Sweet Lamb Baja Rally Championship 2024 - Round 1

Joe was on his KTM 690 Enduro, James on his Yamaha XT660 Tenere, and Stuart on his Yamaha XT660R, all in the Big Bike 650cc+ class.

For James and Stuart, it was about getting as much off road practice as possible in preparation for the Hard Alpi Tour in Italy in September.

This is Joe's third year racing in the Sweet Lamb Baja Championship, with some good results, so he went with a very different agenda.......................don't get hurt this year, after breaking his ribs in an accident there last June .

Race 1 - Joe got a great start and put in a good first lap of the 15 mile long all mountain course, but a silly drop at the end of the lap damaged the wiring to the throttle as he finished the first lap. It took 3 hours to get the problem fixed, but with minutes to spare, it was ready for race 2 on Saturday afternoon.

Race 2 - Joe got another good start and settled into a good pace, completing 6 laps of the course. He actually crossed the line in 2nd place, but the scoring is based on the number of laps completed, and then the fastest laps are used to decide a tie. The guys in 3rd and 4th completed the same number of laps, but posted faster laps, so first place, and Joe in 2nd, were demoted to 3rd and 4th .

Race 3 - This time, it wasn't a good start. In fact, it was an awful start. Joe was caught completely off guard, with the ignition off when the start siren was sounded. You are meant to have a dead engine, but by leaving the ignition on, the bike is ready to fire into life. He set off at the back of the first 2 classes in 51st, but rode a solid race to come back through to 3rd in class.

The bike definitely needs some major suspension work before the next round. You can see how harsh the front end is on the film, and Joe managed to destroy the mounting rubbers for the handle bars in the first full race. By the end of the weekend his handlebars were moving around far too much for comfort.

One area we couldn't complain at all about was the tyres, with Michelin's incredible combination of an Enduro Hard on the front and a Desert Race on the rear proving a perfect choice for the terrain.

You can watch Joe's first lap from race 3, including his terrible start for yourself

Pic by the excellent Photo, video, aerial