Off Road Accessory Review

Red Bull No Limits New Year’s celebration is at it again. As every year since 2007 Red Bull will push one of it’s athletes to break a record.

 New Year’s Eve 2007 it was Robbie Maddison breaking the dirt bike distance jump record. Maddison jumped 322 feet clearing an entire football field. New Years Eve 2008 Maddison took his Red Bull dirt bike gear to a 10 story high step up jump. He also jumped the bike back down. Also in 2008 Rhys Millen did the first ever back flip in an off road truck. In 2009 Travis Pastrana set the new rally car distance jump record at 269 feet.

New Year’s Eve 2010 Red Bull will attempt to make another record fall. Snowmobile X Games Gold Medalist Levi LaVallee will attempt to break the distance jump record. LaVallee will take his 450 pound sled 300 feet over a water gap in San Diego 8pm Pacific time December 31, 2010. The No Limits platform will continue it’s tradition live on ESPN.

The 2010 ROC is complete and the winner shocked the world. Portuguese driver Filipe Albuquerque won the individual competition by beating 7 time  World Rally Champion Sebastian Loeb in the finals and Formula 1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel in the semi finals.

Although it would have been great to have a Vettel versus Loeb final, the young Portuguese driver put a stop to the all world champion final match up. Albuquerque’s highest honor in motorsports prior to this event was representing Portugal in an A1 GP event. This had to be his finest moment.

The Nation’s Cup was won by Germany for the 4th year in a row. Michael Schumacher and Sebastial Vettel won on their home field beating Team Great Britain’s Jason Plato and Andy Priaulx in the finals. Neither Team USA (Edwards & Pastrana) or Team All Stars (Foust & Doohan) both featuring American drivers made it out of the preliminary rounds.  

Americans Travis Pastrana, Carl Edwards, and Tanner Foust were all eliminated early in the rounds in the individual competition as well as the Nations Cup. Pastrana who normally preforms very well in this format was eliminated by Tom Kristensen in the first round. Pastrana has had an off year when not wearing his motocross boots coming up short in the 2010 ROC and in this years X Games.

The 2011 edition of the Dakar Rally is just around the corner. This year’s event will have 20 percent more competitors.

This years course is designed to save the more difficult stages of the event for the second half of the event. This strategy was created to keep drama high toward the end of the event. The 9000 kilometer distance will be covered from January 1st through the 16th. Nearly 5000 kilometers will be competition stages of full throttle racing.

KTM’s Cryil Despres, and Marc Coma are back to test their dirt bike gear, and racing bikes against the difficult conditions at Dakar in the bike division. Team BMW will put the fight to defending champions Red Bull Volkswagen and Carlos Sainz in the car division. Meanwhile Vladimir Chagin and his Kamaz will look to repeat in the truck class again.

See daily updates during the Dakar at Off Road Accessory Review.com and Probikehelmets.com’s Facebook page.

On Thanksgiving Day we spend time with our family or those who have become our family over the years. As I sit hear on a holiday thinking about dirt bike gear, and kids motocross gear, I can’t help but think about the best Thanksgiving I’ve had and the family that spent it with me.

7 years ago there was a Thanksgiving Day race that I participated in. My motor was almost broke, and so was I and my crew. We drove the three hours to the track but made a stop first. Myself and my 2 crew members stopped at a truck stop to get a turkey lunch. On that day, Rodney and Rusty were my family.

When we got to the track we ran well leading the first 10 laps of the main event. Sadly, the event was 35 laps. The motor expired on lap 11. We intended to spend the night near the track for the 2 day race. Instead, we drove 3 more hours back home to swap motors. My crew not happy, but willing to make the trip. After we made it back to the shop, we spent another 2 hours swapping motors.

After a short night of sleep we headed back to the track. Another 3 hour drive. Once again the new motor ran great. We won our heat, and started on the pole for the main. After leading 5 laps, we broke the transmission. We packed up again and went home.

