(ED: Updated with a message from Cyril Despres.)

KTM introduced its 2013 Rally Racing team while bidding farewell to five-time Dakar Rally winner Cyril Despres.

Despres won all five of his Dakar victories with KTM, winning in 2005, 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2013. He leaves the team to pursue a new challenge, with Honda rumored to be seeking his services for its newly-revived rally racing program.

Taking Despres’ place on the Red Bull KTM Factory team is American Kurt Caselli who raced in the 2013 Dakar Rally as a replacement for the injured Marc Coma. Caselli is joined by Ruben Faria, a long-time support rider of Despres’ who finished second in the 2013 Dakar Rally. Coma missed this year’s competion due to injury but has wins in 2006, 2009 and 2011 to his credit. He’ll seek his fourth Dakar with KTM in 2014. KTM will also offer full factory support to Francesco “Chaleco” Lopez who finished third at the 2013 Dakar Rally. Continue Reading »

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 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 »