Gentlmen, let's cool down. We are lucky to be able to put our hands on some pretty potent equipment. I consider it quite an accomplishment for these quads to finish the baja let alone so quickly. Hats off to the DS and Raptor. Rider skill has a lot to do with it too.

 

You have to consider that a lot of things can wrong with any quad during a desert race. How do you know that the Raptor didn't break due to the guy smacking into a rock. The guy's who won the race are the kings not the quad they won it on, i bet the same guy's would have won it on a 400ex. The ds and the Raptor are both awesome quads and capable of winning Baja.

 

You guys can talk all the smack you want but neither rider or machine alone can have what it takes to win a race like the Baja, it takes alot of prep, planning, skill, support and yes even luck to win a race of this caliber. That said, I agree with the other post that any machine and team to finish this race is really a winner in some respects. The Baja is an endurance race and it is a testimonial to the quality of both the rider and the machine, a drag race on the other hand is over in less than a minute and says nothing about the reliability of a machine. It is great to have two big bore quads on the market and to all the "mine is faster than yours guys" (a little dig on the whistlequad) get you hiny on down to the Baja penisula for the next race and maybe you can dethrone this years king of the Baja (they did win riding the big yellow heavy slug!) . You can bet the farm the DS will be their to defend it's honor. I would like to talk to Dean Suhndal about the switch from Banshee's, He's been racing them for over a decade (Team Honda before that) and to jump ship he must like the bike or the money behind it, and it worked out to his advantage this year. I guess I've had my rant, I personnally love to ride my big yellow slug and can find no faults other than not enough time to ride as often as I want.

 

it broke an after market steering stem not a yamaha part.

 

The Yamaha steering stem part is just a one more weak part they make. The after market Steering stem was made with chromoly a lot stronger than the mild steel that Yamaha is made of.

 

ahh ha amtchad it was an AFTERMARKET part. Aaaahhh hahahahaha ha

he he

 

Eric what so funny the stock stem would have broke a lot sooner than the aftermarket part. The Baja is a very tuff race. Every body changes the suspension on the Baja causes it what take the biggest pounding. The raptor would have been out of the race in about 400miles if raced with stock parts. The manufactures due not build them this way cause of the price tag. The Raptor would cost you about $10,000.00 in the show room.