Jefe's Baja 250 report

[Jeff Knoll]

Jeff Knoll’s Baja 250 trip report.


Well here I sit more addicted then ever with 9 hours of sleep over the last 4 days, and instead of sleeping I’m writing a trip report.
Bart Dixon and I crossed the border around 6:00 pm Thursday and checked into Pflueger annex at Los Rosas as The Coral could not fit the whole team this year because of the short notice. Not near as exciting as staying at the Coral with all the Money teams Los Rosas was a very nice change. Bart and I hit the race course at Ojos with a plan to pre run the Tres Hermanos section and get a complete under standing of the silt beds in case our services where needed on race day in the old Crawler.

Just short of Check point 1 we scouted a great pit location where we would service 16X Mikey Childress and Andy Grider. And left some tape up which some how was no where in site on race day??? Exploring the silt bed area of the race course I could see how important good pre running was as some of the routes dropped you into holes that would swallow our 40” Crawler tires. Coming around a corner we spotted a white Pre runner with hood up buried in the silt. The Pre runner turned out to be Travis Coyne. Travis and his group had sucked an air filter and filled the motor with life killing silt. They had gotten most of the silt out but could not get it running. They asked if we could pull them to high ground where they might get assistance in. The look on their faces as the Crawler idled them out of the silt was priceless.

Travis later got the Pre runner started and motored by us while we where taking a break but they did not get far. Motor gave up again on the climbs out of 3 Hermanos. The old JP Crawler formally known as big red was up to the task of dragging the dead Pre runner out until we met up with a pit crew member from Honda A team who assisted in repairing the Pre runner. At Race mile 60ish we had our own trouble and lost a fuel pump. Our Chase crew in Pflueger chase 3 where 6 miles behind us so they motored over to the road crossing at MM77 and waited for us as we jury rigged the fuel pump and limped out to the road.

Buying a fuel pump in a foreign country in which you do not speak the language could be tough so I made a call to Rock buggy supply .com and Scott Parker gave us a universal part number for a replacement pump. This would have not been an issue but Bart left his spare pump in a safe place at home. Same price as in the states $90.00 and we had her fixed and ready for race day.

Phlueger pre race meeting at 8:00;

Cramming 75 tem members into a Hotel Suit is pretty fun. Getting them all fired up to win a race can shake the walls. Alan assured us the day would be ours and I would never have to wear a clown suit betting against Pistol Pete. Jessie Jones followed Alan with more race day info, and plenty of thanks and more team frenzy.
Mikey Childress was to bed early so his team manager gave us the last minute updates and assured Bart and I he would be the 3rd rider into our pit at 3 Hermanos. Andy had taken ill and they where not sure if he would be racing.

3:00 am comes early so Bart and I hit the hotel room at around Midnight. Mikey did not disappoint us at Pit 1, 3rd rider in with an adjusted time putting him in a commanding lead. In about 15 seconds Bart dropped 4 gal’s of fuel while I gave him times splits and offered new goggles. This was the first time I have pitted a bike and it was a great rush. Things happened so fast it was amazing. The 2X rider Chris Blais mad it only a couple more miles and he was no longer a threat as the bike was having trouble. This left only Mikey with no bird and the sky and the Honda A team to do battle as there bird had to watch a privateer team smack them around.

3hours later we watched all the trophies go flying by with our 28 TT on the hunt for the lead. Alan was moving forward in the pack and his pace showed us that time wise he could win if he could maintain the pace. He did just that and won the Race with an under 20 second difference between him and 2nd place Ballistic Baldwin.

After the TT had cleared our area we had nothing else to do but wait. In that time I met a great local gentleman named Pedro who lives in Ensenada. Pedro is an avid offroader and had tons of stories about trails and routes in Baja Norte. Pedro helped Bart and I fix what ever car came into the pit before he headed out to the finish line on his XR 600.

It’s a ton of fun to pit complete strangers who drag there troubles into your pit. Its even more fun when it turns out you know each other through a friend of a friend. This is the true spirit of Baja. Bart and I where just about done packing up camp when we got the call to high tail it to the coast ASAP as Our 76 TT driven by Jessie Jones was in the ocean and they needed the Crawler ASAP. Due to traffic we advised our ETA and suggested another extrication plan if the tide was coming up. Turns out it was and a Back hoe was being lined up to remove the carcass from the salty waters in which the wreck was lying. More then a few jokes about the depths of Jesse Jones Locker where flying around the race frequency as we made our way to the crash site.

In the end almost the entire Pflueger nation was waiting for Jesse when he came out of the crash site. He was in good spirits and could not believe that we had all waited for him while Alan was enjoying the fruits of victory. Even Alan was waiting for Jesse back at the hotel before the celebration could start. It’s a hell of a site to see ever chase truck rolling down the highway back to Ensenada. I think Jesse is pretty happy he joined team Pflueger after that.

Well that’s the short version there was all kinds of action I left out, but I really need to report one more item. March 31st at the Barstow MDR race. Fat City will be sportin’ a couple very fine clown suits at registration and tech. they lost a bet and I’m sure will enjoy paying up!


Sorry about the garmmer, I'm pretty much bloing bubbles

[JeepRecoveryTeam]

If you guys EVER have an empty seat, it's mine.

Great story Jeff, now get some sleep.

d

[450GRL]

Wonderful story!!!!! Thanks for posting!!!! Sounds like SO much fun!!!

[Lance]

I can add to your story - Guess who extracted the Jones TT? That's right, Pirate4x4.com was in command, with Camo using the P4x4 F350 and some fully getting action with 7 tow straps, and pulling end over end 3 times before hte back hoe could dig out a "driveway" and drag him up the wall.

[Brian1]

Great writeup Jeff, thanks. Nice work on the ocean extraction too.

[the-great-gonzo]

"Oh, you got stuck in the mud huh? well I pulled a trophy truck out of the fucking ocean." -Camo

[Lance]

Originally Posted by the-great-gonzo

"Oh, you got stuck in the mud huh? well I pulled a trophy truck out of the fucking ocean." -Camo

HAHAHA!!!!

[Jeff Knoll]

Latest report is that Post was given the win due to his Police intervention his time was adjusted and he recieved the win for the Baja 250. I do not know any more details sorry. Maybe someone with info can report what they know.

[Creighton]

Jeff, if fat city is sporting the clown suit, am I off the hook? and also talk about being robbed (new winner)? Man that sucks for your team.

Creighton

[Jeff Knoll]

Originally Posted by Creighton

Jeff, if fat city is sporting the clown suit, am I off the hook? and also talk about being robbed (new winner)? Man that sucks for your team.

Creighton

Yea, It was for the MDR race and since you are not attending I'm not sure when you could pay up?

Fat City called me Thursday night in Ensenada to tell me the bet was on and they had a secret wepon. I was wondering about that all weekend

I thought maybe Lance found a Taco Bell in E town.

Moe from BFG did tell me that he'll take your bets when it comes to baja racing on tires. He said he prefers a grass skirt to a clown outfit, and to tell you hi. I think you would look good with Coconuts on your man boobs!
500's just around the corner????

Thanks for offering to step in on the bet, your confidance in tires was proven, sounds like the Maxxis tires are gonna kick some butt. If they can handle the speeds that Pete was putting on them thats a step at proving a product. Good choice going with Pete. He'll test the heck out of them.