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Downloaded from
YTS.LT

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The reason why we wanted to do the championship was because no foreign, no full foreign team has done it. No foreign team, and I mean, I say full foreign team; the rider of record and all of the team are from the same country. So no one's done it in the cars or the bikes in the 50 year history of the Baja

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.LT

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And so we wanted to be the first to do that. There's been lots of foreigners that have raced and won, but they've used Mexican and American riders and drivers. So for us to be able to go over there and, one, first win a race, which we did in the 250, the 400 and the 500 and then win the championship was going to be a first

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a bunch of 50 year old Kiwis did it

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So that was the thing. Even when I say it, it makes me feel pretty cool. It's like that was the real thing, you know, some old New Zealanders were the first to be a full foreign team to crack that

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It's pretty impressive

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There's lots and lots of people who do things first. But coming from a place like New Zealand and everything, every one of these bike riders were really great bike riders

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But two of them on this trip had never, ever seen Mexico. Mexico has a few things that could be common: rocks, dust, endless silt. And then there could be the unpredictable: fog, rain, mud where you are in the clutch. Those things you can't put in the equation and you had to figure out on the fly. Who was it?

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Patton said:

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the war really starts when you

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fire the first shot

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[Baja California]

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['We want to win The Championship']

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['A group of motorcycle racers from New Zealand aim to win all four Baja races in 2023']

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['A group of motorcycle racers from New Zealand aim to win all four Baja races in 2023']

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[SCORE San Felipe 250: Winners]

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[SCORE Baja 500: Winners]

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[SCORE Baja 400: Winners]

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[SCORE Baja 1000? TO be determined…]

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[Mexico]

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[Team APS must compete in all four races in 2023 to be the first full foreign team to win The Championship]

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[Team APS must compete in all four races in 2023 to be the first full foreign team to win The Championship]

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[Baja 1000: The longest non-stop point to point race]

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[SCORE Baja 1000. Baja, Mexico]

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[The story of Team APS with Baja Bound Adventures]

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[Team APS: A Decade of Racing]

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Baja. A race to the never never. It started out in 1967. We raced down a peninsula that had no roads. Only a couple of towns

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Back then it started in Tijuana, near the US-Mexico border. And it raced to Cabo or La Paz, on the very bottom of the Baja Peninsula

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SCORE owns the race now and took over in 1973. But it was originally run by NORRA

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It started out as a thousand miles

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which was the longest

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non-stop point to point desert race in the world

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It was known as the Baja International, and in 1974

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the 500 became a part of it

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and then in

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1982, the 250 became a part of it. And the 400 in 2019, and that now makes a whole series of four races. That is the Baja One Championship. The 250 is usually held in March, the 500 in June ish when it's really hot and sucks

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The 400, September again is hot and sucks, and the 1000 is usually

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around Thanksgiving. And man, it's a nice time to race in Baja. The Championship

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and the whole series, it's got dirt bikes and quads and motorcycles, ambulances. Anybody can bring almost anything

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it turned into a giant expenditure where the biggest wallets happen

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People would race Trophy Tracks; the fastest thing you could possibly imagine

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These things go across four foot holes at 120 miles an hour and are scary as fuck

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The rider or driver represents a country of origin is

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technically the team leader, but you can have any number of riders or drivers with the team

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in order for you to make this arduous race

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The course changes every year. It's not the same one every time

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This is the first time that we've ever raced backwards. So we're actually going to start at the

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end of the peninsula and race back up to the north. It's very unusual and it's going to be very challenging

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Nowadays we have these things called VCP virtual checkpoints. And they're placed along the course to maintain speed and direction to

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make sure the drivers go to a certain spot

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Earlier it started out where there was only a few checkpoints, and you can make your way down the peninsula any way you saw it. But as the peninsula become more developed, we need to control the speeds and control access and not allow people just to go free

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range in the desert. There are many places you can still do it, but where there is a

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VCP you have to hit it because if you miss it, there's significant time

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penalties involved

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The motorcycles always won

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They were the fastest down this unforgiving peninsula. But the last 15 years, the trophy trucks, the beast from the east came out

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NASCAR motors

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40 inch tires,

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140 mile an hour maximum in the dirt

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they're not scared to drive fast. They drive by GPS. You don't even need to see. And if anything gets in the way that they'll just cut it in half

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All of the Baja

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desert races,

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are hard

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But the 1000

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or what we call The Mill

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is largo y duro

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long and tough

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A brutally unforgiving race

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that sometimes only 50% the

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field finish

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So I'm Robert Creemers. I was the rider of record for the Team APS, and my team consisted throughout the series; firstly, Sean Clarke and Kevin Archer, who raced with me for all of the races and the championship. And then we had Wayne Jennings join us in the 400 race, which was our third race, and then we had Elliott Kent and Mark Pollard join us for the 1000

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[Robert Creemers: Property Maintenance Contractor]

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Rob and Peter

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in 2012 they asked me if I wanted to come and race the Baja 1000. And I said, Yeah, well I'll think about it. And they said, they also need another rider.

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[Sean Clarke: Forestry Contractor]

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It took me three weeks to decide, but I decided. I asked Kevin and he decided instantly. So we both come in 2012. That was the first time.

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I've known Kevin since '92, '93 I met him and I've known Elliott about the same. Rob I've known pretty much since about

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[Helmet Cam: Sean Clarke // Pre running]

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2010 and Pete since about 1986.

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Rob's a guy, that

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wanted to do the championship and he obviously realizes he can't do it on his own

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So he asked us to come and do the racing and

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he's a guy that

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puts 100% into whatever he does and he just enjoys coming here and racing. So you need people to do it with. So that's why we're here.

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How did I meet Mark? When he was probably

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[Elliot Kent: Farmer]

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18 years old. He was working in a motorbike shop in an

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a wrecking place as a parts boy

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yeah, I used to go in and get parts for my bike and sort of hit it off

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[Elliot Kent Location // Pre running]

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and started sort of riding together, and I was riding trials back then and he brought an old, I think it was a KTX, came out to one of our trials and tried to ride around that and

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yeah,

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we just got on real well and been mates ever since and raced for 20 odd years together

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we're working together now at the moment. And yeah, so is it good. Yeah, real good

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So, Tim is incredible. He's, I, if anyone said to me, I want to race the 1000; who should I speak to? What should I do? He would be the first person I would come to mind. He has been amazing. I've never regretted the decision of going

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[Robert Creemers: Property Maintenance Contractor]

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with him in 2012. You know, like all of us, we have our faults and our little personality traits

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But Tim knows his stuff, he is a true competitor

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he approaches the race with the same mindset that we do. And it's along with a whole lot of knowledge and experience. He sets up a mean race bike, gives us fantastic support.

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[Tim Morton: Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame]

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[Jeff "Amazing Riccardo": Mechanic]

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All of his support guys have been really good and helpful. We've only really generally had a really good time. And it's just overall, it's been a really positive experience every single time.

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I can't thank them enough to be honest. We couldn't do it

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To go from, I mean, we could

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but it would be a horse's ass. I mean like to try and set up a race bike here and then go over and then rent

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trucks and take a whole load of people over to help us

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you know, set up the race and support it. It would be a logistical freaking headache and it would cost it truck ton. And we probably get it wrong.

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[Baja 1000 2023 Pre running]

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[Kevin Archer: Multi-New Zealand Motorcycle Endurance Champion]

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Pre running truck

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Wait there. In case we don't get there before you, and that's where I will give you gas.

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First tar sealed highway?

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Mile 40.

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I'll see you at Mile 40

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So, in 2012, Rob wanted to do the Baja 1000

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And so yeah, he found or heard about Shaun and I. So he asked us to come and do it with him. And it sort of had evolved from there really.

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[Kevin Archer Location // Pre running]

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Yeah. Stopped at the beach and had a bit of a chat to some people

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What's the plan now?

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We will probably take you back and do it again.

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Oh yep

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Sweet

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It's always good to pre run more than twice which sometimes this race we didn't. And the second time I've broken my track down into sections mentally and I know where I'm coming out for each section. Are you going to the coast? Are you going along the coast? And are you coming back in? Or something like that

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and then the second time you do it, you do it a little bit faster and there is things you're picking up again. But the track is changing so much every time

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the course isn't changing, but the layout is changing because of the trophy trucks and it's getting rutted. They are kicking rocks up. So there'll be a rock there that you didn't see

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And that's all about reading the track the whole time. All the time. And that's quite taxing; trying to read that track constantly. Then race day comes and you're doing it the same again and then you chuck a

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night time in and that puts even more dynamics on everything - and mentally. But yeah, I suppose it's just a matter of you just got to deal with it and you just go to the best of your ability and hopefully you've got the track pretty much memorized by then or a lot of it

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You're not going to memorize it all, but when you break it down into sections you, I find I can, I can memorize a lot of it. You know, even at night you come up to places, and 'oh yep, I'm there' you know, 'I'm there' and it just all sort of comes together. But yeah, there's those hidden things that the vehicles are throwing up and just changing the track the whole time, the lie of the track

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[Sean Clarke: Rider No. 5]

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My pre running went real good. I rode all my track twice, plus one part three times. But, yeah nah, it went good

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Except on the first day, I cartwheeled the bike. I hit a rock in the sand, down a sand wash. I just didn't see it. I just went over the handlebars. It wasn't too bad, but it's the sort of thing that you don't want to do. Bruised my arm and cut my hand a bit. But nothing really. A tree was just sort of hiding the rock that was in the sand and you're looking ahead and it's just instant; you can't do anything about it

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[Sean Clarke Location // Pre running]

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Yep. I got Joey here. This man here has done 18 x Baja 1000s. He's done it on a 125, a 250, a 500 and even a quad bike. So he's going to take me into the last bit of my section where we've got a lot of silt and we're going to try and map out some deviations

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and I've taken photos of the VCPs on the course so we know exactly where they are from Google Earth, because we need to make sure we get the VCPs, but we're going to try and map out a ways to get around all the silt because you don't want to get caught in that stuff. And that's what today's all about

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[Joey Lane: Former Multi-Baja Champion]

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[Robert Creemers Location // Pre running]

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Are you got to keep up with Joey?

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Umm probably not. He's like 18 times champ or he's run it.... You've been a champ how many times, Joey?

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I don't know

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He's lost count! So, yeah, I'm under a bit of pressure.

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No pressure. We're just having fun. We're just doing some dirt biking. No pressure. Go out and we'll make sure that he's got

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a good feel for the last 20 miles, and he can be comfortable riding into that confident

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Yeah we were out in a just a like 15 mile section, but it had a lot of silt beds. And what silt bands are

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It's the

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dirt becomes so powdery, like almost talcum powder, baby powder. And it's almost like you're running in water, but you can't see through it. And then the dust is so fine, it'll choke up our motorcycles filter and it'll cause you to have trouble. If the

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dirt gets in the motor, it'll blow it up. And so what we do is we went out there and we found ways to go around the silt beds.

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So it's not hard on the equipment and hard on the rider

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any little thing you can do to not be in the situation of riding through that silt

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you could

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be four feet over and you're not in it. So you just find little ways to go around them

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Racing down here,

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you might be on that motorcycle for 6 hours, 8 hours at a time, sometimes even longer.

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I've been on a bike for 11 hours straight one time, but you got to be able to just concentrate and not think about anything in your life that you're not paying attention to the second you're watching, because accidents happen in milliseconds down here. You know, if you're not watching what's in front of you and riding and just concentrating, especially when you're racing. When you're pre running, and you're just sightseeing, you know, you can take it easy a little bit, but when you race, it has to be 100% focused on what you're doing because that stuff just comes up quick and then, you know, things change from when you pre run.

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You know, somebody could decide they wanted to build a little jump to see some action and it wasn't there the day before. So you got to be prepared and mentally

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just to

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be on your game per se. And a lot of people have a hard time making that connection. And I think that's what makes the best racers. They can just

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focus on what they're doing, just shut the world off

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These guys, you can tell they've been doing this together for a while. They all got their place and

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you can tell when people joke around with each other, they're comfortable being around those people and they enjoy their company and

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me and Tim give each other a hard time all the time

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is just what we do. You know, we like hanging out

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Look, there is three things I've seen that you need and in the Baja. You need; one, a solid bike

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You need a really good bike. It needs to finish, but it needs to be fast and competitive. You need really good logistical support. Okay. And, that has to be well planned and set up and cater for any sort of scenario that can occur. And there's a lot that can happen. And three, you need to have real fast, solid riders.

