Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126015
halfway poin t, the true charact er of an SOl-mile off-road race in Mexico began t o emerge. Those who broke the least and could make repairs fastest stood the b est chance o f w inning , or eve n finishin g. With AI Baker now on the Honda and speedst er Mitch Mayes on the 360 Husqva rna, a real dice between the two develop ed out in the darknes s on the Sea of Cortez sid e of the peninsu la. Whil e passing and re-p assing ea ch othe r in so me spine-ting ling but lar gel y unseen racing over one of the roughes t sections of t he w hole co ur se, the m ain light o n Mayes' Husqva rna we nt out. Baker agreed to gui de the way and let Mitch ri de by t h e ligh t o f his two re mainins headl amps. (He'd started with t hree. ] Mitch rode into San Felipe on AI's light ing w here the Husky pit crew set ab o u t res torin g illu minatio n to th e 360 whi le Baker h it it o n north across Diablo Dry Lake and right into a sandsto rm. Im agine riding in pitch dar kness (there was only a sliver o f moon) thro ugh Baja at maximu m speed into a sandsto rm after you'd already been soaked by ch illing rain and fatigu ed by fo ur h ours in the saddle. Baker pressed o n, n ow in the lead. was H u~ky Mayes/ Bak ke n The The repaus. ligh t in g undergoi ng Mason/J ohnson KTM had been pitted a lo ng time af ter t he toolbag cause d a fra me m em ber to break. The other KTM with Max Switzer now aboard had gotten stuck at Bahia San Luis Go nzaga wi t h lights th at ke pt blowing b u lbs until they ran out of bu lbs. He restarte d at dawn, to finish , Sh or tl y after one a. m . Al Baker came through the p its at Ojos Negro s. The resonan t thumpin g of the Honda behind his sole remaini ng h eadligh t caught everybo dy by su rprise. Could he really hav e m ade it that fast? lit 20 · mo re m inutes, AI had made it to the top of the hill overloo king the finish lin e, just about seven ho urs since he'd taken over the bike from Cannad y. Sudden ly a tree jumped out to smash his last headlig ht. When it sh attered , the electrica l system over-am ped and the battery explode d between his legs . Baker coast ed the Honda down the hill, then j umped off and pushed the last, long yards to the finish line. The S.C.O.R .E. officials wanted to hear him start the bike. There was no way. A flurry of con troversy word the on cente rin g " di sq ual ificati on " went on until shortly before dawn. It was finally decided that the of victory overall the Cannad y/Baker Long Beach Honda team would stand. " It was p ro b ab ly the toughes t Baja co u rse I've been on, " Baker said later. " Ra in , wind, sandsto rm ... and it was so long. Hardly anyplac e to rest." He was beginni ng to show effects o f fat igue, as was nearly everybo dy who had been up for t wo days. About 2: 15 a.m ., the Roesele r/Utsey Husky 360 came through , second overall. About 3: 15, the sound of another Husky could be heard and a bouncin g headlig ht beam ca me into view . The sound termina ted suddenl y with a loud "whum p." Mi tch Mayes was lying dazed and inj ured in the blackne ss after creasing his rim on the unseen ledge of a cross- road d itch. When d iscov ered , he was sitting up cradling his left ar m and delirious. He tried to continu e bUL couldn' t make it more t han 25 yard s. Mi tch was carried m u m blin g and in pain into t he Start-Fi nish, abo ut 20 miles away after riding ab o ut 350 . A.C. Bakken came out t o recover th e Husky , wh ich was still in running co ndition. Mitch had lost his headlig ht twice, literally , as it fell off of t he bike and crashed o nce before o n the paveme nt north of Valle de Trinida d. They still finished third o verall. Shortly after dawn Eric Jensen came cr uising into the last gas pit before the finish, obvious ly happy to be there but quite relaxed and in co n tr o!' Twenty min ute s later, he b ro ught the first 125 home as th e Uh l/Miller Honda had run in to mechan icals down co urse. Carl an d Eric ended up fifth overall. Before the 125 KTM had co me the Hus qvarna of Duncan Hadden and Gary Drean, a fine privatee r effort, and aft er th e 125 cam e th e perenni al Triump h 750 of th e Dempse y Brothers, Gene an d Sam, who must, by now, be on a firs t ........ ........ ~ V .0 S V ;> o Z convert er belts. Both Rokon automa tics finished despite a rash of destroy ed torque wn that Sunday . Ron Bishop brings one horne , then rode it at Hopeto name basis with ever y rancher in Baja. Several hours later the first 2 50 in a largely deplete d class was ridden into the finish by Bob Rutton . It was a Harley- Davidso n of the two-stro ke variety with very trick-lo oking Red Wing suspens ion and snake expansi on cham be r. Bruce Ogilvie had survived the firs t half of the ride . When it was all tabulate d with the elapsed times, class st arting times. etc. , the overall S.C.O.R .E. announ ced winner of the 1975 Baj a 1000. It was t he Honda of Cannad y and Bak er. A motorc ycle had beaten everybo dy for the first time sin ce the in itial runnin g of the 1000 when a bike won overall. That, too, was a Honda. It was a particul arly rich win for AI Baker since it gave him the lead in the annual S.C.O .R.E . points race which is worth $15 ,000 at year's end. That 's in add it io n to thefirst bike and first overall money and co n t ingencie s for the .Baj a 10 0 0 win. "I had a feeling when we started that we could do it . Go all the way," said Baker in the impoun d area after a sh ow er . That must be a very good • feeling. Results A I Ba ker/Gene 1. (41 0 T ime E lapsed 19:05 .56 Can n ad y 2 . H owar d Han ). race since the The Dempsey Bros. Triump h 750 (468 1has been in nearly every Baja Hadden /Drean Husky. beginn ing. Here, they chase the The winner - overall. U tsey /La r ry R oesel er 2 1 , 3 7 .0 1 (360 Hus). 3 . A. C . Ba k k en/ M it c h M a y es 23:28. 0 3 (360 D re an H adden/G ary Cuncan 4. Hus). 2 3, 46.93 (400 H us) . 5 . Carl Cran ke/ E rle Jensen 24,3 9 . 5 3 (12 5 Pe nt/ KT M ). 6. Gene De mpsey/S a m Dempsey 2 4,5 7 .91 (65 0 Trl l . 7 . D le k Vl ek/ Oiek Hansen 25,1 5.35 (34 0 Rok ). 8. Bill U hl /D le k Mill e r 2 6, 12.06 (1 25 Han). 9 . Bruce Og ilvie/Bob Ruttan 2 6 : 2 5.92 (2 50 H -D). 10 . Ro n BIShop / Bill Fri ant 26 :49 (340 Ro k l . 9