Stars of Baja

Stars of Baja

One world championship, five national championships and nine ISDT gold medals between 'em

Malcolm Smitk

Malcolm Smith, now 55, still goes like stink off-road. When he isn't developing dirtbike products or leading 4x4 expeditions, he's putting on rides in Baja to raise money for his favorite charity, International Child Care. Smith remembers his first Baja race, the inaugural Mexican 1000 in 1968. "It wasn't like it is today. We didn't pre-run," he says. "I memorized the mapbook, going over all the turns into and out of the vii-

lages in my head." Smith rode from Ensenada to El Arco before handing off to partner J.N. Roberts. "I made the halfway point about 13 hours before they expected the first vehicle," he recalls.

Smith has a fair share of off-road car experience, too, winning the Baja 1000 three times, and driving the Dakar Rally twice, once in a Jeep, the second time in a works Range Rover.

Smith's success didn't end with racing. He started MS Products, which lives on today as MSR. He also owns Malcolm Smith Motorsports, a multi-brand dealership in Riverside, California.

And the man who helped tum a generation onto dirtbikes is still at it. "I pity the poor people who don't ride motorcycles," Smith says, flashing the smile that made him famous in On Any Sunday. "I've been putting more and more older guys on bikes at my retail store. They've put their kids through college and now they're going riding."

Gary Jones

tour-time L~Ucc AMA Motocross UlTiamp ion Gary Jones rides with the strength of someone half his 44 years. "I was never the best rider," he says now, "I just worked real hard at it and trained my butt off"

Jones' reward was being the first American MX rider signed to a fat contract for a Japanese company. "I got paid pretty well, but me and my dad had to make the bikes work ourselves. We'd cut the cylinder here and shorten the frame there; we were basically building the factory bikes ourselves," he remembers.

It worked. First for Yamaha, then Honda and next CanAm, collecting championships for each factory in the process.

After severely breaking his leg in 1974, Jones decided to get into the dirtbike-building business for himself. Ammex was bom, but teething problems were never fully sorted out, and the company fizzled in 1978. "I've still got four more in crates," he says, knowing that soon they'll be vintage-class ready.

Before he relives past glories, though, Jones has more immediate matters at hand. Oldest son Greg wants to go racing, with Dad as mentor and trainer. "I don't know what I'm getting into," Jones says, "but he wants to try."

Jones is in charge of R&D at White Brothers, building everything from Harley pipes to personal watercraft accessories, but his helmet and boots are never very far away. "These days, I enjoy riding bikes more than ever," he says.

Dann~ LaForte

From Alrican rallies to world motocross championships to national titles, there isn't much that Danny LaPorte hasn't done on a dirtbike in his 39 years. LaPorte's 1979 500cc U.S. champi onship led to an international MX tour and the 1982 world 250 title, then came a Baja

and off-road racing stint back in America before traipsing overseas again to race in rallies.

"I left the States because it was always a goal of mine to win a world championship, and at the time I was upset with the way supercross was going over here," he says. "It was dangerous and the riders weren't getting paid."

LaPorte still races; victory in the world's most famous rally is the goal. "Even though I'm 39, Dakar is not all balls," he says. "You have to think, keep the bike together, be smart." LaPorte also has plans for after racing. "FMF's Donnie Emler and I are working on a (contractive suspension system), and that is going to take off," he affirms. Aside from R&D, LaPorte is kept busy raising son Shane and daughter Estelle with his wife Georgia, all of whom recently moved back to the U.S. after five years living in France. □