JCR Honda to leave Score Baja series

HEY NOW! We've got a great mob mentality going here and you are trying to spoil all the fun!

Pretty much JCR's fault for holding back all the good information, this is the interwebs after all, and we have the right to bash and speculate!

I apologize if I implied SoCal is the center of the Universe. It's not. But I can see how it might look that way this time of year. It's just the biggest sales area for offroad bikes so I am assuming it gets the most attention from manufacturers, like textbooks in Texas. And it is a bit in a world of its own because the SoCal season is winter which is generally opposite the rest of the country. Plus, because trees are illegal here the speeds are much faster. When I lived in NorCal I noticed that alot of guys rode their bikes to the place where they rode offroad.

Rallys are great fun and I know that firsthand. My point, again, is that Rallys are more like a game than like racing. There; that ought to set off the two Scotts on here selling their own rally's.

Personally I find motorcycle rallys to be more sophisticated then motocross or Supercross. And of course the Score races are a bit of their own design.

Look, I'm not a racer. I don't aspire to be one. And I certainly don't want to judge or offend anyone involved in any form of motorcycle racing.

I am merely a distant spectator. But for my personal tastes I enjoy viewing and following motorcycle rallys. I own and ride several rally style bikes, which I've done offroad for pleasure for over twenty years. I support the motorcycle industry from a consumer point of view and the minute an ambitious rally race promotor realizes the power of octo heli cams combined with Go Pros and the internet, that will have a huge stake in the direction of motorcycle sales, publicity and profitability. Motorcycle Rally racing isn't something that "might" become the next wave of popularity in the two wheeled industry... It's simply a matter of when, not if.

And oddly enough, whoever creates the best visual medium for distant spectators to follow it, get behind it and become fanatical about it... that entity will capitalize handsomely for it.

You want to know what makes the Dakar Rally so popular? It's a multi dimensional format. It's authentically glorified. And it's got future-thinking marketeers with an amazing visual capture and distribution plan. ( In my opinion what's missing with the Score races.)

So any ambitious rally promoters...simply take that plan and run with it guys.

We're looking for a rally enthusiast volunteer to do just that!

Combined motorcycle sales in the USA is something like 3% of total motorcycle sales for Honda. Off road bike sales in the USA is a fairly small portion of total USA sales. They make their money selling little bikes in places like India and Asia.

Have a look at the number of entries for GNCC compared to just about any other series in the U.S.

Wow, North Americans suck!

http://world.honda.com/news/2013/c130128Sales-Production-Result/index.html


Motorcycles >
Unit (thousands)
<TABLE class="hwwNewsTableEx hwwNewsTableLR hwwNewsTable2B hwwNewsTableSP mg5" summary=chart><TBODY><TR><TH class=line-top-rightBold rowSpan=2 colSpan=3> </TH><TH class="line-topright centerElement" width=111>2011
</TH><TH class="line-topright centerElement" colSpan=2>2012
</TH></TR><TR><TH class="line-topright centerElement">Jan.-Dec.
Result</TH><TH class="line-top-rightDot centerElement" width=104>Jan.-Dec.
Result</TH><TH class="line-topright centerElement" width=107>% Change</TH></TR><TR><TH class="line-toprightBold sr" colSpan=3>Global Sales</TH><TD class=line-topBold-right>16,301</TD><TD class=line-topBold-rightDot>15,464</TD><TD class=line-topBold-right>95%</TD></TR><TR><TH class=line-right width=18> </TH><TH class=line-top-rightBold colSpan=2>Japan</TH><TD class=line-topright>219</TD><TD class=line-top-rightDot>221</TD><TD class=line-topright>101%</TD></TR><TR><TH class=line-right width=18> </TH><TH class=line-top-rightBold colSpan=2>Overseas</TH><TD class=line-topright>16,081</TD><TD class=line-top-rightDot>15,242</TD><TD class=line-topright>95%</TD></TR><TR><TH class=line-right width=18> </TH><TH class=line-right width=18> </TH><TH class=line-top-rightBold width=192>North America</TH><TD class=line-topright>211</TD><TD class=line-top-rightDot>264</TD><TD class=line-topright>125%</TD></TR><TR><TH class=line-right width=18> </TH><TH class=line-right width=18> </TH><TH class=line-top-rightBold>South America</TH><TD class=line-topright>1,924*</TD><TD class=line-top-rightDot>1,652</TD><TD class=line-topright>86%</TD></TR><TR><TH class=line-right width=18> </TH><TH class=line-right width=18> </TH><TH class=line-top-rightBold>Europe, CIS, the Middle & Near East and Africa</TH><TD class=line-topright>275</TD><TD class=line-top-rightDot>335</TD><TD class=line-topright>122%</TD></TR><TR><TH class=line-right width=18> </TH><TH class=line-right width=18> </TH><TH class=line-top-rightBold>Asia and Oceania</TH><TD class=line-topright>12,364</TD><TD class=line-top-rightDot>11,704</TD><TD class=line-topright>95%</TD></TR><TR><TH class=line-right width=18> </TH><TH class=line-right width=18> </TH><TH class=line-top-rightBold>China</TH><TD class=line-topright>1,306</TD><TD class=line-top-rightDot>1,286</TD><TD class=line-topright>98%</TD></TR><TR><TH class="line-top-rightBold sr" colSpan=3>Global Production</TH><TD class=line-topright>16,759</TD><TD class=line-top-rightDot>15,912</TD><TD class=line-topright>95%</TD></TR><TR><TH class=line-right width=18> </TH><TH class=line-top-rightBold colSpan=2>Japan</TH><TD class=line-topright>190</TD><TD class=line-top-rightDot>184</TD><TD class=line-topright>97%</TD></TR><TR><TH class=line-right width=18> </TH><TH class=line-top-rightBold colSpan=2>Overseas</TH><TD class=line-topright>16,569</TD><TD class=line-top-rightDot>15,728</TD><TD class=line-topright>95%</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Well, that explains why they don't do much updating of their bikes....

