The Johnny Campbell Racing Honda team handily won the 2012 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 rally, setting the fastest time in any motorcycle class by more than an hour. The win marked the 16th consecutive victory and 23rd overall for Honda.

JCR‘s Colton Udall, Timmy Weigand and David Kamo completed 1121-mile course on a Honda CRF450X with a time of 20:09:30 for an average speed of 55.64 mph. That was good enough to win the Class 22 category and beat all other motorcycle entries. Overall, JCR set the third best time, trailing only the father and son duo of Gus Vildosola and Gus Vildosola Jr. (19:45:00) in a Ford Raptor and B.J. Baldwin (20:00:59) in a Chevy Silverado who finished one-two in the Trophy Truck category for production trucks.

“I am overwhelmed by the effort my pit crews put together to make this race run smoothly,” says Johnny Campbell. “JCR brings a small army of some of the most extraordinary people together to make a race like the Baja 1000 possible. I can’t thank them enough for their service and support. I am proud to have each one of them in the JCR family and look forward to many more adventures together. Thank you to the racers for their commitment to upholding this Honda legacy and our 16th Baja 1000 win in a row.” Continue Reading »

Today at Intermot 2012, Honda unveiled the CRF450 Rally, the machine it plans to enter in the 2013 Dakar Rally, marking the manufacturer’s return to the race after more than two decades. Honda has competed nine times from 1981 in the forerunner of the present Dakar Rally, the Paris-Dakar Rally. Cyril Neveu of France took Honda to its first victory in 1982, the race’s fourth year, and from 1986 to 1989 Honda won four consecutive titles for an overall record of five victories in nine years.

The CRF450 Rally is based on Honda’s commercial CRF450X enduro racing model, and features electronic fuel injection, auxiliary fuel tanks in the panniers and lower side fairings, and the requisite navigation equipment located behind the windscreen. Interestingly, the navigation device is not a GPS, but instead is a backlit unit designed to hold the “Road Book” — a set of pace notes each competitor receives and is then free to modify. Continue Reading »

Honda announced it will enter a works team in the 2013 Dakar Rally‘s motorcycle class, returning to the event for the first time in 23 years.

The Japanese manufacturer competed in the Rally from 1981 to 1989 when it was known as the Paris-Dakar Rally. Honda won five times during that period but then stopped entering its own team. The 2013 Dakar Rally will represent the first time Honda has entered a team in the motorcycle class since the race moved from Europe and Africa to South America in 2009.

Honda will enter a new prototype machine based on the CRF450X, which itself has a winning tradition in Baja racing. The prototype will be produced by Honda’s Motorccyle R&D Center. Honda will also develop kit parts for the standard CRF450X to be offered to other Dakar teams. Continue Reading »

American Honda announced four off-road motorcycles and its entry level Rebel cruiser as part of its 2012 lineup.

Returning for 2012 are the Honda CRF450X, CRF250X, CRF230F, CRF150F and Rebel, all unchanged except for some color and graphic updates.

“This latest release highlights a variety of machines available to Honda customers,” says Bill Savino, Honda powersports press manager.”Here we have a big assortment of off-road machines suitable for the entire family, plus a great beginner bike that has given thousands of street riders a friendly introduction to our sport. And this isn’t everything for 2012; we’ll have even more good news to share about additional new releases coming out soon.”

Continue Reading »