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/126265
EUECTROSTAnCALLY APPUED VINYL COAnNG . . . . .NG: 2" WIDE, WEAR & WEATHER RESISTANT IIUCKU: ROTATE SELF '-t:;;;.;;;~;;;;;j 40 GENERAnNG LEVER TO lIIfIOSE AND LOCK ADDf110NAL PRELOAD REJ USE IS ACCOMPUSHED BY PUI1ING UPWARD ON'WEB HANDHOLD (Left) Johnson, Hardin and Wallingsford in post-race conference. IAbove) Roeseler blasts through Valle de Trinidad.IBelowl George Halyak's Vespa went 90 miles. (Below, middle) Class 20 winner Jeff Kaplan. IBelow, bottom) Ogilvie after 423 miles. Roeseler/Johnson, Team Husky win Baja Internacional By Dale Brown ENSENADA , B.C . , MEX .. J UNE 10 he tea m of Larry Roeseier a nd Jack J ohnson - . . . led a Team H usqva rn a 1-2-3 overa ll sweep of Less sound equals More ground. (MTc:] MO iORC'rCLE IN D U STRY 14 COUNCIL , INC. SCO RE 's Baja Int e rn a cion a L T he winn ing d uo post ed a time of eig ht hours , 32 m inutes, 15 .2 seco nds. fou r m in ut es faste r th an seco nd place a nd 28 m inu tes in front of the first fourwheeler. Second p lace we nt to Br ent Wa llingsfo rd and Scot H a rd in , who started first and finished first , but fell short on elapsed time. A .C . Bak ke n and Bob Rutt en completed the sweep. All three teams were mounted on 390 C Rs unde r the direction o f De a n Gol dsm ith . Bruce Ogilvie (Da le's Mod e rn Cycle 250 H -D ) ce rt a in ly d eserved the " Iron ma n' trop hy for riding th e 423ยท m ile event solo and winning Class 21 . by a 13-m inu te m a rgi n . Mitch Payton and Je ff Kapl an (Ana hei m Sport cycle 125 Hus) p icked u p C lass 20 honors, wh ile Dick Vick a nd John Watkins (390 Hu s) won Class 38 . The first bik e left Ense na da a t 6 : 15 a .m . Ha rd in was th e firs t rider to lea ve: he a nd Wallingsford broke tra il for the rest of t he race . The Class 22 bikes (over 251cc) started first a nd To m Broo ks o n th e Bro ok s/B ob Ba lent ine KTM Im port s 40 0 KT M moved q uic kly to seco nd . T he first part of the cours e ran throu gh Ojos Negros to the first chec k at EI Ravo , 45 miles fro m the sta rt . The ra'ce wa s st a rt ed u nde r threatening skies and th er e were m an y pat ches of fog and mi st bet wen the sta rt and Ojos Negros a nd JUSt past Oj os Negros , pla ying hell with gogg les. Roeseler and Bak ken were among t he last Class 22 bikes to sta rt. both ge tt ing underway about 14 min utes after Hardin. Aft er lea vin g EI Rayo , the ra cers headed almost du e sou th to Nuevo . where m ost teams ele cted to cha nge riders. The cou rse was la id out in what look ed on paper to be a drunken figure -eight. Alm ost all the to p teams rode th e race in q ua rters , cha ngi ng at Nuevo . El Ch in ero an d Vall e d e T rinid ad or EI Rod eo . By the tim e they hit Nu evo . Roeseler had moved up to third overall ph ysically. Larry had th e fastest time of th e day to EI Rayo : 48 m inutes. (Malcolm Smi th was only one minute slower in a buggy.) . Just past Nu evo . in a sec tion of virgin d esert. Bal en tine got lost , losing 10 m inutes a nd dropping fro m second to sixt h . It was a lso after Nu evo tha t rid ers hit one of t he most d ifficult parts of the course. "T he Summit. " Rea ch ing an eleva tion of 4 ,000 feet . th e Su mmit incl u d ed a 150 ' ya rd , boulder -strew n d own hi ll. The motorcyclists reported no prob lem with it , b ut one of th e myriad SCO RE classes is for stoc k VW s. H ead ing north in the directi on of La gu na Salada , Rutt en seized hi s Husky twice but co ntin ue d on . From t he re t he co urse swu ng back to a sou the rn ly head ing , past gas pits a t Tres Pozos (where some gas crews arrived too late to pit their riders), past Check Three ( 167 m iles from the