Hard to beleive they even bother with a gold wing

I get that but not many pro's racing at the top was my point. either way i think its great for the sport

I see DesertSurfer's point and agree.

On to my opinion about Breauxman's latest BS.
I think this has been thoroughly addressed by Dean Potts on Facebook when he dressed down Breauxman for one of his many insipid serf-serving posts about how stupid North Americans are related to Europeans. Shocker I know that a wannabe rally owner would be dissing Score and every other race here in the USA while promoting his own cute rally product and trying to win sponsorship. Just shocking.

But as Dean said, Dakar is really a French reality TV show that is all commercial product full of politics for like four hours a night. It's a very hard event but it ain't the 1000. I think Dean said he worked with KTM when Cyril Dupres came over to the 1000 and Dupres wondered why the 1000 race course had so many bumps.

In any case, when it comes to which race is tougher and I have the option of taking the word of a guy like Breauxman who once rode in a media van during Dakar and has a $hitty reputation, or guys like Tim Morton and Dean Potts who are at the core of offroad racing and extremely well respected, I reckon I'll take the word of real racers who've earned their considerable integrity instead of wannabes and a guy who uses the death of a famous racer for his own personal gain...

Holy smack down:eek1
lets see were this goes

And now that Honda pulled out of Baja it will go down to 1.5% in the US. 1.49999999% of those will be bought by the hard core So Cal Score racers. (nobody get bent out of shape it's a joke)

Wow! You gotta be kidding me...North America is HONDA's smallest export market?

Really you cant be suprised by this.... Honda Dumped the US Market Long Ago. they gave up on us when they quit importing the African Twin and Transalps and only bothered to give us what was selling at that time! Now the market is starting to open for Rally Style bikes and Honda will jump back on the band wagon.. Look at the NX700 they are tying to tap into the "Adventure" market that tags right along with Rally!

JCR and Honda need to get out there and spread RED! Thats the only way sales of Honda machines are ever going to get ahead of the competition. Here on the East Coast go to any Enduro or Hare Scramble. KTM's have taken over the marketplace. If Honda continues to build a CRF450R for"Off Road Racing" market or the GNCC circuit or even the Rally /Adventure Market it will enevitably be something that will sell in todays US Market.. But how may units will they sell..thats the Ultimate Question? Will it be enough for Honda to want to continue supplying the US or will it be just like the Late 80's when they introduced Bikes and didnt sell well and then pulled the plug on the US sales!!!

KTM Sucks.

got it ... and I have to say.. Pretty quick to it also.

Guess there's NOT alot of Love Loss between you two fellas!, I have to say.. pretty entertaining to the rest of us. Good thing most of us are a bunch of opinionated FF.. also. Keep up the good work!!

Riders buying their own motorcycles is the best place to put contingency money.

^agreed. I'd like to see them increase their presence in Rally/Adv./DualSport riding.... IMHO. Why not all of off road? enduro and hare scramble. give KTM some competition. Nothing against KTM but they own all of off road.

Honda OWNED GNCC for Years ( Scott Summers ) Raced a XR 600

Wish I had charged for every ktm I've towed back to the trucks