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Quad75Dezert
ATV Race Team placed second at the
2012 Baja 500 aboard their Honda TRX450R
ATV |
Ensenada, Mexico (6/6/2012)
-After a 450 mile battle with riders, dust,
and heat, the Quad75Dezert team finished the
2012 Baja 500 in second place, just two and
half minutes behind the 5a Yamaha team. Several
competitors suffered heat stroke during this
event, but the top finishers pushed through
to come out on the podium.
Jorie Williams would start the race on
the number 3a quad, leaving 2nd
off the line behind Josh Frederick on the
2a quad. Williams passed
Frederick within the first 40 miles and
came into the team's first pit
leading the race. Mechanic Kenny Sanford
then got on the quad and would
take it to approximately race mile 100.
During his 60 miles, Sanford
would be overtaken by Frederick, but held
on to second place as the 5a
team neared. Williams then remounted the
quad to take it over the Summit
and into Borrego where rider Jamie Kirkpatrick
would take over.
Frederick's team suffered some bad luck
in the lakebed after the summit,
and would take the remainder of the day
to fix their quad and get it to
the finish.Baja veteran Mike Cafro's team
also suffered problems that
put their quad out of the race. Mexico's
treacherous heat sickened
several riders, some of them even needing
medical attention, but most
teams pushed on despite dangerous conditions.
Coming off of the lakebed, Williams was
again in front of the field. In
Borrego the Quad75Dezert team did a longer
pit stop, changing tires, and
noticed the pivot bolt, while safety-wired
to the bike, was loose.
Taking an extra few seconds to tighten the
bolt gave enough time for the
5a quad to take the lead as Jamie Kirkpatrick
took over the 3a quad.
Brandon Brown and Richie Brown took the
next three legs of the race, the
Cross, the Coast, and Uruapan to the finish,
but were only able to make
up a few minutes. Official results put Quad75Dezert
two and half minutes
behind the 5a team on adjusted time, but
the team had no penalties. "We
raced probably the hardest we ever have,
and this race was one of the
closest. It's great to see more competitors
down there and it's
definitely more exciting when the racing
is that tight all day," Brandon
Brown said, "Anything can happen in
Mexico, and I'm just proud of our
riders and support crew. We had a good race
and now we're going to plan
to have the best race for the Baja 1000
in November."
Quad75Dezert finished 2nd in Class 25 and
now sits 3rd in season points.
After recovering from this race, the team
will be headed to compete in
the BITD Vegas to Reno race in August, and
then set their sights on this
year's Baja 1000.
Quad75Dezert
competes with the help of:
Tire Blocks, S&S Motorsports, Waterwell
Developing and Surveys, KBH Construction,
HB Jaeger Maxxis, Fox, Klim, Teixeira Tech,
HMF, MXN, CBR, K&N Filters, UPP Racing,
Fullbore Innovations, ProCaliber.com, HiPer
Wheels, Pro Armor, TCS Motorsports, Spider
Grips, Rekluse, Warn, Quadtech, Sunstar,
Maxima Racing Oils, Precision Racing Products,
Asterisk, Wiseco, 100%, Powermadd, IMS,
We All Ride, Promoto Promotions, Trail Tech,
Shorai Power, Hot Rod Fab, Dunetech Off-Road,
Fusion Graphix, PitTraffic.com and Murray211.
For updates, information, photos and videos,
visit Quad75.com
or Facebook.com/Quad75Dezert
