Photo credit: Ricardo Domingos “Arrepiado” Facebook page
It’s not unusual to see someone spice up a superbike to make it go faster on the racetrack, and we’ve even seen some riders transforming a superbike to make trips around the world. But sometimes we get news of someone doing something completely crazy!
This time it was Portuguese daredevil and stunt rider Ricardo Domingos “Arrepiado” who made the headlines during the weekend, when he decided to enter the famous Baja Portalegre 500 racing a slightly modified Suzuki GSX-R1000.
Ricardo is a well-known stunt rider and he already had modified the Suzuki GSX-R1000 by adding a turbo kit to the inline-four-cylinder engine to use it on his stunt shows, but last weekend he did what many thought wouldn’t be possible and raced the Suzuki GSX-R1000 off road.
The bike itself was mainly stock, and his team only changed the suspension for off-road duties, the racing windscreen was changed for a smaller one and the usual clip-on we see on superbikes were changed to allow Ricardo to control the bike while riding standing on the foot pegs. Of course, the tyres were also different than the road going version, with the team opting to go for full off-road tyres for better grip.
He and the Suzuki GSX-R1000 entered the Hobby class, and surprised many fans and even his rivals when he finished the race in 3h23s with an average speed of 61,62 km/h! That’s the time Ricardo “Arrepiado” needed to complete the 221 km of his class on the Baja Portalegre 500, held in Alentejo, Portugal.
Photo credit: Ricardo Domingos “Arrepiado” Facebook page
Although he finished the race in 24th position out of 70 competitors, surprising all those who saw him speeding on the mud and dirt, crossing the water like if he was riding a dirt bike, not everything went well. When he was just 50 km from the end of the Baja, the rear shock on the Suzuki GSX-R1000 couldn’t handle the effort and gave up on him, so Ricardo had to slow down to make it to the end.