I was slated to ride from Valle de Trinidad to Ojos Negros. I had figured an average speed of about 45 mph, so the quad wouldn’t get to me until about 5:30 pm that night. In past Baja 1000’s, I have usually ridden the night section. I’m comfortable riding with lights, especially our Baja Design’s dual HID’s, and I know that section really well. I rode part of the same course a few months earlier when we won the Baja 500.

One of the hardest parts of desert racing is sitting around waiting and wondering what is going on and how your team is doing. We left the line at 7:00 am, so the race would be about 10 1/2 hours in by the time it got to me I didn’t have a satellite phone or race radio, so I really had no idea how we were doing. After racing in Mexico for so many years, one thing I’ve learned to do is try to let go on what the other riders have to do and just focus on doing the best you can in your section. The rest of the race is out of your control, so it is a lesson in futility to fret over it. You have to let the race play out, have faith in your teammates, and play the cards you’re delt when the race gets to you.

When I got to the pit area where I would get on, I found another team with radios. I asked if they knew who the lead quads were and they said there were 2 battling for the lead. They were the 1a team of Danny Prather and our 8a. This gave me a little adrenaline rush because I knew it would be tight when it got to me. A lot of times in desert racing, positions are fairly settled in by the time it’s your turn to ride. It is more exciting when you’re only seconds apart after hundreds of miles of racing.

One of our chase trucks rolled in about 5 o’clock. I had already geared up and was anticipating a tight battle. Our crew informed me that we had been dicing with 1a all day and the lead had changed several times. They said we were currently in second physically, but that with adjusted time, we were within seconds.  Danny’s team had started 2 minutes ahead of us, so we only had to finish within 1:59 seconds to take the win.

Our team had already won the San Felipe 250 and Baja 500. During our team meeting, Wayne had made it clear that we wanted to win, but we didn’t need to win the race to win the championship.

The first quad to come in was the Prather 1a. He came through at a good pace and didn’t seem to have any problems. Wayne brought it in a little over 2 minutes back. That meant we were second, but only by a close margin. We did a quick rider change and Wayne told me to remember all we had to do was stay in their dust.

The first 100 miles of my section were mainly fast winding roads with numerous drop offs and cliff to watch out for. The past months were very dry and the course was really dusty. There had also been fog the past few nights on the coast. I knew I would have my work cut out to catch and pass 1a in the dust. The beginning of my ride was a cross over road from Valle T to Hwy 1. I knew I was over 2 minutes down and wanted to see how much time I could make up  I focused on riding smooth and maintaining momentum through the turns. I told myself to push, but ride within my limits.

Riding at night is much different than the day. You can only see a small area in front of you. During the day, you have other references that you can key on to know where you are at, set up braking points, etc. At night, you have to base your riding only on what you can see with the lights. The difficulty is compounded by dust, fog, and other variables. Generally, the closer you get to another rider, the harder it is to make to last bit of ground to make the pass. We call it pushing through their dust. It is hard in the day, but even more difficult at night.

Through the winding course there were times I could see lights in the distance. It gave me incentive to push a little harder each time I could see the lights. About half way through the cross over road, I started to hit patches of dust. I knew I was gaining because they were becoming more frequent. It got to the point I was slowing down because I couldn’t see from the dust. One to the most frustrating things is having to let off because you can’t see. You know you just rode your ass off to make up time and every time you let off, you let a little of it slip away. You try to go as fast as you can, but there is a very fine line between smart and stupid in the dust. You want to make up time, but all it takes is one mistake to throw it all away.

As I came into my first visual check at Hwy 1, I radioed my crew to find out how far back I was. They yelled I was only 15 seconds down. I looked ahead and could see the lead quad. The course hopped onto pavement for a few miles and then into a checkpoint a few hundred yards down the road. When I jumped off the Highway, I could see a motorcycle and quad dicing right in front of me. I knew this was my chance to grab the physical lead.

