Vegas to Reno on the WR450

[Dan_Lorenze]

Last week I headed out to Las Vegas for my third Vegas to Reno race. This time I talked my friends into joining me in the effort. My good buddy Derek has raced in some local GPs and a Laughlin HS race, my other buddy Derrik has never been in a race of any kind and was leary about competing.. We decided to race my bike since it was pretty much already set up for desert. We entered the +35 Expert class even though my buddies didn't have much long distant races under their belts they figured they knew what they were doing and would have a decent shot of winning our class.. Well, out of 6 teams we ended up 5th... We suffered three flats during the race, not only do flats take a few minutes to fix (we had extra wheelsets) but riding and racing with a flat tire really slows the pace down. I had a set of 756's laying in my garage and instead of buying a set of Maxxis IT's I just thought I could get away with the 756's that were collecting dust in my garage... They didn't hold up...

Even though we didn't trophy I'll I can think about is how proud I am of my two best friends for giving it there all.. They rode one hell of a race.. No crashes and nobody got lost, we're all just so frustrated because of our flat tires... Everyone in our class came into Reno within the hour of eachother.

There are some things that worked real well on the bike.... The things that were great were:

Sealsavers, I can't believe my original seals are still intact.. We pounded the front end all day, no seal leakage... Pretty impressive...

The stock chain: Zero stretch... I'll argue all day long who ever disagrees that the stock Yamaha chain isn't tough... Flawless after a 500 mile day...

Uni airfilter: This filter did a great job all day long, clean air kept the motor purring..

Spy Magneto goggles: great fit and kept the majority of silty dust out of my vision.

Things that didn't do as well:

My GPR leaked, I've really only used the thing twice, it's leaked both times..

Dunlop 756's, they hook up big time but don't have the stiff side wall compound to resist flats.

Pics:

Dad,Derrik,Dan and Derek in Vegas

The bike

Me at the start..

Jimmy Lewis at the start

Just trying to hang on... haha

The dust was horrific

We made it, Derrik,Derek,Casey and myself....

I can't wait till next year.... We'll get em......

[thumperjp]

Sorry to hear about that.........

But I am very grad to hear that you are still in desert racing.

Hide

06WR450F

01YZ250WR

[desertroamer]

My rear end hurts just thinking about riding that far.

[Indy_WR450]

Cool race report! Next time you guys might finish in the top 3!

[WGP]

Nice job on the race!

I race/ride desert in Reno and have had great success with HD tubes and Maxxis Desert IT Tires, front and rear. Not only can they take sharp rock but the knobs will still be there after hundreds of miles.

I agree with the stock chain, I have adjusted it a couple times when new, and I keep checking it but it still is in spec after about 800 miles

I have a GPR stabalizer but have not experienced any leaking, about 400 miles now on it. Does this have an effect on stabilzer performance?? How bad is it leaking (is mine leaking without me knowing about it?)

You were most likely racing MRANN guys from Reno, scary fast

[Dan_Lorenze]

Sorry to hear about that.........

But I am very grad to hear that you are still in desert racing.

Hide

06WR450F

01YZ250WR

Hide, nice to hear from you!! I'm glad to see you're still on a Yamaha.. Do you still live in Japan?

[taksx]

Too cool

Few questions Dan,

1. What gearing did you guy's use?

2. Did you change your air filter at all during the race?

3. What's the price tag for this race? Can't find that anywere.

I'm trying to get some of the D37 Jackrabbits to race my 05 WR450

in a long race, I'll see jah out there next year...If not maybe out in

Lucerne.

Eddie.

[Dan_Lorenze]

Too cool

Few questions Dan,

1. What gearing did you guy's use?

2. Did you change your air filter at all during the race?

3. What's the price tag for this race? Can't find that anywere.

I'm trying to get some of the D37 Jackrabbits to race my 05 WR450

in a long race, I'll see jah out there next year...If not maybe out in

Lucerne.

Eddie.

Eddie, I put a 15t on the countershaft. No time to change the air filter, pit stops should be around 30 seconds otherwise I would've changed the filter. I think we paid 700 bucks for a team and Ironmen pay around 400. Well worth it considering the course is marked very well, it would take some effort to get lost. BITD is very organized... I haven't race many D37 desert events. I should but I probably save my money up for the big BITD events..

[thumperjp]

Hide, nice to hear from you!! I'm glad to see you're still on a Yamaha.. Do you still live in Japan?

Hi, Dan. I am still coming to US to try desert race once a year from Japan.

I tried my 5 times Vegas to Reno on the last week with my WR450F. I had a lot of fun again.

