BAJA RALLY Training Academy Announces Five New Graduates

Five new graduates of BAJA RALLY SCHOOL powered by RALLY COMP earned their certificates and honorary “white caps” at a private ceremony in the iconic Restaurante Acambaro here in the valley also known as Uruapan. All five navigator candidates completed the first 3-day course of 2018 and successfully crossed the finish line of Final Exam Special Stage 5 in Erendira Sunday morning, thus bringing the total number of graduates to 27 within the first 12 months since the training academy was launched.

MOTO GRADUATE

Gil Shoham (Los Altos CA)

UTV GRADUATES

Juan Manuel Gonzalez Rubio Colorado (Tabasco Mexico)
Juan Carlos Pacheco Bañuelos (Baja Voyager Chief)
Aldo Santini Ovando (Baja Rovers & Rovers Rally)
Mauricio Parra Aguilar (Lost in Baja & Baja Rally General Director)
School director and BAJA RALLY Chairman Scotty "Breauxman" Bloom explained the navigation rally training school is a ‘pass or fail’ program and said he was a bit surprised that all 27 candidates had completed the entire program without a single failure.



“There are no participation trophies at our school”, Scotty contends, “It’s made very clear that every candidate must complete all 5 stages and arrive under their own power at our Base Camp in Erendira. I’m proud of our grads for their 100% success rate so far. Eventually though, someone will be the first to go home without a certificate and cap.”

Field coaches and trainers follow and observe the candidates through a 74 km final exam stage where navigator and drivers are never given assistance or help trying to navigate the complex labyrinth of roads, trails and routes. The final exam road book has intentional defects and ambiguous notations, thus simulating the experience most navigators will encounter in a real-life rally-raid competition. All five stages are progressive in nature, evolving into more difficult navigation as riders advance through the course.

UTV SCHOOL

All drivers must spend half their time at the training center riding shotgun and visa versa for co-drivers, thus requiring drivers to learn and interpret navigation from their future co-driver’s perspective. In other words, even if a UTV driver/ owner only intends to only race as a driver in the future, they are required to put themselves into the co-drivers seat, both literally and figuratively.

“Our school forces UTV drivers and navigators to change seats and roles during the course”, Scotty continued, “If a UTV driver/owner won’t give up the steering wheel to his co-driver, that’s okay, but they will be excluded from our program.”

In addition to our graduates a very special thanks go out to our family and team of participants and supporters for the most recent school:

Nico Saad- Honorary Chairman & President of Proturismo Ensenada
Mike Johnson- RALLY COMP
Federico Arce- Delegate of San Vicente and training center host
Luis Edgar “Jimmy” Esquivel- Head field trainer and coach
Julio Baeza- Baja Voyager Logistic
Vaquero Mundo- training center host
Kevin Johnson - Finish Line Liaison & Baja Access Host
Joe Bolton- MultiTool-USA
Juan Villareal and the Acambaro Family

Learn more at BajaRallyMoto.com!

Bajarallymoto.com announced “Pre-season” entries opened to the 2018 edition of BAJA RALLY October 8-13. This is particularly good news for early planners, teams of racers and returning navigators, all of whom will take advantage of 30-40% off the standard cost of entry during the month of December. The normal entry fee structure begins on New Years Day, starting with first the first of 3 levels of pricing. Apart from the cash discount on entry fees in December, pre-season allows riders riders and teams to draw a low running number and/or choose their number from 10-50.



With an emphasis on expanding the field of UTV Rally racers, BAJA RALLY officials made the announcement Saturday morning in a “live seminar” this at the International Off Road & UTV Expo in Scottsdale, AZ. The successful consumer event, organized by Andy Myers from Never Stop Riding, enabled the rally to reach out to pro UTV racers and team sponsors about getting trained for cross country UTV rally racing.

BACK TO SCHOOL

“We’ll continue BAJA RALLY SCHOOL training sessions each month through July 2018”, explains rally chairman Scotty “Breauxman” Bloom. “Adding Malle Moto and Quad Pro classes to next year’s rally, the school is gradually building a core-base of racers for BAJA RALLY and others like it. A key focus for our team is training UTV champions from other series like SCORE and BITD and prepping them for the easy crossover into rally.”



