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Mikey Childress prep work for 2011 Baja 1000
Posted: Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:01:45 +0000
Exclusive coverage of Mikey Childress and his prep work for the 2011 SCORE Baja 1000! Watch Mikey as he bombs the race course on his bike instead of a pre-runner to get an up close and personal look at the intricacies of this year’s course. Childress’ moto background gives him a leg up on the competition as he scouts the Baja peninsula for the best lines. Colorful pre-race festivities begin Wednesday for the 44th anniversary celebration of the legendary Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, but when the green flag drops on Friday morning in Ensenada, Baja California, the race will be as intense as it gets with the 2011 SCORE Desert Series season point championships on the line.
The granddaddy of all desert races, which is the season-finale of the world’s foremost desert racing series which is completing its 38th year in 2011, will be a loop race held on the northern part of Mexico’s magnificently mysterious Baja California peninsula through Saturday starting and finishing in Ensenada, 65 miles South of the U.S. border at San Diego adjacent to the Pacific Ocean.
With over 275 entries expected to compete in 36 Pro and 6 Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs, entries have come from 34 U.S. states and 16 countries. Among the entries are 27 Pro class winners from last year’s race as late entries will be accepted up until race morning.
Video footage by Monster Energy. More #Baja1000 information at SCORE Baja 1000Post from: Baja Off-Road
Mikey Childress prep work for 2011 Baja 1000Related posts:
- THR Motorsports is preparing for 2011 SCORE Baja 1000 THR Motorsports is preparing for the grueling 2011, SCORE Baja...
- THR Motorsports Kawasaki 2011 BITD Vegas to Reno victory Shane Esposito and Chris Brown take THR Motorsports to overall...
- Starting positions for Baja 1000 2011 bikes and ATV Starting first among the motorcycle and ATV classes will be...
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THR Motorsports is preparing for 2011 SCORE Baja 1000
Posted: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 10:47:23 +0000
THR Motorsports is preparing for the grueling 2011, SCORE Baja 1000. For a second assault on the “1000,” they will be flying the Precision Concepts Kawasaki colors. They have assembled a team of talented riders and an experienced crew, all poised for a race win. Combining youth and experience, the five rider all-star team includes; Shane Esposito, Robby Bell, Bobby Garrison, Steve Hengeveld and David Pearson. They will ride a Kawasaki KX450F prepared by Bob Bell of Precision Concepts. Precision Concepts tuned bikes have reached the checkers first in numerous Baja races.
The THR Motorsports Team:Shane Esposito, fresh off of his 2011 Vegas to Reno win, has a long track record of desert wins on both sides of the border.
Robby Bell has filled his resume with numerous Baja 500 & 1000 wins as well as being a formidable WORCS racer.
Hengeveld, a Monster Energy supported rider, is also no stranger to victory as a seven-time overall winner of the Baja 1000 as well as numerous other triumphs.Garrison is the youngest member of the team, but he is a proven winner, both in motocross and WORCS.
David Pearson is a seasoned racer with numerous wins and a National Championship on his resume. He currently sits second in the AMA National Hare & Hound series.
Bell and Hengeveld each know the path to victory, having ridden with the coveted “1x” plate of the Baja champion.The THR Motorsports Bike:
The fuel injected Kawasaki KX450F is a solid and versatile platform. It has won offroad races from the deserts of the west to the mud and trees of the GNCC series. Bob Bell believes that its strong power and light weight give it a distinct advantage for this year’s event, which will feature one of the roughest courses in recent memory.
THR Motorsports owners Scott Jacobson and Rob Sims have chosen to partner with Precision Concepts and Purvines Racing. There will also be several valued associate sponsors.
THR Motorsports also supports a Class 1 car driven by Monster supported Mike Childress, who recently won the SNORE Mint 400 amongst other successes. THR Motorsports is backed internally by its Machining Services Division, Hoosier Precision Machining. Hoosier Precision Machining is a full-service machining company with more than 35 years of manufacturing experience.
For more Baja 1000 info visit SCORE Baja 1000 or Baja 1000 Info, Baja 1000 Facebook or Puro Off-Road
Credits: News release and all images 100% credits THR Motorsports
Post from: Baja Off-Road
THR Motorsports is preparing for 2011 SCORE Baja 1000Related posts:
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- THR Motorsports Kawasaki 2011 BITD Vegas to Reno victory Shane Esposito and Chris Brown take THR Motorsports to overall...
