Anybody hear about the rider shot in Mexico??
Posted: November 4th, 2008, 10:40 am
Shooting Occurs During SCORE Baja 1000 Prerun Opening Weekend
Dirt Bike Moto Rider Steve Martz SHOT by a Mexican near Jamau, Baja California
Ensenada, Baja California — (November 2, 2008) 4:45PM UPDATE: The rider and shooting victim has been identified as Steve Martz, who finished the 2007 SCORE Baja 1000 in 5th position in Class 22, Open Pro Motorcycles. Martz was riding with teammate/driver of record, Dan Walsh along with Aaron Cooper near Mike's Sky Rancho on Sunday heading home from pre running in Northern Baja.
Sometime in the middle of the night, their chase crew driving a pickup truck left for Mexicali seemingly abandoning the three riders at Mikes Sky Rancho. Chris Haines Motorcycle Tours also spent the night at Mikes Sky Rancho and agreed to tote the riders gear bags to Ensenada while the three riders rode North to Ojos to catch the course up to RM120 and finally on home.
The riders ventured into the dirt at the turn off to Jamau and headed north and came across a fence line covered in brush where the shooting took place. As Steve road towards the gate, I (Aaron Cooper) was about 40 feet behind Steve when I saw him fall over as if he had went to put his foot down but the ground was not there. As I looked up and to the right I saw a man with a gun on the other side of the fence about 100 feet out behind a large bush. He was aiming a gun at in our direction. Before I could get to Steve I was off the bike running to get out of the man’s line of sight. I was screaming at Dan to stop as he was coming up behind me.
Martz was struck in the sternum by what was described to DIRTnewz as a small caliber bullet. With Martz on the ground, Cooper scrambled for cover. Dan Walsh arrived and thought that Martz and Cooper were joking around when in fact Martz had been shot in the chest. Walsh attempted to start Martz' moto kicking it some 10-15 times but it wouldn't start. Aaron ran over and pushed the bike out of the line of site and tried to start the bike with no luck. They abandoned Martz' bike and put Martz on the back of Walsh' motorcycle and headed for Highway 3. Enroute they discovered that the shooting victim Martz could not hold on the back of Walsh while riding. They stopped 1.5 miles from the shooting and began to make emergency calls. Aaron’s first call was to Binational Emergency were no one answered. Aaron’s second call was to his Dad. After getting the call for help out, we placed Steve on Walsh bike and let Martz ride solo to the highway. Once at the highway, Dan and Aaron waved any and every vehicle done for help.
Desert Assassin's Trophy Truck driver, Cameron Steele and his wife, Heidi Steele, were prerunning near Borrego when they decided to head to Ojos and prerun RM 40-120. While traveling through Valle Trinidad one of the Desert Assassin's crew members saw Dan Walsh in the back of a military Hummer and Cameron and his crew went to investigate what was going on.
Afterwards when approaching Mexicali in his chase vehicles, Cam Steele told DIRTnewz over the phone the story that unfolded.
"One of my guys said Dan was in the back of a military Hummer and I thought that was strange so we headed into Trinidad to see what was up. We found Walsh and Martz at the medical clinic in Trinidad and helped them with the process of a Med-A-Vac. The chopper finally arrived from Tijuana and it was so small I first thought this could not be the chopper. The pilot jumped out and began refueling the chopper with a 15 gallon gas container he brought with him inside the chopper. While he was syphoning the Jet A fuel, the medical paramedic was strapping in Martz on a backboard, but his legs from the knees down were hanging out the chopper. We wrapped up his legs with a blanket and heavy on the duct tape and they strapped him down with some straps similar to motorcycle straps and then the paramedic was kneeling above Martz as they flew away. It was truly incredible but it got the job done. Last I heard from Oscar Ramos, the SCORE Attorney, was that Martz was in surgery in Tijuana."
Walsh and Cooper were being transported individually by Cam Steele's chase crews, one to Tecate with the Desert Assassins scheduled to cross the border before 10pm Sunday evening.
