tunaeater - 8-2-2004 at 06:13 PM
There was a lot of action over the weekend at the code race. It was a nice turn out for the cars and trucks. Friday night contigency was a fun party
watching everyone come in and get teched. Everyone was pumped up for the race,the cerveza is flowing and no one wants to go home. The party just grew
as the night went on.
Saturday I spent much of the day at my friends pit/camp. They race class 9. Acoplados racing #949. They did good in the first heat but were bummed out
some of the slower vehicles wouldn't get out of the way. There was a litle bumping going on. One car realy slowed them down for an entire lap. Not
many places to pass on the course. 2nd heat the car had tranny problems in lap 2 and didn't finish. They were bummed!!!! Oh well thats racing. The
carne asada lunch and the ice cold pacificos didn't have any problems at all. They all went down smooth.
Sunday it was my turn. I have never owned a quad and only ridden one about 10 times.I do have some experience with 3-wheelers but I like bikes a whole
lot better..Anyway a friend asked me to do some laps for him so I said why not. A quick look at the beginning of the track and about a 10 minute warm
up and I felt like I was ready as ever. My friend Carlos started the race and did 1 lap, next his 16 year old daughter jumped on and did a lap, then
it was my turn. I finished the last 3 laps. 5 lap race(9.2 mile laps) 2 heats..The bike was not firing right and I couldn't get the rpm's up all the
way in any gear. I did my best and was doing a little over 20 minute laps.... We fixed the spark plug problem before heat # 2....2nd heat was the same
rotaion of riders. We had some down time when another quad hit his daughter as she was trying to move out of his way so he could pass. Anyway she lost
about 5 minutes getting some of the cactus out of her..I finished up with the last 3 laps.. The quad was running better and I felt strong on the first
lap...That was my fastest lap of the day 18 minutes 50 seconds..The next 2 were over 19 minutes. I think we finished up 13th out of 17 in our class.
Over 60 miles of tough terrain and just under 2 hours of racing time I was beat. My back was hurting, shoulder muscles killing, and arms pumped but I
loved very minute of it.... Code put on a good race and there were a lot of fast ridders. The course was very well marked and they did a good job with
the danger arrows.I had a lot of fun and it was good experience... Best of all, my wife and son were there at the finish and so was I....Paul
[Edited on 09-03-2003 by tunaeater]
David K - 8-2-2004 at 07:12 PM
Fantastic report Paul! Sounds like you had a great time, too! This CODE race sounds like the 'good old days' of off road racing when it was mostly a
family sport and about the only pros were Parnelli Jones, Mickey Thompson, and Larry Minor. Since SCORE no longer has the exclussive rights to race in
Baja, are there other racing organizations down there besides CODE? Thanks again!