This week Team Quad75Dezert leaves for Mexico to race the 2011 Baja 1000. This year’s race is about 700 miles, starting and ending in Ensenada, and comprised of most of the year’s San Felipe and Baja 500 courses. According to Score’s website, racers from more than 35 states and 15 countries have registered to participate in the oldest and most well-known desert race. Quad75Dezert will be running only 1 team for the Baja 1000, and were lucky enough to get the first starting position for Class 24. They are currently leading their class in points, and have won their class and the ATV overall at this year’s San Felipe 250 and Baja 500.
Brandon Brown, Kenny Sanford, Jorie Williams, Jamie Kirkpatrick, & Richie Brown will be racing on the S&S Motorsports prepped Honda 450R. ProCaliber.com was instrumental in getting a 2012 Honda and Kenny Sanford has worked hard in conjuction with Sean McHugh of TCS Motorsports to get the race bike ready. “At this point we have some small things left to do to the race bike. Adjust the lights, mount a few custom pieces, and double check everything,” Kenny said, “Right now we’re getting the pre-runners ready.” The Baja 1000 is tougher on everything from pre-runners, to riders, to chase vehicles, and logistics can become difficult as well. “I have a pretty good idea of what we’re going to do. It’s helpful having been down a few times before,” Brandon Brown explained, “and this year we have practically already raced the course. It will just be a matter of linking the two together and making sure that our riders’ fitness levels are up to speed and our chase drivers know where to be, what do to, and when to be there. I have a lot of confidence in our team because we are lucky to draw from a variety of different knowledgeable people. That’s one of our most valuable assets: the diversity of our support crew.”
The team will break into two pieces, one based in Ensenada and the other based in San Felipe for the majority of the week. They will pre-run until Tuesday, then spend Wednesday doing final preparation, riders and drivers meetings, and prepping the chase trucks with needed tools and supplies. Thursday, November 17th, is contingency and Friday the first bikes leave the line at 6am. Competitors have 32 hours to complete the race. There are six physical checkpoints where competitors must come to a stop and sixty-four virtual checkpoints where competitors must come within range of a small device. These checkpoints verify data gathered by IRC trackers on the race vehicles to make sure competitors are on the course. There is a total of almost 15 miles of non-consecutive pavement sections which are speed controlled – racers must not exceed 60 mph while on the pavement.
In addition to normal preparation, Quad75Dezert has made an effort to raise money for breast cancer research. In honor of the survivors the team has decided to put forth a fundraising effort on behalf of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Brandon Brown’s sister is a breast cancer survivor, currently recovering from a recent surgery. “It something that’s affected our team, not only myself and my sister, but friends and family of our riders and support crew. We feel like we should be doing something and the 1000 is a big race that people pay attention to. We’d like it if they could pay attention to this cause as well, and donate to support researching a cure,” Brandon explained. The team will be dedicating their 2012 season to raising money for cancer research, but you can contribute today by visiting this link: http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/quad75dezert/2011baja1000 Their goal is to raise $100 for every hour of the race.
“Each and every time we go out to race, we learn and progress a little more. This year’s San Felipe 250 and Baja 500 offered a lot of learned, especially because we had a 2nd team competing. It adds to the challenge and maybe next year we’ll have a 2nd team at the 1000, but I think we can take what we have learned this year, and what we have learned from years past, and have a really successful race. We are all really looking forward to making our hard work pay off, and having a great time racing in Mexico!” Brandon concluded. Quad75Dezert is chasing their 4th consecutive Class 24 & ATV Overall win, and their 2nd consecutive Class 24 championship.
Quad75Dezert would like to thank the following companies for their support: S&S Motorsports, Water Well Developing & Surveys, Fox Racing Shox, Maxxis, Klim, Teixeira Tech, HMF Racing, K&N Filters, HB Jaeger, CBR Performance, MotoXNutrition, UPP Racing, Fullbore Innovations, HiPer, Pro Armor, TCS Motorsports, Spider Grips, Warn Industries, QuadTech, Maxima, Precision Racing Products,Fusion Graphix, Powermadd, Asterisk, Wiseco, Sunstar, Scott USA, Rekluse, ProCaliber.com, Trail Tech, Hot Rod Fabrication, KBH Construction, Cycle Wash, We All Ride, Dune Tech Off-Road, PitTraffic.com, & Murray211