Cycle News

FEATURE P62 RACING IN THE BAJA 1000 extra weight to it. The mood was heavy. I decided that I'd play this one even more carefully. If that meant I had to go slower, so be it… the team's goal was to finish. With no idea of what the trail was like or what I would encounter along the way, I took a deep breath and said, "Time to man up… bike don't fail me now." I recall saying a short prayer before throwing a leg over the bike. I was worn-out, running on only a few hours of sleep over two days. I was in a daze. It wasn't just me, however, this was the case for everyone on the team, especially the chase crew. The bike was tired too. She must have had at least 30-something hours of non-stop Baja on her by this time. "Man up," I said out loud. The only thing on my agenda was to fire-up the bike and burn out of there. I had 14 miles on the highway towards Ojos to get to the Goat Trail. It was freezing cold, 3 a.m., my hands and fingers were numb, it was foggy and to top it off, like on Merle's stint in Mike's Sky Ranch, the high-beam was draining the battery. For 80 miles I had to toggle the lighting switch - on and off and on again. I had to continuously do this to maintain battery life and keep it out of the red. I had a fight on my hands… keep the bike running long enough for Colin to bring it home. It was brutal. I not only had to tackle the trail, but with the light situation, I was struggling to see. After 30 or so miles into the trail, I could see lights flickering followed by a roaring sound seemingly getting closer in tow. This means only one thing - trophy trucks. A few of the lead trophies were on the move and headed my direction. That was my queue to pull over and get the hell out of the way. Believe (From left to right) Team Texas Tornado Boot Camp: Steven Bodak, Joe Prussiano, Colin Edwards, Mike Myers, Merle Scherb, and the author Shea Fouchek. me, you would too. By the time I made it through the majority of my stint, 70 miles or so, I was almost praying to see my last checkpoint at Baja Pits. Once I hit the fuel stop, I knew it was only a few more miles to go until I saw the crew. It was 5:15 a.m. finally I had arrived. As soon as I saw everyone… Wow, what a relief. My journey in the Baja 1000 was over; I could chill… my job was done. Shut the bike down, time for fuel and time for Colin to get going. We were so close to the end we could taste it. We weren't out of the clear just yet, however. After pitting and refueling, Colin fired-up the bike, or I should say, barely got the bike fired-up. The battery was low and to top it

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