The photo is of me at the Gila Bend GP in Gila Bend, Arizona in January
of 1986, the bike
is an M*Star GM 500. As you well know this is a motocross bike,
with a
small gas tank. The race was a GP format with a parade lap through
town and
as it turned out I should have either skipped the parade lap or refueled
before the start of the race. Why? Because I ran out of
gas on the first
loop. Luckily the Arizona Desert Racing Association (ADRA) required
all
racers to carry a canteen (pre camel back era). However, the
canteen rule
did not specify what liquid should be in the canteen; so I had pre-mix
in
mine. This race was the first time I had ever ridden a dirt bike
at near
sea level. I spent the better part of a day trying to jet my
bike
perfectly, and then chickened out and ran it a little rich. This
proved to
be one of the few smart things that I have ever done since the race
was run
through some fast arroyos with deep sand (just like we have here in
Albuquerque but we are at 5000ft). Another lucky thing happened,
my buddy
seized his 250 KTM in one of those long fast arroyos. This was
only lucky
for me, not for him. As it turned out I would not have had enough
fuel to
finish the race, but since he was just standing around at the last
pit I was
able to bum some from him. I am glad I got to experience the
awesome power
of my Maico at sea level, not that it is not powerful at 5000ft.
I had
heard from people that raced Gila Bend the previous year that there
would be
an abandoned highway section so I ordered the biggest counter shaft
sprocket
available and the smallest rear sprocket. I know that I got the
tallest
gearing available because the counter shaft sprocket actually rubbed
the
swingarm, and the rear sprocket was so small that the chain just touched
the
sprocket bolts. I can't prove it but I am pretty sure that I
was going 100
mph on the highway section. I went by everyone so fast that I
think the
paint was sucked off of their motorcycles. My eye balls were
bouncing
around in my goggles so fast that I missed the turn at the end of the
highway and blasted out into the cactus like an out of control rocket.
Of
course everyone passed me back and luckily I didn't crash. I'm
pretty sure
I got 4th Open Am and it turned out to be the last time I ever raced
on the
M*Star or any other motorcycle for that matter. The following
April I
crashed big, ended up in the hospital for two weeks, sold all my bikes
('84
250 KTM, '85 500 M*Star, and 650 Seca), and gave up riding. I
did ride a
Sherpa T at some local trials for about two years. That was fun
but it just
wasn't the same. I recently bought a '97 XR280 that I trail ride
in the
near by mountains, but more importantly I bought really grodie old
'73 or
'74 MC400 Maico radial and if I can scrounge enough parts it could
be ready
for vintage MX someday. I will race again!
Wes Baca wwbaca@msn.com
Albuquerque, New Mexico