The Baja 1000 is the granddaddy of desert racing and one of the toughest motorsports events in the world.

So why is Greg Gilson trying it on a bike older than him and much weaker than his compatriots’?

Most teams taking on the Baja 1000 do so on fairly modern motorcycles equipped for the Mexican sand. The Honda CRF450X, for example, has won the 1000 overall every year since 2006 save for two occasions. Before that, Honda’s faster and more powerful XR650R was the king of the desert.

And then there’s Gilson, who’s keeping it in the Honda family but will arrive in Ensenada with their older sibling: a 1980 Honda XLS 125. It’s certainly a far cry from the CRF450 and its variants, which he has also competed alongside in rally raids (the CRF450 Rally is a three-time Dakar victor).

The Honda XLS 125

The XL line of four-stroke, dual-sport bikes was introduced in 1975 as the successor to the Honda SL. Being dual-purpose meant models from this series could be used for both riding off-road and on pavement. Three years later, Honda debuted the XLS. Initially called the “XL-S” before being shortened to the final name, it was more aggressive in design than its siblings with longer travel suspension and increased weight while retaining the four-stroke single-cylinder engine.

Not long after it rolled out of the factory, the XLS was already seeing action in the world’s biggest races. Grégoire Verhaeghe and Alain Quie entered the inaugural Paris–Dakar Rally with their XLS 125s, the smallest participating bikes; Quie, who was also the youngest rider, retired while Verhaeghe successfully went the distance and placed 65th. Later Dakar efforts for the XLS weren’t as promising: Jean-Pierre Gayrard’s machine broke down in the 1983 race before he could even reach the Africa leg; Gérard Barbazant, on a bike he assembled in just over two weeks, made it as far as Agades in 1985 but crashed and broke the rear sprocket.

He hasn’t tried Dakar yet, but Gilson gladly would if the FIM gave him the greenlight. While the rules state 450cc is the maximum permitted so anything lower is technically legal, the ASO picks Dakar riders on a case-by-case basis and would likely balk at the sight of a bike with less than a third of the engine power as everyone else. The last time a motorcycle under that threshold competed at Dakar was in 2016, when Sylvain Espinasse was the second-to-last finisher on a Husqvarna 125cc.

Greg Gilson

Gilson is a 41-year-old rider from Champagne-Ardenne currently living in Morocco. He started racing on a BMX bike when he was a kid, then switched to motorcycles in 2012.

In 2018, he bought the XLS for just €300, though it cost him ten times as much to buy the parts necessary to be competitive and durable in races and recreational riding. Among the changes he and his friends made were a larger 14/56 chain and sprocket kit (as opposed to the original 14/47), a handmade seat cover, an air filter from FunnelWeb that he customized himself, and longer SCAR triple clamps. At the heart of the bike, the engine was also bored up to 175cc.

Everything else is stock or as they were when he bought it. This ranged from the Showa 37-mm suspension forks, brakes, wheels, and the seat underneath the cover. Gilson also has OEM replacement components ready if things like the carburetor or gearbox had to be replaced.

Once fit for racing, Gilson was eager to take it out for a spin. After riding it for the first time, he quickly “fell in love”.

While unusual and typically the oldest motorbike on the grid, the XLS has lifted Gilson to rally and enduro national championships in countries like Morocco and Indonesia. Eventually, he decided to step it up by entering its first international rally raid at the 2019 Rallye du Maroc, the final round of the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship and current leg on the successor World Rally-Raid Championship.

Unsurprisingly, the bike stuck out like a sore thumb among its 450cc counterparts like the KTM 450 Rally, Husqvarna FR 450, and CRF450 Rally. Gilson took part in the Enduro Cup, where the closest model to his in terms of power was a 350cc Husky. Otherwise, the XLS was probably older than a good chunk of the riders there including Gilson. Despite crashing three kilometers from the finish and breaking his collarbone, he was able to reach the end with a 12th in Enduro Cup.

From there, it would become his “signature”. Even with such an outdated bike, Gilson continued to bring it to enduros and cross-country rallies such as the FIM Enduro World Championship and FIM Bajas World Cup, as well as motocross and vintage motorbike races. Last November, he finished 25th in Category 1 at the Qatar International Baja amid a sea of 450cc bikes.

The Morocco Desert Challenge in April presented a longer race as it stretched eight stages rather than the five of the RdM. 2025 was the MDC’s first year with the Vintage class for vehicles built before the inaugural race in 2015; Gilson was the only bike.

“I said, ‘I don’t believe this bike could do it, but let’s give him a chance,’” MDC organizer Gert Duson remarked about the XLS.

Things started on a fairly rough note when he—like many other riders—got lost during the first stage before eventually finding his way back. Besides the ever looming threat of the much faster 450cc bikes and cars, other trials he faced included fuel consumption, mechanical issues like exhaust problems, and managing his engine so it didn’t overheat in the desert. The latter was especially a tall order because the weaker motor was more susceptible to breaking going through the desert at high speed.

Despite all he had to go through, from stopping multiple times to get something fixed and the zip ties and saddlebags on his bike, Gilson was able to get to the finish in 14th overall.

The Baja 1000

Don’t let the name fool you, the Baja 1000 is not the same type of race as the Qatar International Baja. It isn’t the same as the Moroccan rallies either.

The pinnacle of desert racing, the 1000 doesn’t have stages and is instead a single-day, point-to-point race that pushes your machine and body to the test over 36 continuous hours. The 2025 race will be an 854-mile loop starting and finishing in Ensenada, going through “The Wash” and the natural beauty that the Baja California peninsula has to offer.

That doesn’t scare Gilson one bit. Heck, not only does he plan on tackling it with his XLS, he will do so solo as a Pro Moto Ironman rider.

Gilson had long been interested in trying the 1000, and the bike formally received approval from SCORE’s technical department in May. Some changes did have to be made like uprating the engine to 200cc via bore kit. Otherwise, it won’t be too different from what he’s been rocking in enduro and rally.

Unsurprisingly, his plans raised eyebrows from the desert community. While he’ll certainly have people cheering him on, others doubt his bike can handle the conditions for so long. After all, Mexico’s desert offers different terrain from Morocco’s and being chased by Trophy Trucks and Class 1 cars is unlike doing so with rally trucks and T1 cars. Unorthodox bikes also have tried Baja in years past with not much success, such as a Triumph Bonneville T100 that only made it about 80 miles in the 2024 1000 and a Harley-Davidson Street 750 at the San Felipe 250 in April that hardly broke RM 20 before giving out.

Given the less-than-stellar track record for unusual motorcycles, there’s plenty of reason to believe Gilson will be another victim. But that doesn’t mean he won’t try nor that he’s intimidated.

Sure, he certainly could show up with a newer bike like everyone else and still face the same challenges. However, that’s antithetical to his mission: Gilson wants to race with a bike as old and affordable as the XLS because it shows that you don’t need a large budget or swanky technology to succeed in racing. “Accessibility, authenticity, and inspiration” are among the keywords he’d use to describe his campaign, proving to the world that one can ride no matter the bike they have or where they come from.

The Baja 1000 will take place on Friday, November 14. Until then, besides training, he’s been busy trying to raise money for expenses like transporting the bike, registration fees, media, and spare parts. His fundraiser can be accessed here.

Featured image credit: G Project