The Story of Team 505

Baja 1000 – 2005

By Kyle Abney 11-28-05

So here are the pic's from this years trip.  They start with pic's from Cali before we crossed the border, so you can see how we packed everything in the vehicles and who the players are.  "Too Tall" Terry Marshall (sp?), "Baja" Dan Natal, "Lost-N-Baja" Tony Gurule, "Dougie", and myself Kyle "Style" Abney (a.k.a. Kayl Abney, a.k.a. Karl Abbott)  Consider these the ‘before’ pictures…

(bear with me as some of the pic’s are a bit out of order from the narration)

Tony and Dougie were going to be the chase truck drivers and Tony was to help me with my pre-ride section as a pre-ride escort/helper.  However on the first day of pre-ride his KTM (a.k.a Keep The Motor - together somehow)  blew an ignition and he ended up driving the van on day one then replacing his ignition that night so he could ride the next day.  (You know he knows KTM's when he brings those kinds of parts with him!!!)

Then we see the San Felipe motel we stayed in and some naked guy taking pic's of himself...

Zoom to end of day 3 Tony has now been volunteered to be on the team to help on a few sections as this is the roughest Baja in recorded history.  More like a cross between a 500 mile Tarantula (imagine the power line whoops only bigger) and a 200 mile Cloud Croft Enduro, (only rockier).  I wiped-out helping Tony pre-ride something on the section that he ends up with that they call 'The Summit'.  I call it a 1000ft mountain with nothing but two truck ruts and pure rocks no smaller than soft balls, there is NO dirt at all.  I think it was an Avalanche that got me!!!  Strawberry elbow, again!!!  All Tony can do is laugh.  Glad that was his section and not mine!!!  Thanks Tony!  PS:  Don’t cut yourself…

Zoom to night before tech inspection and we go to 'The Strip' in San Felipe, right on the beach.  A few beach night pic's and pic's of the bartender, BF Goodrich pit crew we partied with and I never did figure out what that one statue was doing to the other statue... Hmm, must be the Baja victory dance?

Tony found a liquor store, we moved on to the bars and the rest was history... (that I will only tell you in person)

Skip to the 'hang-over' breakfast...  and then we (Tony and I) have to drive to Ensenada (where the rest of the team has been staying) and of course as a result, we show-up LATE for tech inspection.  No surprise, if you've known me for more than like 3 days!  Dan, Terry and Dougie are right fully PISSED, but we manage to put throw out a few Tecate girl jokes and they finally crack a few smiles.  Tech inspection is for all racers, truck, buggies, quads, bikes, etc… Let’s just say, it was one crazy line, and throw in the random massive crowd just walking around, cutting thru the line, bumping into everyone, it was just too much!!!

  …then at the end of tech we find out we have to pay $450 for the GPS race tracking device that is attached to the rear fender, cash only!!!  Dan, go break the bank!!!  Whew, glad we had enough for that!  This GPS Race tracker can tell if you’ve cut course or if you went over the 65 mph speed limit for the pavement sections.  This was the first year for them to be mandatory for everyone, I believe only trucks and buggies had to run them last year.  There were many people DQ’d after the race do to issues discovered from the info downloaded from their Race Tracker. (and/or if it was missing)  (ex. Pastrana’s Team)

We take a few "Before' pic's of the team and the bike, and I head off back to San Felipe alone for the night as Dan will hand off to Tony and then hand off to me, and I'll hand off to Terry, etc...  Long story here, bottom line though, everyone except me needs to be in Ensenda, at the start line and/or the West Coast of Baja.  I’m basically the lone East Coast rider…  there’s a joke in there somewhere, however it escapes me at the moment.

...then, did I go back to the ‘Taco’ bar again?  Hmmm... I've never tell!  (Thanks Oscar and crew at the ‘Taco Factory’ bar in San Felipe!  If you’re ever in San Felipe I suggest this bar/restaurant and the ‘El Capitan’ Motel.  Also thanks to BF Goodrich Borrego pit crew!)  Ah, the memories…  …another round on me boys, yes that same Loco Gringo from last night!!!

Skip to race day a few pic's of the Honda pit where I'm scheduled to get on the bike, and most Teams are also doing rider changes here.  I'm scheduled for approximately a 200 mile section starting at Race mile 200 going to Race mile 400.  As I show up early enough to have a choice, I decide to pit across from Honda.  Logistics and decision abound in a race like this and there was still one we hadn’t made yet.  We still can't decide when I/we should put the lights on as it should get dark on my section according to our estimates based on the pre-ride times.  The bike should get to me about 1PM...  However, I'm ready at 10am just in case.  

Honda A & B team are also ready and waiting.

Kyle - ‘Hey Steve, smile for the camera!’

Steve H. (Honda Team A rider) - ‘Huh?  Ah, you better take a picture dude, ‘cause this is all you’ll see of me all day bro!  Good luck finishing!’