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Now, we can do three, but Tim does one and two

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Poor motorcycles have been on the back of the truck for 20 hours of driving. They got dirty and didn't even get ridden

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[Tim Morton: Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame]

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I met Rob

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I really don't remember. I'm thinking it was in 2011 and he contacted us wanting to race in Baja. And he had already ridden in Baja with another guy who does like what I do. And so he was just kind of searching around and I guess we gave him the right answers. So maybe we just lied to him a whole bunch

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Either way, you know, he believed our lies. So he went with us and

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Sean, Kevin and him and Pete did the 2012 Baja 1000 with us. And since then, he's brought his kids riding for fun with us. And they've also done the 2017 Baja 1000 and Sean came and did a race in Nevada, in the United States with us, Vegas to Reno.

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Then of course, they are doing all of the races this year. So, a bit of history

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I submarined this fucker five times

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Pre running

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for guys that want to go fast is key. These guys, they go, they go good. Really good. And in '12, they actually did a little better than we thought they would. You know, in '12, they're basically just tourists coming to race.

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[Ricky Johnson: Motorsports Hall of Fame USA]

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And then in '17, we knew they were quick and we thought we had a shot at winning the class, which I think

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then was Class 40 - 40 years and over.

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They actually came pretty close to it. And

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once we learned a little bit about these guys, so their second race

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we knew they were quick. So we took it more serious, the second year, in 2017 when they came and raced. And then this year, it's been 'hey we want to do the whole race, we want to win the Championship'

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My goal is, of course, to everything boils down to the 1000.

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I don't care if we win, although they did, they won their class at the 250, the 500 and the 400. But really it's the 1000. Everything boils down to the 1000

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and there's going to be some good competition. And so pre running is super important. Knowing where to be and having all your marks and knowing where all the VCPs, which is a

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hidden electronic checkpoint, you have to clear without getting penalties. Know where your rider changes are, know where your supplies are going to be. All of this is super important. And we are taking more serious with these guys again this year

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and we are, you know, they're not Southern California or Mexico guys, so we're way more limited on time

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Each guy will get to see their section probably two times and their competition maybe four or five, six times.

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So we're at a bit of a disadvantage. So we have to, you know, use these few days as effectively as possible.

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How would you best describe your role for this race, 2023?

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Umm, there's a few different ways I could joke about that

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Dad! Babysitter!

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You know, someone like Sean, Sean is totally on autopilot. He studies the whole thing, he really knows what he has got to do. He knows what the other riders are supposed to do.

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Me, I try to have my finger on what every rider and every chase guy is doing. So our crew for this is, five trucks, seven crew, five racers, plus Pete as a backup and yourself. I've got to balance all of those and I've got to be the one to know what everybody is supposed to be doing at anytime. And what's my role? Logistics.

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I'm Jeff!

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the Amazing Riccardo

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How did you come to be the amazing Riccardo?

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Well, it's a long story about me building a bar in a little town in Indonesia. Came into town. I was like, six months ahead of the rest of the guys. And there was no place to drink in that.

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[Jeff "Amazing Riccardo": Mechanic]

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And so I went in and bought a bar from a local guy and established that and I put the pool tables and everything in, and then when they opened the door; 'That's amazing, Riccardo'. And it stuck.

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When I first met Tim, I did not like him at all. I called him the angry Little Dwarf.

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He was a grumpy little bastard. And through the years, he's mellowed. I've mellowed. And we got to know each other. I trust him like my brother. He is one of my best friends. I love him. He will not talk bad about you behind your back. He'll do it straight to your face. You know exactly. He will never lie to you.

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You can trust a man. He's as honest as the day is long.

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50 years he's been racing here down here. He knows it like the back of his hand

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He's one of the people that will help you out in Baja if you ever need anything; advice, parts, strategy. Maybe not if he's your competitor on strategy. We're ruthless about that.

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But even this race, I don't know how long Tim's been established providing race bikes. He has a 100% finish rate

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The bikes have never, ever let him down. He's got some really good prep mechanics, which I used to be one of and I've retired from that now. But he's got good bikes.

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My objective was, I had; I've got some fast teammates, and a lot of the heavy lifting in our performance was going to sit with them. So I still was going to have to do a large section of the race.

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And so it was limiting how much time I potentially could lose against our competition, so that they would have less to try and get back. You know what I mean? In terms of training, it was

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fitness and time on bike, and getting more skilled. I mean, the more you ride, the better you get, obviously. But, but I'm not as fast as is Sean

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[Rob's training ground // Woodhill Forest, Auckland, New Zealand]

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and Kevin

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But I can do the distance. I am fit enough. And

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I will always finish. So, you know, I will get the bike there. And I think that's probably the most important thing that you

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can contribute to a team is, in the Baja race is; put in a solid performance, but get the bike to the next guy

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He's a bit of a superman. Like he's just is so relentless. He's just probably one of the most, one of the hardest working people I know. And he likes to do dangerous things and take risks, not in his business life, but particularly in his personal life

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[Cate Creemers: Robert's Wife]

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But he's just relentless. His energy. I don't know where it comes from

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I mean, he does get tired, but he just yeah, he's one of the most

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motivated people I know

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Well, I have a lot of faith in him

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He's a really good rider

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like, of the team, he sort of jokes that he's not the fastest. He's sort of the weak link, but he's a really skilled rider and he really backs himself and

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he probably doesn't push himself

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beyond like he doesn't have lots of offs. There are some people who, you know,

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always have accidents, but he doesn't tend to have lots of accidents

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They're quite rare and when he does he sort of he bounces pretty well

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I mean, he's done a lot of races and a lot of riding and lots of trips all around the world. So I really didn't think anything of it

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at all until we sort of started watching some of the footage that came back and some of the stories around the Baja and how there's always a death.

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And I don't think I sort of had a full appreciation until we actually went there. Yeah. And how hard it was, and how gruelling the race is

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Every time you go out there, you just putting yourself in harm's way. It's really risky. And if anything goes wrong, then it's really hard to get help. And it's very likely that you'll be in a very remote spot.

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these just more chance of him coming to

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harm, the more times he does it.

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If you're really pushing yourself you're more likely to come off

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but even if you just going,

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at a decent clip,

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those catastrophic things can still happen.

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So hitting a rock, regardless of whether you doing 60 miles or 80 miles, it's going to have a pretty similar effect.

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Every time he leaves, I think it's getting worse, actually. And it was particularly hard

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the last couple of races

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the second race

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before he came off

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the bike and got concussed.

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And then we've had, you know, we've had sort of a few

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reminders of mortality this year.

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And so it was really hard to say goodbye to him, particularly the third time.

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But I've got huge faith in him. Like, he's not silly on the bike

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He pushes it, but he's not completely on the line.

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But it's still really risky.

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[2012 Baja 1000]

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So 2012 was our first attempt at the Baja and we wanted to do the 1000, and that particularly year it was a peninsula run. Which is the traditional one.

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[Team APS 2012 Baja 1000]

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That's the one we wanted to do. There's me and Pete Herd that wanted to do the race and we thought we would need some team members, and we need someone quick. And Pete recommended Sean and Kevin, and they greed. So that was great. So we went over there, and had no idea what it was going to be like.

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I found Tim online and I was talking to another company, but Tim's response I found better. So without even knowing who he was, we knew he had some track record so we went with him and it turned out to be fantastic. And they didn't know what we were going to be like. And so they put in a package for us.

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And basically, I think they were just going to see a bunch of Kiwis and do the 1000 as a bucket list thing. Once we were doing the pre running, they realized actually we were pretty quick. And so we got Tim's attention and anyway we did the first 1000 and I went first, and back then it was a 6:00am start in Ensenada and we weren't doing the ceremonial start thing.

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We were actually riding straight up a wash in the middle of the city. Pete was next. And then he went into the night for a couple of hours, so he got a little bit lost, but found his way back again. Sean was next, and raced all through the night, and this was all a first for us, and then handed it to Kevin early in the morning.

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So Kevin had a few hours of dark, and then he raced into the early morning to the finish. And yeah, we got third in our class in the Pro 40 class and we got 14th overall out of I think it was about 120 odd motorcycle and quad teams that year. So people were impressed. Kevin was posting times that got a lot of people's attention when he was doing a section down the bottom

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So, yeah, he certainly made a bit of a bit of a statement on our first attempt

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[Voice of: Lynn Archer]

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I'm Lynn Archer, and I'm actually married to Kevin

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I think it's wonderful.

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And I never would ever stop Kevin

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from following his dream.

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Because I think he works so hard. And I think, well,

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what do you work for?

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you do worry because he has been hurt, but then he's been hurt on the farm

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and he's had injuries just as bad on the farm. So,

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I mean, you can go to town and get run over by a bus.

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My dad actually raced motorbikes before I was born, and in then he raced cars.

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So

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I've spent my whole life being surrounded by nutters

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So I'm quite used to it.

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When you were told who was in the team and how they were all going to try and win this thing together? What was your thoughts when you heard who was involved?

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Well, I knew they'd win. Yeah, that's what we go out to do. Like, yeah, don't come home second

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Yeah.

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[2017 Baja 1000]

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So, for '17, Sean, he picked it up saying, hey, did you know that this year it's going to be the 50th anniversary?

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And it's a peninsula run again. So instantly; Oh, yeah. Let's give it a go. And, so this time again, it's just the original four; me, Kevin, Sean and Pete. But we thought maybe it might be better if we had a fifth rider just to take the load off, because we were doing

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[Team APS // Baja 1000 2017]

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big distances with

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a four man team

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So we brought Doug along and as it turned out, because it was the 50th anniversary, every ex Baja champ that had walked the Earth and raced, turned up for this thing. And the pro 50 class, which we were now all in their 50s, was actually one of the most competitive classes in the whole race.

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[The Baja 1000 is typically raced as a single 750-850 mile loop]

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[Every couple of years the race becomes point to point racing +1100 miles along the Baja peninsula]

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so

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we came second in our class and we got 12th overall. And the team that beat us was stacked with 12 ex Baja champs. So, we were going to struggle to beat them, but we weren't far behind them. But anyway, it was still impressive. And we were pretty happy with it, and

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Tim was happy too, so. It's hard to make Tim happy

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[Auckland, New Zealand]
[Team APS have raised over $50,000.00 in support for Painga Project through racing in Baja]

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So the Painga Project

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supports equity at the school gates. So anything that's going to enable our students to have the same opportunities that students have in public schools.

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[Sarah Corson: Founder, Painga Project]

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[Papakura Intermediate: 2024 Leaders]

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we now have 100 kids with glasses, wearing glasses every day to school, a we've tested

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about 700 students in that time.

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And with hearing we've

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piloted in one school and we now have about

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22 kids that have gone through the super clinic for hearing support. So either having surgery or getting hearing aids.

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there's no hearing testing in New Zealand schools at all. So they are the stereotypical normal kid.

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And with vision testing, it happens in year seven here. So a child's, you know, intermediate age. But

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that testing hasn't happened in our school since 2019 due to COVID and just due to the

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pressure really on the resource.

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APS have been the backbone of Painga since we began. So when we first founded the charitable Trust

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we realized we needed transport for our schools because the biggest barrier for our schools was getting children outside the school gate to see what they can be, to participate beyond Papakura.

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when we've needed something, APS have

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stepped up straight away and said, we'll help you.

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And it's not just financially, it's

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it's practical help. So at the moment, we need to fund a

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00:36:55,467 --> 00:36:58,567
vision and hearing testing trailer because our schools are too noisy and

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there's no room for us to fit. So we need to be independent.

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but we needed some help with that because it's actually hard to figure out what you need or how to design it when it's never been done before.

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it's both the financial and non-financial support has allowed us to do what we do. And without them, yeah, we would have really struggled.

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My name's Sarah Stewart and I'm the Senior Strategy and Partnership manager, and I've been APS for nearly six years,
[Sarah Stewart: Senior Strategy & Partnerships - APS]

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we do

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property maintenance and remediation

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most of our business has done through core clients because relationship is the way that we develop our business

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When he tasked me to go out to

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00:37:34,267 --> 00:37:37,167
potential sponsors again, I really had to explain to them that

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every single cent of it goes straight to Painga

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Interestingly, for a few years, the people that we were asking for that support thought that they were funding Rob's

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racing

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So with, say, the Baja race,

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in this instance it afforded them to be able to buy equipment that they really needed for a vision and hearing trailer to be able to test the kids

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We really feel the government needs to step up and provide their actual the glasses or hearing aids or that support themselves because this is our future

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[Sarah Corson: Founder, Painga Project]

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[Team APS have raised over $50,000.00 in support for Painga Project through racing in Baja]

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You know, if our children can't learn and how do we expect them to be contributing members of society?

