Radek solo 2012 Baja 1000 on 990R

[rburkat]

So earlier this year my buddy and I pre rode the 1000 on our 990s and as it turns out ended up racing a local off road race in Cabo. This is a bit of a story that made me realize that I should probably try the 1000 on my 990.

I loaded up my bike in Vancouver, drove to the bay area where I picked up my buddy andrew and we drove to San Felipe


We dropped the truck off in Kiki's in San Felipe and just ran with Giant Loop bags to be light enough to have some fun on the bikes.


The bikes were great on the hardpack and even in the softer stuff we got used to riding all loose. Stopped in at cocos as usual for some beers and then proceeded to do Calamuje wash to Bay of LA. The wash was no walk in the park to do it with super explorer rear tires and at night, but we had a good buzz on from cocos so it was a good time.

We partied with some dudes that night in Bay of LA and next morning realized it was Larry Rossler, Tim Herbst, and the go baja riding tour guides taking these rockstars on a trip. We ended up tagging along and riding with them for 2 days. They knew all the cool spots one of which was a 20 miles beach run out of Scorpion Bay that was a highlight.


Hanging with Larry Rossler


On the way from Scorpion Bay to Loreto we hit some mud and shortly after I hear something dragging. I stop and look and I see this.


Andrew pulls up and starts to give me shit for being a loser for hitting something and ripping my fender off. I look at his bike and say - dude, you dont even HAVE yours anymore! ( his got ripped off and he didnt even know it )


So within a mile of this mud we both lost our fenders.


When we got to Cabo a local informed us that there was an off road race the next day and that we should come and "watch". We went to the staging area the night before and convinced the guys to let us race in the open moto class on our 990s. They were really hesitant to let us race on the big bikes but just told us to get out of the way of the little bikes when they pass us. They didn't expect us to finish or do very well. We were a little worried too because we were only running a tkc80 front and super explorer rear and had no idea what the course would have in store. The party before the race was great and we felt like rock stars when we got called up for inspection. ( check out the inspectors! )


The race was the Tornel 300 a 300km race. We had no pits but figured that if we filled all our tanks including the advtank we would have enough range to rock the race non stop. The other issue was that we didnt have camel backs so I ended up racing with just a little water bottle strapped to my rack.


We shedded the giant loop bags with the race organizers at the start line and started the race in the morning.

( Notice the lack of low or high fender! We started in San Felipe with low fenders but both of ours got ripped off in a muddy section near Loreto )

The course went up north to todos santos, then across the pass to san jose del cabo and then through the washes back to cabo. It was pretty cool as it had bikes, quads, trucks, etc.... like a mini baja race.

I ended up missing a turn and got lost and as I finally got some directions I ripped back to the missed turn and around a corner I almost had a head on with my buddy who also missed the turn. We got on track and never got passed by bikes but I did get passed by a couple of quads though...I just could not keep up to them on the descending turns down the pass to del cabo.
I was on fuel reserve for a while and I dialed it back a bit and kept thinking that I should stop by some spectators to get some gas. As I passed some spectators on the side of the course, I second guessed myself on corner to stop, and I had a bit of a crash that made the locals cheer. I picked my self up quickly and kept going.
Crossed the finish line and was surprised to know that I won our class and only one other bike came ahead of us by 10 minutes ( passed us when we go lost ). Andrew came in second and he did stop to poach some gas.
We beat like 20 other bike so I think the talent pool was not that good, but it made us realize that the 990 is not bad for open racing like that. I finished in under 4 hours ( which made the average above 50 mph) and riders were still finishing an hour or 2 after us. The most important thing i noticed was that these guys on the 450s and 650s were coming across really bagged and I can tell you that I felt like I just did a leisurely ride and could have done another loops easily.


So yeah, that was my first taste of racing the 990, and although it was a very short race, it made me think that the 990 just might be able to run the 1000. It's a testament to the bike though - run 1200 miles down, do a race, run 1200 miles back up...no oil changes, issues or problems.

[Baja Dad]

You will have a Blast !!

[CrashDBad]

I've been thinking of doing the mexican 1k next year on my SE. Let me know if you want some company pre-running,as there's a crew of us from AZ with big KTMs that ride Baja. If you decide against ironmanning it, say the word if you are looking for co-riders.

Rick

[bajaboundmoto]

What a rad story of arriving in Cabo and doing their little race. Super cool.

You will have a great time on this 1000 course on your big bike. Other than the whoops by Felipe that BajaDad mentioned and the 30mi of whoops near Constitucion your bike will work fine.
I've raced a 1200 HP2 to La Paz a couple times ('04/'06 with good results) and I was pretty much a newb to giant bikes. I'm also about the same size as Larry so judging by the pic of you guys towering over him you guys are fit to those bikes just fine.
Silt? No worries, just go around it (no matter what you're riding).

[BigWan]

Oh, damn you Radek!

TRAINING

[ecarnell]

Awesome ! Looking forward to the report. Best of luck!

