Racing Baja Sur Style!

Our priorities living here are foremost to promote and operate Captain Baja Tours but racing has always been in my blood and when the first race of the season was being held in our town Los Barriles the temptation was too much how do I sign up! You see racing down here is a different beast than what we have become accustomed to in the states. For us that take on the challenge of off road racing we usually wake up way early to drive or make the effort to camp for some extra sleep before the early morning event gets rolling in the middle of nowhere. We take on rituals, gear up, ready our mojo and mount our prepped steed to take on the abuse for whatever distance the checkered awaits! Our wifes, kids, girlfriends, family and friends gather to watch, pit and give general support but beyond that the fan base is relatively small and we are OK with that because what we do is not normal its a heavy personal accomplishment and serious adrenaline fulfillment or as Jimmy Lewis stated Motion Addicted Disorder.
Enter Mexico racing we all think about the Score 250, 500, 1000 some of us me included had to dream for many years before getting to experience these great races and most are still dreaming because location, cost, wife, team, broken bones, etc ya ya I have had plenty of excuses matter fact all of these! But really us lucky one's that have gotten to experience the grande baja races have gotten addicted because of the excellent competition, media coverage, great parties before and after, and the huge national fan base that treats us racers like superstars and truly treat off road racing as a national sport!
Baja Sur, Ok I know!

Wiley Coyote fired up the bike rapped it out and the fans went NUTS!

False start downtown LaPaz in front of 1000's

Fans for life!

So back to question how do I enter my first Baja Sur race? Well first off a competitor needs to get a Federal Motorcycling Race Licence which requires a medical background checkup plus blood type certificate Humm good ideal ehh! Gather your $$, Doc's, picture send in and wait, you always have to remember Poco De Poco or basically things do take a little longer here in Mexico and forces our US cultural beliefs to step it down a gear!. Next is to make contact with the race association which is our fabulous ASMAC BCS and get a bank account number and make a 300 pesos deposit to assure your in for the start position draw, make sure you keep the bank receipt because when you make this deposit there is no reference to who made it.

Following the Score format all races down here consist of a Revision or Contingency the day before and since this is a National sport well its time to start the festivities/party but instead of the conceived notion that you will have tech done, finish final prep, get a pasta dinner and head to bed early BUT NOOO in traditional Mexican fashion the revision doesn't start until 5pm and nobody even shows til dark. Around 9pm the organizers get into their roll and lines start forming for tech inspection bikes quads and all the truck/ car classes start into the process in which the groves of people also appear from everywhere and with night upon us the music gets louder the MC gets into his job with plenty of details of who the teams are! its hard not to start thinking about that 4:30 wake up!!!

I think this season my "lay it down" time has always been after midnight as this fiesta thing is contagious for all of us, Oh ya did i mention the pre-entry draw is not until 11pm!! Yep 11.

Race morning comes and the usual routine Goggles X, hydrate X, hydrate again!X, revisit pit plan w the other sleepyheads X, then you remember somebody mentioned a 6am pre race medical exam Ehh!. So as it flows with our Fed Licence we are insured during events and you have to get a pre race med check up and cert. wrist band what a great concept right! You also must bring your helmet to confirm that you have your name, ph#, race number and blood type on your helmet another great practice ditto.

Time to get down & get with it!! almost all our races are 30 second interval starts thus making a timed event, when contemplating which class to enter I chose the 30 pro class which puts me starting behind all the open pro guys and following me will be the open pro quads. The races are open to pre-run 2 weekends before and the courses are marked well with flagging and arrow's so of course at least 1 pre-run is in order with the Captain Baja friends, pit posse and other competitors and if you are not aware this is always a great time for all! especially here in Mexico. Seeing some new country stopping in different villages to say hello pass a couple stickers and get lots of smiling children to grandma's peering from there ranchero's yes it makes you feel Muy Bueno for riding a dirt bike, not the worried US mindset that a USFS/BLM piss fir willy is waiting for you around the next corner in your favorite childhood riding area.

When the green flag drops all these people are waiting for you along with their full extended family and friends it's a National Offroad Race Holiday and all seem to observe this because its seriously 7 am and the 1000's are ready to cheer, wave, take pictures, video's along the 300 K course. I had no booby traps, arrows moved and in general the crowds know what is going on and respect the event completely, the local Policia control all the road crossing and town control with complete authority to ensure an even greater than expected safety factor. Wow things go well for my first race the pit crew does a fantastic job with all stops and I am able to keep a steady pace with 1st OA fellow gringo Jeff Quade and push the last 40 k to close the gap and take the 1st OA by 1min 12 sec. I guess you could say things went well and upon the trophy presentation I got the 1st OA from another fellow gringo/ racer Roger Norman who was in attendance to check out the offroad seen here in Baja Sur. All the competitors were great and this really feels like a old school 70's 80's racing event as anybody will do anything to help you out I cant wait until the next race!