This weekend, 25th to 27th of February the Probaja Desert Series 2011 kicked off for the first time in Los Barriles (it used to be Todos Santos) with the “Los Barriles East Cape 300” race. The town was buzzing with people, cars motorcycles as the teams prepared for the race on Saturday.The start and finish line for the races was set up in front of the Palmas de Cortez Hotel. The event started off on Friday afternoon with sign up and a big party. On Saturday the first to race were the motorcycles from 10:30am in the morning, followed by trophy trucks at midday. The organizers stretched out the starting times for the different categories over the whole day to give everyone ample time to get ready and not get in each other´s way on route while fighting for the first price in a total of 15 categories and 111 teams/drivers participating. The route is about 280 kilometers long…hence the name Los Barriles East Cape 300.
As for the route of the race – the first part was perfect for high velocity, for the second stretch the technical skills of the drivers were challenged which made the race eve more interesting as the drivers had to take care not to damage or use up their vehicles before getting to the technical part of the race.
Many teams already showed up on the weekend before the race to test roads and vehicles and prepare themselves for the big day.
It certainly was a most welcome event to bring some business to town…for the first time this year we saw restaurants and bars buzzing with life, hotels were fully booked and vacation homes rented. We´ll gladly welcome the Baja desert Series again next year especially as it is such a fun and well organized event. Yes, it does get a bit noisy and the smell of burnt tires and gasoline is all over the place, but hey, it´s only one weekend and it´s part of the show. Now that the event is over everything can fall back asleep again…until next year.
For more information on up-coming race events visit: www.probajaonline.com