If you could put a team of four Australian riders together to take on one of the craziest desert races in the world, who would you choose? How about a couple of chippies, a ride coach and metal a fabricator? The tricky detail in all this is, it’s not just a desert race because the riders must navigate streets and roads that are open to the public and the race runs through the night. The loose rules of Mexico make the 2024 Baja 1000 not only fast and rough, but incredibly dangerous and unpredictable. For a bunch of thrill seekers, it is perhaps, the ultimate off-road race.
THE KING AND HIS MEN
Five-time King of The Desert David Walsh decided he wanted to take on the 2024 Score International Baja 1000. Mexico is a hell of a long way from Walsh’s hometown of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, so the Finke Desert Race champion set to work on not only sourcing the best team ride but, also the best teammates.
“Racing the Baja 1000 was a dream of mine for a very long time and after I won my first Finke in 2019 Glenn Kearney, who was KTM Australia’s motorsports manager at the time, helped arranged a ride for me on a team in 2019. It was an insane experience. The team gave me a 50-mile section to learn then the next day they sent me off to learn a bigger section unsupported because it was too hard to get a vehicle in there to follow me. They strapped a full 10-litre fuel bag to me with tie-downs, I stuffed a couple of extra bottles of water down my pants and off I went. They said if I didn’t make it out by night, they’d know something had gone wrong”.
“The actual race didn’t go to plan after one of our riders broke his wrist while leading. Then we had some mechanical issues with an injector and a fuel-pump. I was supposed to ride my section during the day but ended up riding my entire section through the night. I got lost and it was a wild time but we got second place in our class and fourth outright. It was so much fun and the race is nuts. It’s pretty cool and I wanted to go back”.
“I’d been chipping away at trying to secure some sponsorship for the past couple of years and this year, the Peter Kittle Motor Company came on board. Then Talice Security, Bellrock Broking, Specialized Cleaning Group, Exact Contracting, WA Fire Protection, Smoothy Cattle CO, Tr!pl3 Fire Electrical & Contracting, Blueprint NT and AusCon NT all jumped on board. With the financial support behind me I had the means to hire a race package from the defending race champion, Juan Carlos Salavatierra who will provide a race-prepared KTM 450 and all the support required to compete. This includes four pre-run bikes so we can go and learn our sections for five or six days before the race”.
“I now had a solid plan to offer and I asked Grabbo (Ben Grabham), my cousin Liam (Walsh) and Jacob Smith to join me. The course for this year’s race will be released only weeks before the start and Salavatierra will help us with track knowledge and what the terrain will be like in each section. Grabbo is well rounded and can ride anything but we’ll give him the most technical section. I want to put Liam somewhere fast and in daylight”.
“The start is usually the most dangerous part of the event so I will jump on that grenade. We’ll put Jacob wherever we need him because he is a well rounded and capable rider. It’s going to be the best experience and we’ll certainly look the part with Alpinestars kitting us out and Browns Grafix is sorting us out with custom painted helmets.”
GRABBO GOES BACK TO BAJA
Ben Grabham swore he would never go back to Mexico after competing in the 2009 Baja 1000 with fellow Aussie racer Brad Williscroft. Grabbo has loads of experience and with age comes wisdom and perhaps a realisation that racing at a high level is not for ever.
“After Finke in 2023 Walshy contacted me with the idea of racing the Baja 1000. Anyone that knows me will confirm I never wanted to go back after racing there in 2009. I wasn’t a fan of the third world conditions, racing through streets and passing cars, hearing gun shots and stories about coppers having their heads cut off”.
“A lot of years have passed and I look at it a bit differently now that I am older and appreciate my racing a bit more and enjoy it more. Being able to do it with good people and a good team appeals to me. I’ve spoken to Toby Price, he’s over there a lot racing trophy trucks and happy to pass on some knowledge and advice”.
“The package Walshy has arranged for us is pretty appealing with everything in place to piggyback off the team that won it last year. Walshy arranged everything and I think we can avoid the things I didn’t like about my last experience”.
