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/126554
m ~ CD .c E ~ CD o ~ z ~ (~kwIee from left) Jeff Bemes bIDtII through the Mike'. Sky Rench river c:roaaing. only to drown out momenta lirter. Tl'tICey Dickaon helped bring home third for 3 Rex Staten was early DNF. (Right) Curtis Sperka netted Team Honda a second. Whee.,. • History made • Wax, Sun·dahl,·Chester Conquer the 1,000 By Lance Bryson Photo by Dale Brown and Lance Bryson ENSENADA, B.C. N, MEXICO, NOV. 6-7 Mark "Wax" Weixeldorfer, Dean Sundahl and Mike Chester laid to rest the laughter and remarks voiced to them earlier, as they crossed the SCORE/Pemod Baja 1000 finish line in history making time, ET 24:52:22.51. Team Honda's second-placing team rider, Curtis Sparks, 4 remarked, "It was really funny, all day Thunday as I was pre-running the course people Itept telling us we would never make it, the course was too tough for three wheelers. '~ A total of six three-wheelers entered the Baja 1000; the grueling desen, however, toolt its toll on three, the remaining three made their mark in the history books. The course was strung out over 805 miles of the toughest terrain Mother Nature could come up with. Team Honda had two three-wheel entries: Mark Weixe1dorfer, Dean Sundahl and Mike Chestei'. Honda's second entry was Cunis Sparks, Wes Arnold and Tom Gildea. J- Wn.ding mapziDe had the other three-wbeeler entry that fmished with Harry McDennott, MiU Cae and Tracey Dickson. . The course staned in Ensenada and went down to EI Rayo, Valle de Trinidad and on up to Mike's Sky Ranch. From there it turned southwest to Camalu where it turned south ro Rancho Santa IDes. From there the course turned west and· headed toward Punra Blanca, heading then north to Punta Prieta. After Punta Prieta, the course wenr nonh through EI Crucero, then up to San Felipe, Diablo Dry Lake, then on to San Matais, through Valle de Trinidad and on to the finish, baclt to Ensenada. By the secon4 check point, Mike's Sky Ranch, Wax wheeled in wanting to know, "How far is the other three· wheeler ahead of mer' Honda's race coordinator, Wes McCoy, explained, ''What other three-wheeler? You're the only one rhar's come ac:roll here yer." Wax yelled with ezcitement' as he left the pit area, yelling back, "Sparks wenr off a dif( but be's okay," and then roolt off. Thiny seconds later Spar~ wheeled in. "I went off a cliff but . everything's all right," Sparks gassed and toolt off, not a minute and a half had gone by before Tracy Dickson wheeled in, gassed up and took off. The three of them had made good time by the second check point as they had passed nearly every Class· 10 and Class II car. Wax wheeled in 45 minutes ahead of Sparks in Santa Maria, gassed and left. Gildea, however, took over from Sparks at that point. Dickson, who had stuck his motor, wheeled "into Santa Maria in back of a pickup. Sparks completely overhauled Dickson's motor and got him on his way again. Wax and Dickson, unlike the Arnold/Sparks/Gildea ream, didn't change riders until Santa Ines. Mrer Santa lnes, Dean Sundahl had probably the toughest sections of the course, the silt beds, and later the Three Sisters, but wont of all it was all in the darlt. "The only major problem was in the silt beds," replied Sundahl, who had the second leg of the 802 miles. "I couldn't see five feet in front of me. I just left it in fint gear for almost 10 miles. I never passed so many cars at one time. I was so pumped that wbenever I went by a couple of guys standing by their cars, I wou1d wave. The ruts were unreal, up to four feet deep in lOme places. " coupleof times I had to get complete1y off my biU and puah my way out. It was crazy but I didn't have any problems at all. Well, I had one problem; that's when I flJ'lt took off I got about twO miles out of town when my lights went completely on the blink. I mean, they went off for about two minutes. I couldn't see where I was going. I' SlOpped and messed with them for a minut~ then they came back on. When I got to the next pit they fixed the problem. It must have been something in the wiring - but the lights, rhey were great. They rurned night into day. " . Chester, riding rhe rhird shift, wheeled into the San Matais Pass at approximately 8:50, Saturday morning, yelling excitedly that, "The bike is a bullet, no trouble, things couldn'r be better. Hurry up, gas me up, get me going," By 12:50 another ATC could be heard off in the distance. As they came into sight,