KTM returned to Baja racing two seasons ago with support from outside sponsor Bonanza Plumbing, and in 2012, KTM will remain linked to Bonanza Plumbing but is investing resources to put forth a true factory effort in the Baja race series, hoping to capture the victory at the premier Baja event: the Baja 1000.

As the KTM team’s most experienced Baja team member, Quinn Cody has collected 4 Baja 1000 titles and 2 Baja 500 titles. He is also a former Dakar Rally Rookie of the Year and was a member of KTM’s Baja effort the last year the team competed at the factory level.

“I could not be more excited to be a part of KTM’s new Baja program. With 2012 being one of the most competitive years in Baja racing history, I am looking forward to applying my experience to the team to help put KTM on the top of the podium,” stated Cody.

The team will compete aboard KTM’s 2012 450 SX-F. The dual-overhead cam, carbureted engine has been very successful in Dakar Rally racing. Team Manager, Antti Kallonen, says “We are very fortunate to receive support from the KTM Factory in Austria. The team will receive the same engine as the Dakar team runs and we feel that motor is perfectly designed for the challenging conditions of Baja racing.

Returning to the Baja series at the Factory level has taken a lot of organization and has provided challenges to each team member, however, we are confident that with the support of our sponsors and our factory help that we can put our team in contention to win this years Baja 1000.”

You can view the most current Chasing Summer Video Episodes here on QuinnCody.com
Kendall Norman and Quinn Cody, former Baja champions and bromance aficionados, start on an epic dirt bike journey with only a t-shirt, swimming trunks, sneakers, riding gear, and some flip flops. Grab that throttle and hang tight for this YouTube exclusive series.

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The Dakar Race of 2012 came to an abrupt ending for U.S.A Hopeful Off-Road Racer Quinn Cody who was involved in a high-speed crash shortly after the third waypoint check in Stage 3 of the DAKAR Rally 2012. He escaped grave injuries but head, shoulder and collarbone injuries made it impossible for him to continue the rally. A few hours after the horrendous accident a heartbroken Quinn said in a televised bivouac interview, “So many people put so much into our American effort DAKAR entry—months and months of work and to have this happen—to be leaving now, after Stage 3….it’s just a bummer.”

As the first racers were crossing the finish line of Stage 3 at San Juan, officials published an announcement on the DAKAR race website. “American Quinn Cody, [was] assisted after a fall by Juan Pedrero. [He] soon met up with one of the medical helicopters, whose team diagnosed a suspected fracture of the collar bone and head injury. His condition is not alarming, but nevertheless he has had to withdraw from the race”

A short time later JCR Honda made the following announcement: “We are very proud of Quinn and this news is horrible to hear but the most important thing is that he is OK and being treated for his injuries. Quinn is as tough as they come and while this is a temporary setback it will only serve to strengthen his resolve to win the mighty DAKAR.”

Quinn raced last year’s DAKAR for the first time, riding with Team Honda Europe. He captured a Rookie of the Year award for his exceptional finish of 9th overall, an unusual accomplishment for a first time DAKAR racer. The DAKAR has long been regarded by those in racing as “the toughest off-road race in the world”. >

The only American on Bel-Ray Super B Honda Team (formerly Team Honda Europe) Quinn is considered the star of their team and they had high hopes he would finish in the first five for 2012.

Team owner Henk Hellegers said, “It’s been a very unfortunate end to what was looking like a good possibility for strong finishes in this year’s DAKAR race. With Quinn, he was riding really well and had regained his top ten position, so we were looking to make some progress with him. He had a huge crash and medical examinations have shown he has possibly broken a piece off the collarbone, and he has also lanced his eyebrow quite badly, which has been stitched. “He also seems to be suffering from concussion, so he was unable to continue and is now flying home to receive medical attention. I’d like to thank everyone for their hard work – we have a really good team this year, although we’ve never had so much bad luck, but this is the DAKAR and anything can happen.”

On January 4 the day after the accident Quinn tried to board a plane and airport officials refused him, sending him away to obtain a written medical release from a doctor. After doing this he caught a flight to Santiago, then Lima where he spent the night. The morning of January 5 he caught the Lima flight to Los Angeles and he’s on his way home. “

10 stitches in my face and a broken collar bone but I walked away, my lucky day..” he said on Facebook.

“Today just wasn’t

my day,I need to consider my self lucky that I’m still in the race. On the liaison this morning my tire blew off the bead, who ever mounted it broke the bead and kept mounting it. When it blew it also put a hole in the rear tank and jacked up the brake line, I was BUMMED and thought my rally was over, I didn’t have a support truck with in two hours of me and no cell service.