- Tecate SCORE Baja 500 2011 post-race quotes Tecate SCORE Baja 500 2011 Post-race quotes PRO MOTORCYCLES CLASS...
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Starting positions for Baja 1000 2011 bikes and ATV
Posted: Sun, 16 Oct 2011 04:47:37 +0000
Starting first among the motorcycle and ATV classes will be Craig Bowman on a Honda CRF450X. The motorcycle and ATV classes will start their journey at 6:30 a.m. (Friday, Nov. 18) with the car and truck classes starting at approximately 11:45 a.m., or four hours after the last ATV leaves the line. With the course open for 32 hours in the elapsed-time race, the fastest finishers are expected to complete the course in approximately 14 hours.
Craig Bowman 2X Kendall Norman 1X Trent Burgiss 4X Colton Udall 0X Bryce Stavron 6X Steven Moak 7X Rory Sullivan 8X Francisco Arredondo 9X Felipe Prohens 10X Shane Esposito 11X Jack Lundin 12X Thomas Barnabic 13X A.J. Stewart 14X CLASS 21: David Gonzalez, Jr. 101X Willy Miller 102X Brody Kunz 103X Adam Neuwirth 104X Trevor Insley 105X CLASS 30: Tim Abshire 301X Mike Johnson 302X Rodrigo Basave 303X Ryan Gutile 304X CLASS 40: Jeff Kaplan 400X Rob Barnum 401X Mike Prunty 402X Graham Cruickshank 403X Lloyd Andrew 404X Oscar Fazz 405X Todd Winslow-1st RS 449X CLASS 50: Ben Van Zijtveld 501X Jim Dizney 502X Jim O’Neal-1st RS 500X CLASS 60: Donald Lewis-2nd RS 600X Richard Jackson-1st RS 619X CLASS 24: Brandon Brown 100A Juan Sanchez 101A Heriberto Marquez P. 102A CLASS 25: Richard Stanley 2A Roberto Ruiz 3A Rafael Torres F. 4A Wayne Matlock 1A Craig Christy 6A CLASS 26: Carl Vella 201A Joe Rice 218A Rob Ransford 200A SPORTSMAN MOTO UNDER: Christian Espinoza M. 201X Hideki Sugiyama 202X Paul Piper 203X Carlos Orenday P. 204X Darin Bullivant 205X Shawn McKenzie 206X Adam Acosta 207X Dennis Garcia 208X Kenneth Slater 209X Philip Kegel 210X SPORTSMAN MOTO OVER: Jeff Palmer 251X Mike Kaplan 252X Steve Malley 253X Mike Messinger 254X Carlos Valdez 255X Phil Whisenant 256X Mike Frick 257X Chris Parker 258X Cody Larsen 259X Nick Carapella 260X Jeb Boynton 261X Naoki Kusano 262X Ulises Fierro 263X Yoram Lavee 264X Phillip Jones 265X Louie Montano-2nd RS 298X Yvan Perroud-1st RS 299X SPORTSMAN ATV: John Zelenka 51A Moises Saiza A. 52A Paul Engen 53A Juan Dominguez 54A Jesus Sanchez C. 55A Post from: Baja Off-Road
Starting positions for Baja 1000 2011 bikes and ATVRelated posts:
- Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 2011 Bikes – ATV Pro Motorcycles 1. Colton Udall/Jeff Kargola, San Clemente, Calif., Honda...
- Baja 500 Honda top two overall motorcycle finishing positions Johnny Campbell Racing gave American Honda the top two overall...
- Tecate SCORE Baja 500 2011 post-race quotes Tecate SCORE Baja 500 2011 Post-race quotes PRO MOTORCYCLES CLASS...
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THR Motorsports Kawasaki 2011 BITD Vegas to Reno victory
Posted: Sat, 20 Aug 2011 01:37:39 +0000
Shane Esposito and Chris Brown take THR Motorsports to overall 2011 BITD Vegas To Reno Victory aboard Corona Motorsports Kawasaki. Taking command of the lead early in the desert off-road endurance race, the THR Motorsports Open Pro Motorcycle team of Shane Esposito and Chris Brown broke away from the competition and carved their way northward to Reno to capture the overall 2011 Best In The Desert (BITD) Vegas To Reno victory for the/ Kawasaki USA / Corona Motorsports-backed effort. The grueling 549-mile race course, which traverses desolate desert expanses as well as high mountain passes, posed little threat for the experienced duo. And by race mile 375, the team grabbed a death grip on the lead and never let loose. With 40 miles from the finish, after enduring seemingly bottomless silt beds and treacherous rock gardens, the No. N5 THR Motorsports Kawasaki amassed a 1.5-minute lead and worked its way toward a historical finish as it ascended the altitude of the Northern Nevada finish line.
