500 is being built, and we are looking for another for pre run and practice. This will allow for the use of the JCR Honda pit program. I will post some photos of the bike build up as it comes along.
I didn't get to hang out for the Indy/ MX chat Saturday because we went for a 130 mile ride through Joshua Tree National Park. We were too tired to do anything other than lift beer and stare at the Q-runs on tv, but let me know if you guys want to see a little go pro video.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by will on May 22, 2012 at 8:38pm

Just when I think it's time to start a discussion, Johnny Campbell tells Eric it's time to build a race bike!
http://instagr.am/p/K8bCnYO8fJ/

Permalink Reply by Mike Kenyon on May 22, 2012 at 8:42pm

looks like the Dakar radiator's

Permalink Reply by Mike Kenyon on May 22, 2012 at 8:41pm

footage? you have to ask?!

Permalink Reply by will on May 22, 2012 at 10:59pm

Well okay here you go. The first clip is leaving the family property in 29 Palms with my brother Rob in front and our buddy James behind him. Hilltoppers all but we don't wear our colors on this ride, the libtards that inhabit the Park don't need ammo. Short clip, but you guys might like our yard ornaments - '26 Buick's.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ayv4x_OVrJk&feature=youtu.be
After about 12 miles of pavement we hit the first dirt, we did lots of this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omZzl012u3I&feature=youtu.be
Then as you get farther away from the pavement it gets even better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U7Z-pf6f7g&feature=youtu.be
After that the terrain reverses as you get down to Indio for a gas stop. After that we shoot East for about 10 miles on a powerline road, then turn North up a different canyon as the terrain changes repeat. The trip is about 130 miles and takes about 4.5 hours with stops for safty wire, zip ties and duct tape on 3 bikes.

Permalink Reply by Mike Kenyon on May 22, 2012 at 11:34pm

Thank you

Permalink Reply by Jeff Upp on May 22, 2012 at 11:40pm

Good stuff. Makes me wanna go roost some libtards. LOL! Last video looks so fun. Did not know Coma was racing the 500. Very cool.

Permalink Reply by WJM on May 23, 2012 at 1:25am

Great vids, Will.

Permalink Reply by will on May 23, 2012 at 5:55pm

Here is a different take on some things.
http://www.enduro360.com/2012/05/23/featured/2012-score-baja-500-pr...
Chilly has a different idea of what will happen with the KTM team than mine. I'm not saying I know anything about what they are doing, just be warned that he has a history of getting things wrong.

Permalink Reply by will on May 27, 2012 at 5:41pm

Soooo... the KTM line up might look like this-
http://vurboffroad.com/news/ktm-score-baja-500-team-announced/506/

But then a later report looks like it might be this-
http://vurboffroad.com/news/ktm-second-baja-500-team-announced/507/
I know Megan, and if she is scrambling to post this stuff, then KTM is still working out final plans.

Permalink Reply by J.R. Sands on May 27, 2012 at 11:09pm