The Baja 1000 Flashlight Ride!
Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 7:45PM The 2011 year has come to an end with the SCORE Baja 1000 being the final race of a 3 race series (Baja 250, Baja 500 and Baja 1000) to determine the Class 50 Champions. The WPS/Fly, MX43.com, Works Connection, Lucas Oils, Liquid Image sponsored team mounted on a CRF 450X Honda came away with the Championship the hard way.
After winning the Baja 250 and 500, the Baja 1000 was not going to be done the easy way. It seems that everything that could go wrong would go wrong. I was to be the fourth rider and have a firsthand seat, literally, on the bike when many of the problems occurred.
Ok, let me back up to the beginning. We started out great with Dave doing his part and taking the bike from the start to the 90 mile range to hand off to Charlie.
Charlie was to take it to Ray at race mile 207 for a pit and rider change. During what Charlie described as a great ride he encountered an errant rock that sent him tumbling at high speed in a very rocky section known as the Summit. Now remember he is telling this story while holding his ribs with a large bruise on his forehead and looking at me through glazed eyes! It should be noted that Charlie passed for the lead a few miles before his big crash. He gets up and going, albeit slowly and continues on to the next pit for gas. The pit crew sees him and tries to get him to call it a day but Charlie will have none of it and says he has to get the bike to the next pit for a rider exchange to keep any chance alive of winning the championship. Hardcore!
So with probable broken ribs and a concussion he sets out to the next pit for a rider exchange. Word has come over the radio that he has had a crash and will be late. Ray is the next rider and waits anxiously with Jim Dizney (rider of record) at the next pit. Charlie arrives about an hour or so late and is helped off the bike. The pit crew looks over the bike, sees the visible damage and begins to work at straightening things so the bike will make it to the finish. About 30 minutes later Ray is on the bike and on his way with a noticeably bent subframe, handlebars and clutch lever. We are now about an hour and a half down from the leading bike.
Ray has a good ride in his section and makes up a bit of time. He did mention later that he called me a few names when he had a crash and came to his last set of endless whoops during his 125 mile ride. You see it was my call to divide up this part of the course between Ray and me for the race. I tried to be fair and gave Ray the earlier part of the day to have the most daylight during the race. As it turned out I gave myself the shaft without knowing it!
With the crash and bike repair we were now later than planned and my section went from being a daylight/dusk ride to mostly a night time ride.
I had approximately 130 miles to cover and got on the bike about 4:30pm at race mile 330. This section should take me about 3 hours. The sun was setting about 5pm and with the mountains to the west it was dusk when I climbed on the bike. It all went well for the first 30 minutes of my ride until I was forced to turn the lights on for the remainder of my section. This was my first experience at racing in Baja with lights at night. It was kind of fun to ride at high speeds with only the headlights to find my way. The fun suddenly ended when the lights went out about 10 minutes after turning them on. Talk about dark! Next time you are driving on a country back road turn off your lights and try to stay on the road! I could barely see the ground much less ride at any speed. It seems that the lighting system had suffered some sort of crash induced damage when Charlie took his tumble. It was not visible and there was no way of knowing until they failed. So I was stuck in a desert sand wash with a bike that ran fine but had no lights on a moonless night. I tried to keep going at a walking pace for a bit while hoping someone would come by. Finally a rider did come by and I jumped on his wheel to use his lights for the ride to the next pit only a few miles away. At the pit we looked over the lighting system and couldn’t find anything visibly wrong.
The mechanics charged my battery for about 20 minutes and I was once again on my way……….for another 10 minutes! No lights again when they drained the battery. So now I am stuck in a canyon with no lights and again waiting for a rider to come by. Finally rider #305 comes by and I jump on his wheel to use his lights. When I tried to talk to him he answered in Spanish so he and I didn’t have much of a conversation since I speak no Spanish, but he realized what I was doing and didn’t have a problem with it. I rode with him for about 30 miles when we got to San Felipe to see if we could do something about the lights. Unfortunately there were no parts and no fix there so Jen (Ray’s wife) taped a flashlight to my helmet and showed me where the switch was just in case. Thanks Jen!
