BajaNomad

Baja 500 race report Update

dtbushpilot - 6-8-2009 at 11:04 AM

Well, we lived to tell about another one.

We arrived in Ensenada Monday afternoon to start pre-running on Tuesday. Bike #108X, rider of record was Chad Thornton (my son) joined by Mike Whitman and Ryan Armitage. I unfortunately forgot to bring a camera so I missed many "Kodak Moments". Pre-riding went without incident. Mike was to start and hand off to Chad at rm80. Chad would go over the summit to Borrego and hand back off to Mike who would go to San Vincenti and hand off to Ryan to the finish. It didn't go that way......

Chad and I left town early to get set up at rm80 for the rider change while Ryan went to the start line to give support to Mike. Mike hit a street sign at high speed 4 miles in and had a tremendous crash that resulted in a broken right forearm along with lots of trauma to various parts of his body and damage to the bike......not a good start.

Mike couldn't raise anybody on his cell phone so his only option was to fix the bike and continue on to rm80. Nothing like riding 76 miles with a broken arm to brighten your day.

Chad and I knew something was up and Mike finally arrived about an hour after we were expecting him. We fixed the things on the bike that we could and Chad took off to ride his section and the rest on Mikes section. I took Mike over to the ambulance and they wrapped his arm, checked him out and advised him not to get back on the bike today.

The rest of the race went ok, no big issues. We finished 10th in class (class 21) at 11:58:49. Not what we were hoping for but at least we finished. We'll try to do better in the 1000.

Mike sent me a picture from the race, the only one I have. Thought I would share it.......



[Edited on 6-10-2009 by dtbushpilot]

[Edited on 6-10-2009 by dtbushpilot]

[Edited on 6-10-2009 by dtbushpilot]

woody with a view - 6-8-2009 at 11:51 AM

sounds like one tough SOB!!!! or maybe i'm justa wimp!

elgatoloco - 6-8-2009 at 12:01 PM

Wow! :wow:

dtbushpilot - 6-8-2009 at 12:03 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by woody in ob
sounds like one tough SOB!!!! or maybe i'm justa wimp!


Not really, he whined about it all day. I quit giving him sympathy after an hour or so......

Von - 6-8-2009 at 01:57 PM

i remember seeing that guy he looked like he had just crashed he was going slow and and didnt look good i was at mile marker 15 dam and he still went on! Tough dude!

TMW - 6-8-2009 at 05:12 PM

Ouch! Congratulation on them finishing the race. Baja bites and this time it did.

dtbushpilot - 6-8-2009 at 07:48 PM

Yes, she does bite...

On a sad note, My son came upon a bad accident around rm293. The police were just getting there when he went by. A local going the backwards on the course in a pick up hit a motorcycle head on. The rider was in our class but a late entry so I don't know his name. We heard later that he was fatally injured.......so tragic.

Von - 6-8-2009 at 08:17 PM

Im sorry to hear that really sucks!

Gadget - 6-9-2009 at 09:44 AM

We heard that radio traffic with Weatherman at our Pit 3 for Baja Pits at RM 129.
We all commented your crew was in for a tough day.
We were stoked to see the bike come through.
Whinning is OK with a compound fracture to the radius and staying on the bike for a hour.
Mike's a tough dude

David K - 6-9-2009 at 09:49 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Gadget
We heard that radio traffic with Weatherman at our Pit 3 for Baja Pits at RM 129.
We all commented your crew was in for a tough day.
We were stoked to see the bike come through.
Whinning is OK with a compound fracture to the radius and staying on the bike for a hour.
Mike's a tough dude


Is GSB all fixed up?

dtbushpilot - 6-9-2009 at 06:40 PM

Update:

Just heard that Mike went back to the hospital to have his back pain diagnosed.....it's broken too.

I'll update when I hear more......dt

David K - 6-9-2009 at 11:39 PM

Bad new David... sorry to hear that!