Still astride his bike, first-place finisher Jeff Moore of Mount Hermon discusses his win with admirers after riding the final 300 miles of the Baja 500. His brother, Pat, was sidelined after a crash midway through. Courtesy photo
"It was very exciting," Jeff said afterward. "To finish that race is well worth it, but to win it, that topped it."
On May 31, Pat Moore started the race just after dawn. He rode through the dust, passing riders, but riding smart. He covered about 44 miles before he reached Jeff at the team’s first meeting point.
Jeff rode the next 58 miles. Some racers had crashed or broken down, but all was going well for him as he passed about eight "upright" riders.
Pat took over again for the third leg of the race and played cat-and-mouse with Carlos Becerril, a rider from Italy, for the next 103 miles.
After riding the course over a two-day period days before the race, Pat and Jeff had decided to change their original meeting point for the fourth leg.
It turned out to be their saving grace. At mile 205, less than two miles from the meeting place, Pat went off a small jump and landed with his front tire on a boulder the size of his helmet. He broke his collarbone on the fall, though the bike remained nearly unscathed.
Pat, who doubles as a bull rider at his home in Nevada, "cowboy’d up," as the saying goes, and rode to meet up with his brother despite his injury.
"He knew I was near," Jeff said. "He didn’t let me down."
At that point, Jeff knew the pressure was on him to finish the final 300 miles, and he responded.
He took the lead ahead of the Italian racer at mile 305 and never looked back.
He knew he was in the top five, but he didn’t know he had won until he crossed the finish line.
After the race, Pat had surgery on his shoulder as Jeff rested, tired and sore.
"I had blisters on places where I shouldn’t have blisters," he said.
The brotherly duo is looking into competing in the Baja 1000 in November and will likely defend this year’s title in the 500 in 2009, Jeff said.
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