Cyril Despres won his fifth career Dakar Rally while helping KTM win for the 12th consecutive time, in taking the motorcycle class in the 2013 edition of the famed off-road race.

KTM was again the dominant manufacturer with the top five finishers in the motorcycle class riding motorcycles from the Austrian manufacturer. Despres finished with an overall time of 43:24:22 for the win, including a 15-minute penalty for swapping an engine after the one he was using in his KTM 450 Rallye failed. The engine problem hindered Despres on the marathon 7th and 8th stages but he received help from another KTM-supported rider, Marek Dabrowski who offered his engine in an emergency swap.

Second place went to Despres’ KTM Red Bull Factory teammate Ruben Faria (43:35:05) while Francisco Lopez finished third with a time of 43:43:10 and would have finished second if not for his own 15-minute penalty for an engine swap on the 14th and final stage. Rounding out the top five were KTM riders Ivan Jakes and Juan Pedrero. Continue Reading »

The 2013 Dakar Rally will again be held in South America with event organizers announcing a new route for the 34th running of the off-road race. Now in its fifth year in Latin America, the 2013 edition of the Rally will feature a new route running from north to south, starting Jan. 5 in Lima, Peru, and ending Jan. 20 in Santiago, Chile.

The new route puts the desert portion of the course in the first few days of the Dakar Rally, the first time the event has ever started in a desert. The course follows the Pacific coast before turning inland, briefly traversing Chile before crossing the Andes into Argentina which offers a mix of terrain towards San Miguel de Tucumán for the midpoint of the Rally.

After a day of rest in San Miguel de Tucumán, the Dakar Rally continues south towards Córdoba before turning northwest and through the Andes again back to Chile before again following the Pacific coast southward towards the finish in Santiago. The entire course spans about 5000 miles of challenging terrain for the 459 entries registered for this year’s race. Continue Reading »

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 »

With the 2010 SCORE Baja 1000 just around the corner, a new video chronicling the career of iconic dirt bike racer Johnny Campbell is being released. The documentary film entitled True Champion: The Johnny Campbell Movie, is directed by Ryan Ray and narrated by Troy Adamitis telling the story of how Johnny Campbell evolved from a young rider into a multi-time desert racing champion.

The movie by Seven Films talks with family, friends and competitors about Campbell’s career, but it also features other well-respected dirt bike and truck racers Jeremy McGrath and Ricky Johnson, as well as some conversations with the late, great Bruce Ogilvie. The video features plenty of racing action that ranges from remote deserts and beaches in Baja to the scorching heat of the Nevada desert, showing just how much stamina and courage is required to pilot a race bike at speeds over 100 mph.

The video provides insight into how Johnny and other dirt bike experts prepare for racing the longest and toughest desert race on the planet at the SCORE Baja 1000, where Campbell has chased his dream to become the winningest racer in the 43 year history of the race.

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