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[Pre Race Day // La Paz // 08:30am]

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[Jennifer Morton: Tim Morton's Wife]

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I'm Jennifer, Tim's wife. And I guess I'm behind the scenes organiser of stuff

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Make hotel reservations, make sure everyone's GPSs are programmed

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provide books for everyone with the program

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I basically take what's in Tim's head and deliver it to the riders

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It's awesome having guys that you already have a rapport with

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They trust us and we trust them

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It's more of a collaborative effort

335
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with guys like this that have Baja experience

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00:39:03,550 --> 00:39:08,800
You know, they know to look for cattle prints on the ground

337
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look for cattle. When you see a cow pie, slow down

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00:39:12,117 --> 00:39:14,650
New racers, they're so nervous about everything that is happening

339
00:39:14,650 --> 00:39:16,400
it's like a warzone out there

340
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with all these sensory things

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coming at you

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00:39:22,733 --> 00:39:26,317
That guys like this who have seen it before. They've seen military checkpoints

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They've seen road crossings, they’ve seen boobie traps. It's much easier for them, they're more calm

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and yeah, we're definitely excited that they wanted to come back

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So it's obviously an electrical issue. Not sure if it's the battery being a lithium one that just stopped or there's something to do with the Stella. The Stella was actually poorly installed by the SCORE guy when we went through tech spec yesterday. Anyway Tim's working it out. So they'll just goes through the whole bike and check the wiring, and we've got some spare batteries, and Tim will find what the problem is.

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[Pre Race Day // La Paz // 10.10am]

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00:39:59,983 --> 00:40:06,083
But you know. So he's hoping to starting tonight with a bike that's 100%.

348
00:40:06,167 --> 00:40:07,167
Any stress around that?

349
00:40:07,333 --> 00:40:16,167
Ah, there's always a bit of a worry and stress I think. I mean, if we hadn't had done the test last night, I would have gone down the road last night and that would have happened with me on the start.

350
00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:23,167
Yeah, so testing it last night was a good thing cause it's found the fault, so it'll be okay

351
00:40:23,200 --> 00:40:24,333
Hopefully

352
00:40:24,417 --> 00:40:25,517
Yeah

353
00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:34,533
Well, I think that, you know, being that we're behind the scenes, I get to do a lot of stuff behind the scenes that they don't see. GPS programming

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00:40:34,533 --> 00:40:40,350
And like we talked about; making hotel reservations. It's really, really gratifying to see it

355
00:40:40,350 --> 00:40:45,767
all come together and be a piece of that puzzle, you know

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00:40:45,767 --> 00:40:50,267
The riding, I think, I kind of secondary. When all of the pieces fall into place

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00:40:50,267 --> 00:40:56,000
and you have good riders, in between, it's a huge sense of accomplishment and I like being part

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00:40:56,000 --> 00:41:00,317
of the team. Of course everybody wants to win, and we want that

359
00:41:00,317 --> 00:41:03,550
to be the end result right?

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Being part of the team that goes home healthy and is happy at the end

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[Pre Race Day // La Paz // 03.25pm]

362
00:41:09,733 --> 00:41:13,450
It's really satisfying. I get a little choked up at the finish line, because I know what they've put in and what we've put in

363
00:41:13,450 --> 00:41:16,033
At the beginning we are a bunch of strangers - we don't even know each other

364
00:41:19,133 --> 00:41:23,467
We get to know each other over the week and we get to share in that goal.

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00:41:23,467 --> 00:41:25,017
So it's really gratifying

366
00:41:25,433 --> 00:41:29,533
Our plan for this Baja 1000, which is 1309 miles, will need to be

367
00:41:29,533 --> 00:41:37,700
finished with the 50 hour max time. Rob will be rider number one as the rider of record, and he'll start about 1:25 a.m.

368
00:41:37,700 --> 00:41:45,183
And he's only riding about seven miles to the edge of town to get the starting points. Kevin will be rider number two, going from mile

369
00:41:45,183 --> 00:41:47,517
07 to mile 106 at night

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He'll have our full set of headlights, and then they'll be removed at the end of his section. Rob's first actual race section will be from mile 106 to 240 at night, using the small headlight.

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00:41:59,583 --> 00:42:09,667
Then Kevin's second race section will be from mile 240 to 410. At the end of that, Rob's second race section will happen and he'll ride from 410 to 526.

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Mark Pollard is our third rider and he'll start the race at mile 526 after Robert's section and then hand off to Elliot Kent, who's rider number four. Elliot's racing from 747 to 1014 at night, and he'll have that full set of headlights back on. Then last is Sean Clark, rider number five. Hopefully Sean gets on the bike still in the dark at mile 1014 and will be removing those big headlights right before sunrise.

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And he'll take that final push to the finish in Ensenada. The plan is an 8:30 a.m. finish with approximately 31 hours of racing

374
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At the start of the race,

375
00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:49,750
[Baja 1000 2023]

376
00:42:49,750 --> 00:42:56,000
it's always nervous, it doesn't matter what racing you do. And I think it affects everyone. Everyone will tell you the same thing; there is always going to be an element of nerves. You have all of these things running through your head and so on. You don't sleep. I always start the race feeling a bit nervous and anxious, but once you're into it. It takes me, especially in the Baja, because we are doing such long sections,

377
00:42:56,000 --> 00:43:03,000
[30 second interval roll outs. 25 bikes have already started]

378
00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:09,000
[Race Day // La Paz // 01.00am]

379
00:43:13,267 --> 00:43:15,467
Within 20 minutes, half an hour, you start to

380
00:43:15,467 --> 00:43:20,000
get into a bit of a groove and you get into more comfortable and there's always the adrenaline and it's just pumping through you the whole time

381
00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:23,533
[Baja 1000 2023 // The second longest Baja race at 1309 miles]

382
00:43:23,533 --> 00:43:25,550
So,

383
00:43:25,550 --> 00:43:26,000
but at the start

384
00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:26,433
[Rider No.1 and Rider of Record: Robert Creemers]

385
00:43:26,433 --> 00:43:42,600
of any section, there's, it's always been anxious and nervous for me, but that's for all racing, whether it be dirt bikes or circuit racing, I have the same feeling every time, but the Baja more so because I've got that weight like I mentioned before about trying not to let my team down

386
00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:11,000
[Restricted speed zone // 60mph]

387
00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:23,000
[Race Day // Crew on the move // 01.45am]

388
00:44:24,833 --> 00:44:27,367
And so it begins

389
00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:39,767
[Restricted speed zone // 60mph]

390
00:44:39,767 --> 00:44:52,000
These guys have raced the Baja 100 in 2012 and '17, I'm sure they told you about that. And then they've been here for all three SCORE races this year. This is their fourth. Sean, on the team, raced Vegas to Reno on one of our bikes. You know, they're all phenomenal riders independently, and then when they come together as a team, they're a very strong team. They don't need a lot of guidance, they are racers at heart. They know to hydrate, they know to eat well, they know to sleep. Things that newer racers need reminding. So they're definitely less work for me

391
00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:58,000
[Tactical rider change // Start of the first two section for Kevin // Race Mile 07]

392
00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:03,000
[Rider No.2: Kevin Archer]

393
00:45:12,767 --> 00:45:18,450
Fuck. That fucker is bright.

394
00:45:19,400 --> 00:45:36,783
So I got my first motorcycle, dirt bike, when I was six and my brother Ron, who's a Multi-time SCORE champ racer and he also has soloed the Baja 1000, but phenomenal rider, phenomenal racer. He and I grew up together riding dirt bikes as kids.

395
00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:47,100
We're only a year apart, so we were riding buddies for a while and then I married Tim and got a new riding buddy, but Ron's part of our team and he and Tim have partnered quite a bit.

396
00:45:47,633 --> 00:45:52,500
Our logistics planning doesn't start until the course map comes out.

397
00:45:52,650 --> 00:46:02,283
When the course is released, which is usually at the end of October. I know a lot of people plan for, you know, a year for all of this and then getting all their stuff together. We already have all of that,

398
00:46:02,283 --> 00:46:06,267
in our shop and in Tim's brain. And, you know, we have our chase guys that are awesome.

399
00:46:06,283 --> 00:46:27,767
We pretty much have everything in place when the course map is released, that's when he decides who's going to ride each section which chase trucks going where, fuel mileage, things like that. So we don't really even start the planning until about a month before. It's kind of like second nature. So the only thing that really changes is the course itself.

400
00:46:30,033 --> 00:46:45,633
Well, we just started with the Santa Rita Road. You kind of see. It's going to be pretty messy, but I'm going to write down every bike that passes by and what time they come by. That way, as we make our way up, we'll kind of know where Kevin's going to be and how to expect them when

401
00:46:45,633 --> 00:46:58,250
At the end, the best part is at the end of the race, with all my messy, messy notes, they all sit there and examine it like; 'I had 3 minutes on him in this section'. It's pretty funny.

402
00:46:58,750 --> 00:47:06,000
So I grew up riding, grew up racing. I've been around it a lot. I sort of feel like the mom sometimes asking the guys, Okay, does your GPS have batteries?

403
00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:09,433
[Race leader // Rider 1x // 03:19am]

404
00:47:09,433 --> 00:47:13,083
Is your spot tracker on? You know, I think that it comes from

405
00:47:13,083 --> 00:47:44,133
a loving place. You know, I try not to be too overbearing, but I try to guide them, I guess you could say. Because I've done it myself. I've raced the Baja 500 on a bike, I've raced the Baja 1000, I have a Carlsbad motorcross championship, I've done the Tecate Enduro four or five times, and I've won the women's class three times. I've done Vegas to Reno, I've raced the Baja 1000 in a car and on a bike, and the Baja 500 in a car and on a bike

406
00:47:44,133 --> 00:47:51,100
So I know about navigation. I know about calories in, calories out, staying hydrated, eating well.

407
00:47:51,367 --> 00:47:59,467
I try and feed them, keep their calories high. You burn a lot of calories at this race. When your adrenaline kicks in, your hunger goes away

408
00:47:59,467 --> 00:48:02,717
You know, you get tired. You don't think clearly. You know, your

409
00:48:02,717 --> 00:48:10,167
body is exerting so much energy, it's not going to your brain is going, your muscles, and you forget. 'Hey, where's my next pit stop?' or 'how many miles until I see the truck?'

410
00:48:10,167 --> 00:48:19,817
So sometimes in a pit, I'll hand him food and hand him water and tell him, you know, hey, we'll see in an hour and a half just to kind of help mentally get him back on track.

411
00:48:21,300 --> 00:48:24,000
I want no drama

412
00:48:24,167 --> 00:48:26,000
It looks like the best light out here

413
00:48:26,167 --> 00:48:30,000
Here he comes. That's him

414
00:48:30,000 --> 00:48:36,000
[First in class: Pro Moto 50 // Team APS 501x // Race Mile 109 // 04:25am]

415
00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:40,017
[End of Kevin's first section // Start of Rob's first race section]

416
00:48:40,017 --> 00:48:42,433
We got it. We got it

417
00:48:42,500 --> 00:48:44,833
Good job. Good job

418
00:48:45,000 --> 00:48:49,917
How's it running? Everything good? No concerns?

419
00:48:50,000 --> 00:48:51,000
You alright?

420
00:48:51,167 --> 00:48:51,833
Yeah

421
00:48:51,833 --> 00:48:54,833
You can grab the phone, Pete

422
00:48:57,000 --> 00:48:57,967
Are we on Joey?

423
00:48:58,000 --> 00:48:58,917
Yep

424
00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:01,000
Where is the phone mate? Back one?

425
00:49:01,167 --> 00:49:01,967
Yep

426
00:49:02,000 --> 00:49:02,917
Bottom?

427
00:49:02,983 --> 00:49:06,983
Umm, no it's in the camel pack one

428
00:49:09,500 --> 00:49:11,000
Is it running ok?

429
00:49:11,167 --> 00:49:12,967
Yeah, yup

430
00:49:22,000 --> 00:49:24,000
Passed a few

431
00:49:25,000 --> 00:49:31,000
[Tim removing the main headlight due to logistics of rider changes and support truck locations]

432
00:49:31,000 --> 00:49:36,000
[Rob will race the remaining hours into sunrise utilising only the smaller headlight]

433
00:49:37,000 --> 00:49:41,500
It's dusty. If you're behind someone you'll slow right down

434
00:49:42,000 --> 00:49:43,917
I fell off

435
00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:46,917
Wait, you fell?

436
00:49:53,000 --> 00:49:55,500
It's dodgy man, along the coast

437
00:49:57,000 --> 00:50:01,750
The fog and everyone's got fires going. So that and the fog

438
00:50:02,000 --> 00:50:04,000
Oh, there was fog?

