Johnny Campbell - DAKAR

from Will's post- here's the translation

In a press conference held yesterday in Japan by the president of HRC, Tetsu Suzuki, and reserved for the local media, this showed the first images of what will be the bike that Honda officially returns to Dakar. The quality of the images are not particularly good, but in this case it's novelty.

Suzuki also explained some details about the evolution and development work to be carried out by engineers. The bikes will be presented for the first time in public in the next room Cologne to be held the first week of October in the German city.

As we advance in Solo Moto, will not be racing debut in the Rally of the Pharaohs as planned at first, but in Morocco which is held two weeks later.

According to the explanations of the bike HRC president is now in its fifth evolution. In July last much of the staff assigned to the project traveled to Argentina to monitor tests in the South American country were making their future opponents. In Peru were also recognizing the ground. According to Suzuki, became impressed with the performance of the official KTM.

As for the Honda riders, provided by chief, HRC align 5 pilots, none of them Japanese, and being the most prominent Portuguese rider Helder Rodrigues, who finished third in the latest edition of the rally, with a Yamaha. The team will be recorded as HRC Team and manager of the structure will be headed by T. Yamazaki, designer off-road bikes Honda.

Besides the development of technology, something always present in HRC's participation in any sport, Suzuki President explained that his official presence in Dakar Honda aims ultimately to increase sales in the South American market.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jeff Upp on October 11, 2012 at 12:24am

JC, a "water carrier" for Helder? LOL! Fine with me. So pumped to have such a first class American in the rally. Such a great humble dude. Hopefully his Dakar bike arrives sooner than later. This is really exciting. Any chance of SPEED on the helmet for JC? Is HRC tied to any Energy drinks?

Permalink Reply by Tony on October 12, 2012 at 1:11am

HRC arn't keen on any sponsorship unless they have organised it, but they do of course recognise any existing agreements, you will see that Red Bull features with Helder for one.

Permalink Reply by will on October 12, 2012 at 6:54pm

The photos of the bikes in action are out now!

http://www.facebook.com/hondaproracing

Permalink Reply by will on October 13, 2012 at 10:18pm

http://youtu.be/GAV7gumGKvQ

Permalink Reply by will on October 15, 2012 at 9:20am

Stage 1 Rally Maroc
Helder Rodrigues (Honda)
Marc Coma (Ktm)
Cyril Despres (Ktm)
Joan Barreda (Husqvarna)
Paulo Goncalves (Husqvarna)
Olivier Pain (Yamaha)
Juan Pedrero (Ktm)
Alain Duclos (Sherco)
Chaleco Lopez (Ktm)
Sam Sunderland (Honda)
With Johnny Campbell coming in 16th.

Permalink Reply by will on October 15, 2012 at 4:31pm

Here's a shot of JC's lid, note the OX sticker-

And one at speed-

And from Johnny on fb-
Johnny Campbell race report;
day one. 17k liason 271k special 24k liason
Started position 22nd.
Course was really fast two track littered with rocks and ditches.
Middle section off track, dunes and sand washes. A refuel stop at
163k.
Myself: I felt great. Focused no pressure. Rode smart for first 100k
then the tricky navigation started off track through dunes and washes.
I got ahead of myself and should had listened to the small voice and
indication but got caught up in confusion of tracks. First mistake.
Found the correct way then navigated cautiously thru bigger dunes,
couldn't find my mileage and missed a couple way points. Crap!
Rookie error. Regrouped and road good the final 100k. I am glad we are
here in morocco for this race test to get the bugs worked out and get
familiar with the game and navigation equipment. I haven't race a
major offroad race at speed since 2008 Baja 1000. Haven't raced a
rally on a motorcycle since 2001. Navigating for Robby really helped
but to control the vehicle and navigate is a different animal. I am
looking forward to tomorrows stage and another set of challenges.
Congrats to Team HRC and Helder for winning the first stage of an
international rally on the new CRF450 Rally bike.
The other guys should be scared.
Johnny Campbell

Permalink Reply by will on October 16, 2012 at 12:44pm

Overall after day 2 in Morocco -http://rallyemaroc.npo.fr/classements/Etape_2/rallye_moto_general2.pdf
On the coulda, woulda, shoulda, front without the 1.5 hour penalty from 3 missed waypoints yesterday he would be about 15th overall, not to shabby. Nice to see 3 guys in the hunt for the lead for a change.

Permalink Reply by will on October 16, 2012 at 2:08pm

From the JCR fb-

“Today I started 40th off due to time penalties from my navigational mishap day 1. My goal was to navigate perfectly. I rode well cut thru many riders off the start. 1 by one passing. Navigation was very tricky and took real concentration. We had a 20k dune section after the refuel. I passed thru the dune at 12pm and the light was very difficult to read the dunes. I enjoyed the challenge and made it thru perfectly but cautiously. The last 100k was fast and rocky like a Baja race so I felt comfortable. I finished 20th on the stage and now sitting 24th OA. Tomorrow we leave Erfoud and go direct to Zagora for 290k stage. Helder Rodriguez rode strong finishing just seconds off the leaders in 3rd on the new Honda. He now sits 3rd OA in the standings 51 sec back. Looking forward to tomorrow’s stage.
Rally racing is a blast.” -- Johnny Campbell

Permalink Reply by Jeff Upp on October 16, 2012 at 10:40pm

Good stuff. Thanks for the updates & pics. Hope JC ends the rally with a top 10.

Permalink Reply by Jeff Upp on October 17, 2012 at 12:17pm

JC!