2009 Baja 1000 thread

[Guest]

Guys, three of my closest riding buddies and I are going to race the Baja 1000 this year. We will be using a company to prep a bike and provide the logistics for us. This will be The Epic Ride report. I have some questions for the group.
Has anyone done the 1000?
What are some of the issues you encountered?
Did you use a company or do it on your own?
What were your impressions of the company you used?

We are going to do some fund raising. What are some ideas that will or have worked for you?

Baja Team-
Doug- doug@dsa
Lee- husky123
Shannon- he is not on this forum. He rides a XR600
Sam- also not on this forum. His PSP is hard to type on. He has a XR650L. Buts its very special. Ask husky who used to own it.

[Guest]

RacinAce over on Benddualsport.com did it in 08. Might ask him some questions. Good luck, I recently watched Dust to Glory and that SHITE is extreme. Can't believe that more spectators don't get killed, and the "open couse" is scary. I wan't to just ride down there ahead of race day and be a spectator.



Word censorship is WEAK, we're all adults.

[Guest]

You may want to get a hold of these guys. I would love to do something like this.

http://www.snortnboarracing.com/

[Guest]

SnortNBoar is Springs on ADV. I contacted him about 6 months ago. Really nice guy. He gave me some really good info. I also just talked to another ADV guy who lives in NM and just did the Baja with 2 other guys. He had a blast.
I'm getting excited about going just talking about it.

[Guest]

I want to go

[Guest]

Cant you go out in your back yard and do the same thing? You are in AZ.

[Guest]

Cant you go out in your back yard and do the same thing? You are in AZ.

No Umbrella girls!

[Guest]

Guys, three of my closest riding buddies and I are going to race the Baja 1000 this year. We will be using a company to prep a bike and provide the logistics for us. This will be The Epic Ride report. I have some questions for the group.
Has anyone done the 1000?
What are some of the issues you encountered?
Did you use a company or do it on your own?
What were your impressions of the company you used?

We are going to do some fund raising. What are some ideas that will or have worked for you?

Baja Team-
Doug- doug@dsa
Lee- husky123
Shannon- he is not on this forum. He rides a XR600
Sam- also not on this forum. His PSP is hard to type on. He has a XR650L. Buts its very special. Ask husky who used to own it.

Doug,

You need to go to www.baja.net
Sign up and make a post asking for advise. Most of it will come from Seve. He is the head honcho for DP Racing a 2 bike class 22 team that has done well in Baja and BITD since the early 2000. Seve knows his **** when it comes to Baja racing and touring.

I think you and your friends should come out to the San Felipe 250 in mid march and spectate. Then maybe enter the 500 in june. The 1000 seems like fun but there is alot to it. Alot more than just watching D2G and getting pumped up.

just my 2 centavos,
BB

[Guest]

BB, we are going to use Tim Mortons company to do the logistics, bike prep, pre-run, etc for us. We have been planning this for the last 2 years. This is the year to make it happen. We were going to do it ourselves and make it a real adventure, but we decided the first time would need to be with someone who knows what is going on. We are ready!!

[Guest]

You guys picked the right guy to hire for Baja racing. Tim really knows whats up. You will not be disappointed with the service they provide.
And it is very wise to hire a company to help you, you will see you have done it right by hiring BBM.

Good luck, I will keep tabs on you guys and hook up in Ensenada before the race.

BB

[Guest]

How about alittle update...

I have been watching Dust to Glory again in the garage while wrenching on my bikes...I'm one of those crazy bastards that if I do it...I want to iron butt and go the distance. I'm by no means the fastest rider on 2 wheels but I have no problems putting on the miles. I may not finish first but I will finish and doing that at Baja is a victory in itself...Be fun to team up with a couple of teams and go for it...

[Guest]

Well the sorry story is that 2 of the 4 guys going have busted themselves up racing this year. One has a seperated shoulder and its a slow heal and the other broke his colarbone in 2 places (he made need another surgery to fix it...ie:break it again to reset it). Both guys are not anywhere near ready for any racing at 100%. So we decided to wait it out a year. It was a gut wrenching desicion but one that needed to be done. Its a tough race and we need everyone to be able to go the distance.
So the DSA crew is buying a 28' race trailer as a mobile storefront. We will be working the east coast DS rides, D7 hare scrambles and MotoRally series.

I will get some pics up once we get it.

[Guest]

Doug:

Bummer re the 1000!

As far as fund raising goes, there should be plenty of sponsors out there.