439
00:50:04,500 --> 00:50:08,000
Yeah, there was fog and then all the fires, the smoke

440
00:50:35,667 --> 00:50:39,717
the Stella's asking me, 'Is everything okay?'

441
00:50:44,000 --> 00:50:49,000
[Helmet cam // Rob // Start of his first race section]

442
00:50:49,000 --> 00:50:54,000
[First in class: Pro Moto 50 // Team APS 501x leads by 8 minutes]

443
00:51:10,283 --> 00:51:17,400
Do you want an honest answer? Our guys can beat them, no problem. I really think that

444
00:51:18,083 --> 00:51:30,000
I would rather have one 50 year old than two 25 year olds on the team. They're clear headed. You know, they're fit guys. They're excellent riders. Of course, that's kind of not as important. You know, anyone can ride a motorcycle fast. It's all the pieces coming together that make a successful team.

445
00:51:30,000 --> 00:51:35,000
[Loreto // Race Mile 300 // 08:02am]

446
00:51:37,217 --> 00:51:40,200
You know what, that's hard because some kids have been brought up

447
00:51:40,200 --> 00:51:43,200
racing in Baja and

448
00:51:43,200 --> 00:51:46,200
like Preston Campbell, Johnny Campbell's son

449
00:51:46,200 --> 00:51:49,183
I guarantee you he's got the right mindset

450
00:51:49,183 --> 00:51:52,200
for an endurance type race. I just find

451
00:51:52,200 --> 00:51:55,200
that younger racers, you know, maybe they

452
00:51:55,200 --> 00:52:07,200
want to go a little too hard. I'm going to be the fastest in this section. And that's the wrong mentality. I think the mentality is 'I'm going to get my teammate a solid bike, that's whole'

453
00:52:07,200 --> 00:52:41,167
No bent bars, no levers missing. And that's what our guys do. There plan is to get the bike to the next rider and keep moving forward. At the 250, the 500 and the 400, we had one tip over crash. With three riders in three races, they fell one time. And I think that they won all three races in their class because they stayed upright and made good decisions. They're not young, they don't have to win it all. So I think they have a really good shot of

454
00:52:41,217 --> 00:52:43,250
a top ten finish overall

455
00:52:43,367 --> 00:52:50,633
If they hold it together and we have fast pits and everyone stays upright. I see them as a top five team.

456
00:52:55,217 --> 00:52:58,217
The Australian guy. The guy that came with nothing is smoking everybody

457
00:52:58,217 --> 00:52:59,000
What you think of the Kiwis?

458
00:52:59,000 --> 00:53:01,233
[Jeff Kaplan: Baja Legend Racer - Pro Moto 60]

459
00:53:01,233 --> 00:53:07,233
I like those guys, actually. They're cool. But the Aussies, I don't know

460
00:53:10,000 --> 00:53:22,000
[Kevin's arrival for bike service. First in class: Pro Moto 50 // Team APS 501x lead by 1hr 07 minutes // Race Mile 300 // 08:52am]

461
00:53:23,100 --> 00:53:25,417
Awesome

462
00:53:29,000 --> 00:53:29,967
You good?

463
00:53:30,000 --> 00:53:31,967
Good. Awesome. How you going?

464
00:53:32,000 --> 00:53:34,667
We are ok. No problems

465
00:53:36,000 --> 00:53:38,750
Let me do your goggles real quick Kev

466
00:53:39,000 --> 00:53:41,500
Just try and clean the inside too please

467
00:53:41,833 --> 00:53:43,000
Ok, you got it

468
00:54:03,000 --> 00:54:06,667
Jen, get me that plastic bag with the filter in it?

469
00:54:10,500 --> 00:54:12,000
Unbag

470
00:54:27,417 --> 00:54:30,000
The wheel looks great. They're going to leave the wheel. It looks good.

471
00:54:30,167 --> 00:54:33,000
oh yeah? So what else do they have to do? The air cleaner?

472
00:54:33,167 --> 00:54:34,667
They are doing the filter right now

473
00:54:34,833 --> 00:54:37,000
Ok, thank you. Awesome

474
00:54:37,667 --> 00:54:42,667
Have you got an electrolyte? Please?

475
00:54:44,667 --> 00:54:47,333
Do you hop on here Jeff?

476
00:54:52,817 --> 00:54:56,000
That was quite technical that bit through there

477
00:55:07,000 --> 00:55:11,500
I think that 500x bike is about 12 miles behind you

478
00:55:11,750 --> 00:55:12,750
Oh, awesome

479
00:55:12,833 --> 00:55:14,833
Good job, keep it up

480
00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:17,967
Did it catch up to Rob much?

481
00:55:18,000 --> 00:55:20,967
It's hard to tell. The tracking is off by a minute, two minutes here and there

482
00:55:21,000 --> 00:55:24,983
They were real close together and you switched, and you left them

483
00:55:25,000 --> 00:55:27,500
Righto cool!

484
00:55:28,000 --> 00:55:29,483
Alright, get ready

485
00:55:29,500 --> 00:55:31,500
Ok

486
00:55:35,000 --> 00:55:37,500
Are we ready to go?

487
00:55:38,000 --> 00:55:39,500
You're in

488
00:55:40,000 --> 00:55:44,500
Shit I'm glad I wore goggles, and like, roll offs

489
00:55:46,000 --> 00:55:47,500
With the rain?

490
00:55:47,500 --> 00:55:49,967
Yeah a bit of rain here and there

491
00:55:50,000 --> 00:55:51,000
I'll lift

492
00:55:51,167 --> 00:55:52,167
Ready to go?

493
00:55:52,183 --> 00:55:54,800
I have the stand

494
00:56:10,000 --> 00:56:16,000
[San Ignacio // Race Mile 526 // 12:09pm]

495
00:56:21,250 --> 00:56:22,050
My job here

496
00:56:22,050 --> 00:56:25,000
is to get the bike to Elliot at mile 747

497
00:56:25,000 --> 00:56:26,283
[Rider No.3: Mark Pollard]

498
00:56:26,283 --> 00:56:39,667
and do it at a good speed. Have a good ride and get off it safe. Kevin's a machine. Rob's going to get here shortly. So, it will be good to get into it

499
00:56:39,717 --> 00:56:40,833
How did you meet Kevin?

500
00:56:40,967 --> 00:56:46,483
Oh, I've known him since I was a young kid. Well, not a young kid, like a teenager I suppose. I started racing with him. Me and him started

501
00:56:46,483 --> 00:56:48,067
travelling around and racing and then

502
00:56:48,133 --> 00:56:55,467
But later Elliot and myself all started travelling around and Sean as well. So, yeah, I've known him for years, you know. There like my best mates. I'd do anything for them, hey

503
00:56:55,467 --> 00:57:02,000
Hey, Rob. Nice ride. You're about 45 minutes out. I think you're doing great. You're holding your position well. See you in a little bit

504
00:57:02,000 --> 00:57:07,000
[Ron Wilson: Former Multi Baja Champion]

505
00:57:12,533 --> 00:57:26,033
We will put on the big light. When you come up to the highway crossing up there at the gas station, the big gas station, the pit up there, you're going to pull up and we're going to throw it on the stand

506
00:57:26,217 --> 00:57:31,217
We'll do both wheels. Maybe an air filter. But I don't know, we will see

507
00:57:31,217 --> 00:57:37,217
In 45 minutes, he's here. Right on 01.00pm

508
00:57:37,217 --> 00:57:40,500
That long. Then we are cutting it kind of close on our 03:00pm

509
00:57:40,500 --> 00:57:44,500
No, because it's going to be 03.00pm when he gets there

510
00:57:44,500 --> 00:57:46,500
And I'm not saying you are going to be doing 100 miles an hour

511
00:57:47,233 --> 00:57:48,400
It's pretty unreal.

512
00:57:48,400 --> 00:57:51,433
It's totally different to anything I've done, but

513
00:57:51,433 --> 00:57:55,150
pretty big experience, a big learning curve. But

514
00:57:55,150 --> 00:57:56,483
just the sheer

515
00:57:56,600 --> 00:57:57,750
speed and

516
00:57:57,750 --> 00:58:05,750
it's pretty new to me. And like, we don't even have straight roads that far in New Zealand and here we are riding straight for as far as you can see

517
00:58:05,750 --> 00:58:14,317
You are over a brow, and as straight again for as far as you can see. And sand, and rocks. It's pretty cool.

518
00:58:14,317 --> 00:58:20,500
Math is hard

519
00:58:20,500 --> 00:58:22,000
15th here

520
00:58:22,000 --> 00:58:28,000
[Tim calculating approximate race placing and estimated time of arrival]

521
00:58:29,650 --> 00:58:30,717
Hurry up and wait

522
00:58:41,000 --> 00:58:47,817
Oh hopefully we all just get there all safe and sound. We all have a good ride. There is still a long way to go and anything can happen

523
00:58:47,817 --> 00:58:59,817
But hopefully we get there and win the 50s class and all have a good ride, walk on the plane all safe and do a good job for Rob

524
00:58:59,817 --> 00:59:02,000
Tell me about Rob?

525
00:59:02,000 --> 00:59:10,000
I haven't actually met him. I only found out I was coming to do this - another guy pulled out. So I only found out…

526
00:59:10,000 --> 00:59:19,000
We were not long back, we did a motorcycle tour in India, in the Himalayas, and we got back from that and I knew Elliot and Kevin were going

527
00:59:19,000 --> 00:59:27,000
and the guy pulled out, so they asked me. And I was like 'just an unreal opportunity hey' so, I was like, yeah, sweet, into it

528
00:59:27,000 --> 00:59:34,000
So were into it, training hard, and here we are now, I'm not far off getting on the thing to do it. So fuck, yeah, pretty exciting

529
00:59:38,000 --> 00:59:40,000
Well, here goes

530
01:00:03,000 --> 01:00:06,000
I'm going to put it in there

531
01:00:07,000 --> 01:00:09,000
Where do you want me?

532
01:00:13,000 --> 01:00:15,000
Where do we want you?

533
01:00:36,000 --> 01:00:41,000
[Restricted speed zone // 37mph]

534
01:00:41,000 --> 01:00:51,000
[Rob's arrival for handover to Mark. First in class: Pro Moto 50 // Team APS 501x lead by 1hr 46 minutes // Race Mile 526 // 12:57pm]

535
01:00:51,000 --> 01:00:55,000
Someone hold the bike

536
01:00:55,000 --> 01:00:57,000
Hey Rob!

537
01:00:57,000 --> 01:00:58,500
Mark, Mark, hold the bike

538
01:00:58,500 --> 01:00:59,500
Okay

539
01:01:01,000 --> 01:01:04,000
Number 1. Get the bike to Elliot

540
01:01:04,000 --> 01:01:05,000
Yeah, for sure

541
01:01:05,000 --> 01:01:06,500
Number 2. Don't miss any VCPs

542
01:01:06,500 --> 01:01:07,000
Yep

543
01:01:07,000 --> 01:01:10,000
And number 3. Go as fast as you can and don't fuck up number 1 and 2

544
01:01:11,000 --> 01:01:16,000
What's up mate!? Good ride. Good ride

545
01:01:16,000 --> 01:01:19,000
Doing a little preventative oil

546
01:01:19,000 --> 01:01:23,000
All good. Excellent

547
01:01:23,000 --> 01:01:25,000
One of the Baja Pit guys at the beginning…

548
01:01:25,000 --> 01:01:26,000
Sorry, sorry

549
01:01:26,000 --> 01:01:27,000
Okay

550
01:01:27,000 --> 01:01:28,000
Well did it feel ok?

551
01:01:28,000 --> 01:01:29,000
Yeah

552
01:01:29,000 --> 01:01:31,000
It's fine

553
01:01:47,000 --> 01:01:50,000
Alright, good work

554
01:01:50,000 --> 01:01:55,000
Good work mate. You did good!

555
01:01:55,000 --> 01:01:57,000
Nice ride

556
01:02:02,000 --> 01:02:05,000
Tell the camera

557
01:02:05,000 --> 01:02:08,000
Nate, listen to this

558
01:02:08,000 --> 01:02:12,000
He says he frightened himself a few times

559
01:02:12,000 --> 01:02:13,500
That's good

560
01:02:13,500 --> 01:02:17,000
Watch out. You dropped something right there bud

561
01:02:19,000 --> 01:02:21,000
Alright

562
01:02:26,000 --> 01:02:30,000
Fuck I almost got taken out by two trucks in the square

563
01:02:30,000 --> 01:02:32,000
Prick wouldn't stop

564
01:02:42,050 --> 01:02:44,000
Today was the first time I met him.