Hide

06WR450F in US

01YZ250WR in US

04YZ250WR Plated in Japan

[taksx]

Eddie, I put a 15t on the countershaft. No time to change the air filter, pit stops should be around 30 seconds otherwise I would've changed the filter. I think we paid 700 bucks for a team and Ironmen pay around 400. Well worth it considering the course is marked very well, it would take some effort to get lost. BITD is very organized... I haven't race many D37 desert events. I should but I probably save my money up for the big BITD events..

$700 split up by three guy's is not bad considering the Baja 500 is up in the thousands.

Did you sign up for a pit service company or did you have friends and family pit for you guy's.

Eddie.

[thumperjp]

Dan, I notice my misunderstand.

You were there and I was there. We didn't know each other.

Sorry for my misunderstanding. English comunication is difficult for me a little.

See you again in the desert someday.

Hide

[Dan_Lorenze]

Dan, I notice my misunderstand.

You were there and I was there. We didn't know each other.

Sorry for my misunderstanding. English comunication is difficult for me a little.

See you again in the desert someday.

Hide

Very cool Hide.....

[Dan_Lorenze]

$700 split up by three guy's is not bad considering the Baja 500 is up in the thousands.

Did you sign up for a pit service company or did you have friends and family pit for you guy's.

Eddie.

Eddie, I think it's pretty reasonable too. I would love to race the Baja 1000 but man, the logistics must be crazy, the hotels,insurance,transpo,food and entry. That's a lot of time and money... I'm gonna do it one day but I'm not ready to commit yet. For V2R we had one pit truck but we had to skip pits in order to get to other pits that were a must. We had a couple of sections where you'd have to ride 80 miles before pitting, It could have been bad, can you imagine riding 50 plus miles on a flat? But we got lucky, our flats were pretty close to the pits we were at.. I'd like to see you out there someday...

Dan

[taksx]

I'd like to see you out there someday.

Yup me too I'm really interested in Point A to Point B 500 mile races. I'll have to hook up with you guy's and talk about how to get started and what goes on.

Did the bike make it out okay? any bent rims or tired motor?

[Dan_Lorenze]

Yup me too I'm really interested in Point A to Point B 500 mile races. I'll have to hook up with you guy's and talk about how to get started and what goes on.

Did the bike make it out okay? any bent rims or tired motor?

Both rims were dented badly, I just laced up some black Excels.. I washed her up, changed the oil, cleaned the filter, took off the GPR, removed the Cycras and she looks like the day I bought it. The motor is tight and strong, I geared it back to stock, took off all the lights and I'm hittin I-5 MX on Friday with the TT gang.

[PMAUST]

Dan, I had no idea you raced V to R again this year. ??

I need to get you hooked up with my son Josh. It's funny because I worked with Dan Clark on the Gost rider enduro this past weekend. I mentioned to him that we should race the Vegas to Reno next year. Neither one of us is that competetive anymore something to do with old age I think.

Anyway, now that I am back in SoCal we need to hook up for a ride sometime soon. ?

[sTTeve]

Great report. No deserts like that in Europe, we have to go to Africa for that. I guess i am in the wrong continent.

450's are becoming more popular in desertracing overhere. For the last years 660 KTM Rally replica's were the hottest bike around, but i guess a prepared 450 is just as competitive.

[Dan_Lorenze]

Dan, I had no idea you raced V to R again this year. ?

I need to get you hooked up with my son Josh. It's funny because I worked with Dan Clark on the Gost rider enduro this past weekend. I mentioned to him that we should race the Vegas to Reno next year. Neither one of us is that competetive anymore something to do with old age I think. ??

Anyway, now that I am back in SoCal we need to hook up for a ride sometime soon.

Paul, we miss you over here on the WR side... ? If you're as fast as Dan then you're fast.. My buddies and I took him riding one time in Mojave a couple of years ago and couldn't believe the speed he has, very competent rider.. You guys could team up and probably do well.. I would like to see Josh at one of the BITD races sometime. Now that I did my first team race I've discovered the Ironman class is for the birds too much work for me...

Dan

[Dan_Lorenze]

Great report. No deserts like that in Europe, we have to go to Africa for that. I guess i am in the wrong continent.

450's are becoming more popular in desertracing overhere. For the last years 660 KTM Rally replica's were the hottest bike around, but i guess a prepared 450 is just as competitive.

Steve, the LC4 based KTMs are getting more and more popular here, I see them all the time. Honda has done so well with their 650 over here, KTM figures they have an answer to it. These Nevada desert races aren't so much an adventure race but a flat out race with no pacing yourself, the deep silt (sand) and unforgiving terrain tend to favor lighter bikes like 450s, 525s and the desert king Honda XR650. The 660 KTMs are really catching on here though, mostly for commuting and adventure riding.

Cheers.....

Dan

[taksx]

Both rims were dented badly, I just laced up some black Excels:

Black rims....I hate you man:worthy: Post a pic lets check it out with the new wheels.