Our race preparations for the 2008 Baja 1000 are stepping into high gear. We are signing up with JCR Honda for pit services and they have asked us for our race class. A very good question. We’ve been sorting this issue out over the past few days, so I’ll let you in on what we’ve learned. There are a number of motorcycle classes in the Baja 1000:

Class 22: 250cc or more.
Class 21: 126cc to 250cc.
Class 20: 125cc or smaller two-stroke and 250cc or smaller four-stroke motorcycles.
Class 30: Riders over 30 years old.
Class 40: Riders over 40 years old.
Class 50: Riders over 50 years old.
Class 60: Riders over 60 years old.
Sportsman Motorcycle under 250cc
Sportsman Motorcycle over 250cc

The Dukes of Flatbush team consists of 4 riders in their 30′s riding a 450cc motorcycle. That means we can enter Class 22, Class 30 or Sportsman Motorcycle over 250cc. What to choose?

If we were trying to win a class, we’d race either Class 30 or Sportsman Motorcycle over 250cc. Those classes are considerably less competitive than Class 22. Class 22 is the ‘open’ class where the top professionals run. Our goal isn’t to win a class since it’s our first year- we just want to finish safely. With this goal in mind, we don’t care which class were in, we just want to get off the start line as early as possible. The reasons are simple – you get more daylight and you get more time on the course before the trophy trucks begin their high speed assault.

Class 22 is the first Class to start the race. Class 30 follows later. Sportsman Motorcycle over 250cc later. To put this in perspective, the start time difference between a Class 22 bike and a Sportsman bike could be as much as one hour. That’s one more hour of daylight, that’s one more hour to put distance between our bike and the trophy trucks. Class 22 is the best option for the Dukes of Flatbush team. The registration fee is higher, but depending on the lottery, we could start the 2008 Baja 1000. We better work on our wheelies…