In such preparation you worry about everything from your health, the bike, the course, the logistics, your chase... this is a full team effort from everybody so you can imagine the stress balls from everybody you come in contact with Big Balls. Fortunately our team consists of people that have been around a lot of racing and thus seems that we control the stress through proper preparation and therefore we get to enjoy and after all we are supposed to be having fun! Speaking of fun most race teams and chase will agree that the pre-run time you spend wether 1 or 2 weeks is one of the reasons we love the Baja 1000 and for me this was also the case with old friends coming down to ride with and tell stories of the days adventure although getting stuck out in the dark is never fun at the time but you eventually make it in and look back and say man that was fun.
The race this year was a loop starting and finishing in Ensenada and as the case with a loop race the Score crew tries to make it as difficult as possible and they did their job! Whichever the task everybody has the same course to deal with so just get your head around it and get-er-done without drama or breaking the bike. Our bike was brand new by KTM of course 450XCF from All American and Stefano had it dialed in with help from Mike Crow suspension, Baja Designs, Ricky Stator and the rest of the goodies that go into a 1000 race machine. Our race plan consisted of taking advantage of every body's skill set Jano Montoya loves the whoops thank god, Francisco (Pancho) Septien lives in Ensenada and knows it like his back yard as goes the same for Gerardo (Nino) Rojas living 200K south along the Pacific and for me the south end no mans land was my rock pile to figure out.
Ready Set Race! We did our work attended the drivers meeting got the new cumbersome Score tracking safety devise 'Stella' mounted up had our race plans now execute! Our class was stacked with many fast experienced riders with Collie Potters 400X team, the 455X Mike Johnson crew wanting that championship badly and Chad Thornton's 422X looking to play spoiler.
As the green flag dropped its almost a relief to be doing what we came to do but with only the live tracking to watch for updates it can be frustrating. Yes we had another new system that everybody was counting on to see the progress but once again right from the start it was not showing all the bikes including the 455x which was never out of our dust or us eating theirs. With Pancho on the bike from the start we were confident he would pass it off to Nino without issues and hopefully up front or close and that was the case 422X 404x 455x!! Nino on the bike now and down the coast they came towards me @ mile 225 patiently waiting and stretching out with Andrew and Jae getting my final prep and race brief.
As Nino came roaring in our exchange we changed tire and filter as the 455X came roaring by us then the 422 all within 30 seconds of each other! oh boy it was going to be a long battle. My section was no mans land out into the rock piles of places unknown for a 200 mile rip but first was the sand whoop section from the coast up the El Rosario arroyo this was not my favorite and it caught me being cautious as Score had 6 VCP's in a few miles. VCP?? these are virtual check points or beacons that are placed in corners of the course that are electronically tracked by the device on the bike and must be hit or you will receive a 10 min penalty and thats no bueno. This year the course had 125 VCP so plenty of opportunity to miss one and blow your whole race or at least set you back a place or 2 which everybody knows and has to respect. I had a good placement of these as I was running Lead Nav for pre-running but when I hit my line and knew I needed to hit one but the new tracker did not beep at me so slam on the binders and did an quick donut and BEEP ya baby lets truck on! thank you Stella.
As the miles of rocks when the pits came and the whole crew was spot on with our plan for gas and a quick check of the bike 1 pit 2 pit 3 pit bang! sweet. As a old dude racing the Baja 1000 I tell myself to always just race your race don't be a fool! don't get caught up in the excitement of thousands of race crazy fans, keep your vision of passing the bike to your team mate, and never ever think about anything except the present moment! Rocks Oh Nasty Stick Rut Silt Edge of Death What French Bicycles Packed to the hilt right in the middle of the nastiest Rock Pile you shitting me!
At race mile 365 my last pit I was happy to see our remote savoir and friend pOncho to give me a quick drink and supportive words for the rip in more Fricking#% rocks! I told him man I am tried and he said ya go get it! Ya man. This section was actually a lot of fun, the course flowed, your having a blast and scenery here was unbelievable just like Catavina but in the middle of nowhere, thanks Score Crew Roger, this is why I do what I do, mom. Ok thats done Mas piedra's and yes that beautiful day its almost gone the afternoon sun was right in my grill and well more rocks and Wholly Shit that 1A Super JR Quad comes ripping by me with a quick nod and see ya. I was glad to see the the crowds / film crews / silt clouds of race fans watching all the Trucks /Cars heading outbound / but most importantly My 404X Team mates awaiting me.
Get me off this pony almost 5 hours I was ready! no get off's no killed motor bike perfect, lights on, new tire, another silt filled filter change Go Nino Go! off he blasted into the early dusk. Jae always wants to be where i get off the bike and she didn't disappoint excited with live FB feed and a cold electrolyte we celebrated with the crew and Caputo and Jano blasted off to the next pit trying to chase down the front leaders that we had to chase down by 20 min. Though the crazy route, back up the coast these are all ag areas that Nino well knows and with all the crazy crazy crowds of these towns spread along Hwy 1 all I can say is glad I wasn't have to deal with these congested areas at race speed!
When Jano got on the bike for the 1st time he was more than ready and at mile 485 Nino in for another perfect pit. Jano off and blasting to the other side of the course we were down 12 min now and from the depths of a few accidents here came Dave Glass with the 400X team wow we all say its a long race and anything can happen. Jano was up for the task except it got cold 37 what yep well that's better than the 500 with temps of 120 Baja, got to love it!
About this point our live tracker took dump yes still tracking with the Score officials but just not the one everybody watches and starts calling what happened bike down?? rider down?? its the other side of the mountains so we dont know? The chase crew hauling ass doing the job at task and Pancho has a full support and family waiting over there no word until Jano was off the bike and no worries everything was perfect. All except the race was still as close as it can be 4 teams now within gleaming the prize in sight! Mile 700ish we were all so close our pit crew ran to wrong bike of 422 in the dust cloud of 3 teams trying to get the jump on the dust in the middle of the night well this was time for Pancho to crack the hammer and get those Baja Designs lights seeing clear trail and when Jano got the bike with 40 miles to go we had a 4 min lead. The last stretch back into Ensenada is a tricky one with so many people camped everywhere with there blazing camp fires for a good dose of distraction but Jano did his own blazing and brought the bike to the finish line where we all greeted him with the shower of champagne for the win and new 40 pro champions! Wow what a race as always but no problems no crashes everybody healthy and no penalty's for the official result!!!
We all were quite happy and feeling proud so of course we had to relish the moment with plenty of cerveza's while telling our stories of the day. A big thank you to our awesome chase team for this task can't be done without all 20 of you. Thanks to Jano for making all this happen and being the best team captain, Pancho and Nino always fast as the wind and of course our wives who let us carry on like school boys in this crazy sport we all put so much into.
