Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

The w inning team - Dan Ashcraft (left) and Bruce Ogi lvie. Both riders have two Baja 1000 w ins to their credit. It 's two in a row for Ogilvie. Randy Norman, who teamed up with AI Baker, heads out into the night port ion of the Baja 1000. The team finished second overall. 12 up th e brakes th en gra bbed a handful a t th e last minute a n d we nt flyin g . th rough the air. It was pretty scary." The winning edge in Baj a, accordin g to Ash craft, co mes from knowing th e co urse. " I pre-ran my sectio ns five or six times," he said, "an d that made a lot of difference. I don't want to brag but I was passing guys lik e th ey weren't e ve n ra cing. Th e y'd be ba cking o ff because th ey didn't know what wa s up a head a n d I'd go around th em like th ey were sta nd ing sti ll. You have to know th e co u rse to win down her e." There was a wait of more than 30 minutes before th e second set of lig h ts ra ced down th e pavement a nd Randy Norm an clai me d seco nd overa ll for th e Bak er/N orman XR625 with a n ela psed time of 12:37 :44 a n d a n a verage speed o f 54.56 mph. " T he co n d i tio ns toda y wer e fan tastic a n d th e bike wa s perfect." sa id Norma n , who th anked AI Baker 's XRs Onl y fo r prep a r ing th e bi g H onda. "The Qn ly p robl em we hadwa s that o u r cha se truck broke down a nd Al had to ride from U rua pa n to Ojos Negros a t night o ver un fa mili ar ground. We o n ly lost five minutes in that sectio n th ough, so it wasn 't so bad." T hi rd o vera ll went to th e hardcha rg ing Class 30 team of Haines, H ard en a n d La Port e, Hain es brought th e team 's factory X R600 R in just 12 mi n utes beh in d Norma n and Bak er despite br eaking a headlig h t bracket a nd having to hold the ri ght headlight with his hand for th e last 15 miles. " It was a littl e we t in pl aces but it wa s a good da y because th ere was no dust ," sa id Hain es, who thanked spo n so rs Pa le O ff- Road Pa r k in Japa n, Am eri can H o n da , Whit e Bros.. XRs Onl y, Bell, Bridgesi on e, Sco tt US A. Alpinestar, hi s teamm at es, "a n d evervo ne else th at ' s helped us." . T eamm at e LaPorte described th e cou rse as "a big motorcross track, bu t it 's insane to do 95 to 1 0.~ mph as far as th ese desert gu ys go . It's like go ing 14 hours on th e edge," sa id th e fanner 250cc Motocross World Cha mpion. Fo urth overa ll a nd fir st in th e 250cc divi sion (C la ss 21) wa s claimed by t he H unn icu nv l-lowell Kawasaki wi th a n av erage speed of 52.89 mph . "This is m y seco nd time in Baj a a nd la st tim e I won th e Baja 500 with Larry Roesel er ." sa id Hunni cutt, w ho is spo nsored by Kawasak i! T r ic k/ D un lo p / D ura l u be. " An o vera l l wi n last time and a class win this time .- who wou ldn't be ha p p y with th at?" Tea m G reen a lso claimed fifth o vera ll (th ird in Cl ass 22) ~vith th e Roeseler/Mo ral es KX500 . " We j us t had a few p robl em s an d it 's a lways hard to ca tch up a fter th at ," sa id Roeseler , who thanked Kawasaki, Sco tt , Ma lco lm Sm ith , Dura lube. Maxim a , Re n th a l a n d F&L. "B ut it was a good race. Even tho ugh it was a short 1000, it was a fu n o ne. We've had ra in do wn here a co u p le o f tim es a nd I th ink it ma kes fo r so me good ra cing." Fourth pl ace in Clas s 22 went to th e Derr ick Pai em enr /Kenn v P a rrv Yam ah a du o , who wer e back ed by . G ra nada Yam ah a /PJI /Dunl op. T hey fin ish ed seventh o vera ll despite two brok en headli ghts. Fifth in C lass 22 (eig h th o vera ll ) wen t to th e Krause/ Steele/Li eb ATK lea rn, wh ich was spon sored by ATKI F&L /Spectro /Dun lop/Smi t h /Ha IIman /Rentha llGA Sports wea r. Surp ri singl y, th e team fini sh ed th e race on th e sa me rear ti re th ev sta rted with . . " O f co u rse we were go in g to cha n ge tires," Krause said, "but the pack on th e rear fender broke a nd a ll th e spacers fell out so our spare wheels wou ldn 't fit. Next yea r we' ll kn ow what happens down her e and we'll be better prepared. " Second in Class 21 went to J oey Lane and Mark Va nscourt wh o brought their CR250 home with th e six th fas tes t tim e ov era l I. "It wa s kind of sho rt for the 1000, but it sure feels great when you get o ff the bike," said Vanscourt, who th anked J o e Bolton , th e third member of th e CR250 team, and sponsors Bridgestone, Answer, P