Dave Scott was already headed back home so Steve Abrego, Andy Lagdzins and Craig Christy asked the Tecate girls to accept on his behalf.

Christy’s Rac­ing enjoyed a flaw­less week­end in Baja.  The team rolled into town a week ahead of race day so they would have ample time to pre-run the course and for­mu­late an effec­tive strat­egy.  This years team included Los Ange­les natives Craig Christy and Steve Abrego as well as Dave Scott from Belen, New Mex­ico and Andy Lagdzins from Bal­ti­more, Mary­land. The four rider squadron was strength­ened by four chase crews equipped with spare parts, fresh fuel and nec­es­sary tools to facil­i­tate a smooth race.

At 6:45 in the morn­ing, Christy rider Dave Scott started the race as the 8th class 24 quad off the line.  Those that are famil­iar with this event know that San Felipe is syn­ony­mous with count­less “whoops” that will fatigue even the most fit athlete.

The first third of the course is so bru­tal that many teams put fresh rid­ers on at race mile 25 and/or RM 46. Dave was con­fi­dent that he could main­tain a com­pet­i­tive pace till RM 61.  After a splash & go pit stop at RM 46, Dave made it to RM 61, out of breath but grin­ning ear to ear as he told rider num­ber 2, Steve Abrego, that he had passed 6 quads dur­ing his her­culean ride!

Andy Lagdzins leav­ing Race Mile 167

Armed with the knowl­edge that the team was now in 1st place on time, Abrego rode like a man pos­sessed.  He quickly over­took one quad and was neck and neck with 104A as he came within radio range of the next pit sta­tioned at RM 122.  A crowd gath­ered around the Christy Hum­mer to lis­ten to the col­or­ful play-by-play com­men­tary broad­cast­ing from the race bike.  Steve and 104a swapped posi­tions at least three times through the silt beds, even though the team was still in 1st place, on time, and only moments away from phys­i­cally lead­ing the race, the chase crew stuck to the game plan and calmly added fuel, changed the air fil­ter and gave the quad a visual once-over before allow­ing Andy Lagdzins to start his 71 mile section.

It did not take Andy long to over­take 104a, thus putting the team phys­i­cally in 1st place.  Andy stopped briefly at RM167 for fuel and some good news; he had cre­ated a 4 minute lead over sec­ond place.  Even though the chase crew advised him to relax and main­tain the gap Lagdzins stretched the lead another 4 min­utes by the time he passed the quad to team prin­ci­pal and rider of record; Craig Christy.

With the final race miles ahead, Craig put the cruise con­trol on and swiftly picked his way through the  boul­der strewn Huata­mote wash and onto the final sprint to the fin­ish. Christy must have been able to taste vic­tory as he man­aged to increase the lead to 12 min­utes.  Class 25 win­ner, Wayne Mat­lock, met Christy on the podium with a cou­ple cel­e­bra­tory Tecate beers to toast both vic­to­ries in clas­sic Baja fashion.

This epic result could not have been achieved with­out the fan­tas­tic Dun­can Rac­ing / Honda TRX-450R equipped with Elka Sus­pen­sion Shocks, ITP tires, PWR radi­a­tor, Fat­boy 4 exhaust sys­tem and Sunoco Race Fuels.
Addi­tional sup­port from Rock­star, Cycle Gear, Joe Bernal, Beast Pad­dock Ser­vices, RGEAR, Instinct Char­ter Boat and The Dirty Patrol were sin­cerely appreciated.

Source:
Beau Nils­son, beau@christys.net
http://www.christysracing.com

PRO ATV RESULTS:

1. Wayne Mat­lock, El Cajon, Calif./Harold Good­man Jr., Brown­stown, Mich./Josh Caster, El Cajon, Calif., Honda 700XX, 5:16:36 (44.04mph);

2. Felipe Velez, San Felipe, Mexico/Stefano Caputo, San Felipe, Mex­ico (Italy)/Heriberto Mar­quez, Ense­nada, Mex­ico, Honda TRX450R, 5:31:01;

3. San­tos Perez, Tijuana, Mexico/Juan Sanchez/Raul Cano, Chula Vista, Calif., KTM 450, 5:32:25;

4. Jeff Han­cock, Salome, Ariz./Joshua Edwards, Peo­ria, Ariz., Honda TRX450R, 5:32:47;

5. Nick Nel­son, Tehachapi, Calif./Brandon Brown, Euman­tilla, Ore.; Jorie Williams, Wash., Suzuki LTR450, 5:43:49; 6. Greg Row, Alpine, Calif./Travis Dil­lon, Avo­joaze, Ariz./Kyle Pethers, Avon­dale, Ariz., Honda TRX450R, 6:30:32

(9 Starters, 6 Finishers)

Just a heads up to let you know that we are offi­cially on the list on the AMA Road­rac­ing web­site in the homolo­ga­tion pro­gram for the fol­low­ing categories:

Amer­i­can Super­bike
Day­tona Super­bike
Superstock

http://www.amaproracing.com/news.cfm?cid=20458&rr=no

With this link, scroll down to the head­line “Road Rac­ing Equip­ment lists” and you will see us on the list for sus­pen­sion: rear shocks.

Con­tact John Ilkiw for orders by email at john@elkasuspension.com or by phone at 1–800-557‑0552.