Prepping for Baja
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Last night at 12:30am the Team Alba Racing Raptor that will be entering the SCORE Baja 500 was loaded onto the trailer - ready for the big race ahead. After several months of preparation, hard work, coordination and countless late nights, this was essentially the point of no return. For the riders, this is the time when the adrenaline starts to flow - they start to run through the course in their head and relive past races good and bad. For the techs, the people who have spent the last few months crafting the race machine, this is possibly the toughest moment - because all their work is done, and now it's out of their hands.

Alba's crew being veterans of several Baja races know the key elements in a successful race. You need a bulletproof Quad, a strong motor, a skilled rider team and luck. They also know what can go wrong and, probably the toughest part of their job, they try and second guess all of the possible problems and hope they've successfully prevented against them.

Anyone who's owned any kind of motor vehicle knows that stuff can brake. And Murphy's Law seems to especially favor racing. It's bad enough for the weekend warrior, but this is a flat-out 500 mile run through some of the worst terrain on earth - with a host of Trophy Trucks wanting to use you for traction. To try and prepare for all the possibilities, the race team takes a two sided approach.

First, the techs completely reinforce the quad. Using stronger, heavier and more durable components - stuff that can take being hit by a mellon-sized rock at 70mph and come out unfazed. For example, the frame is completely stripped down, the weak points are all reinforced, its powdercoated and the construction of the bike begins around it. Just about every piece of steel on the bike has been reinforced. And the suspension beefed up to the best stuff available. And again, it needs to be bomb-proof and needs to be able to work flawlessly for a long period of time - up to 18 hours - without a break!

The team's secret weapon for reinforcement has to be tie-wraps. Anything that could possibly flop around, break, pull out or get in the way was cinched tight with tie wraps.

The Team's second approach to preparing for problems is to have a skilled support team there to deal with whatever the race throws at them. Pit crew Carlos Molina, Eddie Deanes, Scott Hadzima, Isaac Molina and a few others will leap-frog the Baja desert trying to stay one step ahead of the rider - and, in addition to providing fuel and tires, try to keep the bike running whatever the possible challenge. In fact, the team will drag around a "practice" bike that was set up almost identical to the race bike - in case they need to harvest any extra parts. The key to this race, like every other race, is finishing.

There will be several locations around the course where Team Alba Racing 8a tucks will wait for the Raptor to roll in. Together with the experienced crew and riders, the team tries to plan the best strategy - stationing gas at predetermined intervals, having tires available after particularly rough and rocky areas and parts available wherever they might be needed. Although it's only a 500 mile race, the support team will likely log up to 4 times that distance over the course of the race weekend.

So good luck to Team Alba Racing!- because luck is just about the only element of the race that the techs, crew and riders haven't already figured out and worked through. For complete up-to-the-minute race updates, be sure to check out Off-Road.com or SCORE

The Riders:

Alex Crosthwaite

Wayne Matlock

Joel Leol

Toño Zalmón

The Tech Team:

Rob Vegter

Phil Leonard

The Team Alba Raptor:

Team Alba would like to thank all the companies who
helped with the Baja Raptor!

Motor:

• CP Piston and Rings
• High-performance Reinforced Racing Rod
• Alba Pipe with Open Cap and Desert Jetting
• Alba Race Porting
• Alba Performance Cam
• Desert Racing Oversized Oil Tank
• Enhanced High-performance Race Gearing

Suspension:

• Alba Reinforced Frame
• Doug Roll A-Arms, & Swing Arms

• Team Manager Phil and Rider Alex pour over the course map discussing pit strategy.

  Doug Roll Steering Stem
• Doug Roll Oversized Pegs
• GPR Stabilizer
• Elka Race Reservoir Shocks
• DID Chain

Other:

• IMS Oversized Desert Fuel Tank
• IMS Dry-Brake Race Fueling System
• TAG Metals Attack Bumper
• TAG Metals Handlebars
• OMF BeadLock Wheels
• ITP Holeshot Tires