Administrators Eric Hall Posted October 15, 2016 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted October 15, 2016 Final stage just about done here. On our way back to Ensenada. We got more great shots and video. Ate or drank something strange last night and was fertilizing the course most of the day Here's a great shot of the crew this morning in front of Casey's HP2. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GB. Posted October 15, 2016 My Rides (2) Report Share Posted October 15, 2016 Caseys HP2 is sex on wheels 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted October 15, 2016 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted October 15, 2016 Casey just got into the Hotel San Nicolas. I handed him a 24oz Tecate 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motochefarwi Posted October 16, 2016 My Rides (2) Report Share Posted October 16, 2016 There is a video dropping later this morning from the Baja Rally Facebook page that is kind of a daily summary for yesterday. Also, live streaming as well as racer tracking is over at bajarallymoto.com So who are your favorites? Lawrence Hacking - CRF1000L Keith Billings - 990R Casey Hilliard - HP2 Brian Englund - 950SE I'd probably say Casey, Lawrence, Brian, Keith but we shall see! Cool man! Wish I was there! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted October 16, 2016 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted October 16, 2016 Home finally after a three hour delay at the border last night. Got into Robbie's in-laws' house in Cardiff at 3:30 am and crashed for like 5 hours. The official results are: First place: Lawrence Hacking (CRF1000L) Second place: Keith Billings (990R) Third place: Casey Hilliard (HP2) I think everyone agrees Casey would have taken it if not for his series of flats on day 3. TONS of photos, video and stories still to come! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted October 17, 2016 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted October 17, 2016 You may have thought the BAJA RALLY™ was over but the truth is that it's only begun to have its story told and I'm happy to be the one to do that with an XLADV-exclusive series that will give you behind-the-scenes glances, rider interviews, bike porn as well as big bikes racing. Let me kick that off here with a brief walk around of Lawrence Hacking's CRF1000L. It's bone stock save for a skid plate (AltRider), crash bars (Outback Motortek) and a custom seat from Noguchi King of Seat. He ran a Michelin T63 up front (bib mousse) and an Anlas CapraX on the rear (tubeless; bib mousse). Behold all its goodness... Lawrence does have some custom forks and shocks from Konflict Suspension but the carrier (Purolator) misplaced the shipment and it didn't arrive in time Next up is an interview pre-rally with Lawrence. If you're not familiar with his racing resume then let your fingers do the Googling. He's raced in Dakar, knows what he's doing and is the ultimate gentleman. He also does an event called the Overland Adventure Rally. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted October 17, 2016 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted October 17, 2016 Next up is a series of short pre-rally interviews with the big bike riders (except for Keith Billings and Chris Ambrosio). First is Lawrence Hacking. What I failed to play up with this interview is that Lawrence is the one who made the ADV class happen at Baja Rally this year. Next is Brian Englund. Brian is riding a KTM 950SE and hails from Washington. Brian and I have ridden the LAB2V together last year and the previous year he stayed at my house prior to the LAB2V and I was his "eye in the sky" guiding the sweep crew to his rescue after some mechanical issues had him stuck out on the course (but that's another story). With regard to the tube/mousse issue he brings up, I think Casey probably regrets not running a mousse in the rear given his multiple flats on day 3 that gave him a DNF and cost him first place. As to the abbreviated course issue, because these guys did such a great job on the prologue stage the race organizers decided not to abbreviate it for the big bikes. This is an interesting issue I'll come back to later when I show you the post-race interviews. Casey had a great showing despite some issues with flats. He's a fantastic rider and a good guy. I interview Keith Billings and Chris Ambrosio later in the rally so stay tuned... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allrpm Posted October 17, 2016 Report Share Posted October 17, 2016 Goes to show that those "OLD" 990's and HP2's are still a force to be reckoned with and are extremely capable machines! Great work done by these folks to muscle those bad boys around on a big run like the BAJA!! RPM 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted October 17, 2016 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted October 17, 2016 Turns out I did have a pre-race interview with Keith Billings after all. What amazes me is that his bike is just about as stock as they come. Factory suspension. No frills at all and he did a great job keeping pace with Lawrence Hacking. You'll see in a later interview he talks about a change of tires and how he feels about the bigger rally experience. Keep in mind this issue about an abbreviated course for the big bikes became moot after it was seen that they could keep up. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted October 17, 2016 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted October 17, 2016 Made the recap at 0:13 that's me in the bushes https://www.facebook.com/BajaRally/videos/556637001192475/ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted October 17, 2016 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted October 17, 2016 Some favorite photos... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted October 17, 2016 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted October 17, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason R Posted October 18, 2016 My Ride Report Share Posted October 18, 2016 Eric, no ride report on your Africa Twin test ride? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted October 18, 2016 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted October 18, 2016 Eric, no ride report on your Africa Twin test ride?Patience! I have a helmet cam video of it I will post later. It's quite nice 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motochefarwi Posted October 18, 2016 My Rides (2) Report Share Posted October 18, 2016 (edited) Great interviews XLADV! Interesting question about the abbreviated course. I Dig Brian's comment about "Something I paid for 9 months ago" and he wants to ride the whole course! Well of course he does. It all comes back to "size matters" I guess? To some? I guess safety is a big concern for everyone and putting up an event like the Baja Rally has a ton of logistics. It is the famous Baja Rally! I hope to get down there some day and experience more of this first hand. Hats off to all the big bikes and riders. Thanks for the coverage and representing! Edited October 18, 2016 by motochefarwi 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted October 18, 2016 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted October 18, 2016 Great interviews XLADV! Interesting question about the abbreviated course. I Dig Brian's comment about "Something I paid for 9 months ago" and he wants to ride the whole course! Well of course he does. It all comes back to "size matters" I guess? To some? I guess safety is a big concern for everyone and putting up an event like the Baja Rally has a ton of logistics. It is the famous Baja Rally! I hope to get down there some day and experience more of this first hand. Hats off to all the big bikes and riders. Thanks for the coverage and representing! Thanks, Arwi! It sure was a lot of fun. You'll see in subsequent interviews that perhaps their minds were changed about doing the full course in some cases. They may change their mind as time goes by but we'll see. More to come! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted October 18, 2016 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted October 18, 2016 Next up is a test ride Lawrence Hacking was so generous to offer me of his Honda Africa Twin! It wasn't any fast cornering, touring or dirt but it does represent the type of test ride you're likely to get at any dealer (if they even let you ride one). I also talk a bit about the Baja Rally experience for the big bikes. I'll say this again, it's Lawrence's leadership that made the adv class happen this year. We should all be grateful for that. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted October 18, 2016 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted October 18, 2016 Next up are two interviews at the end of day 3 with Lawrence Hacking and Brian Englund. Lawrence lets us know that this is no cakewalk and he's "had to use every trick in the book" to keep the bike going given the difficult conditions. Interesting that he's actually running stock suspension because the carrier lost his custom suspension in transit. Brian had an unfortunate off and busted his collar bone in two places but seemed to be in good spirits. "Pain's life!" 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted October 18, 2016 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted October 18, 2016 Not big bike related, but this guy Garrett Poucher came out of nowhere to win the prologue on day one. Here he is early in day 2 in the lead but sadly had an off and injured his wrist, taking him out of the race. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted October 18, 2016 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted October 18, 2016 Okay so a bit out of order here but I just noticed I had these interviews from the first day of prologue for Brian... And Keith... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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