The No. 1565 Class 1500 THR Motorsports entry was not as fortunate. Going into the longest desert off-road race in the United States with a notably successful season in its wake and after having captured a huge victory at SNORE Mint 400 race, the THR Motorsports effort, spearheaded by ace driver Mikey Childress and co-driver Jimmy “The” Hook, succumbed to a blown torque converter seal after qualifying with fifth-fastest off the line on Wednesday in a heavily weighted field of competition.
Credits: THR Motorsports
Post from: Baja Off-Road
THR Motorsports Kawasaki 2011 BITD Vegas to Reno victoryRelated posts:
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- Tecate SCORE Baja 500 2011 post-race quotes Tecate SCORE Baja 500 2011 Post-race quotes PRO MOTORCYCLES CLASS...
- Husqvarna Monster Energy speedbrain 3rd at Red Bull Romaniacs 2011 Andreas “Letti” Lettenbichler managed to finish the 8th edition of...
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Husqvarna Monster Energy speedbrain 3rd at Red Bull Romaniacs 2011
Posted: Wed, 03 Aug 2011 04:11:53 +0000
Andreas “Letti” Lettenbichler managed to finish the 8th edition of the Extreme-Enduro Rally in and around the city of Sibiu (Romania) on a third place. Despite several and rather severe injuries the Extreme-Enduro specialist in the Husqvarna Monster Energy Speedbrain team battled his way through the legendary In-City Prologue and the grueling four race days through Dracula’s backyard and came in after the 2011 winner Graham Jarvis and Chris Birch.
After having dominated the qualification runs on his Husqvarna WR300 a pretty spectacular crash in the semi finals of the In-City Prologue in downtown Sibiu was the cause for missing the “great” final. But nevertheless Letti won the “little” final leaving no chance for his rivals.
The 8th edition of the Red Bull Romaniacs Extreme-Enduro Rallye in Romania attracted the world’s elite in this equally exciting and dangerous offroad motorsport. While the heavy and continuous rain put it’s stamp on the 2010 edition the four offroad days in 2011 were dominated by a massive heat ranging between 30 and 35 degrees centigrade.
The offroad days were stuffed with all the ingredients that makes up for an opulent Extreme-Enduro meal. Day one was meant to be the appetizer, Letti remembers: “The first day was announced as an easy day. But it actually was quite the opposite. I had a really heavy crash at an extreme downhill section called ‘Homer’s downhill’. When I tried to ride it instead of pushing the bike down the hill I lost control of the bike. That’s where I damaged my left ankle, but the bike was in a surprising good shape after a couple of highspeed loops rolling down that hill and even though I lost a bit of time due to that little incident I came in second on that day. The next day was all about riding single trails in the forest, nothing really spectacular. The third day was a great day, I enjoyed it because we had to ride all sorts of terrain and styles, with quite a lot of technically demanding sections. That day was really tough at the beginning. Right after the offroad start we had to climb up a section called ‘Doctor 3′, mostly zigzag, followed by a steep downhill which was a bit of a mission. The forth day had three really steep uphills, one of them called ‘The little long way up’. I crashed twice on the last day and both of my GPS devices were destroyed so I had to follow some riders of the hobby class to get back to Sibiu. Overall I am very happy about the third place considering the many injuries I had to take. And the bike never quit despite the tough ride.”
