Hondas motorcycle domination of Baja started right after Kawasaki quit going to Mexico to race. It was the year after Danny Hamel was killed during one of the races down there.

 

Obviously the free market is at work here, no matter what excuses the Honda detractors try to come up with.........

If there were a better desert race quad than the 450R, wouldn't all the freelancers be riding it???? Why not, then they would have a better chance of winning.......wouldn't they..........but nobody does because that machine doesn't exist!!!

And, a bunch of rag tag D37 weekend warriors isn't exactly the same thing as long distance endurance racing, is it........

 

Well, for the majority of us, that is all we are is rag tag weekend warriors...

 

motox. Honda's first high performance racing 4 stroke, the 450R motorcycle, was rushed into production and had huge reliability problems. They started out several years behind Yamaha and KTM as evidenced by the big surprise when Doug Henry was first to win an AMA National motocross series on a 4 stroke, a 400cc Yamaha. KTM was also way ahead of Honda in 4 stroke development. Honda has been playing catchup to the other factories ever since. The first Honda 250R 4 stroke was also a high maintenance motor and we are beginning to see the same poor results with the Honda 150R motor. I do believe the latest Honda TRX450R motors are an improvement over the first rushed into production motorcycle motors. I am glad to know your ride has been reliable and I suppose your deligent wrenching has a lot to do with reliability.
Recon. The big attraction to 450R motors in Baja for privateers is very simply because Honda provides huge pit support for any Tom, Dick, or Harry riding a Honda. For all Honda's the privateer pit crew doesn't even need to get to the gas checks because Honda will provide all services, gas, tires, parts, goggles, whatever is needed for a price....I will admit that there is a big difference between Baja racing and the Dist 37 rag tag amatures. AMA Dist 37 and 38 in Southern Calif and all the other amature desert racing scenes is much better indicator of what brands really dominate than a three race series with relatively few riders and only one serious factory sponser....To then reach out and claim that Honda absolutely dominates desert racing is quite a stretch all right....One more thing; Baja racing and desert racing are not the same animal. Desert racing is a race of usually not over 100 miles and the huge majority of participants are amatures and familys trying to get a break from the regular 40 hour job and enjoy the weekend without going broke. These are the guys on Yamahas and KTMs.