Pre-running is a big part of racing Baja. I knew most of my section like the back of my hand, but SCORE had added a new area just as you turned off Hwy 1 to head to the coast. I spent a fair amount of time making numerous passes through this section. As race day drew closer, there were more and more lines developing. I found a really good line that was much smoother and faster than the rest.  We checked with Honda team captain, Johnny Campbell, and he in turn checked with the SCORE officials to confirm what was legal. At the riders meeting, Sal Fish, the head of SCORE, basically declared that short section a free for all and that all the parallel lines would be legal. This would pay off big time.

As we all headed into the check, I closed to a few feet behind 1a. We both took off out of the check and I waited to see what line he would take. To my surprise, he took the worst and slowest of them all. My heart raced, as I knew I had him. This would give me the physical lead, put him in my dust, and hopefully give us the win  I was very confident that no one could get around me the rest of the way. I shot out of his dust and right on to my line, that I had spent so much time finding and memorizing. I could see his lights to my left, but they soon faded away. It was only a few miles to the next Honda pit, so I wanted to open a gap. I didn’t want to be in the pits together and give him the chance to get out ahead. While I waited at the pit, I looked back and couldn’t see any lights.

The next 30 miles or so went really well. I had a good pace going and felt strong. I was worried that there might be some fog that would slow me, but there wasn’t much at all. I would occasionally look back to check for lights. I never really saw any so I felt that I was pulling away. I kept thinking, stay focused, keep a good pace, baby the quad, and don’t make any mistakes.

Baja is known for having booby traps. They come in various forms, from ditches, jumps, rocks, telephone poles, to mud holes. As I came through the town of Erendira, the course makes a right hand turn right next to the ocean. In pre-running, there was a small lip that I would hit in 4th gear out of the corner and double in to a whoop. If I hit it hard, I could carry the front to downside on the back of a whoop.  During the race, I rounded the corner, started clicking gears and prepared to jump. At the last second, I noticed that someone had built a 2′ peaked kicker right on the lip of the original jump. I didn’t have time to slow down, so I pinned it and held on. The quad actually soaked it up pretty well and I was able to save it.  It’s just another part of racing Mexico.

Towards the end of my ride on the coast, I started closing on some lights ahead. I figured it was another bike and I started to get into his dust. I was able to close to about 100 yards from him, but then we hit some really high-speed roads with a ton of dust. I laid off him, waiting for a break in the dust to make a move. I had to slow my pace because of the dust and I started to worry that the second place quad would gain some ground. As I came out of the mountains in to Santo Tomas, I made a quick fuel stop at another Honda pit. The course went back on to Hwy 1 in Santo Tomas heading north for about 6 miles. I could see the lights of the motorcycle and really wanted to beat him to the next dirt section. My last 40 miles were pretty tight and dusty. It would be a big advantage to get by the bike and put him between 1a and myself.

In that highway section, there is a line that goes straight up a hill while the paved road goes around it. It is a fairly well known part of the course and almost everyone takes it. For some reason the bike took a different route and when we got the top of the hill, I was right behind him. On the highway, there is a 60 mph speed limit, so it is hard to make ground. I kept a close eye on my speedometer and tried to maintain my speed even through the tight turns. I was able to out brake the 2-wheeler into a corner and get around him right before the turn off to the dirt.

For the last section, I focused on riding smart and not making any mistakes. I knew that Levi would have to pass me and pull a 2-minute lead in order to win. The section was tight and dusty, so I knew Levi would have a tough time passing the dirt bike, and catching and passing me.

As I approached my pit for the rider change, I radioed ahead to let them know that I was in 1st. I couldn’t make contact until a few hundred yards out. I handed the quad over to Wayne and he took off with about a 4 1/2 minute lead.

We headed to the finish to wait for Wayne to come in. He came in right on time and we ended up winning by 9 minutes. It was awesome to win my first Baja 1000 and win the SCORE Championship with a 3-race sweep for the team.

-Wes Miller