![]() Damn the luck! ( We made a movie about it if you are interested in the details… The Desert Said DanceĪnyways, all that was all history and after spending most of 2021 away from racing with a torn ACL, I got a call from my friend Ciaran Naran in early 2022. At about the halfway point our engine failed while running second overall. With Honda’s all new 2nd Generation CRF450X under us we mounted up for a race. When the Baja 1000 rolled around we were a lot more tight and had our sights set on a win. Me I was more than satisfied, but the team, well let’s just say they were used to the top step and anyway you look at it, we were not there. We signed up for the inaugural Baja 400 that year, to get some seat time and build as a new team, and after some transponder issues ended the day in a disappointing 3rd place. Not to mention built just about every winning motorcycle for the past decade. A man who had won nearly every Baja Race he had entered. Then five times Baja Champion, Colton Udall. For one thing, I was partnered with one of Baja racing, all time, greats. Let’s face it, this is an expensive undertaking and in reality, I had been super busy with other more tropical pursuits… However, this time would be different! Or so I thought. ![]() Yet another two years passed before I could again race in Baja. Another tough go, but that is Baja and her reputation, in my mind, was building. Unfortunately, despite the reputable build and team experience, we lost the stator (freak failure) at around the halfway point and only salvaged a finish. This time we came into it more experienced, we had a great crew and a brand new motorcycle built by JCR Speedshop, a winning machine it was. I was there with my great friend, the legend, the late Carlin Dunne (RIP). It took nearly two years before I was able to get back down to another Baja, this time the 2017 Baja 1000. Mind you, I was as green as could be and just happy to get some experience under my belt. Back in the 2015 Baja 500 it was a teammate's mistake and the subsequently missing air filter that ended our race day with a cooked motor. The mechanical failures I’ve experienced over the years have followed like a black cloud since that first event. It dates back to my first foray as a rookie in the summer of 2015. Personally, I have had an especially toxic relationship with racing in Baja. Endurance off-road racing like the SCORE Baja races, show no mercy and ultimately fate wades in and it goes better for a random few, more than most. I have to say, it has been a year of huge highs and and tear spilling lows for the 3x Motorcycle of Mojave Racing, served up in the cruel fashion that racing seems to favor.
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