Vale Kurt Caselli

                A scant six weeks after leading his team from behind to an emphatic second place in Sardinia, American Kurt Caselli lost his life in the 46^th running of the Baja 1000 in Mexico.  In stark contrast to the clinical nature of the ISDE, the SCORE International Baja 1000 is a privately organized 1,000 mile free-for-all through the deserts of the Baja California peninsula.

               The race is open to all comers, with equipment ranging from jacked-up 1960’s VW Beetles, quads and dirt bikes through to the million dollar Trophy Trucks of the Pro Car and Truck class, with their 60 inches of suspension travel, 800+ horsepower, support helicopters and multiple pit crews.  Factory motorcycle teams often field two bikes, each with three pilots who ride in shifts.  There is no prize money.

                Coming up on the 793^rd  mile marker, Caselli was locked in a battle for the lead of the Pro Motorcycle class with Kawasaki Racing Team’s Ricky Brabec and one of Caselli’s FMF/KTM Factory Racing teammates, Ivan Ramirez, when he collided with wildlife at a speed approaching 120 mph.  

In the ultimate testament to not only the danger these men and women invite each time they twist a throttle in anger, but also to the valour and sportsmanship for which these modern day Argonauts are renowned, Ramirez stayed with Caselli to administer first aid while Brabec continued on to the next checkpoint with an altogether different sense of urgency.  Both men forfeited the chance to realize a lifelong ambition in the process.  A Honda would eventually take the win for the 19^th year in a row.

                Caselli would succumb to multiple brain injuries two days later in a hospital in Ensenada, Mexico.  A three time American Motorcycle Association Hare and Hound champion, with multiple World Off Road Championship Series and enduro titles to his name, not to mention two incredible stage wins in his first, and sadly only, attempt at the Dakar Rally, he was a true superstar of off road motorcycle racing.  This tight knit community now nurses a gaping wound.  He is survived by his sister Carolyn, and perhaps most sadly, his fiancée of just three months, Sarah.