#7 John Henson- Atlanta, Georgia, USA

I was first introduced to motorcycles by my grandfather, who had raced motorcycles as a young man on the beach in Daytona in the 1930's. I started riding in the mid 70's on Honda Xl and Xr models around the family farm. I've had a love of things mechanical since my earliest memories and motorcycles are the perfect outlet for that passion; at the age of 12 I fabricated a go-kart which used a Yamaha 175 2-stroke for a power plant. Also during my early teen years I became familiar with a race that was happening in the deserts of North Africa. I remember seeing some coverage of the Paris Dakar (probably on ABC's Wide World of Sports) and immediately thought I would like to participate in it someday.  Having never raced as in my youth, my racing efforts have begun at a late age. I've been running in Hare Scrambles locally for the past 3 years.  In terms of desert riding, I've pre-run the Baja 500 while supporting a friend, raced in the V2R in 2012 and raced in 2 of the NASA Rally Moto Sandblast rallies.

It's my goal to get myself across the finish of the Dakar.  I'm working on building my resume' and race experience by participating in the available North American desert races and I'm very excited to be a part of the inaugural Baja Rally.

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