Results Red Bull Romaniacs 2011
Sibiu, Romania- 1. Graham Jarvis (GBR, Husaberg), 20 hours 0 minutes 14 seconds
- 2. Chris Birch (NZL, KTM), 20:44:15
- 3. Andreas Lettenbichler (GER, Husqvarna Monster Energy speedbrain), 21:14:43
- 4. Paul Bolton (GBR, KTM), 22:40:39
- 5. Xavi Galindo (ESP, Husaberg), 22:52:15
- 6. Melcior Faja (ESP, KTM), 23:10:13
- 7. Darryl Curtis (RSA, KTM), 23:55:35
- 8. Gerhard Forster (GER, Husqvarna), 26:49:24
- 9. Sean Clarke (GBR, KTM), 27:01:25
- 10. Ervin-Zsolt Kovacz (ROU, GAS GAS), 27:05:58
Post from: Baja Off-Road
Husqvarna Monster Energy speedbrain 3rd at Red Bull Romaniacs 2011Related posts:
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Baja 500 Honda top two overall motorcycle finishing positions
Posted: Fri, 10 Jun 2011 18:22:07 +0000
Johnny Campbell Racing gave American Honda the top two overall motorcycle finishing positions and their 15th straight Baja 500 title as Kendall Norman and Quinn Cody take the win and Honda’s 16th overall motorcycle victory in the very demanding 452.84 mile SCORE Baja 500 with a winning time of 8:47:07 at 51.76 mph on a Honda CRF450X. Their times were the fastest of all vehicles on the course. This race marks the second straight overall SCORE Baja 500 race win for Norman and Cody. Norman now has five career race wins in this event in the last six years. It was the second triumph for Cody. Udall was teamed with Kamo for the first time as Johnny Campbell Racing dedicated the race to the memory of Udall’s former teammate Jeff “OX” Kargola, who passed away recently following a motorcycle riding accident in Baja. During Saturday’s race, the two JCR/Honda vehicles actually crossed the finish line together in what was one of the closest races in the history of the Baja 500. Early reports had the win going to the 0x bike ridden by Colton Udall and JCR/Honda newcomer David Kamo however after final data review the win was awarded to Norman/Cody. Both teams were racing identical Eric Siraton prepped Honda CRF450X’s
For more Baja 500 and other off-road videos visit Off-Road Tube
Post from: Baja Off-Road
Baja 500 Honda top two overall motorcycle finishing positionsNo related posts.
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Tecate SCORE Baja 500 2011 post-race quotes
Posted: Sun, 05 Jun 2011 19:58:38 +0000
Tecate SCORE Baja 500 2011 Post-race quotes PRO MOTORCYCLES
CLASS 22
KENDALL NORMAN, No. 1x (First in class and first overall motorcycle to finish. Norman rode the first 200 miles, Quinn Cody rode until 43 miles to finish and Norman rode the final 43 miles.) – The thing is, it is always going to be a really aggressive race between us (and Colton Udall) because we have the same support, we’ve got the best bikes and the best pits so it’s always going to be a dogfight. I can’t complain. My ride went really well but it was really slow getting started. We had no mechanical issues on the bike and our pits were great and I have no complaints.
COLTON UDALL, No. 0x (Second in class. Udall rode first 100 miles. David Kamo rode from race mile 100 to 211 and Udall rode from race mile 211 to the finish.) – I got on the bike at Borrego and I was seven and a half minutes down and I just pinned it the best I could and caught Quinn (Cody) on the 1x bike and I paced him on the highway and into the dirt I pinned it and we pretty much battled and I kind of rode around him and I knew that if he had my dust that he couldn’t get by me in that section so I tried to open up a little bit of lead because I knew that when Kendall got back on I was going to be tired and he was definitely going to be pulling the time back in. Like you all saw, he pretty much came in at the same time I did. I’m pretty smoked tired. Something happened with (a rear exhaust can) and we had to change it and it just set us back a little bit. He (Kendall Norman) was pretty much pulling me since the pit when he got on. I think he was probably pinning it down the wash and I was braking because I didn’t know what was under the bridges because it is dark and I didn’t want to hit anything and do a big ol’ flip or something. He caught me there and then on the asphalt but I wasn’t worried because I knew I started behind him.CLASS 21
TREVOR INSLEY, No. 104x (First in class. Insley shared riding duties with Max Eddy Jr., Matt Eddy and Bill Gilbert.) JCR built our motor and the bike ran awesome today. This was a total team effort and after the many issues we had in San Felipe in the 250, it was nice to get down here and do well. I went down one time but I got right back up and got going. I had no mechanical issues and the bike ran flawlessly. The motor was flawless all day. We put a game plan together based on riders’ abilities.