After talking things over with the Honda pits about what we need to do when our bike shows up, I unload one of the back-up bikes just in case we need to steal any parts.  I gear up and make sure everything is ‘a.o.k.’  About 1 hr later the Honda Helicopter shows, which means Honda is coming.  However the Honda team B shows first about 1.5 minutes ahead of Team A.  Then the Honda Team A rider 1 basically falls off the bike when he does arrive, like something was wrong and 'Hengie' (Steve H.) is off to catch Team B (which of course they eventually do)  I tried to get a pic of the wheels they took off the Team A bike, but Honda keeps a tight cover on them.  I can tell you I saw them with my own eyes and they were both Taco’s (bent really bad that is)! 

While waiting around, I grab a few random pic’s of other Teams that are ahead of us at this point like 6x Pastrana-Grider, 307x Pinard (Over 30 lead team) etc…

Good thing I'm ready as Tony "jumps" into Borrego at around 11:30am (we have the poster to prove that ‘jump’ somewhere)  

Steve H. “Hey Kyle, here’s your last chance to get a pic!”

My section goes flawless, except that the chase crew can't catch me at the point we had decided to change the lights.  I stop for about 1 minute talk to a few people who try to give me both water and gas, then I decide to just make a run for it (my whole section that is) without lights as we are WAY ahead of schedule (if I wait it will likely just slow us down) and I'm passing people right and left!  I have one of those dream rides, that ‘zone’ feeling.  Let's just say my best pre-ride time on my 450 was around 7 hours for my section and I cut it to 5 hours during the race on the 650!  I make it to the next rider switch with about 15 minutes to spare for total darkness!

Skip to night time and waiting for Terry to survive the Mike Sky Ranch section (probably one of the tightess most enduro like sections in the race)  When Trucks and Buggies starting rolling thru before Terry has shown up, we knew it was tough on Terry!  I still can only imagine what it is like to have a 1000 hP Trophy truck sneek up your tailpipe!!!  You’re the man Terry, look at that smile of his "I survived!!!"!  (I also got a few pic’s of some UFO’s, see if you can find them… I guess they like watching Baja too?!)

Also, did I mention Tony is about to ride a section (at night) that he’s never even pre-rode?  Tony, you earned you’re spot on the team, in more ways that one bro!!!

Skip to Terry and I waiting for Dan.  We waited in these two chairs, and waited and waited...  Then the sun came up and we waited some more!  8 hours total.  Bike was supposed to be to us in 3-4 hours.  We knew something was wrong, but we had no communication at our location, so we had to just sit and wait.  We didn't know that the clutch went out on Dan and it was taking like 4 hours for the whole deal to be discovered, communicated, chase crew find his location and finally get the darn thing fixed (with parts from the spare bike the ‘other’ chase crew was carrying).  We had got Satellite Phones, (3 total – 1 to be with the bike at all times and 1 for each chase crew at all times) however for some reason we couldn't call directly from Sat. phone to Sat. phone and we could only call out from the Sat. Phones to America and couldn’t receive any calls to the Sat. Phone.  (Tip – If you get Sat. Phones make sure they work –and/or- you know how they work, before you leave the store.  So, we had a little relay system set-up with one of the guys sons in Tuscon or Vegas somewhere, I don't remember.  Anyhow the system was if you have problems call 'Jimmy' the party boy.  Then if you don't show up on time the chase team calls Jimmy boy and asks did anyone call.  Jimmy boy says 'dude, yeah someone called me from the beach and said like, send a clutch, whoa, that was cool!'  So there was a bit of a delay there, and a few other details that don't really matter now as we did finish.  Anyhow, Dan finally shows up after about a 3-4 hour section that turned into a 7-8 hour section, and Terry takes off for the finish line. 

Look at that survival smile from Dan!!!  Ha, ha!! As Jimmy Boy would say 'Right on Dude'!  (PS;  Those chairs are still out there somewhere as we got so excited the bike finally showed up that we left for the finish line with-out picking them up!!!)

Skip to the finish, the boys, the men, the $3000 a piece finisher pins!!!

The bike that allowed it to happen, the ride back to the motel, the fans (ah, I mean single fan), and finally after a shower, a nice 6 am beer or two! 

Hey, Tony get me another one would ya!  Hey, leave those Tecate Girls alone bro, their mine!!!  The view from my room, the picture on the wall that symbolizes how Tony snores.    ‘Dan and Terry, have another one, you both deserve it!  Lord knows you paid for it (in more ways than one!)

After a short nap we have a big night on the town (that I will again only tell you in person)…  Next day we start to pack-up and fuel up for the trip home.  A few pics of the people, and the pre-ride bikes that made it happen.  Consider these the ‘after’ pictures.

Then I spot one of the trucks I work on now, only a full on race version (not the dull tan military versions we play with), so I have to snap a few shot of it for the boys and girls back at the shop...

A few pic’s of what either the Tecate girls, or Team KTM did to Tony's chest, then a Gringo pic for the rode and then a pic of back home to my pussy cat...(and the pic on the wall symbolizes what ‘pussy cat’ looks like when I get home at 4am in the morning and wake her up with a big “BAJA, HA, HA!!!”

Hasta Luego Senor's and Senorita's

PS:  Here’s one last shot that someone got of us that I didn’t know about until recently…