I waited for about 5 minutes for the next rider and hopped back on the course to follow my new best friend! We were now headed for the infamous San Felipe whoops. I have measured this section on my pre run and found there were 25 miles of whoops that did not allow you to sit down until you were out of them. I did my best to ride off my newly acquired friend’s lights through some of the deepest whoops I have ridden. It was all going very well when I suddenly see a small dirt booby trap built across the course. I also saw a couple of guys standing in the dark alongside the course and can only assume they were the builders of this obstacle. Since they were not very good at it they hadn’t packed the dirt very well and both me and my light providing partner blew through it with just a minor kick from the rear end of our bikes. All went well after that until I had to pit for gas. Adios to my riding partner.
I spent the next hour in this pit while the crew changed the stator to no avail. The lights still wouldn’t work. So I waited for the next light to come along. I used a quad for a while then was left to my own devices to make forward progress. Remember the flashlight taped to my helmet? Well it was now down to that or stopping altogether. I switched on the flashlight and did my best to keep moving. I immediately realized this was going to be my biggest challenge so far, the flashlight produced enough light to know which direction to go but not really enough to ride with. Sort of like turning on your parking lights to drive on that country back road. I literally rode in 1st gear with my legs out as outriggers to keep from falling down because I would hit holes, rocks and sometimes even cactus! This part of the ride went on for what seemed like the whole night but was really about an hour. I was now being passed by Trophy Trucks and Class 1 buggies. They make so much dust there was not a chance in hell of riding off their lights. Then a miracle! A quad rider with a fantastic light bar came along. I jumped on his wheels and followed him all the way to his pit stop. He handed off the bike to another rider and I told him what I was doing and he was ok with me following him to my pit about 10 miles away. They were riding a Can-Am and I didn’t get their number but I owe them a big Thank You!
We arrived at my pit about midnight, almost 8 hours since I first got on the bike, and my Can-Am buddy waved good bye and continued on. We spent the next hour trying to find out why the lights wouldn’t work. The guys at Honda Pit #11 were awesome mechanics and had waited an extra 2 hours past their scheduled pit closure. Once again everything was changed and our next rider, Paul, went out for all of 15 minutes until the light went out. Since it was now only a few hours until daylight, Paul wisely decided to wait for daylight to continue on since finishing was now the immediate goal.
As daylight approached Paul was back on the course. It was about to get even more interesting due to the fact that pit personnel had packed up and gone home! The strategy was now to keep the bike moving and make the 32 hour cut off time and be declared official finishers to receive points for the year long Championship. Jim Dizney and Dave Potts coordinated with each other to meet at points along the course to refuel the bike about every 50 miles. There was approximately 250 miles remaining to make it to the finish with one more rider exchange scheduled. Jimmy Sones was the rider to complete the 30 hour ordeal and brought it across for an official finish with only 2 hours to spare. Mission accomplished!!
A big Thanks to the Honda pit crew #11 for their dedication and help, all the riders on our team for never giving up and our support crew of Jen, Taryn, Senor Doug, Cheryl and Marjorie.
I would also like to acknowledge our sponsors, MX43.com, Works Connection, FLY/Western Power Sports, Lucas Oil and Liquid Image Goggles for their support.
For the 2012 racing season Jim Dizney’s team will be running the coveted 500X number plate to signify the class 50 champions!
Uno más Cerveza por favor!
#33
Reader Comments (3)
I was on 214x... the one you were riding with from the arches to the next honda pit through the nasty whoops. Hope to see you guys at the banquet!
Baja-Mex Crown Performance team
214x,
Thank you so much for the help. It was very gracious of you to ride the whoops instead of the singletrack. If you had gone on the singletrack I don't believe I could have followed you.
So you are part of the reason we made the cut off time for the race.
Thank You from all of our team!
#33 (Eric)
Eric, one word - Sportsman! :) glad you guys made the cut off despite all the issues. I'm super stoked to be able to help and I believe what goes around comes around. It made the win a bit more special. Hope to see some of the 502 team at the awards so we can share a story or two over some drinks!