Thursday morning, 8 am. Mark and I were taking the beginning, middle, and end of the race. Victor would take a section after us and then Javi. Two turns each for them. 1311 miles. Divide and conquer.
Mark and I lined up in staging. A trophy truck caught fire behind us. Fully customized race machines of various sizes, types, horsepower and shapes assemble around us. Impressive machines made for what we were about to do.
Our key competitor was Joe Bolton, #1957. He was the only other guy in our class who had finished all three races in the season. We had more mechanical bad luck than he did, so he lead the points. I had the speed to beat him even though he had more power and speed than we did. I was faster in the technical terrain, and he was faster in the open areas and sand.
He started ahead of us. Ever 30 seconds another race vehicle gets the green flag. Our turn! It was 15 miles on pavement with a speed limit our of the city of LaPaz to get to the dirt. Let’s go! at mile 30 the stair step hill climb came. I could see Joe’s dust in front of me. I raced into it. At the top of the hill I caught and passed him.
“Whew! Mark we are leading the Baja 1000!” Fist bumps in the bouncing car.
A few miles later we got on the bumper of a buggy (not in our class), and turned our siren on and pressed our push-to-pass button, which lit up a blue light in his car telling him someone wants to pass. We followed close and waited for him to find a place to pull over, as it was just one lane with thick bushes and cacti on both sides. A fork in the course came and he went the wrong way. But we followed!
Mark called it – “Wrong way! Wrong Way!” Dang. Stop and turn around. A tight three-point turn. 150 yards back to the course. We see Joe who turns the right way and is ahead of us again. Dang!
We get right on his bumper and follow close. He can’t shake us. He pulls over. In the lead again at mile 45! “Who Hoo!” Feeling good!
The race was just getting started. 1270 miles to go…..
We were camped out around Km50 and saw you come through at 1138am. We didn’t manage to download the Starters list so didn’t know who was who but I looked through some photos/videos today and saw your #
It was an awesome festive experience camping out with hundreds (maybe even 1000s) of La Paz locals and watching riders/drivers come through, starting with the first Moto at 2am! Congrats for taking part in a historical first time ever Baja 1000 Northbound race!