Follow along as we share coverage from our friends WestX1000 from the Baja Rally 2022.

Begin Press Release: 

 Rocking and Rolling 

Enduro Veterans Move Up The Rankings 

Key points: After Stage Four of the Baja Rally, 27 of the 30 entrants are still in the game – even though two of them had to replace their bikes. Nick and Alec Brawner and Paul Neff continue dominating the stages, while Nick Brawner remains the overall leader. 

Portrait of the Stage. The route of the Special Stage Four was only 70 miles, but these were the hard miles. The day started with the fast tracks, but then followed with the crazy uphill climbs with parallel and perpendicular ruts of all types, each seasoned with a diverse smattering of stones. Who loves enduro? 

They Do It Again. The brothers from Kansas, Nick and Alec Brawner, keep rocking it – literally. Today they’ve repeated their first-day combination finish – #44 Nick on the top of the podium and #43 Alec just below with #10 Paul Neff landing on third step. The difference between them is merely minutes, but in the overall classification, Nick Brawner remains an indisputable leader. However, there are still two stages to go, and we all know that in rallies things can change fast. In the General classification, Nick Brawner continues building on his half-hour gap, and Paul Neff has put another half an hour gap between him and P3. The spaces between the remaining top five riders – #3 Johnson, #1 Pearson, and #30 Palandrani – become tighter, as only eight and four minutes separates them from each other. 

There are changes, however, in the International Rally 1 category. The leader of the previous several stages, Benjamin Meyers, received a big penalty and went down the ranks, giving way to the new frontrunner, Canadian enduro rider and Husqvarna Ambassador, #56 Rome Haloftis. Haloftis admits he normally doesn’t go fast, but today was his day. In his group, he is followed by South African racer and rally route builder, Willem Avenant. 

“We were warned about the difficult rocky section coming up, and I was thinking – oh, that sounds good. That’s my thing! I had that in mind from the start and pushed a bit at the faster sections as well to make a good day overall. Technical stuff at the end of the section was gnarly. Any enduro rider would love the route today. I got stuck once in a narrow bottomless rut, but that took only two minutes to take the bike out. I felt at home – completely at home.” – Rome Haloftis

“Rocky, rocky, and more rocky. We started this morning in the fog – again. Then we dropped down into a valley and started climbing. It was super rocky and with unexpected ruts. You go fast, and all of a sudden, the road is just gone. Pretty much everybody had some sort of crash today. Everyone made it back, so it’s good. It was a tough day but nice and short. Navigation in the end was good, lots of people became lost. I had one crash, but both the bike and I are okay.” – Willem Avenant, Freedom Rally Team

Rookies continue misbehaving, and overtaking Pros: five of the Top 10 in today’s results were posted by the participants of the Rookie class. It was also a good day for the only ADV participant #41 Brett Fox, who finally had no mechanical problems to endure and finished 13th Overall on his Triumph Tiger 900cc. 

Story of the Day. Dakar finisher and Rally Comp developer #3 Mike Johnson was showing pro-league results so far, taking 3rd overall all week. But today after an unfortunate crash right before the finish line, he broke his finger, which looked really bad. Mike still intends to continue the race, and such trifles as a plaster on his left hand will not stop him. 

As long as I can hang onto the bars, I should be good. Everyone gets their bumps and bruises, but this will be my first time riding with a fracture. If Im able to start in the morning, I will try. I had a dislocated shoulder two weeks before I went to the Africa Eco race, I had a brace and was running with that. I’ve done every Baja Rally, except for the year when I introduced RallyComp here. I just love racing rallies.” – Mike Johnson 

We’ll continue following up with daily updates and more stories from the one and only premiere Rally Raid on Baja peninsula. You can also check @bajarally Instagram account for behind-the-scenes footage. 

The post Baja Rally 2022: Day 4, Special Stage 4 appeared first on Motorcycle.com News.

Follow along as we share coverage from our friends WestX1000 from the Baja Rally 2022.

Begin Press Release: 

 Can’t Stop Won’t Stop 

Riders Keep Overcoming these Mechanical Issues 

Key points: Rider #43 Alec Brawner is back to the race on a rental bike, while #10 Paul Neff is sandwiched between the Brawner brothers on the stage podium. The third marathon stage of the Baja Rally is also a rare day, when everyone made it through the whole Special without becoming lost, injured or stuck with a mechanical problem. 

