Coming of Age

Mark Saturday February 7th as the day that we witnessed the young sport of RallyMoto mature. With sun spilling over the rooftops of Cheraw's main street, 41 bikes lined up across from 18 rally cars for the morning Parc Expose before the Sandblast Rally. Spectators from near and far came armed with cameras, questions, and in many cases, motorcycles of their own. As usual, the blue and white cloud of BMWs argued with a sea of orange KTMs for dominance on the sidewalk and in the sand, but this year the battlefield was punctuated with the colors of six Suzukis, three Hondas, a Yamaha, an Aprilia and one Husqvarna. Unlike in other motorsports, any of the bikes resting on their sidestands that morning were probably capable of winning the Sandblast Rally, whether they were propelled by 450ccs or 1200.

Riders and drivers gather for the driver's meeting in downtown Cheraw.

Every stage starts with a countdown.
Of course, the true determining factor in the rally would be the rider. The defending Sandblast and Atlantic RallyMoto Cup champion, Mark Ely, was not on the start list for this event, so the competition among riders who had been training to take his place was especially intense. A couple of the usual front runners blasted through the first special and immediately put a cushion of a couple of minutes between themselves and the rest of the field on the 14.27 mile stage. Next through the finish was Peter Canning on a G450 X, who tied KTM rider Chris Herman for third on the stage, followed by Doug Morrison 12 seconds later, and Joe Warner 5 seconds after that.

Doug Morrison on Stage 1Peter Canning using all the road has to offerBefore Stage 1 was finished, word came across the Ham radio net that all 200 spectator guides had been sold and that there were people waiting in line for more to arrive from the local copy shop. The day was already starting to break records, and that was before the first car even started. All along the stages, BMW riders who had been looking for an excuse to take a trip to South Carolina parked their airheads, K-bikes, GSes and RTs in the sand and stood witness to the hardest charging RallyMoto action that the sport has seen to date.

Early birds stake out their spots on Stage 1.Although each motorcycle is released from the start of each stage at 30-second intervals, there seemed to be more handlebar to handlebar action as the riders sorted themselves out by ability on the first stages. Peter Canning hardly let off the throttle through the corners of Stage 2, finding his groove for the day and finishing in second place on the stage.

Max Stratton shortly after overtaking the Yamaha.
The riders took nourishment and fuel at the service stop between stages three and four while Joe Warner spooned on a new tire after suffering a flat.

It doesn't take long for clean bikes to look like they've been ridden all day.Stages 3 and 4 offered spectacular spectating. Long fast straights that lead into sharp 90 or 180 degree turns always catch a few riders off guard, and this year was no different. However, where in years past tentative riders would grab all of their brakes, stall the engine and then fall over in the sand to the cheers of the crowd, most riders opted to use their right hand instead and use the momentum to carry them through the turns, with sand flying everywhere. These are the stages where the fastest guys are not the crowd pleasers. As long as you're riding on the ragged edge, the fans will be smiling, cheering, and blowing their air horns.

Jason Adams working to put some distance on a KTM.
Andrew Phillips had great stage times all day. He just missed a top 5 finish on Stage 3.
Jim Doustou manhandled the buffalo to 5th place in the Motorcycle Heavy division.After a quick service for fuel, the riders were off to hit some of the fastest speeds of the day. The long downhill straight away on Stage 5 could accommodate all of the throttle a rider was willing to donate. The surface was packed hard, with about a centimeter of fine sand on top, leaving trailing clouds of dust to be whisked off into the pines by a warm wind.

Looking down at the speedometer is not recommended, but you don't need to see a number to know it's fast.A multitude of riders were also whisked off into the pines on this stage as a result of a rider who overshot a turn and severed a banner tape. The tape, having blown into the woods, was no longer in place to point riders in the correct direction and many subsequent riders continued down the previously closed road before realizing that they were on the wrong path. The detour was ruled a "force majeur" (aka crap happens) situation and all riders who were on the stage after the offending rider were all given the same time as the offending rider. The idea is that everyone behind the rider who was on the stage when the problem occurred would benefit since the riders are supposedly seeded by speed. However, in this case, since the offending rider was seeded early and had taken a time-consuming detour, the time that was assigned to the 35 other riders likely penalized some of the riders who were battling in the top ten. But things like that happen in rally. The only thing to do is move on to service and then tackle the next stage.

Steve Hancock, RallyMoto support crew, chef, umbrella gorilla and gas man.
It was TJ Jarret's turn to do some work on his motorcycle during the second service stop. A crash during training last fall on his new G450 X, left the tail of the bike a bit fragile and unfortunately his repair came undone during the stage. The 450 looked like a shark had taken a bite off the tail, but TJ kept it moving through the dust and low sun of stages 6 and 7.

TJ punches through a dust cloud on Stage 6.Ben Stratton leaves a trail of dust.Joe Warner finds some clear air on his way to 3rd place in the Motorcycle Heavy division.A number of new firsts in RallyMoto had occurred by the time the rally was over. We were ecstatic over the pace of the rally, and thanks to the excellent corps of organizers and volunteers, we finished the stages in daylight! For the first time in a RallyMoto event, the inevitable mechanical, physical, or mental breakdowns that characterize motorsports competition were avoided and all of the TEAM MAX BMW riders who started finished the rally. The other notable event was that the top two riders, Mike Gilkey and Bill Conger, posted faster overall times than every car.

