Staying up for 40 consecutive hours usually isn’t a good idea, but it was worth it for the experience of a lifetime for Durango’s Parker Shell at the Baja 1000.
Shell was a part of Team 111X that finished third in the Pro Moto Limited motorcycle class of the Baja 1000 on Nov. 16. The finishing time of 33 hours, nine minutes and 4.34 seconds was full of crashes, injuries, riding through the night and the beautiful scenery of Baja California, Mexico, for Shell.
“I’m super grateful for the experience,” Shell said. “It was an honor to be invited on a team down there, especially in the pro limited class, to ride with some really talented riders and to perform. I felt really lucky to stay safe on the bike, to do my sections professionally and get it off to the next guy.”
The Baja 1000 is, along with the Dakar Rally, known as one of the most challenging off-road motorsport races in the world, according to Shell. It’s a point-to-point course of 850 miles that stretches up and down both coasts of the Baja California Peninsula.
It’s quite the accomplishment for Shell, considering he’s relatively new to the moto racing world.
He arrived in Durango in 2016 to go to Fort Lewis College, and he raced mountain bikes for FLC. After he graduated in 2020, Shell didn’t buy his first dirt bike until 2022. Coming from the mountain biking world, he knew some friends who were racing motorcycles professionally off-road. His friends told him he’d love it, and after competing in his first race in the desert in New Mexico in 2022, Shell knew it was something special that would keep him fit and on his toes.
Back to the present, Shell is the General Manager/Business Manager for Purgatory Cat Skiing at Purgatory Resort while pursuing his moto interests.
With his connections, Shell had been asked to pre-ride the Baja course for teams in the past, which involves riding the course before the race to make sure riders are hitting the right lines so they hit the virtual checkpoints.
However, his chance to race the Baja finally came about a week before the race was to start. Shell was told Team 111X, headed by Scott McIntosh, was interested in Shell riding for them, but they weren’t committed to the Baja until Shell got the call about six days before the event was to start.
“So I rallied my dad and said, ‘Hey, we have the chance to go do this. Do you want to go knock it out,”’ Shell said. “He said, ‘Holy smokes. When are we leaving?’ … We got all our stuff together and had some sponsors chip in, as far as parts and money, which I'm super grateful for. Then we just headed south.”
Team 111X, also known as Team Persevere, included Shell, McIntosh, Mike Whitman, Pat McCash, Andrew Terry, Risto Niemi and Marco Molinar. The Pro Moto Limited class was limited to 450 cc and under dirt bikes. In other classes in the Baja, the teams can use bikes with higher ccs, meaning bigger engines.
The Baja 1000 is basically a relay race with team members doing certain sections of the course, according to Shell. However, the work isn’t done when a rider has finished his section. The rest of the team is following the rider around, making sure they’re there in case any mechanical issues happen.
At the pit stops, the whole team contributes, whether it’s fuel or oil changes. The rider may need to stop, and the team is there to pick up where they left off. That’s why Shell was up for 40 hours.
Shell had to be ready to go right away, because he was riding the first 150 miles from Ensenada down the coast with the Pacific Ocean in view. The Baja started at midnight, and Shell rode through the night. He rode through everything from massive supercross-style big whoops in the deep sand to fast, double-track roads along the coast to cobble rock sections.
“The second I dropped in, it felt like entering another world,” Shell said. “The desert swallowed in darkness, cold air biting through the gear … Everything clicked early. The lines, the rhythm, the flow – all of it fired. I hit every VCP, kept momentum and fought my way into second place through that opening stretch.”
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for Shell. Around Mile 100, he came across a rider who had crashed and was down with two broken legs. Shell attended to him, made sure other riders wouldn’t hit them or the bikes, and stayed with the rider until he assured Shell his team was coming.
Team 111X also had its share of crashes. After his first shift, Shell hopped back on the bike and around Mile 255, Shell was working hard to catch some other teams, and he crashed into a ditch; Shell was tossed hard from his bike, but luckily was ok, got the bike sorted, and got moving again.
Shell’s teammate, Terry, couldn’t keep going after his crash at Mile 520. He had six broken ribs, a punctured lung and a broken collarbone. The team got Terry the care he needed and continued on.
After 850 miles and 33 hours, the team got to the start/finish line in Ensenada, Mexico. Shell compared the Baja to the Super Bowl down there, so it makes sense that he and his team saw thousands of fans all over the course, with plenty asking for autographs and stickers.
“Being at that finish, being surrounded by a good group of people and getting recognized by the culture and the support of everyone there is a super special feeling,” Shell said. “It’s something I won't forget anytime soon, no doubt.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