Up and coming organizations need up and coming racers.

Drop me a line if you are interested in a sponsorship from an up and coming national wildlife control organization. I'll put you in touch with the man in charge of such things.

Dave

[Guest]

My sons and I have been riding in Baja for years. Three years ago we all decided we were going to enter the Baja 1000. Unfortunately my oldest son was killed in 2006 so we didn't do it. However, as a memorial to him, last year my son and I entered the Baja Tecate 250. This was our first race and we were truely beginers at this. We had no expectations - we just wanted to finish. We took 3 days to pre-run the various sections of the course. That was when we learned our first lesson. You do not want to be on a narrow section with a Trophy truck behind you. Get the hell out of the way.

As for the race, my son decided he was going to solo it. We were entered in the Sportsmans class. There were about 28 riders in this class and only about 6 of them were on XR650R's (including my son). Everyone else on 450's. We signed up with Mag 7 to assist with gas and the pit stops. That worked out great and they did a good job. Here is what's interesting. Campbell won it in around 4 hours and 30 minutes. It took my son about 6 hours and 30 minutes to solo it. That is how much faster the really "good" guys are. We finished 8th out of 28 guys in our class. That being our first race, we were happy and it was a fitting tribute to my other son.

Now were talking about the Baja 500.

The Tecate 250 was a great experience and we really learned a lot. It made us realize that just going out and trying to run the Baja 1000 - would have been an experience, but extremely frustrating. The logistics alone are huge. Most people are just trying to finish and very few do. Not only that, but in the 500 and the 1000 you will be dealing with "night riding" which is a whole other venue. Also - you are going to be dealing with the Trophy trucks. They are big, bad and scary. Fortunately in the 250 we started early enough and finished before they caught us. Last, but not least unless your soloing the 1000 then you may have 2 to 4 riders. Often times the 2nd, 3rd or 4th riders never even get to ride because the first rider never gets the bike to them. It's frustrating.

To each his own, but by doing the 250 first we learned so much. We hope to use that experience in the 500 and then hopefully the 1000. These are just observations from a 63 year old guy and his son.

Best of luck

[Guest]

buenodude:

Thanks for the race tips. Is there a Baja 80? I might finish that.

Dave

[Guest]

Can you tell us more about Mag 7???

[Guest]

With regard to racing in Baja and pit assistance - I'm aware of two that were evident during our race - Mag 7 and Baja Pits. We elcted to use Mag 7 and it worked out great for us. Since it was just my son and I - it would have been difficult to do it by ourselves. But the way the course is layed out - it might have been possible - however we would have had to "hide" our stuff in the desert. Since I felt we had enough to deal with we went with Mag 7 and had a great experience. In the 250 - they have four pits (between 50-60 miles apart). All the pits are connected via "radio". I was able to be at the 2nd and 4th pits. When I arrived at the 4th pit I was able to inquire what they knew of Derek's progress. The guy got on the horn to the guys in the 2nd and 3rd pits - the guy in the second pit informed us he had come thru, gotten gas and was on his way. About 20 minutes later the guy in the 3rd pit called and said they had just gased him and he is on his way to us. Also mentioned that they were able to fix a slight mechanical problem, and to double check it when he showed up. Pretty cool. I was impressed. I mention this because the communication thing really turned out to be a "bonus" that I hadn't thought about. Having riden the course - I then had a pretty good idea how long it would take for him to get to me at pit 4. We'll after his estimated arrival time came and went and no Derek - I knew we had a problem. About 30 minutwes later he arrived. Apparently had a "digger" in "Matomi Wash". The right side radiator was a bit trashed - so we worked on and fixed it enough to make the last 40 miles to the finish.

Derek and I were both happty with the Mag 7 guys - they really do a good job. They don't just gas you up, but they look at you bike to see if there are any obvious problems. Their willing to help in anyway they can. In fact before the race they thought we would need more gas at the pits than we had requested. Hell - we didn't know. We though we would get about 80 miles out of a tank - we defered to them. Wouldn't hesitate to use them again. After the race I contacted them to pay for the additional gas we used - and the guy told me not to worry about it.

That said - some of the other guys were using "BajaPits". They are cheaper and I heard good things about them too! They both have websites. In addition there is a thread in Thumpertalk about the two - you might be able to gleam a bit more info there.

Best of luck - Pops Miller

[Guest]

Nice... I have always wanted to race Baja since I was a kid...Might have to make time to do it now.

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