Hi Everyone
Honda is letting us borrow a 2009 CRF450X to make into an ISDE-worthy machine. We'll bring a full report on our modification and testing process as our Portugal project comes along.
While the
ISDE is not until October, now is the time when things are really starting to get crazy. All of our equipment has to be ready to ship by the end of July, so there is a lot to get done. The big news is that we were able to get a bike to ride. American Honda has hooked me up with a 2009
Honda CRF450X! It’s a pretty big deal for a club guy to get some help from a manufacturer, especially Big Red. I don’t think there has been a single Honda in the Team USA pits for four or five years. This year there will be two Red Riders in Portugal. If you haven’t heard, Johnny Campbell Racing’s Timmy Weigand is going to be on the Trophy Team riding in the E1 class on a CRF250R. I believe the last Honda Trophy rider was Scott Summers riding an XR600 way back in ’99. It is really good to see some broader support from the factories.
I just got back from Mexico, riding on the “
Baja Beach Bash” with Johnny as well as Cameron Steele and Colton Udall. We had a great time and some impromptu racing on the sand. Of course anytime you get a bunch of racers together, the race faces come out and everyone is out to win even the so called “fun” events. We will get some pics up from that event later this week. For what it is worth; in the “foot down” race, a sort of obstacle course and then over a rock field and up a short, steep climb, I was able to nearly clean the section and won first place over Johnny and Colton. The spectators we throwing rocks in the course to continually make it more difficult and I may have been given a slightly easier line that some of the other competitors, but I came home with the trophy so I have to be happy about that.
Johnny has invited us up to JCR next week to do some bike prep on the 450X and check out Timmy’s factory ride. I am working frantically trying to get all my parts together for the 450X. We will bring you a complete story on the ISDE bike prep in a couple of weeks.
Timmy Weigand (center, grey hat) and the JCR Racing team will give Honda a presence on the American Trophy Team.
Our ISDE t-shirts are just about ready. The link for purchasing one of these hot items will also be ready soon and we will get it posted. Right now I am frantically working on my various lists of things to get ready.
Late breaking news: word is that Jimmy Jarrett broke his wrist at the OMA race last weekend and is probably going to need surgery. No word yet if he is going to be recovered for the ISDE. It would be a shame if he can’t go. Jimmy has been a really strong rider the past few years and he is a big supporter of the Six Days program.
-Chilly
