BodyWorks Lifestyle & Team 302x at the Baja 500

The Score International Baja 500 is an off-road race that takes place on Mexico's Baja California Peninsula.  Regarded as one of the toughest off-road races in the world, many riders don't even take the chance on the race that is know for its brutal terrain, broken bikes, broken bones and it's high Death Toll....

However - The BodyWorks Lifestyle Sponsored Team 302x, are not the riders to back down from the Challenge, and here is their race report!

The BodyWorks Lifestyle Off Road team had an amazing day. I was on the BodyWorks Lifestyle sponsored 302x bike at the 2011 Baja 500.

Getting to the finish this year meant allot to us, because at the 2010 500, I blew out the ACL in my right knee at race mile 55.  After riding with a busted knee for another 20 miles, I passed our bike on to our next who crashed and snapped his Femur in half.  Not a good day.

So this year we lined up ready to race for redemption!!

With a full year of Rehab and hard work with the team at BWL, it was time to see if it would pay off.

Race morning: John Zuber was our teams starting rider, with our bike 2nd off the line in class.  A seasoned rider and lifelong member of the Elite Checkers Racing Club, this was Zuber’s first ever start in a Baja race leaving Ensenada and to quote him “Wow those guys really wanted it; they are crazy fast in the dust and willing to push hard.”  That really set the tone for the day.

After a solid ride, Zuber came in to the 1^st rider change, just 8 minutes off the lead bike in class.

The next rider jumped on the bike for the Summit. This is the “make it or break it” part of the race.  The Summit is packed with super technical riding, which is brutal on both the bike and the body, one mistake and your race is over!! This point was quickly proven when our team rider lived up to the Baja Morals, and stopped to help another rider out who had crashed and was lying down a bank, with their bike upside down and who was in a scary place between awake and unconscious.   Every Baja rider knows that “out there”, you only have each other…

Finishing up their section with a solid ride, our 3^rd rider change took place with us 3^rd in class; the 4^th bike in our class was nowhere to be seen.

We quickly got a message to the next rider change that we were running a strong 3rd in class and to have Scott Clemens ride smart and get the bike back to me in for the finish. 

Our 4^th rider, Scott Clemens took over the bike and raced a strong section, living up to his reputation as a solid anchor rider; No mistakes, quick pace, and willing to take on the difficult silt at speed! 

Scott brought the bike into Ojos with us having increased the lead over the next in class, and at the end of the long day, I got on for the short run back into Ensenada and the finish.

Having never ridden the bike into the finish before, and with about 4 miles of course that I had never seen, I cruised through and dropped down onto the familiar roads outside of town.   After coping with cars and trucks driving along the course, crowds of people watching from the sides, and sometimes the middle of the course, I soon had the finish line in sight! 

Even though my section for this race was short, only 40 miles, I felt like both myself and my team had just climbed Mount Everest. 

Only 7 months after Knee surgery to fix my busted knee, Zuber having snapped his leg in half only 12 month before, and with Scott Clemens having gotten a parasite and an inner ear infection only weeks before the race, we not only just finished one of the toughest Off Road races in the World, but managed to do it with a Podium Finish!

I would like to thank our ENTIRE team and support crew for     getting us a solid finish this year. Without them, we would never have made it. 

A special shout out to our Sponsors, BodyWorks Lifestyle, KLeN Laundry, Ocean Current, Traditional Plumbing, Echo Design, Troy Lee Designs, Zip Ty Racing, Tokyo Mods, MRD Racing and Construction FX. 

Thank you BodyWorks Lifestyle for getting us back from injury and into race shape, faster than our Doctors and Physical Therapists said was possible.  You guys made the difference.

 

Tim Abshire

Rider of Record

Team 302x

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