Pro Diary: Destry's BAJA 1000 and Vegas EX Race Report!

Race Day:
At the Baja 1000 I had four other teammates (Robby Bell, Steve Hengeveld, Ryan Penhall, and Connor Penhall). This is the first time I've ever raced a SCORE race, which makes it my first Baja race. Robby was starting the race and was going to ride to mile 100 and then hand it over to me. Robby was the 5th bike off and they were starting every bike 30-seconds apart. Our main competition was going to come from a few Honda teams that were starting behind us. While I was waiting at mile 100, I heard that Robby was leading it overall on adjusted and physical time. When he got to me I was super pumped to see how fast he was going. I took off and a little bit later the helicopter radioed to let me know that we were physically 5-minutes ahead and about 2-minutes ahead on adjusted time. I was on the bike for a little over 100-miles over the summit, which was way rougher then I thought it would be (before I got to Baja). Right off the bat you go into a lot of rocks and have to go over this summit, which was about 20-miles long. I was on the tight side, but felt like I still had a good pace going to keep the lead. Halfway into the loop, I was feeling good and had to make my first pit stop. The guys did a great job and I was back off. Then around the 180-mile mark I was in this sand wash and had one close call and almost took a soil sample. I hit a rock with my rear wheel and never saw it. It was a scary moment and I had the bike in full panic rev trying to pull it out. Luckily I did, and just got back into my pace again. When I arrived at mile 201, I got off and they switched wheels and topped off with gas. Ryan Penhall got on here to do his sections (which was a little over 100-miles). We sat there for a little bit before the next bike came in (around 10-minutes). It was Honda's A team (Kendall Norman, Timmy Weigand, and Quinn Cody), and they had to stop for tires too. When they took off, I was feeling really good about our chances today. The KX450 was working awesome and things were going pretty smooth, but this is Baja so I knew it was far from over. Jonny and I didn't have any radio communication with anyone from this point on until I got back on at mile-520, so I'm not 100% sure what happened from when I got off to when I got back on. I do know Ryan had a tough time with his section, and when he got off we were physically 1 1/2 - minutes up on the Honda A team and now losing by 1 1/2 - minutes on adjusted time. Robby got back on for the whooped out San Felipe section, and of course he was back on the gas again. He got us back up on time and back in the lead. Then about 3-miles before he gave me the bike, he went down hard and bent the bike up. He pulled into the pits, but the problem was he was ahead of his scheduled time and it was just Jonny and I at this pit. There wasn't much we could do, because we didn't have an exhaust system and bars to change the two worst things. I just told them I'm riding it and will deal with it until the next pit (39-miles). This section I was riding was Mike's Sky Ranch loop, and there's a lot of traffic on the road for the first 15-miles. The helicopter had to refuel and I had no one to tell me if I was clear around the corners or in the hills. I was passing cars left and right, but I definitely wasn't taking any chances. Finally around the 10-mile mark, I heard the guys on the radio telling me they could see me and that was a huge relief. Once they got to me, I hammered down and rode as hard as I could since we were basically tied on time with the Honda boys. I knew Timmy Weigand (who is a really great rider) was on the bike, but he had already ridden over 100+ miles without a break so I knew he was probably a little tired. The top of Mike's section was my favorite stuff down there, and was a lot slower than most of the Baja race. When I got to my pit I jumped off, and the guys started to change the exhaust can. It turns out that the whole side of the can was blown out and it wasn't running the best. They did a great job on changing it and I was planning on getting back on the bike, since I knew I could put more time on Timmy. I had actually put 2-minutes on him in my 39-miles section and I wanted to try to put more time on him going down the hill with a bike that would actually run on top-end. Unfortunately there was a lot that went on in this pit, and I was ordered not to get on the bike and to let Connor ride instead. I can honestly tell you I wanted on that bike and was doing everything I could, but as you can tell it didn't happen as planned and I wasn't too happy about it! Connor took off and then Timmy came by a little less than 5-minutes later. Connor had a 42-mile section back into the meadows, (mile 600) but a lot of it was slower stuff until the end. When he got down to the bottom, he turned the bike over to Steve Hengeveld. They had to put lights on it, change tires and a filter. Honda had to do the same thing so we figured we weren't going to lose any time in the pits. When Steve took off the Honda was around a minute back and now leading on time. From this point on, I really don't know what happened since I got to the finish right before they got there. Steve is one of the best night racers and I felt confident in him, but Honda had Kendall Norman on the bike and he's a great rider too. Steve needed to put a couple minutes on Kendall and he just wasn't able to since he was still riding a bent up bike and Kendall was really wanting the win which would also give him the Score championship. Steve came across the finish in first, but Kendall was less than a minute back and that gave the Honda boys the win on adjusted time. It's hard to believe we raced for 14-hours and the win came down to less than 3-minutes.

Overall Summary:
This was really a tough race to lose for me (and the rest of the team). It felt like I lost a championship that was right in our hands. I've lost plenty of races before, but this one was something I really wanted to add to my list of wins. I was really happy with the way I rode and the way the bike held up for that long of a race. All of us riders gave it everything we could, but we just came up a little short. I was a great experience and fun to be part of, so I don't regret any of that. I just really wanted to win it for Kawasaki and Danny Hamel (someone I've always looked up to)!

I've had a ton of people ask me what I thought of Baja and if I would go back down there again to race. First, I really enjoy Baja and had a lot of fun hanging out and meeting some great people. The experience was something I'll never forget (especially contingency row) and I was happy I did it. Hopefully the next time I race it I'll be in a race truck or car though.