A look at the result sheet reveals a solid effort by our TEAM MAX BMW riders:

Peter Canning, 2nd Place, Motorcycle Modified Lite (5th Overall)
Doug Morrison, 2nd Place, Motorcycle Heavy (6th Overall)
Joe Warner, 3rd Place, Motorcycle Heavy (9th Overall)
Max Stratton, 4th Place, Motorcycle Heavy (13th Overall)
Andrew Phillips, 6th Place, Motorcycle Medium Stock (14th Overall)
Jim Doustou, 5th Place, Motorcycle Heavy (16th Overall)
Ben Stratton, 4th Place, Motorcycle Medium Modified (20th Overall)
TJ Jarret, 13th Place, Motorcycle Medium Stock (27th Overall)
Jason Adams, 7th Place, Motorcycle Heavy (28th Overall)
The next RallyMoto event is the all-tarmac Rally Tennessee in late May. We've got some track days scheduled on April 27th and 28th, so if you'd like to come out and ride with TEAM MAX BMW, make sure you sign up early!

As always, thanks for riding along.

Visit MAXBMWMotorcycles.com

Fire and Ice

We always know that South Carolina in February has the potential to be cold. But on Friday morning, the mercury was hovering near 12 degrees and the sandhills were still holding a bit of snow from a weather event earlier in the week. We've seen frost on the seats of our bikes at the Sandblast Rally before and were it not for the very real 15 hour drive that most of us had done the night before, we'd think we were still in the northeast.



For many of us, the route to Cheraw is familiar by now. Hours and hours of Interstate, punctuated by sights and events that range from the curious to the sublime. Encounters with wildlife can get the adrenaline pumping, and then there are the reminders that you always need to be paying attention on the road. Stories of funny signs and descriptions of watercolor sunsets were trumped this year by the encounter that Max had on the Merritt Parkway, relatively close to home. Identified in the local newspaper only as an "auto technician", Max and another motorist came to the aid of an accident victim, pulling him to safety while his car burned. (story here)



Running a close second in the heroic travel category is Ed McCormack, a new TEAM MAX BMW rider who is entering his first RallyMoto this weekend at Sandblast - on his R1200 GS Adventure. Rather than trailer his bike, Ed elected to climb on his big Adventure at his home near Albany and rode the 950+ miles to Cheraw. Just the simple fact that Ed rode to the rally impressed a lot of riders, but his achievement will prove to be even more memorable considering the ride was made during a week when it has been unseasonably cold along the east coast.



Regardless of the temperature outside, our welcome to the town of Cheraw is as warm and welcoming as ever.



And there is a benefit to the cold weather: the sandy roads through the pines appear to be firm and grippy, which should please many of the early seed riders in the first rally of the Atlantic RallyMoto Cup season.



Among those riders is Doug Morrison, who took home second overall in 2008 on his R1200 HP2 Enduro, known affectionately as the "blue buffalo" (the bike, not Doug). He is joined by three other HP2 buffalo jockeys: Joe Warner, who has been riding with confidence and quietly moving up the results sheet at each event;



Jimmy Doustou, who will be putting his enduro experience to work in his third rally, and Max Stratton on an HP2 that just last week had its guts spread out on a bench in the shop. The HP2 underwent a transplant of some of its critical organs and has now been dubbed the "bionic buffalo". A time-lapse video of the R1200 Power Package installation being performed appears below:



Just like in the video, time seems to get compressed at a Rally. The day began with the unloading of all of the bikes and equipment and then riders who have not yet competed in three rallies were required to attend a two-hour Novice Competitor Orientation (aka NCO). Out of NCO, riders ran the gauntlet of paperwork and signatures that is registration and then presented their bikes for technical inspection. During tech, the examiners confirm that all of the safety equipment is present on the bike and the rider, and that each bike is classified correctly.

TEAM MAX BMW has a strong presence in the medium weight division, with four competitors riding the G450 X. Andrew Phillips, who ran his first rally on an 1150 GS Adventure, and then ran an HP2 at Sandblast last year, is on the 450 X again after a good showing at Black River Stages. Peter Canning will no doubt be pushing the limits of the 450 through the pine forests, and both Ben Stratton and TJ Jarrett have swapped their HP2s in favor of the 450 X for Sandblast.



The customary shakedown stage on Friday afternoon drew a strong crowd of riders, including Jason Adams, who arrived in South Carolina just in time to complete his registration and technical inspection before the window closed. Jason's R100 GS PD appears to be in better health than it was at this event last year, and his sand riding skills have been sharpened after spending a week in Tunisia last October, riding as a member of the inaugural International GS Trophy winning TEAM USA. Speaking of health, judging by the spectator attendance at shakedown, organizers are expecting a record crowd on Saturday, which promises to be sunny and in the high 60's.



The nice weather should dry out the sand and it won't take long for the aggressive knobbies to till the surface in the corners. For the riders in the middle to back of the 41-bike field, the challenge will start early. We'll do our best to collect the photos, stories and results of the day. Thanks for tuning in and welcome to season three of RallyMoto action!

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