2012 BAJA 1000 THREAD (BIKES)

Might as well get this started now, there will be a lot more hype leading up to this one than we have seen in quite a few years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvkTLZY2OQE&feature=share

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jeff Upp on July 26, 2012 at 11:33am

Wow! Gives me chills. I will 21 miles south of San Felipe on the old road, pending coarse map, with a cooler full of cold Ballenas!

Permalink Reply by Jeff Upp on August 1, 2012 at 6:04pm

Trailer 2..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G0Amsoezew&feature=relmfu

Permalink Reply by will on August 1, 2012 at 6:34pm

Excellent, Thanks Jeff !!! The Honda pit in that one is all Hilltoppers, but you all know who my money is on. As I keep saying, this will be the best 1000 for the bikes we have seen in years. I was just thinking the other day about how we now have computers, texts, and streaming audio/video. This is the first time in my memory that I wont be waiting at the mailbox to see who won the #1 plate.

Permalink Reply by J.R. Sands on August 1, 2012 at 8:24pm

Will, this is going to be a Great year for the Bikes. I am looking forward to this as well....

Permalink Reply by will on August 8, 2012 at 7:08pm

http://youtu.be/abuO5N1Vxww

And now ya know.

Permalink Reply by will on October 12, 2012 at 6:20pm

This Sunday (14/Nov.) is a National Hare and Hound series race in Johnson Valley CA. Of note in this race is the fact that the full KTM team will be on hand, so we should be able to judge the health of the racers from their finishes. Kurt Caselli is in the hunt for the championship and is the favorite going in, anything less than a win will leave me wondering about his shoulder.
Quinn Cody is a top 10 in my ranking, so anything outside of that may mean his wrist is not fully healed. Ramirez and Brownie are healthy as far as I know, so I put Ivan top 5 or 6, and Brown as fun to watch. From the Honda camp, we should see David Kamo turn in a solid top 5 and possible 4th man Ryan Dudek (sp?) in the fight. This is a long for H&H standards 120 mi. race, and the whole roster will not be known until the banner drops. I will post up results so you can make fun of my picks and judge the fitness of the players we will be seeing in the 1000.

Permalink Reply by will on October 12, 2012 at 9:11pm

Somehow on my list I missed series points leader David Pearson on the Kawi! Watch for him to give Special K a run for his money.

Permalink Reply by will on October 12, 2012 at 9:13pm

From KTM - http://www.ktm.com/us/news-events/news/all/details/brown-ramirez-an...

Permalink Reply by will on October 14, 2012 at 9:18pm

So here's how it shook out .

Reports were that Brown got lost, picked up the course again and was around the top 10 after 2 laps, but then DNF'd.
Quinn Cody seemed to drop out after 2 of 3 laps with his wrist still healing, and severe blistering on his hands.
So everything came down pretty much like I thought it would for this round. Kurt Caselli cannot be beat in this type of race when he is healthy. The only guy in the same zipcode as Kurt is David Pearson when it comes to H&H. David Kamo is solid, and will be the same for the 1000. Mike Brown is an inspiration to all of us old farts. Quinn Cody, damn.. a bad year for sure, at least the dude got married this year, so, well never mind...[ joke, really the only good thing for him this year ]
My main reason for focusing on this race as a lead up to the 1000 is to measure the fitness of the racers at the 120 mi. mark. A National Hare and Hound is much rougher than the Baja races, being almost all single track with no resting on anything that would be considered a road [ even in Baja ], but the 120 miles of seat time is pretty close to what they will run in the 1000.
Out of all this I gather the following -
Honda - Strong and steady, looking for the superior pit organization and JCR strategy to come through.
Kawisaki - Robby Bell just owning it in everything he enters, David Pearson good to go, and Hengeveld as an anchor is solid from all reports.
KTM - Is it time for Quinn to ride the helicoptor and call the shots? They do have a stable of hot dogs to jump in, but if Quinn isn't ready, Ivan is the only guy they have with the miles in Baja.
So my picks are; Red , Green , Orange. Somebody wrote that it's winner take all, and second place gets a beer. We will see in about a month!

Permalink Reply by will on October 16, 2012 at 10:09am

Destry Abbott has announced that he will the 4th rider for Kawasaki.

Permalink Reply by will on October 17, 2012 at 7:39pm

While we are looking at the National Hare and Hound series as a warm up for the 1000, its worth taking a look at the difference's in the terrain of the course. Being only for bikes and quads means a race course through areas that only a rockcrawler could traverse on four wheels.