[B1KSOLO]

What a great story, were you down there end of Jan.? I think we passed each other. keep us informed on you race info
good luck

[El Cucuy]

Two questions:

1) Who did your killer numbers/backgrounds?

2) Who do we call to set up an inspection such as this one when we get into town?


Killer story man and good luck at the 1000!

[rburkat]

Originally Posted by CrashDBad

I've been thinking of doing the mexican 1k next year on my SE. Let me know if you want some company pre-running,as there's a crew of us from AZ with big KTMs that ride Baja. If you decide against ironmanning it, say the word if you are looking for co-riders.
Rick

Would be great to preride with you. I'm thinking of heading to san felipe around oct 23rd and just staging out of there till the race. Probably head to La Paz at some point and try to ride a few days down there too.

Originally Posted by BigWan

Oh, damn you Radek!
TRAINING

Hey Matt, hope your almost home. Sorry for ruining the WABDR for you :)

Originally Posted by B1KSOLO

What a great story, were you down there end of Jan.? I think we passed each other. keep us informed on you race info
good luck

We started on Feb 6th and did about a week down there. Were you stopped with another guy on the hwy at the turn off to Bay of LA?

[pilo]

Stoked for you. I think you'll kill it given the previous experiences. The loop would be a bear on the bike bike with SF but the run should be fun. Watch out for front flats, that would be my only concern at some of the speeds you'll run. I'd also cut down the screen just to keep it out of the way.

If you sell t-shirts, put me on the list...

[ColoSean]

Enjoyed the documentary! Sounds like a heck of an adventure. Good luck with the 990. That's going to be one loooooong workout in the sand wrestling that beast!

Give'm hell!

[frog]

Awesome.

There will be times that you curse yourself for riding a big bike and others where you cant stop laughing because its sooooo much fun.

Strip as much stuff as you can off it and like pilo said get rid of the windscreen. Otherwise it will end up smacking you in the nose.

What are you going to do about lights?

[Baja Dad]

Originally Posted by frog

Awesome.

There will be times that you curse yourself for riding a big bike and others where you cant stop laughing because its sooooo much fun.

Strip as much stuff as you can off it and like pilo said get rid of the windscreen. Otherwise it will end up smacking you in the nose.

What are you going to do about lights?

Get a rally Raid short wind screen
also install 2 HID bulbs in you head light .
That all you will need to do.

[rburkat]

I just ordered 2 sets of 35W and 2 sets of 55W HIDs to go in my euro light. I also ordered 3 different bulb temperatures 3500K ,5000K, and 6000K for them so I can test. From my 8 hour night ride on the last race I remember being really pissed off that my helmet lights were very blue and my bike baja designs 8" HID was more yellow, which made my eyes have to readjust constantly as I rode, depending which light i looked at. It was really fatiguing. So this year I want to make sure that all my lights are the same color/temperature.

I'm still not sure what I will run for helmet mount. I had niterider last time, but I dont think they make the moto light anymore.

I tried to mout the bd 8" light rack on the 990 but it would take a bunch custom work to move the ECU, and then it won't look much like a 990 ( might as well have a SE then ).

I also picked up some Rigid D2's form BDCW but I have not tried them yet. I won't be running crash bars and I have a high fender so I'm not sure how I'll mout them yet.

Ideally I'm thinking this...
1. euro head light with 2x 55w HID
2. some sort of head hid/led light
3. some additional lights that I can add on for the night section - either some D2s or similar or maybe one of those light strips. Perhaps this http://www.bajadesigns.com/ProductDe...Xpg-10-Led-Bar

[Baja Dad]

Originally Posted by rburkat

I just ordered 2 sets of 35W and 2 sets of 55W HIDs to go in my euro light. I also ordered 3 different bulb temperatures 3500K ,5000K, and 6000K for them so I can test. From my 8 hour night ride on the last race I remember being really pissed off that my helmet lights were very blue and my bike baja designs 8" HID was more yellow, which made my eyes have to readjust constantly as I rode, depending which light i looked at. It was really fatiguing. So this year I want to make sure that all my lights are the same color/temperature.

I'm still not sure what I will run for helmet mount. I had niterider last time, but I dont think they make the moto light anymore.

I tried to mout the bd 8" light rack on the 990 but it would take a bunch custom work to move the ECU, and then it won't look much like a 990 ( might as well have a SE then ).

I also picked up some Rigid D2's form BDCW but I have not tried them yet. I won't be running crash bars and I have a high fender so I'm not sure how I'll mout them yet.

Ideally I'm thinking this...
1. euro head light with 2x 55w HID
2. some sort of head hid/led light
3. some additional lights that I can add on for the night section - either some D2s or similar or maybe one of those light strips. Perhaps this http://www.bajadesigns.com/ProductDe...Xpg-10-Led-Bar

Pass on the helmet light. ( in 25 years of racing in Baja I have never used one)
They seem to be more of a pain in the A$$ and WHEN you crash at night you just threw money away!!
Give me a PM I can help you set the 990 up.
I put in many miles in mexico on my 950 in the past.