JCR Honda to leave Score Baja series

INS cost is what is killing the sport
Score dropped it INS from $50.000 to $10.000 per insentient
a bird ride from San Felipe to San Diego cost about $20.000

Trust me !! I was flown out a few years back !!!


Honda Pits are by FAR better then Mag 7 and Baja pits ( that's why you see more Hondas racing in Baja then any other brand )
I think JCR will do a GNCC rider and a few special events

Thank you American Honda and JCR and for ALL you Support over the years


RID RED !!!!!!

Bulls eye on your post, small guys will be hurt, but perhaps that will level the playing field for who's left... the small guys

In all probability Honda had nothing more to prove and pulled their financing - what was their return for racing an 8 year old bike selling leftovers? Kawasaki pulled their plug years ago after being highly successful, even against Honda's high dollar efforts, which left Honda without any real competition so wins were easy without comparably financed programs. KTM has stepped up this year and may have their day in the sun , perhaps they will have the small guys represent the brand..

With dismal new motorcycle sales and tight budgets, cost cutting will likely continue to happen in many areas.

Colton Haaker will probably still be racing EX on a 450 unless that gets cut too.

He was the first guy let go!

so Much Class!!! you will be deeply missed.

Hilltoppers kick ass

Big question: Who gets 1x plate and where does it go.
Kamo's Out
Colton going out on his own
What about Weigand???
So will it be like 2009 season when Robby Bell hung the plate (euphemism) on his mantle for a few races and stayed home.

From what I have gathered, unless Tim Weigand enters San Felipe 250, there will be no 1x at the start line. (Weigand could always transfer it to another rider who rode at least 2 of the 3 2013 races (Colton or Kamo)

My take on this is that it is a heavy blow to desert racing in BAJA. Things just won't be the same without HONDA there...

Most all of my money bets against KTM Returning (EURO denominated currency or North American KTM $'s) There's absolutely NOTHING to gain and so much to lose.

Just got off the phone with THR KAWI's Scott Jacobson (Team owner) and asked him if he wanted to comment on the rumors about THR pulling out of BAJA as well:
"Right now we haven't decided. We're talking to Monster (main sponsor) and they might be waiting to see what happens with KTM. I don't think JCR's decision with sway them either way but if there's no competition down there whats the point. It'll be later this month before they (Monster) will decide because they obviously have a lot of stuff going on. Its basically their decision and if they want us to race BAJA we will."

Henge is driving the THR buggy in BITD
and Bob and Robby Bell are kinda burnt out on SCORE Baja...

I personally feel mixed, but mostly sad because I may be out of a job come race day (not that I get paid). Its a big tradition in BAJA and the bikes started the entire show. Now it seems like bikes are just the evil stepchild seated at the small table during thanksgiving...I honor tradition and all that but I am not a big fan a trucks and buggies when they share an event like this with bikes. (as in: Suck it Butch Jenson)

Heres a scenario: If you threw a molotov cocktail into McMillion Racing's pits, the entire McMillan team would come after you with crowbars (While the Herbst and Riviera teams watched on). If you threw that same molotov cocktail at a bike racer's pits, the entire bike community would come after you with all guns out.

My point is: Bikes need their own event and when they do, they really will get more attention and the money may follow. But when you mix bikes and trucks (like SCORE) and then ESPN airs coverage of the BAJA 1000 after christmas, Bike sponsors get ZERO love. Make it about bikes only and they will come.

Venga te

Strong Bad called it a year ago of the "The Bikes are Fucked" it looks like that quote is becoming true

That was evident during the airing of the race after Xmas. About a 5 sec
mention of the bikes and the KC tragedy! It sucked ass.

The TRUTH HURTS !!!!!!


Roger Norman HATES the bikes.


heard in the wind that the Hefei's in Baja Don't like Roger
and his contracts with San Felipe and Ensenada have Expired
anybody have any hard info????

JCR / American Honda to DAKAR ?

San Flippy is governed by Ensenada. Not an Ejido but more like a county like government. Apparently there is more of a problem with Oscar than Roger and a local newpaper is on the rampage against Oscar.

Ha. I really should stop posting in the racing forum.

Thanks for straightening me out.

Actually, SF is part of Mexicali...
And stop spreading smack about Oscar. Chilango attorney's are cool man.

