Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

D anny LaPorte rode the first leg on t he LaPo rte/ Hunnicutt/ Roeseler team . He held the overall lead when he handed the bi ke over to Hun nicutt. Scot Harden. along with t eammates D an Sm it h and Kevin Hines. w as ru nni ng second befo re ex periencing elect rical probl em s near the f inish . D arry l Folk s w as t he second bike to cross the finish line in La Paz. The Folks / Hammel/ M orr is t rio f inished six minutes beh ind Roeseler. LaPorte, Hunnicutt, Roeseler capture Baja 1000 victory By Kit Palmer Photos by TornVan Beveren, Kinney Jones and Palmer LA PAZ, B.C. , MEXICO, NOV. 9- 11 Almost a fu ll hour past midnight, T eam G reen 's .Larry Roeseler and his Kawasaki -KX500 'crossed the finis h line in La Paz, taking first p lace overall hon ors a t the 22nd An n ua l Presid ente/ SCOR E . . I B ~ja 1000. Roesel er , a o ng with tea mm ates Dann y La Porte and Ted Hunn icutt 6 Jr. , co m p leted th e 992-mi le co urse in 17 h o u rs, 53 m in u tes a nd 16.3 seco nds. beat in g th e next closest tea m o f Darr yl Fo lks, Dann y Ha mmel a nd Scott Morri s, a boa rd a 540cc KTM. by j us t six a nd a half m in ut es. T he wi n n ing Kawasaki tea m aver- aged 55.46 m ~h, wh ile FC?lks, Ha m mel a nd Mo rn s avera ged :>5. 13 mph. In , co rnp a risio n, th e fir st ca r to co m p lete th e trek - a Class 8 Ford driven by Robb y Gordo n a nd Bob Bower - averaged 5'1.90 1 m ph to fi ni sh in 18:04:07.86. " T h is is a weso me." said Roeseler , w ho added a sixth Baja 1000 wi n to his resum e. "This is the best feelin g - it rea lly is. Goi ng a ll the way to La Pa z is a true Baja 1000. It's a hard , long race, This is defi nitely one o f my best wins. It feels grea t. I just wish Hunnicu tt could be here at the finish, but he's stuck o ut a t o ne o f our pits north of San J uanico where he gave the bike to me. He's wa iting for a ride back in." La Porte, who rode th e first leg of th e race , arrived by car in La Paz moments befo re Roeseler crossed the finis h line. Wh ile La Po rte and Roeseler were bei ng h on o red o n th e ros tru m, Folks came rid ing up as the seco nd o vera ll motorcycle fini sher. " It's pretty n ea t to fini sh fairly close to Larry like th at ," said Fo lks moments af ter receivin g the chec kered flag. " I figured we wo uld ge t b lo wn.a way." T he re were a few 'la st-m in u te cha nges pr ior to th e sta rt of th e race , Mot orcycles were o rigina lly sche du led to sta rt at 7:30 a.(II. T hursday in Ojos Negros, but local farmers who didn't wa nt the race to run th ro ug h thei r la nd were threat en in g th at action wo u ld be ta ken if th e race were held. With co nce rn regard ing potentia lly dangerous boob y tra ps o n the co urse, SCORE presid ent Sa l Fish decided th e ni ght before th e race to move th e sta rt area 29 mi les so u th o f Ojos Negros o n H igh way 3 to EI Alamo Road ; he al so op ted to m ove the start ti me u p to 7:00 a.m , Fish said: " A few people o ut th ere hav e tried to ca use a prob lem agai nst this ra ce a n d aga ins t me persona lly for what ever reas on. We've held th is race for the last 15 yea rs with th e permission of a ll th e a u thori ties in th is co u n try and with th e help an d coo pera tion of th e busin ess p eople in Ense na da a nd th e ra nc hers over whose land we have go ne. Wh en ever we hav e had a p roblem , we have ch a n ged th e co u rse so that we wouldn 't bother the p eople who live ou t there." Th e n ig h t before the start o f the race. Fish added: " Rig h t now there - is a co urt injunction o ut a nd it is bei ng served on th e few peo p le who seem to be behind th ese p roblem s. The inj u nc tio n says th at if th ere is a problem wi th this race th ey will be arres ted. " Fish a lso wa rned th e riders " to use you r good j udgment. Do not ta ke any chances to try to ge t a finish ." Desp ite precautio nary measures, suc h as postin g .police, soldiers and • sa ilo rs from th e sta rt ing line to Santa Ines, 300 m iles down the course. Hammel . who sta rte d th e race for th e Fol ks/Morris team . h it a bi g hole dug bu t in the co u rse by vanda ls, ca using him to cra sh hard and brea k off hi s KTM 's fro nt brake lever. In •additi on , closed ga tes gave th e firs t rider th ro ug h. Steve Burnell. some problem s. . , " I had to stop a nd open four ga tes," said Burnell. " I shou ld 've closed th em ," he added in jes t. By movin g th e start ar ea . th e total m ileage o f the race dropped from 1021 miles to 992 mi les. T h ere were a tot al of II chec kpoints th ro ugho u t the event, the firs t being a t Mik e' s Sky Ranch o . some 60 m iles into th e race. At 7:10 a. rn. , La Porte left th e sta rt ing area for Roeseler a nd H u n ni cutt, but 10 m iles in to th e race th e form er 250cc MX World Champion ra n into so me problems. " I crashed , got back up. passed four or five guys more a nd th en crashed again whi le tryi ng to pass a nother g uy - it was so dusty yo u co u ld n 't see 10 feet in front of yo u," sai d La Porte. " I fina lly got into th e clear a nd wa s runnin g in the top th ree or four. Wh en I got to Ca ma lu (abou t 150 m iles into th e race) we were running secon d behind th e H onda g uys, Bruce Ogilvi e a n d Chuck Mi ller. T hey were fou r minutes a n d 30-seco nds a head of us physically. but just two m inutes on adjus ted tim e. But so me th ing happened to th em nea r Sa n ta Maria and th e n ext th in g I kn ew we were lead in g ," "Headin g int o th e p it at Santa Ma ria we were abou t eig h t m in ut es ahead o f Da n n y and then the igni tion went o u t," sa id Ogi lvie, who had wo n the Baj a 1000 th e last two years. " We cha nged the ign iti on . a

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