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VTR-RACING NEWS
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Your news page. Updates and finishing orders.
Currently updating the Score Baja 250 and Baja 500
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RACING NEWS UPDATES
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Saturday 6/23/2007
12:28am
Score`s San Felipe 250 is regarded as a springtime ritual for most off road races. Spending some time in the little fishing town in the sun is something to look forward to, as well as racing in the desert. This years edition of the San Felipe 250 was not to be. Some land issues with local land owners and Ejidos forced Score to move the race just a few weeks before the race. The new venue, Ensenada. This put many teams in a bind, scrambling to re-arrange hotel accommodations. We were not able to pre-run this race so that wasn't a waste for us as it was for some teams. The new course was much of the last years Baja 500 course and we knew what to expect. What Eric and I didn't know was what to expect with the new race bike we were riding. The new Can Am Renegade. The bike was prepared by Epic Racing's Kevin Avina. Jason Wade, team owner of Wade racing and rider, raced this bike at last years Baja 1000 along with Mike Swift,Cliff Beasley and Aaron Ard.
Erics first taste of the bike came at first light on race day. I was waiting to get on with the rest of the Guilty crew, waiting at Ojos Negros. We saw the bikes come through and had our pit ready. The crowd was huge at the road crossing there and extremely chaotic. Many quads came through and no sign of Eric. Unknown to us was that Eric was held up before the start. We did not have a working tail light on the bike and we were not allowed to start without one.
There was another team that was in the same predicament and scrambling to find one. After a 30 minute delay Eric was on the course. Tony Baker from the Can Am pro team informed us of what happened to Eric. I took the bike and rolled onto the Baja dirt for the first time since 1991! It was a great feeling. The bike was big and didn't handle like what I was used to riding. After hitting the big rolling jumps and hitting a few corners, I started getting used to the bike. The Bilstein Shocks were very plush and the Maxxis Bighorns hooked up well. I soon found out you couldn't ride this bike like a TRX 450r! The silt beds on the way to El Alamo were nothing on this big bike. It eats silt. I passed a few quads that were stuck in the silt beds. The 57a was moving along. There were a few locals going the wrong way on the course, for what reason I have no idea! Eric took the bike at KM 78 where the race course cross the highway. We were doing ok since the delay at the start. The Can Am Renegade was handling the rough course well. We did have some handling issues. The bike tended to pull to the right real bad and that made if very hard to handle in the tight stuff and keep it straight on the high speed stuff.Thats what desert racing is about though, overcoming every obstacle that is thrown at you. Eric came down the infamous "Goat Trail" into Valle de Trinidad in good time. We were parked about 2 miles after the course hit the highway. The bike was holding together
very well. The Maxxis Big Horns with Tire Balls were awesome. No flats so far through the rockiest part of the course. I took the bike across to San Vincente and had a good ride. Most of it was along some switch backs where you didn't want to make a mistake. A racer on a quad who passed me on the switch backs made a big mistake and missed a corner. He found himself wadded up in some barbed wire. His bike was upside down so I slowed down to see if he was ok and he gave me a thumbs up so I kept going. It looked like he was being chased by another quad and just made a mistake. A few more miles and my ride was over. I found my brother, Martin Choquette and Dennis Milner waiting for me with fuel in San Vincente, Jason Wade took over and rode the bike to the finish line. His ride was along the beach which is always fun. He did get a rock stuck inside the wheel wedged into the brake caliper in the rocky pebble section outside of Maneadero. After 250 miles and crossing the finish line in 17th place, we feel we did pretty well on the New Can Am Renegade. Team Wade/Guilty did a great job and our pit crew deserves most of the credit; Chantal Childress, Aaron Ard, Martin Choquette, Dennis Milner, Randy Blevins. Kevin Avina and Epic Suspension for prepping the bike. The Strunk family for all the help. Of course, or awesome sponsors, Wade Custom Homes, Guilty.com, AC Racing, Bilstein Shocks Can Am support, Maxxis, Epic Suspension, Winex. Alba Action Sports.
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RACING NEWS UPDATES
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Monday 12/04/2006
12:25am
The Vegas to Reno race was a rough one for Team Guilty.
A true test of will and we came up short. Everybody
put in alot of hard work. On that day is wasn't meant
to be. The race started good. Eric brought me the
bike from the start to pit 2 where we I got on. I
had a little trouble getting used to the bikes wider
stance. We were using +3 inch wider Epic A arms and
the bike handled differently than what I was used
to. After a few miles I got used to it. I missed
a corner and ended up in a big bush while chasing
Team Canapa. It took a few minutes to get unstuck.