CLASS 30
FRANCISCO SEPTIEN, No. 300x (Second in class. Septien shared riding duties with Scott Myers, David Fry and Jason Trubey.) Co-rider Scott Myers said: I can’t remember the last time I was that sick (before the race). I didn’t ride or get out and do as much as I wanted. I went to the hospital and got some IVs and Francisco (Septien) hooked me up and got a good nurse over and took good care of me. I felt better and woke up on race day and was 110 percent and felt awesome so I can’t thank him enough. I felt no after effects of being sick. I had an IV on Thursday night and one on Friday night and got my fluids back and they gave me some stuff for my stomach. I thought it was food poisoning but I’m not sure. I’m just glad I got to ride. I’m not sure if I made a bad tire choice. I put on a tire that I really liked but it was gone at mile 100. David Fry had to ride all the way over the summit and got a flat tire and it put us behind and we chased all day.
CLASS 40
JEFF KAPLAN, No. 400x (First in class. Kaplan shared riding duties with Ron Wilson, and Brett Helm.) We had a great day. Nothing went wrong and the bike was incredibly good. The course was fun but there was a little bit of traffic coming in. A Class 11 car and I almost came together. He was going out still and it was kind of scary. We just went on a fast trail ride today and just kind of cruised. We knew we had a big lead in our class and that’s all we wanted to win today. We weren’t trying for a big overall (win) so we didn’t push hard. We just did everything that we wanted to do.CLASS 50
JIM DIZNEY, No. 505x (First in class. Dizney shared riding duties with David Potts, Charlie Marshal, Doug Smith and Raymond Spore.) Co-rider Spore said: That was fantastic; I had a lot of fun. It was pretty challenging coming in with the locals. I used most of the locals to guide me but then there was a group of beer drinkers that pointed me (in the wrong direction) and I just had to follow the tracks.
CLASS 60
DONALD LEWIS, No. 600x (First in class. Lewis shared riding duties with Sam Dempsey, Bob Gates, Will Rogers, Jim O’Neal and Jim Dizney.) There are always a lot of difficulties out there. We got knocked over by a car – one of my favorite things to do out there. I wasn’t planning on doing the run in and that was very unusual because I’ve never done it before and I spent about a third of my time going half speed. We were racing until about mile 420 and I brought it in from there. The course was surprisingly difficult. I think it was harder than last year but maybe it is just me. Our lights weren’t the best but other than that the bike was a beautiful bike.PRO ATVs
CLASS 25
WAYNE MATLOCK, No. 1A (First in class. Matlock started and shared riding duties with Josh Caster and Wes Miller.) We’ve won four in a row now in Class 25. We got the class win today but we didn’t get the overall. We always come here to get the overall but we’ll take the class win. You can’t get them all. We’ve got to go win the 1000 overall.
Co-driver Josh Caster said: It was going good and at the bottom of the summit I had about a 10-minute lead on the next quad and broke an upper ball joint. I sat down at mile 20 for about 40 minutes until I could get the satellite phone out and I realized we had (a spare ball joint) in the front pack and got it put back together and got going again. I pushed all the way until we got back into the front. I think Wayne (Matlock) took the lead back coming up from Borrego to San Matias and then we got on and started pulling away from there.
CLASS 24
BRANDON BROWN, No. 100A (First in class and first overall ATV to finish. Brown shared riding duties with Jorie Williams, Kenny Sanford, Chris Kristensen and Ritchie Brown.) We kind of struggled through it all day. The locals dammed up one of the creeks out there and Jorie Williams, our starter, flooded the thing out. It has been popping and crackling all day long and it won’t run in the mid-range. It never would really clean out and it died about 10 times in the last five miles on me. Luckily, it was starting every time so everybody just gutted it out and took care of it. I can’t complain; if we didn’t screw it up somehow, this is our third in a row. I’m just stoked to be the first quad in. Every time we come down here the program is better, I manage better, they work better, the bike is built better and how that happens I just don’t know. They’re awesome. The thing is borderline bullet proof because it just ran for well over 400 miles borderline. I’m just stoked to persevere through another one. Hopefully we can come back and give them a run again.Post from: Baja Off-Road
Tecate SCORE Baja 500 2011 post-race quotesRelated posts:
- Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 2011 Bikes – ATV Pro Motorcycles 1. Colton Udall/Jeff Kargola, San Clemente, Calif., Honda...
