The Baja Peninsula is famed for it’s 50+ year history of the Baja 1000,  500 and 250. Not a house hold name to most, but, the legends of Baja are  in a league of their own; Espo is one of those legends. There is a  mystique south of the border that very few get to experience, but, for  those lucky enough to experience it…they get it.



Shane brings us back to where it all started and explains how he got  started on the path to becoming one of the best there is. Growing up  like any kid in the 80’s he was not groomed for motocross, he played  normal sports and didn’t get serious about it until he was forced to  turn pro. Like most moto kids, or sports kids in general, there is a  support system that is needed to be able to push through. We get a quick  glance into Shane's parents and how his dad gave him the opportunity to  make the choice on what he wanted to do; however, once that choice was  made it was all or nothing. Unlike today, there were opportunities to  jump around from local races and make a pretty good living, and Shane  was content with that. He has been called a 70 percenter, and he doesn’t  contest it. Knowing he has the talent to stack #1 plates, he is content  with the grind as giving 100% would have taken him on a completely  different path. Knowing Shane, and seeing first hand his ability, his  70% most riders 150%…so it makes sense that he’s still able to do what  he done while not giving it everything.



Shane is a humble workhorse and is willing to throw his leg over a bike  to help teams win. He may not be the rider of record, but, his record  speaks for itself. One of my favorite is him finishing the Baja 1000 in  first and second place as he rode nearly 700 miles for two different  teams…insane!



His talent provided him the opportunity to race the ultimate off-road  race, the Dakar Rally where he held his own and finished in the top 20.  While this is respectable in any case, this is also after a 2 hour  penalty on day 1. While most train for years to be able to race Dakar  Mr. 70% was drinking beers with us on New Years eve, hadn’t asked for  the time off from his day job, and wasn’t even sure he was going to  board the plane on Jan 2. To finish Dakar is respectable, to finish top  20 is impressive…to do it with no training tells you everything you need  to know about this guy.



Like always there was much we didn’t talk about so next time we’ll dig a little deeper...