I pulled the wheel off and stood by the road (lucky I was still on the service route) and ended up flagging down the big KTM service truck and they gave me a tire and moose and even mounted it for me, those guys saved my ass! I almost missed the start of the special but managed to get there.

The special started out wide open at high elevation for the first 140k I almost never took it off the stop. Then it dropped into some rocky sandwashes and into the desert, I was riding good then the bike started cutting out, I messed with it for a while then just rode with it cutting out finally it got so bad I stopped and took a pice of fuel line and bypassed the fuel pump and it corrected the problem but still lost a bunch of time.”

Here are Quinns times at each Way Point during Stage 2, A 295 Km stage, yesterdays was much shorter.
WayPoint 1 Quinn Cody 4th place – 1 min 33 seconds behind first place leader
Way Point 2 Quinn Cody 4th place – 1 min 34 seconds behind first place leader
Way Point 3Quinn Cody 4th place – 1 min 15 seconds behind first place leader
Way Point 4  -  20th place – 11 min 29 seconds behind first place leader
Finish of Stage one – 24th place 19 min 55 seconds behind first place leader

Photographs from BreauxmanLIVE

Photo by http://www.facebook.com/BreauxmanLIVE

Quinn was 00:20 up on Cyril for 3rd OA at one point this AM before a fuel issue set him back 20 min. Photof rom: http://www.facebook.com/BreauxmanLIVE

Quinn Cody did the best for the Americans today in Argentina with a 4th in today’s stage 1 “special” after starting 9th. Jonah Street also moved up to 10th on the short opener.

“This stage was fun and super short along the beach and through some dunes”, Cody explained, ”It was crazy and there was a 35mph cross wind that was blowing us all over the place…..My Iritrack came loose and started bouncing around so I had to try to hold it in place while I was riding the last few miles. The liaison was hell like 760k forever!!!! Crazy hot down here!” – Source: http://www.race-dezert.com

THE DAKAR CHANGES WHO YOU ARE

Three-time Baja 1000 winner, Quinn Cody made his Dakar debut in 2011, which was a rude but promising experience for the American rider who finished 9th overall. After this life-size learning experience, Quinn Cody is now aiming higher. Contrary to last year, he has been able to train on his Honda CFR 450X all season long and will set off form Mad Del Plata clearly better prepared. Well aware that he still has plenty more to learn, the California native feels he is capable of finishing in the top five.

“My first Dakar was an incredible experience. I had no idea what I was in for. The Dakar changes you. There are so many emotions. I knew the competition level was high, I was ready for that but I was surprised by the scope of the event. Once I finished one stage and looked at the map and the remaining stages I understood how difficult the Dakar is. Throughout out the rally, I was already thinking about the following editions. For this year, I prepared the bike in the United States and I did the development work myself, in contrast to last year when I saw the bike for the first time in Buenos Aires. I had never even sat on a rally bike before. The goal will be to finish each stage with the hope of finishing in the top five. I don’t consider myself a favourite. I have the speed but I still don’t have the experience. For sure I will still make some mistakes.”

Source: www.Dakar.com

Johnny Campbell (JCR Honda owner) says: “It was a long day. It was really rough and I was happy to be in the air with the helicopter and not on the ground riding the bike because it was really rough. All the guys did a really good job and it was a tough race. It was very, very rough.”

Kendall Norman (JCR Honda CRF450X) says: “It was a rough morning for me. I crashed the bike about 20 miles in but everything was alright and I started finding my rhythm, got down the road and I was really excited to get through Borrego and the road crossing. My first stint was almost over and I hit the biggest mound ever and just sent it at 70 miles per hour and took the biggest digger.

“I don’t know how I popped up so quickly but everything seemed okay though I was pretty banged up. I kept the bike going, got it to the pit and had to do a few repairs on it. Quinn (Cody) pinned it hard and did a really good job and so did Logan (Holladay.) I got back on in the meadow in Valle de Trinidad and took her home at night. It was a really tough day. Baja had its moments with me today.

“It didn’t make it easy. We had a challenger on the Kawasaki with my former teammate Robby Bell. They were there all day. They fought hard and kept us honest. It’s going to be tough in the years to come in Baja. It sounds like there’s going to be a lot more competition and it’s going to elevate the sport and what we have to do to come down here and be successful. It’s good for the sport, good for Baja and exciting for all the fans too.”