ro Honda Oi l a nd American H o n da. "I th ink this gives us th e o vera ll class c h a m p io n sh i p for the year and ma ybe th e o vera ll m ot orcycle ch a mp ionsh ip as well. We're prett y happ)' with th e way every th in g went thI S yea r. " . . Th e Las Vegas Husky duo o f Scott Morris and Darvl Folks su rvived a da y o f mech ani ca l di sasters to fini sh third in the 250cc division (n int h overa ll ). " W ha t a da y," sa id Morri s, who tha n ked EP Per forms, Sportsm an C ycle, Duralube, Macon Construction , Cagiva Nort h Ameri ca, Nevada Blasters, Dun lop Tires and KSI. "The first thing we did was run o u t o f gas. Then Daryl got on th e bike, seized it and destroyed a rear wheel. Then we lost th e sh ifter. After th at, I go t a flat, th en Da ryl lost th e sh ock , th e n I hi t a dit ch a n d one of th e lig h ts flipped o ff. We had su ch bad luck we cou ldn 't be li eve it." Finishing hard on h is son Daryl's tail in th e time-adjusted sta nd ings wa s Cas ey Folks , who took the honors in th e Ov er- 38 division (Clas s I 38) for the Fo lks/Burleson Husk y, T eam ( 10th ov era ll ). " No thri lls, no spi lls, " was Fo lk s' description o f the ra ce. "We had th e kind o f ride yo u dream about - i t was perfect. I want to th ank m y partner for prepping the bike a nd o ur sp o nsors, Cagiva North Amero ica , Best in th e Desert a n d Sportsman Cycl e." T he next Class 38 entry to cross th e finis h line was th e Ro n Gray! M ik e H arper Husky a lmost two hours behind the clas s winner s, with Kawasaki-mounted Wa yn e Cornel lius a nd Dave Davidson taking th ird. David Callaway and Mike M clronald crossed the finish II th overa ll to claim second in Cl ass 30. " Baja is th e best ," said McDonald, who raced Baj a for the fir st time at th is yea r's SCORE Baj a 500 . "Once we got th e bugs worked o u t every th ing was great. We had a good time and w e want to thank Kawas aki of R iversid e, Answer , Works Performance a nd a ll th e friends who helped us o u t. " Scott Forward and David Arnold brou ght th eir Am er ican H onda l Scott 's Scooter-spon sored XR600R in 13th o vera ll to take third in Cl as s 30. . . If SCORE offer ed a prize for end ura nce , thi s yea r 's award wou ld have to go to Earl Rob erts' YZI25 team. Rob ert s a n d teamm a te Alfredo Montiano were th e o n ly 125cc riders to su rvive th e 689-m ile co urse. It wa s almost three a.rn. before th e 125cc racer s crossed the fini sh line, fin ally e n d i n g more than 19 -an d -a -ha lf hours o n th e bike. Results OVERALL: 1. Dan Ashcraft / Bruce Ogilvi e (Hon XR600) ; 2. AI Baker/Randy Norma n (Hon XR625); 3 . Chri s Haines/Scot Harden/Dann y LaPorte (Hen XR600) ; 4 . Ted Hunnicutt/ Bren Howell (Kaw KX250); 5 . Larry Roe seler / Rand y M orales (Kaw KX500); 6 . J oey Lane /Mark Va nscourtl Joe Bolton (Hon CR25D); 7. Derr ick Paiement / Kenn y Parry (Yam YlSOOI; 8 . Paul Krause/Kevin Steele/ Don Lieb (ArK 560); 9. Scon Morris/ Daryl Folks tHus 250); 10. Casey Folks/Dick Bur leson (Hus 510); 11. David Callaway/Mike McDonald (Kaw KX500); 12. John Alexander/ Greg Nash (Kaw KX250); 13. Scott Forw ard/David Arnold (Hon XR600); 14. Tod McKay / Tom Morto n (Hon XR600); 15. David Rees/ Andy Ordi ng (Kaw KX250); 16 . St eve Buckley/ Craig Adams (Ha n XR600); , 7. J im Buckingham / Paul Levere (Hon XR600 ); 18. Ken Str ong/ Ken Kuge l (Hon XR600); 19. Ron Gray/ Mi ke Harper (HU5 510); 20. Daniel Theric / Patr ick Port lier (He n XR600). CLASS 22 (Mot orcycles Over 25 1ce); 1. Dan Ashc raft/ Bruce Ogilvie (Hon XR600); 2. AI Baker/ Randy Norm an (Hon XR625); 3. Larry Roeseler/ Randy M orales (Kaw KX5OO). CLASS 21 (Moto rcycles 125-25Occ); 1. Ted Hunnicun/Brett How ell (Kaw KX250); 2. Joey Lane/Mark Vans court / Joe Bolton (Hon CR250); 3. Scott Morris/Daryl Folks (Hus 250 ). CLASS 20 (Moto rcycle s Under 125ce); 1. Earl Roberts/Alf redo Mont iano (Yam VZI 25 ); 2. Frank Chase/ Jo hn Braasch (Hus 125); 3. J eff Miller/ J ohn Hutt er (Cag 125) . CLASS 30 (Motorcycle riders Over 30 Years Old): 1. Chris Hai nes/ Scot Harden/ Danny LaPone (Han XR600); 2. David Callaway /Mike McDonald (Kaw KXSOO); 3 . Scott Forw ard/D avid Arnold (Hen XR600). CLASS 38 (M otorcycle Rider s Over 38 Years O ld~: 1. Casey Folks/ Dick Burl eson IHus 510 ); 2. Ron Gr ay/M ike Harper (Hus 5 10); 3 . W ayne Cornelius/Dave Davidson (Kaw KX500).

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