Baja Racing News LIVE!: Southern Baja Summer 2023 - September Report - November, Start In The Capital of Off-Road Racing, La Paz BCS.

Southern Baja Summer 2023 - September Report - November, Start In The Capital of Off-Road Racing, La Paz BCS. Mexico

Conditions on the ground

Southern BAJA SUMMER SPECIAL - BAJA 1000 2023

September 30, 2023

REFRESH OFTEN>>REFRESH OFTEN>>

Jose Luna, Southern Baja Reporter

La Paz, BCS., The Capital Of Off-Road Racing!

FYI, Summer in Southern Baja lasts until Christmas!

The Baja Mil map was released today! CLICK HERE

The Southern Baja section of the race has been a public document for months and we've been given special access to forward everything to you, here online!

Southern Baja, Guerrero Negro

We have been constantly wheeling the routing to the state line at Guerrero Negro(GN). GN is the largest town located in the municipality of Mulegé in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. It has a population in excess of 16k people. The town is served by the 'Guerrero Negro Airport'.

Because this town serves one of the major industries of the state, it has modern transportation, medical and governmental resources available.

That doesn't mean their cheap, they are not!

But, they can be had.

The industry, SALT. Sea Salt.

The airport is important to know for medical evacuation purposes. It's well known to international tour operators, transiting whale watching operations during the winter seasons.

At one time, the strip at San Ignacio was used by those tour operators. Air strips in the state are key to understanding and solving the movement of people for racing purposes and solving problems.

A network of medical personnel, throughout the state, provide critical care meant for locals and travelers alike.

Get to know your medical support plans

Not long ago, a racer needed an air evac, from up north! He was closer to San Felipe, but, as you'll slowly come to know, things are complicated here in Mexico. Because the San Felipe Airport takes ... large fees for landing there ...bribes, it was cheaper to fly far south to GN, then fly back north to the hospital at Ensenada. The intended flight destination.

Score and its medical service providers should go public with the bribes they pay.

We here at the newspaper know, Roger Norman did not know all of the truths about the gringo races in Mexico, when he bought score from sal.

All he saw in his minds eye, all of those dollar signs!!! BBBWWWWWAAAAAA!!!

Roger admitted as much in interviews with a representative of this newspaper, after he bought the company known as score international.

Back to the med-evac flight, backtracking to GN. It didn't make the headlines at the time, the flight took twice as long and was done that way, because it was cheaper in the final billing. These issues are constant, only for score, in Mexico.

Important because, just like the moto rider who broke his neck the past weekend at Roger Normans Ensenada race [CLICK FOR THE LINK HERE] everyone needs medical evacuations, critical first aid and medical whatevers at some point in their off-road, desert, racing careers.

BajaRacingNews.com will have a Special Report this week on the atrocity.

The rider, Gaston Vasquez, now needs to pay back his emergency medical evacuation bills.

Just like Holly Luhtala reported to this newspaper, none of the "insurance" that is 'Required' by score, paid for any of the costs she had to lay out, when her husband was maimed, tortured and killed at the Norman's Baja 1000 in 2016.

Jackson Motorsports BFGTires/MICHELIN and score people were responsible for Mark Luhtala's death.

Not the actual physical incident/accident that caused the injuries in the first place.

And Kurt Caselli. The murdered pro KTM motorider, at the hands of Honda Team Manager Johnny Campbell and Score owner, Roger Norman.

A NEW Investigative Report from Baja Bill Fuentes, this week on BajaRacingNews.com STAY TUNED>>>

Race event negligence, a FAKE medical evacuation setup and owner Roger Norman, not wanting to pay medical bills are what you have to look forward to, at this years Baja Mil.

Southern Baja Mexico

After months of prerunning the route of the '23 Baja Mil after the start line in La Paz, we must admit, we no longer like going past the state line into the northern part of the peninsula.

Baja Sur, as a governmental entity is just better suited to sustain the sport of off-road racing.

There, I said it.

The southern state has dedicated personnel, budgets and a long history of supporting international travel throughout Southern Baja (Baja California Sur).

Far beyond the state of Baja Norte (Baja California), Southern Baja is dedicated to the industry of travel tourism and recreational off-roading. The superior services provided not only by the state, but also the government out of Mexico City.

We'll talk more about this subject in future episodes, but just in the "Green Angels" structure here in Southern Baja, is far, far superior to the state up north.

The Green Angels of Southern Baja are some of my favorite people!

The Race Course

One thing about the course, it's way faster than anything you've raced, up north, if you haven't already run a race here to know what I'm talking about.

Because of the recent rains, seasonal events here in Southern Baja, many of the known silt beds have firmed up.

However, now that the Baja 400 wrapped, we've seen an increase in prerunning.

The silt beds will become worse and worse over time. As those beds get worked, giant tires and hundreds of horsepower, will create driving challenges, as they will on raceday.

Drive the route as soon as you can. Our strategy has worked. We drove the route in the best of conditions. Depending the class you're running, when you prerun, will determine how much of the route you'll see and under what conditions, day and night, your drive experiences.

Not rocket science, but until you get to those sections that you must redrive to see them at night and during the day, you aren't done knowing the course.

Once past the state line, in years past, in peninsula runs, the southern half was fast. The racers drove through most of Southern Baja, at night!

This Baja Mil has the big and nasty, in Baja Norte, at night, with the worst conditions in years!

Storm, after storm, after storm, the really big rocks are exposed and waiting for your tires, up north.

From La Paz to the state line, a good deal of routing is over public roads, used by ranchers, who have taken care during this recent series of weather events.

Details Loading, Let's talk about what we've driven in the last month...

Mystery Southern Baja race course,

Can you name this section of race route?