The big day was here!
The team was hard at work to prepare for the big event and at 2 am Thursday morning the quad was finally ready, after a lot of hard work and different discussions about the best setup for this race, we at least tried to get a few hours sleep.
Thursday morning, ready for Baja 1000 at the start line praying for the quad to start perfectly with no electrics troubles, we began our adventure at the front with the perfect start.
Off the line we went at 6:54 am with the SCORE helicopter above us telling we were at the front line of this huge race… we had to do our best as there was a lot of hope on our shoulders being local riders, and that’s what we were mentally prepared to do.
At San Felipe we were almost 1 hour ahead the next atv, and at Coco`s Corner our time on the next quad was even better. We came upon Vizcaino with some refuelling problems at the pit, and had to make a quick stop at the local PEMEX station to fill up.
With nightfall soon to arrive after leading the ATV race for 60 miles down to San Ignacio, we quickly stopped at a bus station to adjust and left immediately, receiving confirmation that the next ATV to pass that point was 1 hr 45 min behind.
At La Purisima, the pit crew was really helpful changing a flat tire, but again at Loreto we required a tire change as well as an oil and air filters change due to the heavy dust and sand accumulated from the race. We still had a lot of time between the next ATV and at San Carlos road (Sifon) we needed another new air filter.
Going through with the run in Santa Anita (Medano), the quad had already made it through the worst terrain and we knew we were racing against ourselves so we kept a careful pace to take care of the ATV, and from there to La Paz the last racer made great time and did a great job, doing better times than in the practice runs.
Finally after 23 hours and 32 minutes the quad crossed the finish line, and the tears began to flow down our cheeks. We knew we had just made history, knowing our families were with us to support us and that all the hard work was worth it.
We would like to thank the entire team and to all the people who believed in us, and those who didn’t we are ready for the next race.
Felipe Velez Torres
Team 2A
