ou’ve no doubt seen or read about project bikes before. Yes, this is also a project bike…and more. It’s Ben Asaff’s “Southwick Project,” which includes both a bike and a rider. The goal is to not only build a competitive motocross bike out of a stock one, but for Ben Asaff to qualify for the field at this year’s AMA Motocross National at Southwick, Massachusetts.

     Asaff, who currently works for Parts Unlimited as a field sales rep in and around his hometown of Rindge, Hew Hampshire, has held an AMA Pro racing license since 1995. He has a few top 20 finishes to his credit at AMA MX Nationals and his career was developing steadily along until some injuries limited the schedule a bit. But through it all one track remained on Ben’s schedule: Southwick. That’s just been a track that he likes and that has been good to him. He entered and made the Main Events there in 2003 and 2004, but an injury kept him out of the final for 2005.
     Late in 2005, Ben was already making plans to take another shot at Southwick in 2006. He mentioned his plans to Lou Lopez, National Sales Manager at Parts Unlimited, and the idea was born: let’s get behind Ben and help him get a really competitive machine to ride for 2006. We know he’s a good rider and with some good industry support, who knows where it will take him?

     To get in the “show” at Southwick, Ben knew he needed someone to help him make his plan come to life. Luckily he didn’t have to travel far to find help. One of his Parts Unlimited dealers is Quint Boisvert, who runs Quint Boisvert Racing, Inc., a motorsports performance business in nearby Littleton, New Hampshire. Quint has built and tuned everything from motorcycles, ATVs and snowmobiles to top line race cars for over twenty years. His success in NASCAR racing in the northeast is legendary and includes many season championships.
     As it turned out, Quint had an order in for a new CRF450 for his personal use, but he was more than happy to offer it for the project when he heard Ben’s plan for Southwick. Boisvert knows what it takes to put a competitive machine on the racetrack and we’re sure the CRF450 will be a great bike for Ben to ride.

     There are still more sponsors to confirm, but at press time the following companies have agreed to help Ben achieve his goal at Southwick: Factory Connection, Pro Circuit, Moose, Smith, Suomy, Alpinestars, Renthal, Hinson, Cycra and Pirelli. Watch for an updated list in our next issue.