VOL. 51 ISSUE 2 JANUARY 14, 2014
all Seeing Eye in Baja, was calling for booby traps close to Ojos.
My section… "Great," I thought.
The report was that a rider had
wrapped himself up in a barbedwire trap. Not all of them, but
certain locals in the area have a
different, more negative mentality
when it comes to the race and for
those who are impeding on their
land. Sketchy… don't you think?
Just a few hours prior, the
team and I heard about Kurt Caselli, the factory KTM rider who
passed away while leading the
1000. Initially, we heard a booby
trap was the cause of his passing and we didn't find out until
later that it was a high-speed collision with an animal that caused
his accident. No one is invincible
in Baja. This isn't exactly closed
"
Trail." That's 80 miles of trail system that leads west towards Ojos
Negros. Eventually, I'd hand it off
to Edwards who would take the
last 40 miles to the finish - all to
spare him after his long San Felipe "purgatory" stint of whoops.
The time waiting on Merle near
Valle T. was eerie. On the way
to the meeting point, my chase
driver, John Bell, and I heard the
unpleasant chatter over the radio
channel 1. The Weatherman, the
IT'S JUST YOU,
YOUR MACHINE,
THE TRAIL, YOUR
INSTINCTS, AND
A BIG SET OF
HUEVOS. THIS
IS EVEN MORE
AMPLIFIED WHILE
RACING DURING
THE BLACKNESS
OF NIGHT.
P61
course racing. It can happen to
anyone, even the best and Kurt's
death was a tragedy, a true loss
to the motorcycle racing community. His passing was a reality check for the team, for every
rider and team on course, and in
my case – one who was about to
be on course.
Myers touches on this by saying… "The moment the race became real to me was at 12 a.m. on
the second night. Knowing Kurt
[Caselli] was gone and knowing
I'm about to send one of our boys
out into the darkness with trophy
trucks climbing up their asses
wasn't a great feeling. It was like
letting go of one of my kids - just
a crazy, weird feeling."
"Being there and seeing it in
action, the fast boys definitely
jumped up a couple of notches in
my book as far as level of respect
goes," said Edwards. "They're
playing a high stakes, a fastpaced dangerous game… as we
eventually found out with Kurt Caselli. Condolences to him and his
family - we all left there with heavy
hearts. For our friends and family, I think it was a bit emotional.
Those boys put it into perspective, speed wise. We're definitely
not desert racers, and I don't intend to be a desert racer. We did
it for the fun."
From all of us, condolences go
out to the Caselli family for their
loss - R.I.P. Kurt.
I had to do what I do best ride. No matter the circumstances, we had to get the job done.
However, this go around had an
