Dec. 22, 2008 – Five companies team up to race the Baja 1000

Tucker Rocky teamed up with Dunlop, Motion Pro, Two Brothers Racing and Motorex to race this year’s Baja 1000.
Each company fielded a rider, which is believed to be the first time a group of industry companies and personnel have teamed up to compete in one of the most prestigious and grueling races in the world.
The endurance race started and finished in Ensenada. There were 347 starters from 29 states and 24 countries and 227 teams finished the race.
The multi-company industry team consisted of Dunlop’s West Coast Sales Manager Brent Durfee, Motion Pro’s Director of Sales and Marketing Brandon Baldwin, Two Brothers Racing Director of Business Development Dave Cullinan, Motorex/Paragon Powersports Brian Cornelius, Tucker Rocky’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing Tim Pritchard and Tucker Rocky’s Offroad Sales Specialist Lance Kerr.
The crew chief for the team was Jimmy Sones from Malcolm Smith Adventures and the chase team was staffed by Tucker Rocky’s Director of Sales Del Munoz and Sales Reps Mike Schmahl and Malcolm Bottorff as well as Montclair Yamaha’s Vadime Miline.
The industry team finished sixth in the Sportsman class, which was an accomplishment considering some of the hurdles it overcame.
Munoz of Tucker Rocky said the team missed a pit and ran out of gas, but the rider was picked up by the Mexican Police department and was taken to the nearest pit for fuel.
The team also suffered severe damage to its sprocket and chain but managed to finish within two hours and 39 minutes of the first-place team. Munoz estimated the team lost more than three hours because of the sprocket damage and logistical error.
The team was sponsored by Dunlop, Motion Pro, Two Bros, Motorex, Yuasa, Gaerne, EVS, MSR, Pro Taper and Tucker Rocky.
The bike was a race-prepped Honda CRF450x, which Munoz said “performed great, at least when it had gas in it.” psb