Portrait of the Stage. What was supposed to be the longest and most challenging stage of the race, the Marathon Stage was most affected by recent Hurricane Kay. The organizers had to cut the track down to 110 miles, introducing a relaxed 105-mile liaison by the sea. There were four full hours to cool down after the special, stop and take photos before arriving at the Parc Fermé. The Special kept the riders on alert, though, with a lot of hazards, ditches, sharp stones, erosion and other gifts left by the storm. All while striking views of the sea offered riders a bit of distraction on top of it. During the previous stage, the racers had to do a large part in a blinding fog, taking their goggles off to avoid constantly wiping them. 

“Today was beautiful and very green. We could also see desert purple and pink because of flowers, and then you arrive to the ocean… I saw a coyote! Comparing Days One and Two it was less technical, a nice flow.” – Stephie Schinkel 

As the sun went down behind the Sea of Cortez, Parc Fermé at the Villa Vitta hotel was full of life. Riders were either checking on the bikes or just taking it easy and having a beer by the pool – because you still need to enjoy some of the creature comforts! Yesterday’s stage took two strong riders out – #43 Alec Brawner and #43 Patrick Reyes, both of whom had serious tech issues and could not finish. Today they are both back in the game, and doing well, claiming Third and Sixth position in the Overall standings. Reyes is also 3rd place on Stage in the Pro class. Technical setbacks also took out another Dakar 2023 entrant David Pearson, who had an electrical issue on-course. He had to reconnect everything, losing precious time, but somehow managed to remain in the Top Ten overall. Multiday rallies are hard on bikes, but it looks like Baja Rally participants are able to deal with all types of mechanical gremlins. There are only two in the Malle Moto category officially, but a big part of the pack is also servicing their bikes themselves, so the marathon stage doesn’t change much for them. 

“Yesterday we forgot to change the air filter. It sucked dirt into the engine and blew it up. We couldn’t get it fixed, so we ended up renting a Husqvarna 501. I wanted to take it easy first. These places are familiar to me, so I started ripping it, passing people. I still stopped a couple times to take pictures. Also, I had to tighten a couple of things on my bike because they just installed the tower on it.” – Nick Brawner, Freedom Rally Team

“Yesterday at km 7.5 my bike died…electrical issue. We took it back and managed to fix it. It’s working great. I started last and managed to overtake around 15 people, so apparently I made decent time. Very good ride, albeit misty. I had to clean my goggles all the time, and that’s dangerous because hurricane left a lot of ditches.” – Patrick Reyes

Same Leaders. #44 Nick Brawner and #10 Paul Neff stayed on top of things. Paul Neff went slower, cautious of hurricane consequences in the run-up to his Dakar premiere this coming January. And Brawner took advantage of it, finishing on two bent rims but increasing the Overall gap between them by another four minutes. There are some changes in the Rally 1 category: #26 Scott Purcell became used to the navigation and climbed up from P3 to P1 in his category on stage. It’s his second rally, and although Scott didn’t finish the first one because of a mechanical failure, he is determined to do reach the end this time. And the whole group made it through the day without any injury or major mechanical, so that was a good run for everyone. 

Tomorrow the participants are going back to Cataviña through a stage, described by the Stage Designer Scott Breuxman as “Hell and Heaven” – mostly technical, but at the same time extremely spectacular. 

Baja Fact of the Day: Bahía de Los Angeles, to those who don’t know, is also called the Bay of LA! This small town is not a luxury resort by any means, but it keeps attracting tourists who want to get off the beaten path to a naturally mesmerizing location – especially sport fishing lovers. And the hotel that hosted the bivouac was inaugurated in the 80s by the Mexican president, who enjoyed spending time here even before its first real tourists. 

We’ll continue following up with daily updates and more stories from the one and only premiere Rally Raid on Baja peninsula. You can also check @bajarally Instagram account for behind-the-scenes footage. 

The post Baja Rally 2022: Day 3, Special Stage 3 appeared first on Motorcycle.com News.

Follow along as we share coverage from our friends WestX1000 from the Baja Rally 2022.

Begin Press Release: 

Age Verse Experience

ISDE Veteran Beats the Fast Rookie by a Thin Margin

Key points: Baja Rally sees a new stage winner, #10 Paul Neff, but #44 Nick Brawner remains first overall with a big gap. And the second race day had some withdrawals, mainly for technical reasons.

Portrait of the Stage. Riding a perfect combination of sand and stones among huge boulders and several types of cacti, all which awaited racers inside a cloud of mist. That was Stage two: fast and fun. Some trails were new even to the most experienced Baja riders. At 132 miles long, without much tricky navigation, this stage gave the racers chanсe to regain strength before the tomorrow’s marathon stage to Bahia de Los Angeles. Some of them had to spend a bit of time taking out the cholla spikes after the Special, but most of the pilots agreed it was one of the best stages they’ve ever done.

