Baja 500 part 2

We kept pushing through the hard terrain.  It’s amazing what abuse these machines can take.  

At mile 90, on our way up a mountain in very rocky switchbacks we had the dust of another vehicle in front of us.  We pushed forward into it and when we were close enough we could see it was 1925, the guy who had passed us earlier.  We were on his bumper easily.  It seemed we were faster in the really technical rough stuff.  Maybe it’s from my motorcycle days with my eye continuously scanning for the best lines for my wheels.

We lit him up to pass him by pushing a button in our car which would light up a blue light in his.  We got by him.  Second palce again.  The guy to beat in front of us.  In just a couple more miles we start seeing dust again.  We charge in and soon see it was 1957 – the leader!  We were on him and got by.  We were leading!

I tried to build a gap, driving fast.  We had 380 miles to go.  We went up the “Summit”, to the top of a mountain and down a very steep very boulder strewn “how the hell did anyone make this trail up here?” course.  

About ten miles later I was surprised when 1957 came by us.  Dang!  Second place again.  The course opened up to a 200 yard wide sandy wash.  The deep sand sucked the horsepower out of my machine.  I could see 1957 pulling away – he had more power – my foot was to the floor and there was nothing I could do.  

At mile 172 I had planned a driver change to give myself a break.  My friend Victor would get in and drive for 40 miles while I took a break in the chase trauck while it sped down the highway to meet him at 212.  It took about 3 minutes to change drivers and refuel.  Too long.  Victor took off 5 minutes behind the leader and 90 seconds in front of 1925.

Twenty miles later 1925 got by Victor, and then he got a flat tire.  Flats happen out there.  Dustin changed the tire and the strapped themselves back in.  I waited with the chase truck with a new spare to swap the flat one.  Victor came in 11 minutes behind the leader and five minutes behind second.  I jumped in the driver seat.

We had planned to get Dustin out for a break for 50 miles while Victor jumped in the navigator seat, but since they got a flat, we told Dustin to stay in the car so we didn’t have to stop to swap Victor out and him back in again in 50 miles.

At about mile 300 we came up on 1957.  He was out of his car with his helmet off.  They had overheated when their electric fans blew a fuse.  Later I learned they fixed it and got back in the race, only to have a flat and break a suspension part later.  They fixed those things and kept going.

We were in second place again, and I was determined to hunt down the leader.  One rough transition, one off camber turn, one whoop section at a time.  We stayed about six minutes behind him for about 100 miles until we got another flat!  Dustin changed it again in the dark, and we were back in the hunt, having lost about six minutes.

We stayed about 13 miles behind the leader, matching their speed.  Again, they didn’t race the first race so we weren’t worried about beating him.  But if we could beat 1957 by two positions we’d make up more points than if we beat him by one.  Oh yeah, and the other motivation – winning the Baja 500!  

In the end, it wasn’t to be.  We had the speed to lead, but two flat tires and the driver change had cost us about 17 minutes, and we were 13 minutes behind.  We took second place in 13.5 hours at 1:00 am.

We came out of the race second in the points with one guy to beat – #1957.

Next race – the Baja 400 in September.