I'm thinking a three or four bike team to Rally on HRC bikes

You are right, my bad. I thought Mexicali stopped up by Hwy 3 but apparently it stops down around the SF airport. Ensenada wraps around San Flippy and goes south all the way to BCS. I'm ah huge fan of Oscar Ramos, but apparently not everyone is.

Any team that wants to continue will need to buy insurance. Can you imagine that conversation with a broker? And that bird ride is relatively cheap!

Dean has also said he is out since Honda isn't there to beat. Caselli's death surely has something to do with Dean's decision and SCORE's decision also.

That leaves the SoCal offroad racing community (the largest in the world) without a real race in Baja (spare me the drivel about the Baja Rally as rally style events have been tried in Baja and the US with cars and for bikes and they never work and younger generations are moving away from burning fossils for fun - those are the facts.) I don't hear anyone talking about doing a rally instead of the 1000. Perhaps that will change. I'd like to see more rally's (I've done a few and they were fun) and more interest in that here in the USA but I don't see any facts or trends to suggest that is more than my wish. And the rally style is really 180 different from the racing that has historically been done in SoCal; fastest anywhere, few rules, little structure, aimed at working class people and machines. There are plenty of competent guys on here with well equipped rally style bikes but are they gonna risk totaling that in Mexico for a rally story? Yes, I know this is a negative view about the Baja Rally and anytime anything negative is posted those involved with the Baja Rally come out and flame away so pile on you two...


After the debacle that was Caselli's death many of the old timers were talking about how the race had outgrown the location and the course and I think that has been under-mentioned in all this. Norman has been pretty upfront about turning SCORE into an F1 style Trophy Truck race sans the annoying stuff Sal liked to do, like make it about the racers.

And the loss of Honda pits is a huge blow. Baja Pits is the completely incompetent (though the guys in the actual pits are pretty good guys trying the best they can) and they are constantly screwing up everything including their promised locations.

Perhaps the races go back to privateer efforts. I don't see that happening because the costs and the insurance and the population growth and development in Baja.

I don't see JCR as a good fit for Honda's Dakar effort for alot of reasons. And American Honda has been pulling money out of JCR since it started but Johnny always comes up with a way to do it because he is a winner and winners find a way. Like getting the Rockstar sponsorship in Baja and charging for Honda Pits and so forth. I just don't think the SCORE series sold many bikes. I mean, look at the XR650R. That is the lesson for Honda. They built the only purpose driven SoCal/Baja/Nevada desert racing bike ever and sales were dreadful despite huge penetration with their marketing message about the King of Baja or whatever. Half were sold into the SoCal area. Many/most dealers outside SoCal traded theirs (Ogilvie made every dealer take one XR650R) for something they could sell. So what is the lesson there for Honda management who, I assume, are judged on motorcycle sales? And how is winning any rally on a derivative of their 10 year old SX/MX 450 gonna help Honda sell their adventure bike in the USA? I don't see many scenarios where any of this is worth Honda's time and that is made more obvious because Kawi has pulled out of nearly all support for offroad and they are now #1 in motorcycle sales. KTM has used their smallness to go after niche markets and is now #1 in offroad bikes (not sure about any profitability there for them) but companies the size of Honda cannot act like niche bike manufacturers and win; the bigger a company is the higher the bar on what is worth their time. Moreso when a billion Chinese and another billion Indians want pizza bikes.

And I think Honda is behind the ball with offroad racing in the west in general. KTM has Blaise, Kawi has Precision Concepts, Husky has Ty, but Honda has been pretty focused on SCORE so a refocus on the US West will be a real effort. They could start a program of developing Honda's Adventure 700 into a rally winner but who would pay for all that development?

My advice is that if you want this test then do the V2R because once Casey is gone the BLM will close that race for good.

And now the official reason.

New challenges? Just when they started to get seriously challenged in Baja they leave? More to it than that. That is simple bull shit PR.

I heard that there is a new top guy at Honda and he has "shaken the tree". I'm thinking the real story is that the budget was cut and GNCC can be done for what they have been given to work with and Baja can't.

The XR650R came way to soon for the US market. Today people buy them up right and left as mid level light adventure bikes. I know 3 guys who picked up plated ones in the last 2 years and they are great dependable bikes with good power for that. Unfortunately Adventure riding was not as big as it is now.