565
01:02:44,000 --> 01:02:44,150
[Voice of: Jennifer Morton on Mark]

566
01:02:44,150 --> 01:02:48,267
So my impression is that he's a humble,

567
01:02:48,267 --> 01:03:00,000
mellow, happy, go lucky guy. And I think in Baja, when you have calm thinking, calm movements, calm mind, and you can focus on what your goal is, you're not distracted by everything going on around you.

568
01:03:00,000 --> 01:03:00,617
[Pit check // Mark Pollard // 45 minutes into his first race section]

569
01:03:00,617 --> 01:03:07,617
When I met him and he had a calm demeanour, I knew right away he's going to do a great job. Yeah, for sure.

570
01:03:08,000 --> 01:03:09,617
How did he go in that section?

571
01:03:09,617 --> 01:03:24,333
He did great, my God. He railed it. I mean, he's new to desert. My brother was pre running with him and in the sand, my brother said there was one ranch house that was watering the dirt in front of their property and it was a sandy road, and they watered it

572
01:03:24,333 --> 01:03:42,617
and then it was sandy after their driveway and Mark locked up the brakes and slowed down because he's like, it's wet. In New Zealand that would be slimy, you know. It's so green and lush there. And my brother told him, not it's just wet sand, you can just plow through that. So for him to learn the dirt that we have, you know, it's kind of like skiing.

573
01:03:42,617 --> 01:03:58,633
You get a lot of reflection off the sand that the glare and a lot of people take time to get to know that dirt and read the bumps and the shadows. And he obviously learned that in the last few days. And then he killed it. We had one bike at the last pit was 14 minutes ahead of him.

574
01:03:58,700 --> 01:04:14,567
When he came in here, they were only 5 minutes ahead of him. So he made up 9 minutes on the guy, you know, in a 45 minute section, super impressive ride by him. And just meeting him. It was pretty clear he was a calm guy and it was going to work out

575
01:04:17,667 --> 01:04:19,283
Well, I just asked how

576
01:04:19,283 --> 01:04:26,700
he was going. How do you find it? And he instantly was just, this is f'ing amazing

577
01:04:26,767 --> 01:04:45,217
and the bike is just fantastic. And it's so good to be able to now ride at race pace on a race bike. You know, having only done track. And he was just fizzing, you know, I said; 'that's really cool'. And I just basically agreed with him and grinned with him. We didn't really need to say much. He said it all really

578
01:04:45,283 --> 01:04:51,017
And then the focus was on what they were doing on the motor bike at that point. But I'd more to say to him when I first meet him

579
01:04:51,017 --> 01:04:53,750
because he was in the mid point, he had to fly to San Diego

580
01:04:53,750 --> 01:05:11,000
where as our flight flew down to Cabo, to start in La Paz. So I actually on different flights, so actually I had never met him. So the first time I met him was when I handed him the motorbike in the race. And, I said; 'G'day Mark, it's nice to meet you' and, he's said

581
01:05:11,000 --> 01:05:12,800
[First in class: Pro Moto 50 // Team APS 501x lead by 1hr 45 minutes // Race Mile 597 // 02:36pm]

582
01:05:12,800 --> 01:05:14,433
Yeah. Good to meet you, too, Rob'. And,

583
01:05:14,433 --> 01:05:29,083
I just said that there's only three things that you need to do here. Number one, that bike; you've got to get that bike to Elliot. Number two, don't miss any VCPs, VCPs are a ten minute penalty each

584
01:05:29,150 --> 01:05:39,433
And number three, go as fast as you can that doesn't jeopardize one and two. And he jumped on the bike and took off

585
01:05:53,000 --> 01:06:07,000
[16 hours into the race at Race Mile 710, Rob, Kevin and Mark have Team APS 501x currently 8th overall closing in on 7th position and now with a huge lead over 2nd in Pro Moto 50 Class team 500x of 2hrs 15 minutes]

586
01:06:07,383 --> 01:06:08,450
I had

587
01:06:08,450 --> 01:06:10,000
heard he wasn't really coming to grips with pre running. And pre running is not pre racing. So they're just cruising and Ron was trying to show him how to just cruise and look for lines and how to avoid bad things in the desert

588
01:06:10,000 --> 01:06:15,000
[Voice of: Tim Morton on Mark]

589
01:06:24,217 --> 01:06:49,633
And so I kind of already had a thought in my head like; 'I wonder how this guy is going to do?'. And I met him and he was still in his street clothes and I'm thinking; 'I wonder if this guy knows he's going to go race a dirt bike here in about 30 minutes?' And I really was not very confident, only because we weren't sure he was taking to it

590
01:06:49,700 --> 01:07:18,467
And, you know, so like I said, it's not pre racing. He went out there. He did a stellar job. He came in and he was excited. So he left San Ignacio calmly and quiet, came in there excited. He was pumped. So he jumped off the bike while we did the maintenance and he said, that was so much better going fast, you know, it was better, going faster. It was easier, going faster.

591
01:07:18,533 --> 01:07:36,617
And you know, that is true in some cases. But you know, you can't do that pre running. That's why there's like six guys who aren't racing, because they got hurt pre running going too fast. So, I think that probably taught him a lot. That he needs to learn at a controlled speed and let's

592
01:07:36,617 --> 01:07:43,383
turn it up a bit for the race and it'll be, you know, more exciting. A little more adrenaline made it more fun

593
01:07:43,383 --> 01:07:54,667
And so, you know, maybe that more fun made it click for him and came all together and he really did well. Let's hope he's still doing well on this next section

594
01:07:54,667 --> 01:07:57,000
It's aluminium Jen

595
01:07:57,000 --> 01:08:01,617
I know. I'm just going to stick it there for a minute. I'm going to try and call him

596
01:08:01,617 --> 01:08:03,000
mechanical is better than physical problem

597
01:08:03,000 --> 01:08:08,000
[Race tracker has stopped // Notifications are coming through // 04:42pm]

598
01:08:12,767 --> 01:08:17,000
Okay, so we don't know if it's mechanical or if he's injured. Okay. Can they send him one of those Yes/No signals that says, are you injured? Okay. He does have a sat phone and mine's on in case he calls me

599
01:08:17,000 --> 01:08:23,000
[Jennifer talking to SCORE Race Control]

600
01:08:35,567 --> 01:08:46,783
Got it. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Bye. He says that SCORE is trying to stop the rider that has passed him by

601
01:08:47,017 --> 01:09:03,467
They're trying to message him on the Stella to find out if it's an injury or if it's just a mechanical. And they can send those little messages that say, are you injured? Yes or no? They said that they've sent him one, and he's not responding. But he could be working on the bike. Or...

602
01:09:03,467 --> 01:09:06,467
He could and just not have any idea what that little box is doing

603
01:09:06,483 --> 01:09:26,667
Or the Stella could just be unplugged, like it's come unplugged three times, right? So he says that somebody from SCORE is somewhere at a highway or a road crossing or something and they're trying to stop the next rider that passed him by to find out what's going on. So he told me, call him back in 5 minutes

604
01:09:26,667 --> 01:09:33,000
It's ringing at least

605
01:09:33,000 --> 01:09:37,667
[Race Tracer still stopped // 05:16pm]

606
01:09:37,667 --> 01:09:49,000
Okay Ron, currently what I am thinking might have to happen is you might have to go to Bay of LA to hop on a bike and ride back to see what's going on there

607
01:09:49,000 --> 01:09:52,000
Err, ok

608
01:09:52,000 --> 01:10:07,000
Yeah, I know. We're still working on things and many riders have passed him, and got to Bay of LA and have said, Hey, that guy needs their chase truck, but we don't know what it's about. So I'm imagining…

609
01:10:07,000 --> 01:10:10,000
I'm going to text him

610
01:10:10,000 --> 01:10:24,000
I'm imagining that that probably means it's just a mechanical, because otherwise, if they said anything, if it was bad, they would be saying it. I don't know. We don't know. Jeff is trying to stop riders coming into Bay of LA to find out what's up too

611
01:10:24,000 --> 01:10:27,450
[Confirmation // 05:42pm]

612
01:10:27,450 --> 01:10:51,450
He's crashed and he's pretty beat up, but it doesn't sound critical. So we're not sure if the bike is fucked or he just can't get back on. So we're telling Elliot by message to get on his pre runner and ride backwards looking for him. That's all we know right now.

613
01:10:51,450 --> 01:10:54,450
Ok. 10-4

614
01:10:54,450 --> 01:10:58,450
And I know that is risky sending him as he doesn't have a fucking clue where he is going

615
01:10:58,450 --> 01:11:05,000
He may not even be able to get through town

616
01:11:07,000 --> 01:11:25,000
Yup, it's almost better if there's, like, two guys rode in double and got to him and then were able to cart him out riding double and the other guy ride the race bike if it runs

617
01:11:25,000 --> 01:11:29,000
Yes, it sounds like, yeah

618
01:11:29,000 --> 01:11:34,000
Maybe me and Elliot jump on the 650s..? Ehh

619
01:11:34,000 --> 01:11:35,000
Yeah

620
01:11:35,000 --> 01:11:39,800
Sean...tell Sean we're not... No way are we putting Jeff on a bike

621
01:11:40,033 --> 01:11:47,817
But Ron is already on the Bay of LA road going in and Ron has his gear. Jeff doesn't have any gear either

622
01:11:57,033 --> 01:12:13,300
Hey Mark? Are you hurt? You're not hurt. Okay. We know where you are

623
01:12:13,367 --> 01:12:31,083
Stop the truck. Stop the truck. I can't hear. Okay. Okay. Let me ask you a few questions, okay? Okay. Let me ask you a few questions. Can you ride?

624
01:12:31,150 --> 01:12:37,450
Is the bike rideable?

625
01:12:37,517 --> 01:12:51,450
Okay, so we have two guys that are coming in there to you right now with the truck. The truck is coming in. The truck is coming in to you

626
01:12:52,400 --> 01:13:00,567
If Elliot comes in, can he ride the bike out?

627
01:13:00,633 --> 01:13:18,667
It won't start, but the bike is fine. Okay. Are you injured? The battery's flat from the light being on. Okay, so the chase truck is coming out with the battery charger, and they're going to pick you up

628
01:13:18,733 --> 01:13:20,733
Can he ride?

629
01:13:20,733 --> 01:13:30,567
No. The bike is flat. And he hit his head, he woke up under the bike. Okay, stay there. The chase truck is coming in to get you

630
01:13:30,567 --> 01:13:33,817
Are you near the road where they can see you?

631
01:13:33,817 --> 01:13:39,250
They're about an hour away. So stay visible

632
01:13:39,317 --> 01:13:53,000
Leave your sat phone on. Okay. Okay, Good. Okay. Bye. He says the bike's rideable, and he, but he can't start it

633
01:13:53,000 --> 01:13:58,000
Ron, copy Tim

634
01:14:01,000 --> 01:14:03,000
Alright I'm with Tim

635
01:14:03,000 --> 01:14:04,000
Ron, copy Tim

636
01:14:04,000 --> 01:14:06,000
Yeah, go for Ron

637
01:14:06,000 --> 01:14:20,667
Okay. He called us from the sat phone. He's. He can't. He cannot ride, but he's, it doesn't sound like he's very injured. The bike, he says, is rideable, but it won't start because we don't have a fucking kickstarter

638
01:14:20,667 --> 01:14:30,667
So we need that jumper box and at least a ten millimetre tee handle to get the seat off

639
01:14:30,667 --> 01:14:35,667
Ok, so should I jump on the bike and haul ass? And leave him there?

640
01:14:35,667 --> 01:14:38,000
or let him start it and let him ride it?

641
01:14:38,000 --> 01:14:40,000
No, but he can't ride. Correct Jen?

642
01:14:40,000 --> 01:14:44,000
He cannot ride. He cannot physically ride. He has to go in a truck

643
01:14:44,000 --> 01:14:46,000
Okay 10-4

644
01:14:46,000 --> 01:15:07,167
Yes, so now that we know Mark's not hurt, badly hurt, and he's going to be okay. If Elliot can get the bike back here as fast as he can, we have to drop another battery in it and give a check over. He'll probably put the lights on properly now. We were planning to do that later check, and get him on his way

645
01:15:07,233 --> 01:15:23,133
and we'll see how much time we get behind 500x. And if it's going to be one and a half, maybe up to 2 hours, there's still a chance, with what we have left of the race with Elliott and Sean to be able to pull that back and see what happens

646
01:15:25,000 --> 01:15:31,000
[Restricted speed zone // 60mph]

647
01:15:31,000 --> 01:15:36,000
[Lead Trophy Truck: Bryce Menzies // Red Bull]

648
01:15:40,000 --> 01:15:46,000
[Approximately 4hrs since Mark's crash // Race Mile 747 // 08:42pm]

649
01:15:53,000 --> 01:15:55,133
[Rider No.4: Elliot Kent]

650
01:15:55,133 --> 01:15:59,133
That's good, just hop off. Hop off

651
01:15:59,133 --> 01:16:03,133
I've lost the Stella, so I don't know how fast I'm going

652
01:16:03,133 --> 01:16:07,133
Here, can you slide the box under?

