Racing The Baja 1000

A Non-Experts Guide To Racing The SCORE Baja 1000 on Racer Space

When I set out to race the SCORE Baja 1000 I began to do a lot of research. I found a bunch of experts (and some self-proclaimed experts) that all gave me advice on the race. I ordered maps, researched equipment, searched for lodging, hunted for a pit company, and generally looked into every possible option and contingency. What I found was there is many different ways to be successful in Baja. I also decided that the first step is to determine your personal definition of success.

Let me first say that I do not consider myself to be a Baja expert. There are guys (and gals) who have spent a good part of their lives down there that know much more about racing in Baja than I will ever know. What I write is from my experience and many hours of research only, and like I said before everyone looks at racing the SCORE Baja 1000 differently. In my humble opinion, defining success is step number one.

Success for Johnny Campbell is to win the whole race by as large a margin as possible. Success for Jay Sherman in his first race was to survive his portion of the race and hand the bike off to his partner in one piece. There are probably a few levels of success in between those two extremes, and like any goal it should evolve. My goal next race is to win the Sportsman class (surviving the race and handing the bike off in one piece being two sub-goals). Once you can clearly state your goal, you can set out to find what it takes to achieve it.

The one thing I caution first time Baja racers on is setting their goals too highly. In ever-day life setting an unrealistic goal will lead to (at most) disappointment. Down there it could be very dangerous. The margin for error down there is sliver-thin, so mitigating risks should be priority number one. Guys like us don't have a helicopter flying over us, if you crash or break down and need assistance you may have a serious problem on your hands. So when I hear about riders planning their race around things like staying ahead of the Trophy Trucks; I wince. In reality there are not very many riders who are going to stay in front of those beasts. If you are one of them: congratulations. You are reading the wrong article, by the way, because you know more about this than I do.

If it is your first time down there, and you are not a Desert Pro from one of the local circuits, I would recommend a goal similar to my goal above. Safely-finish-the-race. The non-pro's have an attrition rate over 50% sometimes: if you manage to finish you will place well. I was first told this by Chris Haines at the Chris Haines Motorcycle Adventure Company . Another common motto down there is "In order to finish first you must first finish." Not sure who to attribute that quote to, I know I heard it in Dust To Glory, but I think it is very true.

We brought our XR650 to Chris' shop along with a box full of high performance parts that we thought we needed to strap on to it because that was what the pro bikes had. He took one look and said to us "you don't need any of that, just go with the stock stuff it is much more reliable. And in the event something breaks, you have a much better shot at finding a spare down there."

That advice made even more sense once I was out in the desert with chaos all around me. Would it really help me to go four miles an hour faster right now? Probably not, but I am sure glad this XR 650 is still running because I am in a dust cloud from a Trophy Truck and Robbie Gordon is behind me, in the silt, with a helicopter over my head%u2026at night (with a broken ankle). This is not to say we didn't need to make some modifications (Foot pegs, clutch, lights, chain), they were just all focused on reliability rather than performance.

My advice to you concerning the bike is:

- Reliability over all else
- Keep the clutch adjustment loose, real loose
- High quality endless chain. Take out the master link.
- Hondas- get the aftermarket foot peg setup with the bolt through the frame (especially the XR's)
- Go with a bigger gas tank than you think you need. Never know when you (Or someone else out there) needs some extra gas
- Zip-tie your spokes
- Bib Mousse front wheel. They sometimes burn up in the back, but work fine in the front and will eliminate the chance of getting a front flat.
- Extra levers! Learned that one the hard way (had to ride 200 miles with my decompress lever functioning as my clutch)
- Check the chain adjustment every time you stop.
- Tool packs on the bike. Front or rear fender, but I did not like the fanny pack full of tools on my waist after a couple hundred miles.
- Use glow sticks w/ zip ties and reflective tape on the bike at night for extra visibility
- Don't forget your stub can. You need a can on your handlebars to hold the stubs you get at the check points. We taped up a tums container. Worked great.
- GPS Transponder. We mounted our on the back fender but I saw some mounted under the tank near the radiator.
- GPS on the handlebars with the course mapped. (lots of extra batteries) http://www.pciraceradios.com/

If anyone has anything to add to this list, please do. Different bikes will have different mods they need. I will continue this in the future on Racer Space with strategy, equipment and logistics. In the mean time, set your goal!