2012 BAJA
For the 2012 event Rob rode first in the race, starting at about 6:45am and completed his 308 mile section by around 2:00pm. Peter then took over the reigns for his part, 220-odd miles. He rode through into the dark and got a bit lost but still got through to us to hand the bike over for my stint at about 9:00pm. My section was 318 miles from San Ignacio to Loreto and it was pitch black, but the lights fitted to the bike were just unreal. This was my first time riding at night, but I enjoyed every second of it. At 4:45am I handed the bike over to Kevin who took the bike through to the finish line at about 11:00am, some 290 miles later. The Honda CRF450X ran for 26hrs 25mins
from start to finish and throughout the race we fitted three new rear tyres, two front tyres and changed the air filter a couple of times. In the Baja off-road racing is the national sport and huge amounts of locals camp out for the race. I reckon in the section I rode I would have passed about 20,000 people who were all camped at the side of the course. During the last five miles of my section up a dry river bed, called a“ wash” in Mexico, there must have been at least 5000 people all camped out, burning car tyres, having beers and just generally having good fun. We finished an amazing 10th motorcycle overall and 3rd in the Pro Moto 40 + vets class.
52 KIWI RIDER