 |
|
Quad75Dezert
ATV Race Team won Baja 500 aboard
their Honda TRX450R ATV |
Ensenada, Mexico (6/10/2011)
- Team Quad75Dezert is happy to announce their
victory at the Baja 500 on June 4th. Not only
did they secure their third class win in a
row, they also won the ATV overall for the
third consecutive time, beating all other
ATV entries. In addition, the 100A race bike
was the first ATV across the line, and approximately
the 12th motorcycle overall to finish, crossing
the finish at around 5:33pm after 11 hours
and 15 minutes of racing. Team 2 finished
6th place in Class 24 and approximately 7th
overall out of all the ATV classes.
Going into the week of pre-running, the
teams looked strong as they
rode their sections. 4 riders were based
in San Felipe to make for a
shorter trek each morning to the summit
and Mike's loop. Another 6
riders were based out of Ensenada. These
riders rode the start and end
of the 454 mile course. This year's course
had a little bit of
everything, including several course changes.
From dammed sections of
water to fast dusty sections, to rocks as
large as a school bus, and
whoops as deep as a Volkswagen, this track
brought the best and worst of
the Mexican desert to challenge riders come
race day. After returning
from San Felipe on Tuesday, riders Dale
Mininger and Jorie Williams
found out their section on the summit had
been changed and that they
would need to return on Wednesday to pre-run.
"I thought we were going
to have a day off, but then they changed
it on us!" Jorie said after
hearing of the change. After riding the
changed course, which went from
a newly cut section back to what SCORE used
in previous years, Jorie
described the section as "a whooped
out, gnarly mess."
 |
| Quad75Dezert
ATV Race Team took it to the streets
as well as the desert |
Jorie and Dale, for Teams 1 and 2, respectively,
would ride the start inside the city of
Ensenada to Race Mile 35, then get back
on near race mile (RM) 100 to conquer the
summit. At RM 35 head mechanic Kenny Sanford
would take over for Jorie and Dave Jenkins
would take over for Dale and ride to approximately
RM 100. When Jorie and Dale got off the
bikes, Chris Kristensen would take over
on the 100A while Sean McHugh would pilot
the 101A. Unfortunately for these two riders,
the course would get the best of them. Sean
fell victim to a kicker dug out sometime
between pre-running and race day, and crashed
hard in the whoops. He got back on and finished
his section but ended up with some bruising
and a nasty limp. Chris would be ejected
further south in some of the rockier terrain
Baja has to offer. He saved the bike from
being destroyed, but sacrificed his head,
back, and neck. Kenny was at the next pit,
and after reviewing the situation he made
the call to put Jorie back on the bike.
Jorie took over again to finish that section
before handing the bike to GNCC XC2 rider
Richie Brown. Sean made his pit and passed
the 101A bike relatively unscathed to Oregon
local Brian Watkins. During the start, Jorie
was forced through some deep water which
caused the 100A bike some trouble through
the mid-range of power. Despite this setback
the 100A bike was in the lead for most of
the race, and at one point gained over 12
minutes on the next quad. After Brian and
Richie finished their sections, Brandon
would take over the 100A bike and Jamie
Kirkpatrick would ride the the 101A bike
to the finish. The bikes finished about
an hour apart.
"I'm really pleased with both teams'
performances, and I'm just stoked
that we have another overall," Brandon
said at the finish line, "Jorie
is an animal and rides his head off every
time he gets on the bike.
Kenny built two incredible race machines.
And we were fortunate to have
smart riders on both teams. We had some
problems along the way, but we
overcame the adversity and we're happy to
have finished so well." The
team intends to race the Baja 1000 in November,
and has already started
preparations to chase another ATV Overall
and in-class win at that race.
Three consecutive wins, and three consecutive
ATV overall wins shows
that this team is not joking around when
it comes to racing Baja. "We're
going to do our best when we come out here
because we love desert
racing, but also because we want to win
and we work hard in order to be
competitive," Brandon concluded.
Quad75Dezert would like to thank the following
companies for their
support: S&S Motorsports, Water Well
Developing & Surveys, Fox Racing
Shox, Maxxis, Klim, Teixeira Tech, HMF Racing,
Uni, CBR Performance,
MotoXNutrition, UPP Racing, Fullbore Innovations,
HiPer, Pro Armor, TCS
Motorsports, Spider Grips, Warn Industries,
QuadTech, Maxima, Precision
Racing Products,Fusion Graphixx, Powermadd,
Asterisk, Wiseco, Fastenal
Racing, Scott USA, Rekluse, Pro Caliber
Motorsports, Trail Tech, Hot Rod
Fabrication, KBH Construction, Cycle Wash,
Dune Tech, PitTraffic.com,
Team Money$hot, & Murray211
A big thanks to our support crew as well:
"The Operator" Dan Wade,
Megan Murray, Sean & Mary McHugh, Mike
Kelley II, Daryl, Dan
KirkPatrick, Brad, Alex Mininger, Shelly
Watkins, and our lead mechanic
Kenny Sanford, from S&S Motorsports.
Thanks to our riders also: Team 1- Brandon
Brown, Jorie Williams,
Kenny Sanford, Chris Kristensen & Richie
Brown. Team 2- Jamie
Kirkpatrick, Brian Watkins, Dale Mininger,
Sean McHugh & Dave Jenkins.
Follow Quad75 at http://www.quad75.com
for photos, videos, and updates.
For updates, information, photos and videos,
visit Quad75.com
or Facebook.com/Quad75Dezert