- Jeff “Ox” Kargola: 1983-2011 At the 2005 Winter X Games FMX Best Trick, Jeff...
- THR Motorsports Kawasaki SCORE San Felipe 250 By combining youth and experience in race-winning riders Shane Esposito,...
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Jeff “Ox” Kargola: 1983-2011
Posted: Thu, 05 May 2011 21:14:03 +0000
At the 2005 Winter X Games FMX Best Trick, Jeff “Ox” Kargola pulled a huge one-handed, no-footed flip to one-handed, snowy landing. It seemed to be a winning trick, but then Ox’s “boss,” Metal Mulisha leader Brian Deegan threw the same trick. Deegan, who broke both wrists and his femur on the same jump just one year earlier, was the crowd favorite and the judges gave him the nod by just eight tenths of a point. But Ox was ecstatic with silver – certainly the highlight of his FMX career – and he followed his boss off the jumps one more time in an unauthorized, back-to-back backflip train, his mischievous, piercing eyes wrinkled with a huge grin as always.
Ox’s life was cut short this past week when he crashed in Mexico, during the Rip To The Tip event that was founded by his long time friend, Cameron Steele. The whole motorsports industry is now mourning the passing of this friendly and popular competitor.
This is a report by Tes Sewell, ESPN Action Sports editor. See the credits and link to the original post at the end of this post.
I don’t really remember exactly when I met Ox, but we were introduced by Cameron, sometime in the late ’90s. Steele was leader/father figure to a group of San Clemente, Calif. kids who he mentored via dirt biking. Everyone in the group had their own special nickname, though most of them gave the nicknames up once they became young adults. Ox’s name endured, because it became more of a mark of respect than a commentary on his size. At six foot two and two hundred plus pounds, he always stood out.Ox was a big kid. You could say he was chubby back in the day, and if he had lived in Texas then he most certainly would have had an excellent football career. He played football at school, but was always more at home on a dirt bike or a surfboard and so that is where he gravitated as time wore on.
While his silver medal at the Winter X Games was the highlight, it was by no means the only memorable moment in Ox’s FMX career. During the sport’s early days, only the elite riders garnered enough respect to create and then name a trick, and to this day a one-handed Hart attack with the free hand grabbing a boot is known as an “Oxecutioner.” He was a long time Metal Mulisha member and, when healthy, he usually earned himself an invite to the X Games and other big contests. He finished 2004 as the WFA Best Trick Champion.
Ox was just as comfortable in massive Hawaiian surf as he was with massive air on his dirt bike. And it’s possible that freestyle wasn’t even the motorsport discipline that he was best at. In recent years, he’d taken to off-road racing both bikes and trucks and the weeks prior to his death saw some of his best results on both. He won the San Felipe 250 for the second year in a row on his JCR Honda 450, alongside teammate Colton Udal. A week later, he won his first LOORS off-road race in his Superlite truck at Firebird Raceway in Phoenix. And he did all of that after a full slate of appearances riding on the Nuclear Cowboyz tour.
Metal Mulisha teammate and Nuclear Cowboyz roommate Derek Garland spent as much time with Ox in recent months as anyone.
“I thought I had a full-on job when I had to ride every weekend and then go home and deal with stuff there,” says Garland. “He would get off the tour and head down to Baja and ride a couple hundred miles every day, then come back and meet me at the airport for the next weekend. We would get to the hotel, hit the gym, then go out for dinner and drinks, get up in the morning and go to the gym, then ride practice. And he’d want to go to the gym again! The guy just never stopped.”
And he wasn’t even done. Ox recently purchased a trials bike and was planning to learn how to ride trials as a means of practicing for the new X Games discipline of Endurocross.
As I write this, Steele is leading a group of Ox’s friends, including surfing great Sunny Garcia, back down to Mexico to finish the Rip To The Tip in his honor. It’s a brave journey to make, as they’ve just returned to the U.S. to deal with the business of his passing. This is an example of the love and respect that so many people have for this iron man of action sports and a demonstration of how tight that band of brothers, from a small California surf town, really are.Credits: Tes Sewell ESPN Action Sports – Original post URL
Post from: Baja Off-Road
Jeff “Ox” Kargola: 1983-2011No related posts.