653
01:16:07,133 --> 01:16:08,133
The Stella came off

654
01:16:08,133 --> 01:16:09,133
Yeah, gone

655
01:16:09,133 --> 01:16:12,133
He's pretty fucked up, old Mark

656
01:16:12,133 --> 01:16:16,133
Do you have the speaker?

657
01:16:16,133 --> 01:16:18,133
Okay. So they don't have the speaker

658
01:16:18,133 --> 01:16:20,133
No

659
01:16:24,133 --> 01:16:32,133
I'm going to give you this sat phone since the other one is in the truck

660
01:16:32,133 --> 01:16:37,133
No, you can leave it on, we need it. This is how you turn it on, right here

661
01:16:37,133 --> 01:16:40,133
Hey, the spot tracker is gone

662
01:16:42,000 --> 01:16:48,000
[Time to make some repairs and get back in the race]

663
01:16:49,050 --> 01:16:54,133
The light is pointing to the right and up. So if we can get it lower and to the left

664
01:16:54,133 --> 01:16:57,133
Can you see the pipe is bent?

665
01:16:57,133 --> 01:16:59,150
Oh, it's fucked

666
01:16:59,150 --> 01:17:06,333
We have Elliot's spot as a proof and that as proof

667
01:17:15,333 --> 01:17:19,133
Yeah. I didn't think about that part of it

668
01:17:34,133 --> 01:17:38,083
We need to chop that. If this is power, we might use shorting shit out

669
01:17:38,083 --> 01:17:39,083
Okay

670
01:17:51,000 --> 01:17:56,000
[The original race plan would have Team APS finishing without the trucks catching]

671
01:17:56,000 --> 01:18:04,000
[Elliot will now need to race through the night with the lead Trophy Trucks, A1 Buggies and UTV's coming through]

672
01:18:04,083 --> 01:18:12,717
Ok, so go and have a little bit of fun and don't worry if that muffler falls completely off

673
01:18:22,000 --> 01:18:33,000
[Race Mile 747 // 09:52pm // Team APS 501x have lost over 5 hours since the crash and are now approximately 3 hours behind team 500x who are in 1st place]

674
01:18:33,000 --> 01:18:39,000
[500x hold a big advantage as they race through the night in front of the Trophy Trucks]

675
01:18:39,000 --> 01:18:44,000
[Team APS are now 3rd in Pro Moto 50 Class]

676
01:18:44,783 --> 01:19:01,283
His fucking nose is definitely broken. Oh yeah. And it has a big gash. So we need some stitches in his nose. One of his hands is definitely broken. Like his fingers. I mean, it's…

677
01:19:01,350 --> 01:19:27,633
So the motorcycle ripped his pants off. He was in the middle of a straightaway, right? He said he was probably doing 80mp/h. He wasn't pinned, but he was doing about 80mp/h. He hit a rock that he didn't see. And it just tossed him. So massive concussion. He may, this leg is pretty swollen right here.

678
01:19:27,683 --> 01:19:46,000
Yeah so he maybe broke maybe the tibia, the small one, because he kind of could put some weight on it, but not really. We had to carry him. But I mean, he hit his face. I mean, he hit his face hard

679
01:19:46,000 --> 01:19:52,000
[Jen joins Mark in ambulance enroute to hospital in San Diego, USA]

680
01:20:08,400 --> 01:20:09,917
Did you talk to him?

681
01:20:09,917 --> 01:20:12,000
Did you talk to him?

682
01:20:12,000 --> 01:20:14,500
Does he know who you are?

683
01:20:18,000 --> 01:20:19,433
[Rider No.5: Sean Clarke]

684
01:20:19,433 --> 01:20:26,100
I won the Australian Championship in 1988 for my class at the four day enduro

685
01:20:26,100 --> 01:20:38,617
The Tarawera 100, the Romaniacs, and probably the Baja there. The six times we've done the Baja, it's always been a special type of race

686
01:20:38,617 --> 01:20:51,467
I did this race, called the Vegas to Reno, 500 miles. But Tim signed up as a competitor, and right at the 300 mile mark, he did 50 miles so I could have a rest

687
01:20:51,467 --> 01:21:02,750
and then I hopped back on and did the rest of the race. I got third in the Pro moto 40 and about 20th overall, so yeah I was pretty happy

688
01:21:02,750 --> 01:21:07,000
but it was fast. My God, it was fast

689
01:21:07,000 --> 01:21:10,000
The other teams all had other riders and I rode on my own

690
01:21:10,000 --> 01:21:17,750
Basically Tim did 50 miles, and the funny thing was, when I gave Tim the bike at the 300 mile mark, I was coming second in the class
[Second in class: Pro Moto 50 // Team APS 501x are 3 hours behind team 501x // Race Mile 1014 // 06:20am]

691
01:21:17,750 --> 01:21:22,433
He went for 50 miles, we were winning it then, when he gave it back to me

692
01:21:22,433 --> 01:21:29,117
So I went from first to third in the last 200 miles, but I was getting a bit tired by then

693
01:21:35,117 --> 01:21:41,117
On dirt bikes, every now and then, I feel like I want to go out and do that again

694
01:21:41,117 --> 01:21:51,117
but then, I spend a few miles going race pace, or what I think might be race pace, and I quickly get over it

695
01:21:51,117 --> 01:21:57,117
I say, yep, I don't want to have anything to do with that anymore

696
01:21:57,117 --> 01:22:03,117
I mean, shoot, I'm a year or two younger than all the guys on our team, but I'm just not as confident

697
01:22:03,117 --> 01:22:12,117
and my wrists don't work as well, my eyes don’t work as well, so I've kind of moved on from two wheels racing to four wheels racing in a buggy

698
01:22:12,117 --> 01:22:19,117
I'm 55 I think years old, and I've finally figured out what I want to do for a living, is I want to get paid to race off-road cars

699
01:22:19,117 --> 01:22:23,117
but there's no future in that

700
01:22:34,000 --> 01:22:41,000
[Trophy Trucks, A1 Buggies and lead UTVs are now all on course with Sean]

701
01:23:03,000 --> 01:23:10,000
[The Trophy Trucks and buggies start 6 hours behind the last motorbike team]

702
01:23:10,000 --> 01:23:16,000
[The vehicles are considerably faster than the motorcycles and quad bikes]

703
01:23:22,717 --> 01:23:28,617
I never really thought about it till afterwards, and I was just waiting, waiting. You know? He's coming. He's coming

704
01:23:29,083 --> 01:23:31,000
because of the section of track he had too was real narrow and rocky and slow and the trophy trucks

705
01:23:31,000 --> 01:23:36,000
[Voice of: Sean Clarke on Elliot]

706
01:23:37,383 --> 01:23:38,500
don't go slow

707
01:23:38,500 --> 01:23:39,483
in the rocks

708
01:23:39,483 --> 01:23:40,617
Yeah

709
01:23:40,617 --> 01:23:49,533
It was pretty amazing that he got through. He had an off. But yeah, I don't even know what would have been going on in his mind

710
01:23:56,400 --> 01:24:02,000
He now gets handed; 1. A bent bike. The bike's bent and the exhaust pipe was crushed

711
01:24:02,050 --> 01:24:03,100
It was underpowered

712
01:24:03,100 --> 01:24:04,683
2. The trophy trucks

713
01:24:04,683 --> 01:24:06,383
started to come through. So he had

714
01:24:06,383 --> 01:24:08,000
it must have been easily 40 odd

715
01:24:08,000 --> 01:24:08,467
[Voice of: Robert Creemers on Elliot]

716
01:24:08,467 --> 01:24:24,000
trophy trucks, A-1 buggies and some of the lead off roaders coming through in his whole section. So he had the toughest section, in terms of technical rocky, horrible parts, a bent bike, first time he'd ever raced and ridden at night

717
01:24:24,000 --> 01:24:24,250
[San Felipe // Race Mile 1100 // 07:48am]

718
01:24:24,250 --> 01:24:27,800
trophy trucks coming through every five to ten minutes

719
01:24:27,800 --> 01:24:28,533
and

720
01:24:28,533 --> 01:24:30,400
he still passed ten bikes

721
01:24:30,400 --> 01:24:32,767
and kept us on track. I think it was impressive

722
01:24:33,033 --> 01:24:33,600
You couldn't

723
01:24:33,600 --> 01:24:36,483
ask someone to do something as hard,

724
01:24:36,483 --> 01:24:37,000
as a

725
01:24:37,000 --> 01:24:37,183
first

726
01:24:37,200 --> 01:24:38,767
effort in a Baja race

727
01:24:38,767 --> 01:24:42,000
That was so fucked

728
01:24:42,000 --> 01:24:45,000
That freaked me out hey. That freaked me the fuck out

729
01:24:45,000 --> 01:24:49,000
I never want to be that close again

730
01:24:49,000 --> 01:24:59,000
On the course, when we were tending to the bike and Mark, and those trucks went by at about 220km/h.

731
01:24:59,000 --> 01:25:02,000
Sounded like a missile

732
01:25:02,000 --> 01:25:07,000
Luckily they were spread out. I only had to pull over for, I think, four. I'd see them coming, I'd just..

733
01:25:07,000 --> 01:25:13,000
I pulled over for a few more. About ten

734
01:25:13,000 --> 01:25:14,000
About 10?

735
01:25:14,000 --> 01:25:16,000
Yeah, that’s why. That's how you lost time

736
01:25:16,000 --> 01:25:18,000
You had to pull over and stop

737
01:25:18,000 --> 01:25:20,000
3 minutes each time

738
01:25:20,000 --> 01:25:22,000
That may have been an hour

739
01:25:22,000 --> 01:25:23,000
It was, 50 minutes

740
01:25:23,000 --> 01:25:25,500
Yeah, that's it. It makes sense

741
01:25:27,417 --> 01:25:28,000
Yeah, it was. It was hard. Yeah, a bit hard picking it up from Mark. It took me a while to forget about that. Trying to forget about it and get into the groove

742
01:25:28,000 --> 01:25:33,000
[Rider No.4: Elliot Kent]

743
01:25:38,700 --> 01:25:43,183
Once you've been on it for half an hour you are sort of used to it

744
01:25:43,183 --> 01:25:47,183
How was your first experience with the old trophy trucks mate?

745
01:25:47,183 --> 01:25:52,650
Yeah mate, that was insane. Like, unbelievable

746
01:25:54,650 --> 01:25:59,583
I was glad I was on the side of the road because it is incredible

747
01:25:59,650 --> 01:26:06,533
Like hairs on the back of your neck stand up sort of shit, hey. Yeah. So fast

748
01:26:08,000 --> 01:26:08,483
[Voice of: Elliot Kent on Mark]

749
01:26:08,483 --> 01:26:34,300
It's a bloody horrible, it's a terrible feeling. Yeah. Knowing that he's out there. Well hoping that it's not him and he's out there. Yeah. No it's not nice. But we sort of had a bit of an inkling when there was a bike came past the next bike that came past and stopped in there for a few minutes

750
01:26:34,300 --> 01:26:40,250
And when he sort of thought, we need to deal with this. Yeah.

