TMW
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My Second Baja 1000 Race
Last year I told the story about racing in my first Baja 1000 in 1987. I'm following it up with my second Baja1000 race in 1988. That first race
showed us we were not prepared for what we did. I had the bug to race but at age 43 I was probably a little old to be a top competitor in the
motorcycles. But I really loved it. I loved riding alone in the middle of nowhere trying to catch someone. The cars and trucks catching me never
bothered me. I never had a bad encounter with one. I had always calculated where they most likely would catch me and stayed alert.
In 1988 I started racing in various venues to improve my skills and ability racing motorcycles and to learn more about Baja. I did Old Timers
motocross, District 38 with FUD, Lou Peralta's Baja Promotions races in Baja and the SCORE series.
The 1988 Baja 1000 was the same basic course as the 1987 race except for the motorcycles it started in Ojos Negros. I think the cars and trucks did a
ceremonial start in Ensenada with the actual race start in Ojos Negros. Frankly I don't remember where the timed finish was, Ojos or Ensenada.
The team consisted of myself, my son Andy, big Dave Thornton a 6'8" giant, and Jerry Kaplan a photographer working at KCST-TV (now KNSD-TV). We did a
lot of prerunning with the exception of Mike's Sky Ranch. That was my son's section and he blew the engine on his YZ250 two stroke prerunning and
refused to ride my XR500 because he said it was too heavy. This would come back to haunt us, mostly him, during the race. Andy would start and ride
over the summit to Tres pozos, on the south end of Laguna Salada. I would take it south thru Borrego and across Diablo dry lake to Morelia jct. Jerry
would go from Morelia jct down thru Matomi and back up to San Felipe. I would take it from there north thru Three Poles and west to Mike's Sky Ranch
turnoff on hwy 3. Andy thru Mike's to Camilu and Dave up the coast and back to the finish line.
Part of the excitement of this years race was that I sponsored Andy Bowman who raced with me last year and his friend Jim. We had a good size bet on
who could beat who. They started behind us. We both were riding 1986 Yamaha YZ250 two stroke motocross bikes modified with lights. Jim was a MC
mechanic at a dealer in Escondido.
The night before the race Andy Bowman and I head to Tres Pozos for the night. The next morning there is some but little radio traffic. Later the open
bikes started coming thru. Kawasaki was in the lead. This was Kawasaki's second year racing Baja as a factory team. Last year they had problems and
this year they had all the bugs worked out and went on to win overall on their big KX500 bike. Soon the first of the 250s come thru and in short time
son Andy shows up. We gas it and I'm on my way. I'm on the gas hard. I keep the throttle WFO most of the time and just shift up and down as needed.
All I could think of was Andy Bowman catching me and I was doing everything I could to keep it from happening. I had a good fast ride. Didn't drop the
bike once. I don't remember passing anyone nor being passed. I get to Morelia jct and a few hundred yards from the pit and I run out of gas. I was
carrying gas so I quickly dump it in and get the bike started and off to the pit. We fill it up and everything looks good. Jerry gets on and as he
starts to leave he keeps dumping the clutch too quick and kills the engine. This went on for 3 or 4 times so we push him down the road and he finally
takes off. We head over to San Felipe and wait for Jerry to come around.
Jerry shows up but the poor bike is missing the rear fender. Everything behind the seat is gone, except the wheel of course. He said he dropped the
bike pretty hard several times and doesn't remember where the fender came off. But he's OK and after gas I'm off again. We haven't seen any thing of
Andy Bowman and Jim or their crew. I cross hwy 5 at Three Poles WFO on the way to San Matias Pass, I'm a little worried about moving too far to the
rear without the fender. I'm in the wash just before San Matias Pass and I thought I heard a truck. I turn to look and I hit a rock in the wash and
over the handlebars I go. Well, I think this truck was going to run over me, so I'm up in a second and grab the bike to move it out of the way and
here comes Steve Kelley in his big class 8 chevy. He passes with no problem and I look up above the wash and there are these two guys laughning their
butts off. I ask what so funny and they say they never saw anyone move so fast to get a bike out of the way. They said they figure I must not be hurt
to move that fast. I told them only my pride was hurt for crashing and off I go.
At Mike's turn off I give the bike over to Andy and he's gone. Andy Bowman and Jim are there also. They had blown an engine gasket going up the summit
that put them out. It's getting dark now. As Andy goes thru Mike's he gets lost (from not prerunning), crashes into cactus and gets stuck on a hill.
Finally he gets to Camilu and hands off to Dave. Somewhere along the coast Dave gets tangled in fish net. He finally makes it to the finish line.
Another 1000 completed.
For son Andy, his mom is pulling the cactus from his butt in the cabover as they drive back to Ensenada. Serves him right for not prerunning on my
XR500.
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bajalou
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Great story Tom, thanks
No Bad Days
\"Never argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference\"
\"The trouble with doing nothing is - how do I know when I\'m done?\"
Nomad Baja Interactive map
And in the San Felipe area - check out Valle Chico area |
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bufeo
Senior Nomad
Posts: 793
Registered: 11-16-2003
Location: Santa Fe New Mexico
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Thanks for posting that TW. Good reading! As a spectator of off-road racing I've had only the vicarious thrills, but thanks to friends and neighbors
at Bufeo and, of course, son-in-law still in the thick of things, who have been competitors, I have a good notion of what it's all about.
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Corky1
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Registered: 11-22-2003
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I have posted these two pre-run stories before.
Its race time again, maybe some new forum members
have not read them!!
http://www.baja.net/articles/71prerun.html
http://www.baja.net/articles/72prerun.html
Have fun,
Corky
 
\"Keep The Rubberside Down\" |
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TMW
Select Nomad
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Great stories Corky.
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tunaeater
Senior Nomad
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Location: Chula Vista, CA
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Good stuff guys
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Neal Johns
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Mood: In love!
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Keep them stories coming!
My motto:
Never let a Dragon pass by without pulling its tail!
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kyousif
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I sure miss Dave Thornton. I used to pit for him at District 38. I preran the Tecate 250 with him once. I did a lot of odd jobs with him and just hang
out at the beach on the Boardwalk drinking Coors Light. May he rest in peace. Im glad I stumbled across this old post. Thanks for the memories.
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David K
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Posts: 64743
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Welcome to Nomad and a nice thread to bump up (from almost 8 years ago!).
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TMW
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| Quote: | Originally posted by kyousif
I sure miss Dave Thornton. I used to pit for him at District 38. I preran the Tecate 250 with him once. I did a lot of odd jobs with him and just hang
out at the beach on the Boardwalk drinking Coors Light. May he rest in peace. Im glad I stumbled across this old post. Thanks for the memories.
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I miss him too. He was like a son to me. Many, many times we would go to Baja and ride, explore and fish. One time at Laguna Manuella Dave hauls in
three fish on his line, all good size. After the 1991 Baja 1000 race I'm looking at race pictures and there is one of two girls holding our race bike
up and Dave walking from behind a trailer. When asked about it he said with a big grin he had them hold it while he releaved himself. We kidded him
about it.
He was a two fisted beer drinker for sure, one in each hand. He always said he drank for the affect not the taste. He was a gentle giant for sure.
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