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THR Motorsports Kawasaki SCORE San Felipe 250
Posted: Sat, 12 Mar 2011 04:09:08 +0000
By combining youth and experience in race-winning riders Shane Esposito, Bobby Garrison and Steve Hengeveld along with a Kawasaki KX450F meticulously prepared by proven master tuner Bob Bell of Precision Concepts, the THR Motorsports Kawasaki Team promises to be at the front of the field in any event entered, starting with the Tecate/SCORE San Felipe 250. A Kawasaki R&D rider for years, Esposito has a long track record of desert wins on both sides of the border. Garrison is the youngest member of the team, but he’s also a proven winner, both in motocross and WORCS. Hengeveld is also no stranger to victory as a seven-time overall co-winner of the Baja 1000 as well as numerous other triumphs. As for the bike, the KX450F is solid and versatile, having racked up victories in the off-road arena as well as professional motocross and supercross for which it was originally conceived.
You’ll see the new THR Motorsports Kawasaki Team in action right away with a shake-down run by Esposito and Garrison at BITD’s GPR Stabilizers Laughlin U.S. Hare Scrambles outside of Laughlin, Nevada, on March 5. A week later, they’ll be joined by Hengeveld in Class 22 at San Felipe. San Felipe 250 info here. Baja 250 Race maps here and here
In addition to Precision Concepts, THR Motorsports Owners Scott Jacobsen and Rob Sims have chosen to partner with Corona Motorsports and Hoosier Precision Machining as primary backers of this team. There will also be several valued associate sponsors.THR Motorsports also supports several other teams in various Pro, Expert and Amateur classes in addition to sponsoring a Class 1 car and a Class 7200 truck. It’s backed internally by its Machining Services Division, a full-service machining company with more than 35 years of manufacturing experience.
Post from: Baja Off-Road
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BMW Motorrad by speedbrain
Posted: Fri, 28 Jan 2011 21:59:36 +0000
BMW Motorrad by speedbrain Dakar summary. Team BMW Motorrad by speedbrain have reached their first milestone in the young history of the squad. Following ten months of preparation, two of the team riders arrived at the finish of the Dakar 2011 in Buenos Aires. The individual results may not be satisfying, but the overall performance throughout the rally has everyone looking forward to the races ahead. The recent Dakar turned out to be an ill-fated affair for the young team. The first setback: rally ace David Fretigne crashed during a test race in October and couldn´t fully recover until the start of the Dakar. The south-american adventure had to take place without the Frenchman. The next low point came when Paulo Goncalves, who had just steered his BMW to a much-noticed stage win, had to retire with an injury. The same happened to Brazilian rider Ze Helio. Finally Frans Verhoeven was unlucky hitting a stone and damaging his engine case. The very fast and highly experienced Dutchman lost five hours, having to repair his bike.
Given all the drama, an end result of 15th for Verhoeven and 30th for Portuguese rider Pedro Bianchi Prata is a creditable achievement. Everyone who takes a closer look at the race statistics will notice that both team and bikes were fully competitive. It´s just that Lady Luck wasn´t kind to the Bavarian newcomers.
[See post to watch video]Verhoeven and Goncalves still recored one stage win each, plus three additional podium finishes. A speedbrain rider headed the provisional standings during five race days. Altogether team riders recorded 17 finishes inside the top ten. “That´s a solid foundation,” commented team principal Wolfgang Fischer. “The 14-men crew, coming from seven different nations – riders, mechanics, helpers – worked very well together. Everyone was fully concentrated on his job, there was a positive never-give-up attitude and a strong team spirit. We´re fully motivated and will keep working hard to achieve good results in this year´s FIM Rally World Championship.
“I´d like to thank all our sponsors and partners, first of all BMW and Monster Energy, for their vote of confidence and support. Our injured riders Paulo Goncalves, Ze Helio and David Fretigne are recovering well and will soon be ready to get on the gas again.”
Credits: BMW Motorrad by speedbrain
Post from: Baja Off-Road
BMW Motorrad by speedbrainNo related posts.
From La Paz at southern Baja California Sur - - How about some Eyecandies?? Grid Girl Gallery
Much more Off-Road news here:
Puro Off-Road Tube Video - Visit the Race the Desert Forum - Visit RedBull Action
Visit Puro Dakar Rally for Dakar Rally Raid News - All new Trophy Truck Racing
Search your Name or Brand at the new Google+ Pages - We are members at b.i.n.
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