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JCR/Honda, American Honda & HRC join forces to make history and take over at the 2016 BITD Vegas To Reno!

Aug 22nd, 2016

Members of Honda's Japan based HRC racing and development division have spent several weeks testing in the California desert under the watchful guidance of Johnny Campbell and the JCR/Honda team. This time has been spent preparing the CRF450 RALLY bike and riders for the 2017 DAKAR RALLY. The decision was made to race the CRF450 RALLY bikes at Vegas to Reno as well as racing the new Honda CRF1000L AFRICA TWIN adventure bike! Team HRC’s Joan Barreda & Michael Metge were piloting the Honda CRF450 RALLY machines. Spanish rider Joan Barreda dominated the Nevada dust and desert connecting the two cities en route to Winning the race on his inaugural effort with a time of 9:00:59!

“We’ve worked really hard with the riders over the last few weeks, both myself and the guys from the JCR Team. We had a great time working with Joan and Mika and I hope the work we do with Team HRC results in the ultimate goal of victory at the DAKAR! I wish to thank Joan, Mika, Taichi Honda and Team HRC for placing their trust in my team to help build a better program to win the 2017 DAKAR RALLY. We also took this opportunity to race Honda's New Africa Twin to prove its durability and performance and the Africa Twin delivered flawlessly with absolutely no issues! Thank you to my teammates, Imai-san, Makami-san and Rennie Scaysbrook on a great ride look for the full story in an upcoming Cycle News issue.” -- Johnny Campbell

About the V2R race: Lead by the legendary American race promoter Casey Folks was the 2016 “Vegas to Reno” 20th Anniversary Edition dubbed "The Long Way"! Carrying the title of the longest Off-Road race in the United States, the V2R celebrated its milestone anniversary by hosting a 2-day staged event! The race begin with Pre-Race festivities in Las Vegas. On day 1 racers will go from the start line near Caliente, NV, to Tonopah and on day 2 racers will go from Tonopah to the finish line in Reno, NV. In total this race will cover over 644 Off-Road miles and over 340 racers will compete!

PC: Mark Kariya

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