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/126937
Bill Harris and Jimmy Sones teamed up to take the Class 30 win on their Honda; Neil Menninen and Lee West finished second in Class 30. Chuck Miller teamed with Bruce Ogilvie and a Honda XR600R to win the SCORE 1000 in 18 hours. five minutes and 52.58 seconds. SCORE Ba,_ 1000 Miller/Ogilvie conquer Baja 1000 By Paul Van Zuyle EN E ADA-LA PAZ, BC, MEXICO, NOV. 6-7 For the first time in four years, the SCORE Baja 1000 was run on the traditional pointto-point course from Ensenada to La Paz. A new, 1013-mile course featured mostly dirt roads in the first 150 miles, and a mix of pavement dirt roads . 'h ~nd lralis through.out. t t: penInsula. And desp~te IgmtIOn, 6 tire and lighting problems, Chuck Miller ,and Bruce Ogilvie caplured the overall victOry in 18 hours, 5 minutes and 52.58 seconds on their Honda XR600R. Miller and Ogilvie's troubles started early in the race, with a burnt-out ignition near Mike's Sky Rancho, about 100 miles [.rom the start. Miller t~ok about 30 ":lInu~es to replace the hIgh-powered Ignition used to run his XR600's dual headlights with a stock ignition he carried as a spare. That put him far behind the leaders, and set the stage [or later di[ficulties. Up ahead, the two factory Husqvarna [our-strokes o[ Dan Ashcraft/ Garth Sweetland and Dan Smith/ Larry Roeseler opened up a big lead. By Santa Maria, 220 miles [rom the stan, Ashcra[t had four minute on Smith, and held almost a 4O-minute lead over Miller. But disaster struck first one Husky team, then the other. Just after Sama Maria, Smith crashed hard while chasing Ashcraft through a rocky section. The rocks gouged his right forearm, and he received a concussion and a broken rib in the [all. The bike's throule was also broken, but Smith was able to limp back to Santa Maria. By the time the bike was fixed and Roeseler had returned to Santa Maria to ride it, the team had lost nearly two hours. Ashcra[t held the lead through Santa Inex, 340 miles from the start, but then his bike expired about 75 miles later wl'th a'suspected transmission failure. That left the Husky eHort in the hands of Scott Morris/Daryl Folks, on their 250XC. At San Ignacio, 600 miles into the race, they were in second place, a half hour behind the Hon'da of Miller and Ogilvie. They ended up 46 minutes behind at the finish, first in class 21 and second bike overall. Although Ogilvie had a comfortable lead in San Ignacio at dusk, his victory was hardly in the bag. He had only one light instead of two, because that was all his stock ignition could power. "I had a dim light, and [ell coming of[ the beach section. When I [ell, I broke my one remaining light and had to ride to the next pit in the dark. Once the lights were fixed, I had no problems' until 15 miles north of Ciudad Constitucion, where my rear tire began coming apart," said Ogilvie. "So I stopped at a Mexican farm house, where a little girl got me a 2x4 and two kitchen chairs to putthe bike up on. I cut the tire off the rim, and rode 22 miles on the pavement on the bare rim. I rode about 60 mph, passing cars, and the wheel collapsed just as I could see my pits. A Mexican in a pickup truck helped me drag the bike the last 200 yards. If we hadn't had those problems, we CQuid have ยท[inished two hours earlier." This was Ogilvie's first win in the 1000; he has been runner-up [our times. . The 250s had a close race at the beginning, with the Honda CR250 oI Gary Jones/Bill Boyer/Jef[ Quinn taking the early lead. Jones, a lormer National Motocross Champion, rode first. "Our strategy was for me to ride first and put us out in front. I put IO or 15 minutes on second place, like I planned to. I could catch the Open (class) bikes, but I couldn't pass them, said Jones. At Camalu, when Jones turned the bike over to Boyer, the team was in third overall, behind the two Huskys. Boyer said he crashed "of( one of those hills that has no sides. Actually, I rode it down, b'ut tipped over when I hit the bouom. While I was lying there, both Morris and (the team of) Mark Vanscourt/]oe BoltOn (Honda CR250) passed me. Two D)iles later I saw them both lying in a ditch. I put. five minutes on them, but when I got to my pit, they made me use a slow hand pump to fill the bike. When the other two guys came in, the pil crew used the dump cans and sent them on their way. "I was still pumping away when Jim Fishback (who teamed with Chris Haines in Class 30 on a Honda) came in. He didn't have a quick-fill connection on his gas tank, and when the pit crew tried to fill it, gas went everywhere and the bike caught on fire. One of the pit crew was on [ire, and they put him out, but the bike burned to the ground." Boyer and his team evenually [inished second in c1as 21, and the overall with an elapsed time o[ 19 hour, 30 minutes. Fourth overall and first in class 30 (for riders over 30 years old) were Bill Harris and Jimmy Sones. Sones complained of choking dust at the start, but said, "aIter that, everything was perfect." Harris, who led the class from Santa Maria to the finish, said "It was pretty uneventful. We couldn't find any cows to hiL" Their elapsed lime of 19 hours, 52 minutes put them a whopping 9 hours, 14 minutes ahead of Neil Manninen and Les West, who rode a Yamaha to second place in class 30. Finishing fifth overall and second in class 22 was Larry Roeseler, who had ridden all the way [rom Santa Maria after Dan Smilh's crash. RoeseIer, a five-time Baja 1000 winner, took a little over 13 hours to ride 780