751
01:26:40,250 --> 01:26:40,783
absolutely

752
01:26:41,000 --> 01:26:59,217
You know, the dangers. It's motor racing. There's an element of risk there for sure. And it's yeah, this is probably one of the riskier ones, the speed and the unknown. But we do know it, we've pre ridden it, so you do know it, but anything can catch you

753
01:26:59,217 --> 01:27:02,583
Yeah, anything can catch you here

754
01:27:03,283 --> 01:27:14,200
Where he was, luckily we could get to him and we drove 40 miles backwards on the track against the oncoming traffic to get to him

755
01:27:14,267 --> 01:27:27,150
which was a thing in itself, you know, old Ron did bloody well driving that truck against the traffic. Yeah, amazing, amazing to get to him. But we knew we sought of had to get there. Somebody had to get out there to get him

756
01:27:27,150 --> 01:27:43,783
We just heard he's in surgery now, so hopefully he'll be out of it or something by the time we get up there. Hopefully we'll be able to get him on a plane and bring him home with us, be bloody terrible to go home and have to leave him here

757
01:27:44,667 --> 01:27:46,567
So Mark and I took

758
01:27:46,567 --> 01:27:47,000
four different ambulances

759
01:27:47,000 --> 01:27:48,000
[Voice of: Jennifer Morton]

760
01:27:48,000 --> 01:27:50,283
We started out at the Bay of L.A. road

761
01:27:50,283 --> 01:27:56,250
and luckily there was an ambulance provided by scored pretty close by. So we rode two hours in that ambulance

762
01:27:56,250 --> 01:27:57,000
We got in a second ambulance where they met each other on the highway. Because one ambulance can't leave their post

763
01:27:57,000 --> 01:28:03,167
[Waiting on Sean // Race Mile 1165 // 09:45am]

764
01:28:03,167 --> 01:28:05,617
you know, for very long. So they have to go back to where they were

765
01:28:05,617 --> 01:28:08,100
Two hours later we were in San Felipe

766
01:28:08,100 --> 01:28:10,017
where they actually took him into a clinic

767
01:28:10,017 --> 01:28:10,717
and

768
01:28:10,717 --> 01:28:26,600
it was a dirt floor, there was an X-ray shed in the back. And, they wanted to keep him and do some X-rays. And, Mark and I conferred and decided that no, we're only two hours from the US border. And so we took a third ambulance,

769
01:28:26,600 --> 01:28:30,000
to Mexicali to the US border

770
01:28:33,000 --> 01:28:36,000
My role in this race is to take the bike from 1015 miles through to the end

771
01:28:36,000 --> 01:28:39,000
[Rider No.5: Sean Clarke]

772
01:28:39,000 --> 01:28:46,667
I'm getting my hip replaced in June, ahh December, sorry. It's wearing out and better to get it done before it's completely knackered

773
01:28:46,667 --> 01:28:50,383
Once it gets bone on bone, you're pretty close to walking stick

774
01:28:50,383 --> 01:28:53,717
so, it's a maintenance thing really. And you get it done before you need to

775
01:28:53,717 --> 01:28:59,817
But the race itself, yeah, it gets a bit sore but nothing too bad. But I've been racing bikes

776
01:29:00,217 --> 01:29:02,717
for 40 odd years, a long time.

777
01:30:08,000 --> 01:30:15,000
[Second in class // Pro Moto 50 Team 500x // 1st place team 500x is now close to finish]

778
01:30:29,000 --> 01:30:34,000
[Restricted speed zone // 60mph]

779
01:30:35,000 --> 01:30:40,000
[Race Mile 1200 // 110 Miles to Finish]

780
01:31:07,000 --> 01:31:12,000
[Heading to the finish to meet Sean]

781
01:31:56,317 --> 01:32:03,600
I thought; that looks so much like Cate!

782
01:32:04,000 --> 01:32:06,600
[Cate Creemers: Robert's Wife]

783
01:32:06,600 --> 01:32:10,250
I was wondering if you would notice me

784
01:32:11,000 --> 01:32:11,250
[Cate surprises Rob by meeting him at the finish line]

785
01:32:11,250 --> 01:32:15,333
Did you have any idea?

786
01:32:15,417 --> 01:32:16,217
No!

787
01:32:19,883 --> 01:32:23,217
When I sent you the photo of the hotel last night, I was sending it to Kim, showing her the way I had to plug my charger in

788
01:32:44,000 --> 01:32:49,000
Can you take photos from up there? Because Jen can't make it

789
01:32:49,000 --> 01:32:50,033
[Awaiting Sean's imminent arrival]

790
01:32:50,033 --> 01:32:55,000
It was heartbreaking to me because I was with them all year, all four races, and you become family with these people you're in the desert with all day, you know, for a week at a time. And I wanted to share that excitement with them

791
01:32:55,000 --> 01:33:00,000
[Voice of: Jennifer Morton]

792
01:33:03,017 --> 01:33:12,283
and two of the wives came to the finish line. I wanted to meet the wives that had been supporting them all year, and I definitely feel like I missed out on that, the final climax, you know

793
01:33:16,000 --> 01:33:16,400
[Sean arrives at the finish to complete the Baja 1000 for 2023]

794
01:33:16,400 --> 01:33:24,183
But making sure that Mark was safe was a huge priority over that

795
01:33:24,183 --> 01:33:25,700
In my opinion, they recovered phenomenal. I mean,

796
01:33:25,700 --> 01:33:29,667
once we got the headlights straightened out and I think the bar's a little straightened out

797
01:33:29,667 --> 01:33:36,367
Elliot got on that motorcycle and he was so hyper focused that, you know, he took off into the night like

798
01:33:36,367 --> 01:33:43,483
nothing happened. And you can tell that he is a seasoned, seasoned racer

799
01:33:43,483 --> 01:33:47,550
He was not rattled, and I know it was his good friend and they ride together at home a lot but

800
01:33:47,550 --> 01:33:51,683
the way he was focused on everything was so impressive

801
01:33:51,683 --> 01:33:55,733
And then after him, Sean Clark rode and the exact same thing happened

802
01:33:55,733 --> 01:33:59,800
At that point, the goal was to get to the finish line. But they

803
01:33:59,800 --> 01:34:04,033
wanted to win. They really, really wanted to win and they were reeling in that next bike

804
01:34:04,033 --> 01:34:08,133
A little less downtime and I know that they would have had it

805
01:34:09,483 --> 01:34:12,617
Yes, I know we could have won this race and

806
01:34:12,617 --> 01:34:16,500
this was important to me, very important winning this race.

807
01:34:16,500 --> 01:34:17,000
And we had an awesome team. Like Mark and Elliot just fitted in that dynamic really well and Mark was going extremely well, just awesome and we had a good lead. Everything was going well. You know, you can think now perhaps we could have eased it off a bit. But you know, you can say that all you want

808
01:34:17,000 --> 01:34:25,000
[2023 Baja 1000 // 2nd place // Pro Moto 50 // 37 hours 33 minutes 10 seconds]

809
01:34:26,000 --> 01:34:34,000
[With approximately 6 hours lost time for the accident, Team APS recover to finish 2nd in Pro Moto 50 Class and 14th overall]

810
01:34:41,350 --> 01:34:47,583
But what happens is what happens. And yet, mechanically the bike held together. So

811
01:34:47,583 --> 01:34:57,150
it was a little bit disappointing we didn't get first, but at least Mark's still with us, so. And we did get second. But

812
01:34:57,150 --> 01:34:59,333
personally, I was hoping to get

813
01:34:59,333 --> 01:35:03,667
in the top ten and I felt that we were probably heading for

814
01:35:03,667 --> 01:35:07,683
quite a bit better than that, 5 to 6 to 7

815
01:35:07,683 --> 01:35:08,000
in there somewhere, looking at the calibre of the other riders and where we were sitting.

816
01:35:08,000 --> 01:35:15,317
[Team APS become the first team outside of the Americas to win The Championship]

817
01:35:15,317 --> 01:35:23,783
But, that's the way it's unfolded. We got second, so we won the championship, which nobody outside Mexico or the States has ever won a championship, in 56 years

818
01:35:23,783 --> 01:35:28,750
So it's something to be quite proud of

819
01:35:29,533 --> 01:35:34,067
And I'm sort of honoured to be riding on this team,

820
01:35:34,067 --> 01:35:34,250
too

821
01:35:34,250 --> 01:35:40,000
Like, Rob's been awesome and, it's yeah, it's quite an honour to be riding with these fellows

822
01:35:40,633 --> 01:35:44,417
not many people get the opportunity to ride an event like this

823
01:35:44,417 --> 01:35:46,000
it's huge on the world

824
01:35:46,000 --> 01:35:49,233
motorcycle stage

825
01:35:59,750 --> 01:36:00,500
Yeah, he's

826
01:36:00,500 --> 01:36:13,117
in San Diego Hospital, so we're going to get up there and see how he is and just, organize a few things. He won't be going home in a real hurry, so he's got a couple of broken bones, so we'll just go

827
01:36:13,117 --> 01:36:14,267
sort them out

828
01:36:14,267 --> 01:36:16,583
I first heard about it at about

829
01:36:16,583 --> 01:36:35,483
4:00pm maybe on the first day, and my wife text me from New Zealand and 'why is the bike not moving?' So we started to look into it and, I was hoping to be honest, that the bike had blown up because it's the last thing you want is for someone to get hurt

830
01:36:35,550 --> 01:36:47,700
But that wasn't the case. He must have hit a rock, probably at a real high speed, and you got to realize there's thousands of rocks here hey. And we've been pretty lucky, to be honest.

831
01:36:47,700 --> 01:36:56,300
Yeah, he's had a big crash. Hurt himself pretty badly. But that's what goes with racing motorbikes or anything you do in life

832
01:36:56,300 --> 01:37:01,233
You can't dwell on it too much. So I just carried on. We did our part, you know.

833
01:37:01,233 --> 01:37:08,117
I would have been way happier if the bike had blown up for him to get hurt like that. But it was the other way around. So yeah

834
01:37:10,250 --> 01:37:13,183
What were your first thoughts when you saw him lying there?

835
01:37:13,183 --> 01:37:27,600
Oh poor bugger. But at least he's alive. And then we got a meal in to him and he just, he just perked up more and more as we went on

836
01:37:27,600 --> 01:37:28,733
during that time

837
01:37:28,800 --> 01:37:33,433
But yeah. Not very nice when you first saw him there

838
01:37:33,433 --> 01:37:35,500
What do you think he so when he first saw you?

839
01:37:35,500 --> 01:37:43,083
Oh relieved. Just to see some mates and he was happy as….Yeah, really happy

840
01:37:43,083 --> 01:37:45,483
No, we are all pretty close with each other, so

841
01:37:45,483 --> 01:37:51,033
you just feel real bad for your mate. And it could have happened to any one of us. It happened to Rob

842
01:37:51,033 --> 01:37:52,067
He got knocked out

843
01:37:53,783 --> 01:38:08,033
He'll be in a bit of pain. He won't say that but he might get a bit uncomfortable at times today, I'd say. He won't complain though, as you know

844
01:38:08,033 --> 01:38:18,217
Fill him up with some painkillers and some anti-inflammatories and he'll be good. He'll be relieved. Get out of there and start getting home

845
01:38:35,033 --> 01:38:35,450
Oh I've

846
01:38:35,450 --> 01:38:37,483
I've got to get up and I've got to get to Elliot

847
01:38:37,483 --> 01:38:38,633
I was dreaming,

848
01:38:39,183 --> 01:38:41,550
And then I thought, I've got to get hold of someone

849
01:38:41,550 --> 01:38:43,467
I'd never even used the sat phone before

850
01:38:43,467 --> 01:38:45,500
And I was trying to figure out how to…

851
01:38:45,500 --> 01:38:46,667
So I got hold of someone

852
01:38:46,667 --> 01:38:50,350
I didn't have a clue. I didn't even know I had a sore leg at that stage

853
01:38:53,133 --> 01:39:01,517
I thanked Robert personally for putting everything together. I mean, Tim did the logistics and everything, but Rob is the heart and soul of the team

854
01:39:01,517 --> 01:39:21,183
Rob is the one that had the idea and put it all together from New Zealand to do it and had the wherewithal to contact him. And I thanked him personally for that because I got to meet some great people. Met Kevin, Pete and Rob a few years ago. And we've raced since then and I just met Elliot and Mark this time

855
01:39:21,250 --> 01:39:28,267
Sean is an animal and I love, I love every one of you guys and every one of the riders were doing fantastic

856
01:39:30,300 --> 01:39:31,000
Going into it,

857
01:39:31,000 --> 01:39:31,167
[Voice of: Tim Morton]

858
01:39:31,167 --> 01:39:36,567
in my opinion, I thought we were going to have a good battle with the team that eventually won.

859
01:39:36,567 --> 01:39:48,533
I was confident that we could beat them in the riding department. I wasn't 100% sure we would beat them in penalties, which we ended up getting virtually none.

