We break in our normal schedule for a race report. Back to our regular program tomorrow.
San Felipe 250 results for Janesky Racing- we had three teams in three different classes – which means three different stories.
214x – Sportsman Motorcycle – me and my three friends from Wednesday night riding at my track in Connecticut, who were first timers to Baja. Jason Waldek, Chris Symes and Matt Bray, and me. Jason pulled over for a prerunning trophy truck to pass in a tight spot and had to lean his bike over so the truck could creep by. But the rear end of the trucklurched into the rut and hit Jason knocking him down and running his foot over. He hurt his back and we thought he would be out for the race, but a two-hour massage and two chiropractic adjustments and he was ready!
I started the race at 6:20 am. At mile 15 I hit a rock I did not see and went over the bars in Spectacular fashion. I gathered myself, lucky no bones broke, straightened the front end, and kept going, giving the bike to Matt at mile 41. The guys took turns and did well, finishing 5th of 9! Bravo!
1914 UTV- Pro UTV normally aspirated class. Me and Dustin Gebers. I got a ride back from Mile 41 changing my gear from moto to driving suit, and met Dustin Gebers at the starting line. We got the green flag at 10:20 am. At mile 18 we lost the transmission- so we thought. The engine revved with no forward momentum. We tried to diagnose the problem but couldn’t. When you started it, as soon as you’d try to put it in gear it would stall. Then other times it wouldn’t stall but the tranny never engaged. After about 90 minutes I tried once more and it engaged! WTH? We got four more miles and it let go again. We got towed five miles to the road. At one point it was suggested as a long shot it could be the Electronic Control Module. We unplugged it and plugged into the stock one and it fixed it! Lost four hours. Dang! My math said we could still finish in the 14-hour time limit for the 262 miles. So it was a race against the clock. I’ve never not finished a race before unless it was a Baja 1000 solo because I was half dead.
Well, we finished 4th of 6! Salvaged it.
775x – My son Tanner Janesky, Pro Moto Ironman class (solo). Tanner won the Baja 1000 last November by a wide margin so he was the guy to beat. 16 competitors showed up to try, including a guy from Argentina who started first- and Tanner never saw him. He was gone and won. Tanner battled last year’s points champion going back and forth with him the whole race. The last 20 miles Tanner turned on the afterburners and beat him to the podium by I think 7 minutes for second place.
Another great trip and memories made! That was the mission!
Oh yea and Tanner got to see Giovanni Spinalli who he stopped to save last November in the 1000, after Gio broke many many bones in a remote location. Gio wasn’t racing of course but it was cool that they met again under less stressful circumstances.
And I met James OKeefe from Project Veritas – now with OMG Media – a hero of mine in of all places Baja where he was trying his hand at driving a buggy for the first time. His team finished.
A great trip! Thanks to Chris Haines, Jason McVikar, Oscar’s Hale, Victor Abitia, Dean Mizdal, Armando and Ricky!
Congrats Team Janesky! Inspiring! KTM 500 EXC-F 6 Days owner / non competitive rider. ( for now)
Congratulations to you and the team. Job well done with lots of memories made.
That was a week to remember for sure. Met great people, got to experience a whole different riding style, and got run over by a Trophy truck and lived to have a cool story too tell. A little more luck and I think Team Contractor Nation could have got a podium.
Congrats to you, your teammates and Tanner! Great job! Braaap!
Awesome job guys! Congratulations!!!
Congrats to you and Tanner and the amazing group of people that support you guys through the Mexican terrain. When is the next movie?