Never once did anyone complain, never once did we wish we stayed home. That was the closest I had ever felt to family on a holiday. I hope my crew felt the same. Always think of your family no matter how close or far away you are to them. 7 years after that Thanksgiving, I still feel like there is no where else I would rather be.

The 2010 edition of the Race of Champions is scheduled for this coming weekend in Dusseldorf Germany. While some of the best racer in the world are busy celebrating their championships, others will have to cut their celebrations short. Racing’s top drivers will be heading to Germany to represent their country against the world.

This year’s featured entrants include Team Germany’s Michael Schumacher and 2010 World Champion Sebastian Vettel. Team USA will be represented by NASCAR’s Carl Edwards and Travis Pastrana. Sebastian Loeb 6 time WRC Champion will represent France in the competition as well.

If the pairings for the single elimination rounds go by popular opinion, you would see a showdown for a legitamate title of World’s Greatest Driver between Sebastian Vettel and Sebastian Loeb. Motorsports press calling the Sebastians the best drivers of our time.

Pastrana has shown well in the ROC in years past. Pastrana will leave his motocross boots behind and use his rally skills against the best in the world.  ROC will not be broadcast live in the US. Look for replay on Speed in 2011.

Kody DeRutyer age 7 has finished his first complete season on a 50cc motocross bike. DeRuyter finished 3rd in both the 50cc open and 50cc stock classes in AMP/GFI State Championship.

Kody will compete in the same classes in 2011 while also running a 65cc bike in select race weekends. Kody and family will continue to keep practicing 3 to 5 days a week to keep pace with the competition. Off Road Accessory Review.com will continue to follow Kody’s career as the age of a pro motocross race gets younger each year. Kody will get new kids motocross gear, a bigger bike, and more experience in 2011 with intentions of riding pro in less than 10 years.

Jimmie Johnson has done the unthinkable. Johnson has won 5 straight Sprint Cup Championships.

Jimmie Johnson came from 15 points behind Denny Hamlin to win by finishing second to race winner and 2010 ROC US representative Carl Edwards. Hamlin had an early spin and never could recover. Johnson had 3 slow pit stops that netted a total of 5 lost positions in the pits. The team recovered by the end of the race giving Johnson his 5th straight.

Johnson who is a former motocross racer, said that he has considered himself a “C” class racer through out his career is now within striking distance of ledgends Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty who are tied for the most Championship in Sprint Cup history with 7. Johnson had little success outside of the Cup Series. Johnson was a mid-pack racer in ASA and Nationwide Series competition before his entry in to the NASCAR big leagues.

Johnson put down his kids motocross gear after 50cc and 60cc championships and moved on to off-road truck racing. From there ASA, Nationwide, and now one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history.

Robby Gordon and the Speed Energy Chevy finished 2nd in the 43rd running of the SCORE Tecate Baja 1000. Gordon had a problem with the drive shaft which delayed the team by about 15 minutes. Overall margin of victory for Gustavo Vildolsola Jr in the Red Bull truck was 22 minutes.

Vildolsola Jr and Sr became the first Mexicans to win the Baja 1000. The Vildolsola team also beat all the 2 wheel racers overall. This is only the 7th time in Baja 1000 history that the 4 wheel winner’s time beat the 2 wheel winner’s time.

Kendall Norman and Quinn Cody won the 2 wheel overall in dominating fashion. The 2 won on a Honda 450 in 19 hours and 22 minutes. Both riders have won the event before and Honda has now won the event a total of 21 times.

19 hours in the desert must be pretty hard on a pair of motocross boots! Congratulations to all winners.

Robby Gordon is currently running 4th in the Baja 1000.  The off road helmets will be rattling the through the desert all night long.

Leader board as of now, #21 Vildosola running 1st, #97 Baldwin 2nd,  #8 Norman 3rd, Gordon #1 currently 4th.