860
01:39:48,533 --> 01:39:51,550
I was pretty confident we could do it. I knew it would be a battle

861
01:39:51,550 --> 01:39:56,050
and then the rain started coming and I said, this is going more in our favour

862
01:39:56,050 --> 01:40:00,283
Conditions that those other guys aren't used to, but our guys are. And

863
01:40:00,283 --> 01:40:04,650
we never were losing time to them. We were always gaining

864
01:40:04,650 --> 01:40:06,367
I hate to say it, but it was

865
01:40:06,367 --> 01:40:07,783
much easier

866
01:40:07,783 --> 01:40:09,600
than I thought it was going to be

867
01:40:10,067 --> 01:40:11,000
Mark got off

868
01:40:11,000 --> 01:40:15,233
and he was super stoked and he was loving it

869
01:40:15,233 --> 01:40:17,150
I was pumped. I was like, Yes,

870
01:40:17,167 --> 01:40:20,117
he's now focused and enjoying this kind of

871
01:40:20,117 --> 01:40:20,667
racing

872
01:40:20,750 --> 01:40:21,583
And

873
01:40:21,583 --> 01:40:22,317
he's going to be

874
01:40:22,317 --> 01:40:24,133
great the rest of his loop

875
01:40:24,133 --> 01:40:26,583
Obviously that turned out bad

876
01:40:26,583 --> 01:40:37,650
All the other riders you talk to say, man, it was like a minefield where he crashed, and fast and a minefield of boulders and, you know, all it takes is one. And that's what got us.

877
01:40:38,000 --> 01:40:39,433
And,

878
01:40:39,433 --> 01:40:41,617
it could have ended up much worse.

879
01:40:41,617 --> 01:40:42,600
glad he's

880
01:40:42,600 --> 01:40:44,017
going to come through this.

881
01:40:44,017 --> 01:40:45,400
you know, then, of course, our whole

882
01:40:45,400 --> 01:40:46,200
plan gets

883
01:40:46,200 --> 01:40:47,367
thrown out the window.

884
01:40:48,517 --> 01:41:07,317
This year was a disappointment, really. Because of the way the race unfolded and how well we were doing. And then to have Mark's little accident, and, well not little one... And then, you know, but to finish it after that, I think is a major accomplishment

885
01:41:07,750 --> 01:41:09,750
I've sort of said a couple of times

886
01:41:09,750 --> 01:41:13,000
I probably won't go back. But then you think after time you forget, you know? But, I've always, I've not so much enjoyed the actual conditions of the tracks. The whoops, the rocks, the whoops and the rocks, you know. But I've enjoyed the racing. That's what I like

887
01:41:13,000 --> 01:41:18,000
[Sean Clarke // Helmet cam]

888
01:41:32,667 --> 01:41:39,267
But yeah, whether or not, I don't know. I'm undecided. Yeah. It's a hard one really

889
01:41:40,317 --> 01:41:46,617
I'd love to do it again. Honestly, Yeah, I'd love it

890
01:41:46,617 --> 01:41:49,383
Or even jump on someone else's team

891
01:41:49,450 --> 01:41:50,650
Yeah, I enjoy it

892
01:41:50,650 --> 01:41:56,250
I love racing. I still love racing at my age, so I'll keep doing it

893
01:41:57,733 --> 01:41:58,000
I knew that they'd be gutted because they did get second in that last race. But we sort of knew they only had to line up to win the series. So that was a plus. But

894
01:41:58,000 --> 01:42:03,000
[Voice of: Lynn Archer]

895
01:42:07,600 --> 01:42:15,350
that was, yeah, a bit gutting that they didn't win the last one

896
01:42:15,467 --> 01:42:25,233
But they were already talking now. Did you hear that? I've got to go back and win that one. I've got to go back and win that one…And they will

897
01:42:25,300 --> 01:42:26,583
They'll go back and they'll win, or they'll go back?

898
01:42:26,583 --> 01:42:30,800
No, they'll go back and they'll win it. That's the plan

899
01:42:30,800 --> 01:42:32,617
because they're all tough guys like

900
01:42:32,617 --> 01:42:36,133
these are Kiwis

901
01:42:36,200 --> 01:42:37,550
yeah

902
01:42:38,417 --> 01:42:54,217
I've got a bit going on because I've got the bone down here's broken and they've put a couple of little screws through there and then they put a couple of screws through the ankle to put the ligament back on and then they just went in from behind and did the PCL

903
01:42:54,283 --> 01:42:56,283
So did you have a knee guard on?

904
01:42:56,283 --> 01:42:58,000
Yeah, knee braces, yeah. When I woke up, it had bloody pulled my pants off

905
01:42:58,000 --> 01:43:02,033
[Mark's Pollard's motorcycle pants from the crash]

906
01:43:02,033 --> 01:43:05,500
the knee brace was all smashed and my boot was all pulled apart too

907
01:43:05,500 --> 01:43:07,317
when I come off it was still daylight

908
01:43:07,317 --> 01:43:12,133
but when I come to it was almost dark. I must have been out for a little bit.

909
01:43:12,133 --> 01:43:14,133
You were out for a little while

910
01:43:14,133 --> 01:43:15,133
Yeah. And then that guy helped me and

911
01:43:15,133 --> 01:43:20,483
I reckon it would have been probably 5 minutes, 10 minutes maybe, I was lying there trying to get myself out from under the bike

912
01:43:20,483 --> 01:43:23,483
You must have been a bit of pain?

913
01:43:23,483 --> 01:43:24,317
No, no.

914
01:43:24,317 --> 01:43:25,817
Were you sore in the ambulance?

915
01:43:25,817 --> 01:43:28,317
I was a bit for an ambulance when they were pushing on my side and stuff a little. So

916
01:43:28,317 --> 01:43:33,333
because I didn't think I was to bad, you know? I knew I had a bit of a sore hand and I thought; this one's alright, I could still move it

917
01:43:33,333 --> 01:43:39,600
They put me in the emergency room and there is about ten people all hovering over me, working on me and stuff and I thinking 'shit'

918
01:43:39,667 --> 01:43:46,117
'well, maybe I am a bit broken'. But I wasn't sore or anything hey

919
01:43:47,217 --> 01:43:52,100
I can see why you keep going back. You know, like you get the bug for it pretty easy, wouldn't you?

920
01:43:52,100 --> 01:43:56,217
I've got probably way more interest in it now than what I ever had

921
01:43:56,317 --> 01:43:56,683
Like

922
01:43:56,683 --> 01:43:57,000
now that you know a bit about it and how gnarly and everything it is. I've got a whole different level of respect for the dudes doing it. Yeah, it's a pretty mean race. There's nothing really around like it is there

923
01:43:57,000 --> 01:44:03,000
[Paraplegic rider soloing the Baja 1000 2023]

924
01:44:08,567 --> 01:44:13,533
And you know, a lot of people you talk to have heard of it, but probably don't really grasp what it actually is

925
01:44:14,267 --> 01:44:16,567
I had a real good run up until then I had no,

926
01:44:16,567 --> 01:44:30,500
problems, I hadn't hit anything. I hit a couple of rocks in the silt and stuff and I thought shit, that's hit hard. And I can still picture all the little, you know, little shortcuts and all the dangerous little bits like cattle stops and…

927
01:44:31,150 --> 01:44:33,150
Do you reckon that one day you will be back over there?

928
01:44:33,150 --> 01:44:41,150
oh, I'd love to hey. So I've got to get myself right first. So one thing at a time

929
01:44:41,150 --> 01:44:44,150
Do you reckon it is haunting you a little bit?

930
01:44:44,150 --> 01:44:51,400
Yep, yep. Without a doubt. It's like, you know

931
01:44:51,400 --> 01:45:04,317
They're my best mates; Kevin and Junior and Elliot. They've been my best mates, you know, ever since I started racing, you know, the last thing I want to do is let them down and let the team down

932
01:45:05,083 --> 01:45:09,300
it's, you know, it's happened. I can't do anything about it now

933
01:45:12,367 --> 01:45:19,800
So given that you didn't win, fell so short of the Baja 1000

934
01:45:19,800 --> 01:45:22,650
are you going back?

935
01:45:22,717 --> 01:45:45,383
It's first thing my wife asked me. And my answer was, 'I feel like it's unfinished business'. And her immediate response was; 'oh you're going back'. I said to her, look, I need a couple of months just to mull over it and maybe let the whole thing sink in a little bit about what we actually did achieve, rather than focus on what we didn't

936
01:45:45,450 --> 01:46:11,433
and maybe you could look at it and say, well, probably it was, you know, you can say, well, the Baja will bite you sometimes. And it did. And we still managed to finish and we still managed to get our objective, achieve the objective. We didn't achieve, the one thing was to finish 1000 as a first in our class and a top ten finish

937
01:46:11,500 --> 01:46:33,467
We entered that race with that objective in mind, but can't take away the true objective was to win the championship. And we did that. And so, you could say we still did well in the 1000, so. It gets in your blood. I mean, I've done six races there now, you know, and we are getting good at it

938
01:46:33,467 --> 01:47:00,400
We're getting better. And so, you know, even talking to Mark last night, you could see the enthusiasm in him. And he's sitting at the table wrapped up in bandages and half crippled. He wants to go back - you can see that. Kevin definitely does. So, Sean, maybe, he'll probably change his mind. Especially if Kevin gets into his ear

939
01:47:00,467 --> 01:47:04,417
Yeah

940
01:47:04,483 --> 01:47:12,417
I'd say it's 50/50, but there's one 50 that's bigger than the other

941
01:47:12,417 --> 01:47:18,417
That's a long way to go around just saying 'yes'!

942
01:47:20,483 --> 01:47:23,583
So we will see you next year then!

943
01:47:26,000 --> 01:47:33,000
[Team APS become the first full foreign team in the history of the Baja to win The Championship]

944
01:47:37,000 --> 01:47:42,000
[Team APS: A Decade of Racing]

945
01:47:45,200 --> 01:47:50,200
God dammit! This is not a trash can!

946
01:47:50,200 --> 01:47:55,350
Oh shit. Don't put that in the film

947
01:47:55,350 --> 01:47:59,417
Oh you're busted! You're busted!

948
01:47:59,417 --> 01:48:02,533
I was just kidding Tim. Don't yell at me

949
01:48:02,533 --> 01:48:06,533
Tim, Tim, Tim

950
01:48:11,000 --> 01:48:15,000
[To the kids in need that Team APS will continue to support]

951
01:48:15,000 --> 01:48:19,000
[To whom makes racing enjoyable and possible]

952
01:48:19,417 --> 01:48:26,400
I was the one that helped him get his leg out of his tyre. And I cut his suit and everything. I called it in, and,

953
01:48:26,400 --> 01:48:39,000
I got the bike up and put it next to a bush and stuff, so I made sure to get him out of the race course, make sure he was good. I kept on thinking about him; wondering how he was doing and stuff

954
01:48:39,000 --> 01:48:43,000
[Mark is looking great!]

955
01:48:43,000 --> 01:48:46,000
[Mark is still not feeling any pain and recovering well]

956
01:48:46,000 --> 01:48:49,000
[Dedicated to Kris Morris-Vette: Gone too soon]

957
01:49:06,000 --> 01:49:07,267
[1st Place Pro Moto 50 Class // Congratulations Giovanni Spinali]

958
01:49:07,267 --> 01:49:08,717
Well done mate

959
01:49:08,717 --> 01:49:10,450
Good to meet you. Good job

960
01:49:17,000 --> 01:49:17,317
[Media Conference // Pre race // La Paz]

961
01:49:17,317 --> 01:49:27,067
Representing New Zealand one more time at the SCORE race in the Baja 1000. There they are. Alright, Richard

962
01:49:27,067 --> 01:49:29,067
It's Robert

963
01:49:29,067 --> 01:49:34,067
Oh, I know. Thank you. Thank you for coming back.

964
01:49:34,067 --> 01:49:35,567
It's Robert

965
01:49:35,567 --> 01:49:37,217
Ok, Robert. Thank you

966
01:49:37,217 --> 01:49:38,400
Thank you. Robert.

967
01:49:38,400 --> 01:49:41,117
Richard

968
01:49:41,117 --> 01:49:45,117
Just call me Dick

969
01:49:53,000 --> 01:50:02,000
[When the racers provide the filmmaker with footage…]

970
01:50:08,450 --> 01:50:12,433
A piece of wood, four Mexicans, and we'll be out in no time

971
01:50:19,000 --> 01:50:22,583
You've got 30 minutes of dancing to do mate

972
01:50:24,000 --> 01:50:25,583
[Pete educating Rob on catching an Uber…]

973
01:50:25,583 --> 01:50:27,250
Oh, so he drives all the way up to you?

974
01:50:27,250 --> 01:50:28,250
Yeah

975
01:50:28,250 --> 01:50:30,250
Oh that's pretty cool

976
01:50:30,250 --> 01:50:31,583
Uber!

977
01:50:31,583 --> 01:50:33,000
Uber

978
01:50:53,000 --> 01:50:59,000
[Team APS: A Decade of Racing]