New Stage Winner. All eyes are on the Brawner brothers. Was their success a one-time thing? Or will they keep it rolling? In this case, Nick Brawner managed, posting the second-best time despite opening the stage. He lost one minute and nineteen seconds to the ISDE veteran and Dakar entrant #10 Paul Neff, who was Third yesterday. The difference between them in general standings is almost half an hour, so Nick can take it easy… For now. However, his brother and teammate, Alec, had bad luck today. The engine of his bike blew up in the most remote part of the route, and the sweeper crew had a lot of “fun” extracting it.

“Nick opened, which is always a disadvantage, but the youth was ripping. I started pushing a little faster, and [my] Freedom Rally Factory Rally Replica is super-fast. At the long stretches, I was doing over 150 km/h, made no mistakes, no incidents, pretty boring day. I lost a bit of time yesterday with a chain guide derailment. It was pretty close today, but I got it, and it was pretty cool. I got the opportunity to ride the same machine that I’ll ride at Dakar, so I’m just practicing and trying to stay healthy.” – Paul Neff, American Rally Originals

“Leading the stage was a difficult task, but I think I got it done pretty good. Alec was on me, but I guess something happened to his bike. In the beginning of the stage there was a big cloud of mist. We were inside it for around 20 kilometers, taking goggles off, it was a different experience for sure.” – Nick Brawner, Freedom Rally Team

As for standings among the categories, they replicated themselves in Pro and Rally 1 classes. American Rally Originals #10 Paul Neff and #1 David Pearson on P1 and P3 are separated by the RallyComp developer #3 Mike Johnson in Pros. And in Rally 1, it’s #21 Benjamin Myers, #20 Willem Avenant and #26 Scott Purcell in the One, Two and Three seats, respectively. Of the Rookies, some of whom are surprisingly fast during this race edition, #43 Alec Brawner with his broken bike yielded second place to #30 Toni Palandrani. While #46 Oswaldo Lara from Mexico climbed to the third position, despite having made some damage to his navigation tower by his helmet on the way.

Baja Fact of the Day: Cholla! Among dozens of types of cacti of the Valle de los Cirios, cholla is definitely the riders’ “favorite”. Sometimes it’s called “jumping cholla”. Barbed sprouts detach from the body so easily that it may seem they are jumping on you, penetrating jerseys and gloves easily. A number of riders, arriving at the finish today listed cholla as their most prominent impression of encountering Baja flora so far. However nasty it can be, cholla’s spikes reflect light, and with illumination, looks gorgeous, as if surrounded by a luminous halo.

Story of the Day. Brett Fox on his Triumph Tiger 900 has been through a lot of adventure during these two days. On the first day at kilometer 8, his rear mousse came out, causing the chain to pop off and damage the engine casing. He crawled back towards the hotel, changed the mousse to the tube and fixed the casing. Brett still had to skip a lot of waypoints through to the neutralization but did the last part of the race on-course, posting 32 hours’ time with all of the fines. The second day wasn’t much easier for him. This time he battled with a front mouse and spent over two hours changing it to a tube… Then puncturing it and patching it again (and again). But he did the whole thing and finished! Brett stays optimistic, saying that he’s the only one in his heavyweight class, and if he ultimately finishes, he’ll call it a win.

We’ll continue following up with daily updates and more stories from the one and only premiere Rally Raid on Baja peninsula. You can also check @bajarally Instagram account for behind-the-scenes footage.

Unofficial Stage 2 Results Overall

1. #10 Paul Neff (USA)
2. #44 Nick Brawner (USA)
3. #3 Mike Johnson (USA)
4. #1 David Pearson (USA)
5. #30 Tony Palandrani (USA)
6. #46 Oswaldo Lara (Mexico)
7. #31 Steve Varni (USA)
8. #33 Carlos Garcia (Global)
9. #20 Willem Avenant (South Africa)
10. #30 Scott Purcell (Mexico)

Pro

1. #10 Paul Neff (USA)
2. #3 Mike Johnson (USA)
3. #1 David Pearson (USA)

Rally 1

1. #21 Benjamin Myers (USA)
2. #20 Willem Avenant (South Africa)
3. #26 Scott Purcell (USA)

Rookie

1. #44 Nick Brawner (USA)
2. #30 Tony Palandrani (USA)
3. #46 Oswaldo Lara (Mexico)

The post Baja Rally 2022: Day 2, Special Stage 2 appeared first on Motorcycle.com News.