Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Honda XR600-mounted Dan Ashcraft (f oreg rou nd) passes Randy Morales f or the Baja 1000 lead. The Ashcraft/Bruce Og il vie team won . SCORE Baja 1000 - Ashcraft/Ogilvie charge to Baja win By Anne & Tom Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren & Kinney Jones ENSENA Dr\, "I EXI CO. NOV . 6 The Team H on da duo of Dan Ashcraft and Bru ce O gil vie ran away from the field .to take a wire-to-wire win in the 1987 edition of the SCO RE Baj a 1000. After 689 mil es o f grue ling , hi gh-sp eed racin g , th e hard, . . d c ha r gl.ng H an a te am pow ered th ei r factory XR600R across 10 the fi n ish li ne more th an 30 minutes a hea d o f th e nea rest co m pe titio n to cla im Honda 's fourth Baj a 1000 win in four yea rs. They head ed a Honda lin e-up t hat saw th e red machines tak e th e top th ree finish es a nd 10 o f th e to p 20 pl acin gs. " Da n d id a ll th e work," O gilvie said aft er making th e final sp rint through th e streets of Ensen ad a. " He rod e so go od in th e first sectio n th is morning he handed th e bike over to me wi th a 13-minu te lead a fter 190 mil es. He had a lrea dy won th e race .by th e time he ga ve m e th e bike, My job was not to do an yth ing that would lose it. " " T h is is a rea lly special win for . me," Ash cra ft sa id. " I've been lead- ing th is ra~'e for th e. la st four years but evc;ry ,li me th e .blke broke down so I didn I ever win . It feels reall y go od to fin all y win o ne ." T his year's event. which started a nd fin ished in Ensenada, fea tured a shorte r co urs e th an th e usual 1000mi le la yo u t, bUI wh at th e co urse lacked in distance wa s more than mad e up for by co nd itio ns resulting fro m 10 da ys o f torre nt ia l ra in the week before the race. Baj a 's typ icall y dr y, dusty terrain was repl aced by puddles, mud bo gs and wash-outs in th e northern sec- . ti on s of th e co urse, promptin g SCO R E o fficia ls to describe co n ditions as th e worst th ey have seen in th e last 10 years. And if dealing wi th th e wet sectio ns to th e north was not eno ugh , th e rain-free ar eas at . th e southern en d of th e co urse rem amed as dusty as ever. Baj a veteran La rry Roeseler sai d Ogilvie picked up where Ashcraft left off - in the lead. The Ashcraft/ Ogilv ie duo f inished 30 m inutes ahead of the second place team . th e co u rse near Mik e' s SkyRanc ho was so wet a nd muddv th at he was add ing two hours to hi s esti ma ted fini sh in g ti me a nd man y of th e o ther racers were b usy befo re th e ra ce p lo ttin g len gth y de to u rs arou nd th e edge of th e now -soggy Diab lo Dry Lake. But th e wet gro u nd had so me adva ntages. "The tra ct io n is unbeli evab le," 'sa id firs t-lim e Baj a racer Pa ul Kra use o f th e AT K team. " If yo u ove rs hoo t a co rne r it 's no probl em . You just la v th e bik e over until th e bars are in' the dirt a nd gas it a n d it 'll co me right aroun d . A bit of mud is a lo t beIter th an not bein g ab le to see for a ll th e dust. " T he morn ing was coo l an d cloudy as th e rid er s lined up before dawn awa iti ng th e start of th e race . The first gree n flag d ropped a t 6.30 a.m., a nd Tea m Husk y's G arth Swee tla nd slit hered o ff th e sta rt ing line and powered th rou gh th e wet streets o f En sen ad a in a headl o ngrush to bui ld up a n ea rly lead. Lead -o ff riders fro m a tot al o f 83 mot orcycl e lea rns fo llowed Swee tland o ut at 30-seco nd int erval s, a ll hard on th e gas excep t for o ne of th e race' s 17 Japa n ese ent ra nts , who ca me to a sudde n sto p just a few yards o ff th e sta rti ng lin e whe n a traffi c sig na l a t a blocked-off intersection turned red. As th e racers tackl ed th e 15 miles of pavement leading into the 200mil e first section tow ard Tres Pozos, Ash craft wa s a lready mak in g his move. " I wa s reall y determ ined off th e sta rt," Ash craft sa id , "I had pre-run that pavement section over and over and wh en th e race sta rted I was passing gu ys lik e crazy. I was gassing it o n th e wet pa vem eruandthev were backing off becau se'th ey weren 't used to it. I started way back in th e field , nin e minutes behind th e first bik e, but I m ad e up a lot o f tim e before we even hit th e d irt ." As th e fro n tru n ners clea red check IWOat Nu evo Junction , 95 miles into th e ra ce, Ashcraft had a lread y taken the time-adju sted lead , The Honda team was a full minute a head o f Kawasaki 's 250cc tea m o f T ed H un n icult and Brett Howell , with Kawasa k i's Larr y R o e se ler/R and y Mora les KX500 team a nothe r minute back in th ird , Husqvarn a' s G arth Swee tla nd a n d n an S m i th held fo urt h pl ace in th e tim e-adjusted sta nd ings. T eam Husky's bid for th e win did n OI last lon g. Just 10 miles o ut from th e Nu evo Junction check, Smith broke a rear hub a n d was forced to turn back for repairs. " I started to ride back but th e bik e didn 't make it a ll th e way so I had to get off a nd wa lk ," said Smith. " By th e time I got a new wh eeland made it back to th e bike I was two hours do wn a nd th e first two cars had go ne th rough. I co u ld n' t go o ver th e su m m it in the middle o f all th e cars, with no brakes, so I just rode 'OUl down th e hi ghwa y." Another early cas ua lty wa s Scot Harden o f th e H ain es/H arden l LaPorte XR625R Class 30 (Ove r 30 .Years Old ) team. " I hit my hand on a tree bra nch th at was stickin g o ut into the course just aft er the summit and I guess I broke somethin g ," sa id H arden , h olding up a badl y swo lle n right hand. Harden rode more than 100 mi les before passi ng the bike over to his teammates at Barrego, th en was forced to withdraw from the race, lea vin g LaPorte to ride a double

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