Jas......................................................................................................
Dirt Bike Moto Rider Steve Martz SHOT by a Mexican near Jamau, Baja California
Ensenada, Baja California — (November 2, 2008) 4:45PM UPDATE: The rider and shooting victim has been identified as Steve Martz, who finished the 2007 SCORE Baja 1000 in 5th position in Class 22, Open Pro Motorcycles. Martz was riding with teammate/driver of record, Dan Walsh along with Aaron Cooper near Mike's Sky Rancho on Sunday heading home from pre running in Northern Baja.
Sometime in the middle of the night, their chase crew driving a pickup truck left for Mexicali seemingly abandoning the three riders at Mikes Sky Rancho. Chris Haines Motorcycle Tours also spent the night at Mikes Sky Rancho and agreed to tote the riders gear bags to Ensenada while the three riders rode North to Ojos to catch the course up to RM120 and finally on home.
The riders ventured into the dirt at the turn off to Jamau and headed north and came across a fence line covered in brush where the shooting took place. As Steve road towards the gate, I (Aaron Cooper) was about 40 feet behind Steve when I saw him fall over as if he had went to put his foot down but the ground was not there. As I looked up and to the right I saw a man with a gun on the other side of the fence about 100 feet out behind a large bush. He was aiming a gun at in our direction. Before I could get to Steve I was off the bike running to get out of the man’s line of sight. I was screaming at Dan to stop as he was coming up behind me.
Martz was struck in the sternum by what was described to DIRTnewz as a small caliber bullet. With Martz on the ground, Cooper scrambled for cover. Dan Walsh arrived and thought that Martz and Cooper were joking around when in fact Martz had been shot in the chest. Walsh attempted to start Martz' moto kicking it some 10-15 times but it wouldn't start. Aaron ran over and pushed the bike out of the line of site and tried to start the bike with no luck. They abandoned Martz' bike and put Martz on the back of Walsh' motorcycle and headed for Highway 3. Enroute they discovered that the shooting victim Martz could not hold on the back of Walsh while riding. They stopped 1.5 miles from the shooting and began to make emergency calls. Aaron’s first call was to Binational Emergency were no one answered. Aaron’s second call was to his Dad. After getting the call for help out, we placed Steve on Walsh bike and let Martz ride solo to the highway. Once at the highway, Dan and Aaron waved any and every vehicle done for help.
Desert Assassin's Trophy Truck driver, Cameron Steele and his wife, Heidi Steele, were prerunning near Borrego when they decided to head to Ojos and prerun RM 40-120. While traveling through Valle Trinidad one of the Desert Assassin's crew members saw Dan Walsh in the back of a military Hummer and Cameron and his crew went to investigate what was going on.
Afterwards when approaching Mexicali in his chase vehicles, Cam Steele told DIRTnewz over the phone the story that unfolded.
"One of my guys said Dan was in the back of a military Hummer and I thought that was strange so we headed into Trinidad to see what was up. We found Walsh and Martz at the medical clinic in Trinidad and helped them with the process of a Med-A-Vac. The chopper finally arrived from Tijuana and it was so small I first thought this could not be the chopper. The pilot jumped out and began refueling the chopper with a 15 gallon gas container he brought with him inside the chopper. While he was syphoning the Jet A fuel, the medical paramedic was strapping in Martz on a backboard, but his legs from the knees down were hanging out the chopper. We wrapped up his legs with a blanket and heavy on the duct tape and they strapped him down with some straps similar to motorcycle straps and then the paramedic was kneeling above Martz as they flew away. It was truly incredible but it got the job done. Last I heard from Oscar Ramos, the SCORE Attorney, was that Martz was in surgery in Tijuana."
Walsh and Cooper were being transported individually by Cam Steele's chase crews, one to Tecate with the Desert Assassins scheduled to cross the border before 10pm Sunday evening.
Jas......................................................................................................