Nick Nelson Wins the SCORE Baja 1000 Race With His Class 24 450cc ATV
- Dec 23, 2010
Baja may be famous for its vehicles, teams, technologies, and drivers, but the race itself is well known by racers for dangerous conditions, both human and geographically. The race uses open highways and crosses the peninsula five times almost shore to shore. The 1000 features 17 pit stops. This product lets you change the box filter without shutting off the motor or removing the air filter. A huge plus in dusty conditions as other racers pass. Not to mention the time you could lose with a temperamental restart.
This was Nick's fourth point to point and tenth Baja 1000. Determined to make it one of the best and safest he came up with a plan to layout the logistics of the race and pre-running, using his whole team. "We decided that Brandon, Kenney and I would be pre-running the southern half with my wife driving chase. Michael Kelley and Jorie would handle OJOS to Bay of LA, and we would appoint Mike Bender to ride the Bay of LA to San Ignacio." Nick has spent thousands of miles getting to know Baja with his friends. Just the pre running alone can be as challenging as the race itself. "The best part of finishing a great week of pre running in La Paz is finishing and the worst part is the 1000 miles of 2 lane highway back to Ensenada for the start. On the return trip the K&N Power Lid paid for itself once again "In Baja you can never let up no matter how big your lead or deficit is, because anything can and does happen down there." Despite having no first gear he was just a few minutes behind the next racer. Hammering through the terrain, it soon threw him into another dreaded silt filed river bed. With sand a fine as talcum powder and with nowhere to downshift too Nick was suddenly buried and stopped in the middle of the track. He kept the motor running, and 30 miles from the nearest town, got help lifting the ATV out of the silt from several locals camping to see the race. "Then I pulled the completely clogged K&N Filter lid off, beat it on the tire to clear it as much as possible, reinstalled it, and was off." "I love coming down to Baja, everything slows down and gets simpler here around the race itself." It was an extremely close finish, but after times, pits, and penalties were added Nick the MXN Nutrition Team came away with the overall win for the ATV class. Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world. |