“We have a good group of guys and if we all go there close to our best and pick sections that suit us, it will put us in a really strong position. There are sections of Baja where’s there’s kilometres and kilometres of whoops which will suit Walshy. Although, there are spots where the whoops are littered with rocks which is something he will have to watch out for”.
“The beauty of Jacob as a rider is he can ride the desert and do well anywhere that is quite physical where you need motocross type skills. He won the Finke prologue in 2022 and 2023 so he has good sprint speed and he has a lot of experience. You can count on him showing up fit and ready to go”.
“Liam is fast and a good desert/motocross rider. He won the prologue at Finke this year and the past two Don River Dash races so I think he could do well pretty much anywhere. As for me, there’s some mountain sections that are more like what you would see at an AORC or world enduro. I can still ride fast but I prefer these more technical sections.”
SMITH SIGNS UP FOR SECONDS
Jacob Smith is the Mr Dependable of Australian desert racing with an impressive resume featuring multiple Finke podiums, wins in the Australian Safari and Condo 750, along with finishing the Dakar Rally. Smith also raced the 2012 Baja 1000 with fellow Aussies Warren and Vernon Strange placing fourth outright and now he’s back for his second Baja experience.
“I had the time of my life racing Baja with Warren and Vern. They were going and had a spare seat and I’d won the Safari that year so I put my winner’s cheque into that. We never actually knew where we finished but we were the fourth bike across the line. We went and bought a carton of beer and watched the cars cross the line and that was it”.
“I am chuffed to get the call-up from Walshy and to ride with Liam and Grabbo, we’ll have a pretty handy team. I suggest that Grabbo gets all the rocks and technical stuff and David gets all the whoops. Then Liam and I can do the rest of it. Hopefully we can all do around 200-miles each and spread the load. It’s a long race and you need to be smart to get the bike to the end”.
“It’s a wild race and you need to be super-careful. The track is not closed so old mate farmer can be cruising down the road towards you, and there’s stories of people setting booby traps. Well, that can happen but if you see a group of 20 Mexicans with shovels you can bet they have dug a hole. Some of the whooped-out sections down near San Felipe has Finke-sized whoops that are just rock. It gets super-rough but if you know your section, you can eliminate a lot of the risks”.
“When I was there last time I just loved the experience and although I haven’t raced any events this year, I’d kick myself if I turned down this ride. Obviously, Toby Price is going to be there with his team and if his car holds together, he has a chance of winning and it would be great to have a heap of Aussies there for that”.
YOUNG GUN
Liam Walsh is the youngest member of the four-rider team and despite crashing out of the 2024 Finke Desert Race, he’s got some solid desert racing experience behind him. At 24 years-old, the younger cousin of David Walsh is showing plenty of potential.
“I’m keen to get over there and learn all about it. Hopefully we can get on the podium and come home with the win. I’ve never been to Mexico but my brother has and said it’s a pretty cool spot with nice beaches and it’s popular for people who want to party. I’ve been watching a lot of Baja on You Tube to see what the terrain might be like”.
“The small fracture in my right wrist from my Finke crash has healed and I am trying to go for my third consecutive Don River Dash win. I’ve spoken to David about Baja and he said if I keep my usual training routine I should be right to go. He said Baja isn’t as intense as Finke, but I believe it will be tough so I’ll be training as hard as I can”.
BAJA 1000 HISTORY
The Baja 1000 is held on the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. The race dates back to 1967, founded by ex-Marine Ed Pearlman. Its close proximity to the USA border makes it popular with Americans which helped boost its profile. The race starts in Ensenada and ends in La Paz which can be roughly 900 miles, however it can also be a loop race, starting and ending in Ensenada covering a distance of approximately 850 miles. The Baja 1000 is unique because it’s an all-out race, go as fast as you can through the streets and back roads of Mexico, through the desert and high up into the hills. The fastest bike wins. This year, the event will start and end in Ensenada beginning on November 12.
