Ensenada, Mexico (12/7/2010) –
Every three years The SCORE International Desert
Racing Series runs it's Baja 1000 from Ensenada
to La Paz instead of the usual Ensenada to Ensenada
loop. A SCORE Baja 1000 peninsular run is a uniquely
challenging event. Just driving Mexican Highway
One alone in itself can be sketchy to say the least.
Regardless of your experience, skill level, or the
size of your kahunas, this race is not for the weak
or faint of heart. Finishing one can be very difficult
and winning can seem next to impossible. Pre-Running
alone presents a whole slew of potential problems
and dangers before the mad dash for La Paz that
the locals call the “BAJA MIL” even
begins. Cows on the road, and tweaked out truck
drivers coming at you with little to no shoulder
on the highway are some of my favorites before I
even exit the truck to begin to pre-run.
This years 43rd annual Score Baja 1000 course was
set to be very similar to the 06 1000. Racing from
Ensenada to La Paz, criss crossing the Baja peninsula
five times on the way down. At 1061 miles, race
teams would have no shortage of race mileage to
split between their riders. The Peninsular Baja
1000 includes every type of terrain imaginable and
to be successful, you have to be prepared for anything.
MXN's
Nick Nelson has been riding & racing
in Mexico for many years & with ten
BAJA 1000 races under his belt, Nick Nelson
handled the logistics for the MXN Nutrition
Team headed by Brandon Brown
For 2010 I raced with the MXN Nutrition Team of
Brandon Brown, Jorie Williams, Mike Bender, Kenney
Sanford, and Michael Kelley III. For any team to
compete in this race, planning and preparations
must be started and made many months prior to the
November race. The MXN team utilized the same bike
for a win at the San Felipe 250 and a second place
finish at the 500, leaving us in the overall points
lead going into the Baja 1000. Kenney Sanford of
S&S Motorsports built a near identical new race
bike for the team's attempt at the Baja 1000. Seeing
as our race bike for the first two races had been
flawless, there was little reason to make any drastic
changes other than lighting.
Since this was my fourth point to point and tenth
Baja 1000, I was appointed to layout the logistics
of the race and pre-running. We decided that Brandon,
Kenney and myself would be pre-running the southern
half with my wife Paulina driving chase. Michael
Kelley and Jorie would handle OJOS to Bay of LA,
and we would appoint Mike Bender to ride the Bay
of LA to San Ignacio.
Brandon
Brown & Nick Nelson head south of the
border for course pre-running, which is
a very important part of racing the BAJA
1000. With over 1000 miles of track, it
is important for each racer to ride their
section ahead of time during the day because
they may need to ride it at night during
the race
We set off Thursday heading south, four deep and
loaded with 2 ATV's on the Diamondback bed cover
and my trusty 450X dirtbike on the Joe Hauler. A
few hours into our drive we ran into Baja veterans
Wes Miller and Harold Goodman stopped in Rosario
for dinner. Wes was the first one to drag me to
Baja pre-running back in 2000, and I have since
spent many thousands of miles riding with him south
of the border. We grouped together and powered through
to a really cool hotel in Guerro Negro called Hotel
Malarrimo about an hour and a half north of San
Ignacio where Wes and I would both be getting on
the Quads. We spent the next three days pre running
our way to La Paz. The best part of finishing a
great week of pre running in La Paz is finishing
and the worst part is the 1000 miles of 2 lane highway
back to Ensenada for the start.