The dust was bad and hardly any wind to blow it off
the course. Mckenzie Ray took over from me at Pit
3. I estimate we were in 5th or 6th place. Mckenzie
rode uneventfully to pit 4 and Eric Pealstrom rode
to pit 5. When I got on the bike there were 4 quads
that took off from that pit within 1/4 mile of each
other. The Guilty/Alba quad was working good. I rode
in dust for the entire ride, 41 miles. Mckezie took
off chasing Team Youngblood and tangled with them
a few hundred yards out. We hear a call on the radio
that she crashed. By the time we reached the area
she was gone and presumably ok. We got a hold of
Rusty at pit 7 and gave him heads up about Mckenzie`s
wreck. She came into pit 7 and told Rusty to tell
her Dad she was sorry. She seemed ok and made it
to the next pit just fine. The rest of the race was
familiar territory as we had raced on these roads
before. The rest of the race till pit 15 was standard
in for gas and out. When we put the lights on and
I got on the bike, we were in 4th place. Richard
Youngblood was in 3rd. They left the pit a few minutes
before I did and I rode that bike as hard as I could
to catch Team Youngblood. I came into pit 16 and
our chase crew was not there. This wasn't the first
time this has happened at that pit. Its a hard one
to do as a chase crew. I needed gas and Richard Youngblood
saw me and offered gas. I was topped off and took
off. It was getting dark and I knew there were trucks
and cars very close to me. I pushed the bike as hard
as I could and was about 1/4 to 1/2 a mile behind
Team Youngblood. We came off the high speed road
and veered to the right into the mountains. I knew
we were close to the finish and I could see passing
the guy ahead of me. I wasn't sure if we would be
ahead on time or not. Shortly after the turn off,
the bikes chain came off and my heart just sank.
14 miles from the finish line after riding 500 miles.
I looked at the bike and saw major damage to the
motor. I attempted to fix the bike but it wasn't meant
to be. STuck out in the middle of no where and unable
to repair the bike. There was no way to get anybody
out there to repair the bike. The area was inaccessible
for my crew to get to me during the race to make
any repairs. I couldn't get towed in over the mountain
as we didn't have a tow strap and it would have been
pretty treacherous with the trophy trucks bearing
down on us. It wasn't meant to be at this race . Team
Guilty DNF for the second time this season.!
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RACING NEWS UPDATES
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6 July, 2006-The Herbst family knows how to throw an offroad race! Putting
up winner take all cash for the winner of the pro classes is a great
incentive for the racers let it all hang out. 40, 0000 dollars in total
payout is nothing to sneeze at! Eric, Mckenzie and I were really
rethinking about moving up to the pro class and make an attempt at the
money. Hey, it could happen!!!! However, our race ended early. A valve
retaining clip came loose and our attempt halted at pit number 3, about
80miles into the race. Team Guilty/Alba drew 3rd off the starting
line. Scott Mitchell withdrew his Expert entry at the last minute which
put us 2nd off the line. All of us had great aspirations for this race.
BITD received our entry late for the Parker 250 in January so we had
to start 17th off the line. It was a lot of work but we managed a 7th
place spot at the end of the day. When we found out our team drew 3rd
off the line for the Terrible Towns race, we were extremely happy to
say the least.
The motor was completely torn down and rebuilt for this race and we had a scare
before the bike left the shop. Eric took the bike to Lucerne Valley a week prior
to this race for testing and to break in the engine. The bike ran fine and nothing
out of the ordinary occurred. While loading the trailer on Wednesday before the
race, he noticed Guilty/Alba Honda 450r was leaking coolant. He also thought
he heard a strange “ticking” noise in the motor. He called me and
told me the good news! It was a long flight to Las Vegas wondering how much we
would have to work on the bike to find out what was wrong with it. This year
we are testing a satellite tracking system for Iritrack. It’s a unit on
the bike that sends a signal to a satellite which then sends the signal back,
similar to a GPS unit. We can track our progress on the internet from the Iritrack
website. Steve Meyers allowed us to use one of the systems to test for them and
get the word out. This is the same unit that was used at the Dakar Rally earlier
this year. If it works, this should improve safety by having a constant pinpoint
on where the vehicle is at all times. It can also be used to track people to
make sure they do not deviate from the marked course. We think this is a win-win
situation for the promoters and the racers. We hope it works out for everybody.
Being able to track someone online during an off-road event is a long overdue.
Friday morning we went to the Pahrump High school and let the kids check out
our bike. Best in the Desert invited all the teams to the school. It’s
always a fun thing to do. We like to share what we do with the kids so they can
understand what we do. There were about 20 bike, quad, car and truck teams that
showed up. The kids and school staff were very appreciative that we took time
to come to the school. When we returned from the school Eric went over the bike
and noticed that the hose clamp on the radiator hose was damaged so it was replaced.