Bloom said the next BAJA RALLY SCHOOL date is scheduled for January 19-21. The 3-day training academy, which has proven quite challenging even for professional racers, has produced 20 graduates this year and six who went on to race BAJA RALLY 5.

Find out more about getting trained in UTV rally racing. HERE. BajaRallyMoto.com

The 2018 BAJA RALLY offered riders a little bit of everything. From dust and mud, to epic sunsets on both sides of the infamous peninsula. Top competitors made themselves known immediately, but even they weren’t a match for Mama Baja. Hurricane Rosa had plowed through the race course just a couple of weeks prior, giving the Mexican state a facelift just in time for the rally. In reaction, BAJA RALLY founder Scotty Bloom scoured the tracks to ensure accuracy in the road-book. A necessary tactic which proved helpful during earlier challenges. But torrential downpours and unrelenting mist created new obstacles for racers and organizers alike, as Special Stages Two and Three had to be shortened.



Visiting Las Cañadas Campamento for another year, the Prologue offered some fresh twists and turns for competitors to warm up with. A surprise to maybe everyone but Scotty Bloom, some competitors had difficulty finding their way to the finish, which in many ways exposed the high bar for the coming hurdles. The first official day of racing launched near Baja favorite, Mamá Espinoza’s. Racers aimed for the beach then took some 90-degree turns back to the highway. What was supposed to be a swift stage took several teams minutes, if not hours, more than expected. Yet most racers all arrived at timing and scoring singing praise for a fun, well-rounded section – albeit a bit weary from the ride/drive. Others were not so lucky, using up all of their time searching for those waypoints, ultimately being rerouted to the highway before the sun could dip down into the Pacific.



Special Stage Two, setting off from Cataviña, and Special Stage Three, a loop edging the Sea of Cortez, asked a lot from participants whom all, despite some early DNFs, put up a good fight. 2014 Champ and podium hopeful, Scott Bright, ran into a bike malfunction midway through the challenge in Central Baja. On one of the more technical tracks of the event, he finished respectably mid-pack, despite having to navigate with his road book squeezed between his knees. A long, arduous liaison took the entire event past Coco’s infamous Corner and down a storm-struck México 5 highway leading to San Felipe for the first time in the rally’s short, but storied, history. Trials for the third stage were aggravated by rain, which ended the ride abruptly at the scheduled gas stop. Front runners held their places as adversaries no longer had the full time allotted to catch up to them. Pro rider, Colton Udall, pushed his way to the top before it was too late, while another racer new to rally, Ray Dal Soglio, snagged second. Last year’s motorcycle class victor, Garrett Poucher, sat comfortably in a well-earned third position after starting in an undesirable position.



Special Stage Four was full of excitement and heartbreak as the fastest test of the week brought everyone back to the westside, then poolside at the San Nicolas Hotel & Casino in Ensenada for a night of celebration. The podium was still anybody’s guess, but it was rally raid newcomer, Skyler Howes, who came out triumphant. Ray Dal Soglio sat in second with Rally Comp founder, and “sleeper” fast-guy, Mike Johnson nabbing third place overall. UTV #124, led by L. Javier Pelayo, and #111, with Joe Bolton at the helm, were neck and neck much of the race. But it was an uncharacteristic misstep by Team Bolton which put Pelayo on the podium and left Bolton in a ditch, literally. Formidable drivers and navigators, Mama Baja can mix a poisonous cocktail which, if taken too fast, can leave you on your ass. 2018 BAJA RALLY Champion, Skyler Howes, eloquently summed up the race:

“This rally completely re-lit my love for Baja. The trails that we took on these road books down the beach, up and over mountains, through fields of giant cactus and through the towns of Baja California were amazing. The conditions couldn't have been better with wet dirt, cool temps, and beautiful scenery with the land as green as I have ever seen it. Not only did I get the win, but I had a week-long adventure with friends new and old, ripping through the desert, reading drawings on a piece of paper telling us which way to go. That right there, in my opinion, is what racing is all about. Nothing but good times.” – Skyler Howes, Garrett Off-Road Racing