That’s what caused the leaking coolant. The motor was started and warmed
up and nobody noticed any strange sounds coming from it. To J.C. Ray and me,
it sounded good. Also, Eric thought it sounded normal. We double checked the
air pressure in the Maxxis Razr`s and made sure the wheels were tight on the
hubs and we were ready for the early morning start.
The mandatory driver meeting was held at the Terrible's Lakeside RV Park. All
the teams got their briefings and the Quad and Motorcycle teams found out that
we were starting about 5:30, a ½ an hour sooner that we thought. It was
also brought to our attention that the pro teams would be leaving in 30 second
increments and the expert and amateur teams at 15 second intervals. Normally
the separation is 1 minute for pros and 30 seconds for the expert and amateurs.
This was to allow more time between the start of the last bike/quad and the first
car/truck. We seem to be getting less and less sleep at these races nowadays!
We made it to the starting line with minutes to spare. The pro quads were already
starting and Eric barely made it to the start. There were only 4 bikes ahead
of him when he lined up for the start. It seems we could have used the extra
few minutes that we used to have getting to the start. It was probably better
this way. Eric didn’t have time to think about the start and get nervous.
Chantal, Laura and I watched the start while Mckenzie drove with her Dad, J.
C. Ray to pit 1 for the visual check. Eric and I were to change riders at pit
2. J.C and Mckenzie were to continue to pit 3 after they made sure Eric made
it through pit 1 without any problems. Eric left the start at 06:07am. Chantal
and Laura are very proud of the fact that they are an all girl crew. They made
that fact known by spraying “girl power” on the side of Eric’s
F-250! They do a great job for us.
At pit 2 we parked next to some District 37 friends. The crew for Jennifer
Furman and Heather Gongora were waiting for their rider to come through. Jen
was on the bike and Heather was waiting to do the rider change. There was a call
on the cell phone and it was Jennifer. She crashed after the road crossing before
pit 2 and was hurt. All the information was relayed to the BITD rescue team.
We later found out it was Ironman Quad rider, Todd Johnson, that found her and
made sure she was ok. She was taken to the hospital with a broken wrist/arm and
a concussion. A call from J.C. at pit 1 indicated that Eric wanted to adjust
the rear shock because it was stiff. Our quad came through pit 2 in 4th place
so I elected not to adjust the shock. The bike was in good condition so I was
to try to catch the next bike.
I left pit 2 in a hurry and immediately noticed the bike was very squirrelly.
We used a different offset on the front wheels which made the bike 2 inches narrower.
The rear Elka shock seemed to be working fine to me and I rode hard to pit 3.
The front Elka`s worked flawlessly. I passed 2 motorcycles in the first 15 miles
and could see a quad coming up. The motor started losing power while I was trying
to catch the quad in front of me. The first indication was the slight “burble” when
I let off the throttle. It went from bad to worse and I was now in 3rd gear with
about 10 miles to go the pit. I also acquired a right front flat which didn’t
help any. It seemed as though the motor was starving for fuel. I could have the
throttle fully twisted and the bike would misfire and want to quit. I rolled
into pit 3 and 2 quads passed me. I barely made it to my pit. McKenzie was excited
and wanted to hop on the bike. The way the motor sounded, it didn’t seem
like that was going to happen. J.C. and I gave the bike a quick once over and
could find anything visibly wrong with it, like the spark plug and ignition wires.
The problem seemed to be internal and we radioed pit 5 where Eric was to inform
him of the problem. We all came to the same conclusion that we needed to look
at the valves and cam to see if they were operating properly. Once we pulled
the valve cover off we heard air leaking out of the motor when we would crank
it over. We both thought that it was a head gasket or something like that. Eric
arrived from pit 5 and looked at the bike. He pulled the cam/valve assembly off
and cranked the bike over. As the cam pushed the valves up and down is when we
noticed the problem. The valve spring retainer clip was damaged and the intake
valve was sticking in the open position. Since we didn’t have one
of those little parts, it was safe to say our day was done. We made the difficult
decision to put the bike on the trailer and call it quits. Team Guilty has finished
every race we have entered and this was not an easy thing to do. We pride ourselves
in finishing every race we enter and to do all we can to get there. On
the way back to Pahrump we stopped at the last pit before the finish to help
out our friends. We would like to thank everyone that supports our racing effort,
our pit crew, J.C. Ray, Chantal Childress and Laura and all our sponsors.
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