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/127288
" 00 c-r l-o V ..0 S v :> o Z The winning Class 20 team of Brett Howell, Roger Hurd and Jeff Kawell install ,a head light on their Kawasaki KXI25 at the roo Road p its. They finish ed 17th overall, . Hunnicutt was on the gas a ll th e way as he took over from La Po rte in San Felipe and raced up the coast towards the team 's final rider change at San Ma tias . ~ " O ur pits hav e been a real big part of it toda y," said Hunnicutt. " T he crew got a wheel change and gas down to 16 seconds at the last pit." While Roeseler began the short loo p .thro ugh Mike's' Sky Rancho and the J in a l spri nt north from Valle de > rin idad to the finis h line at Ojos T Negros, H unnicutt sat down to wai t for Ka wasa ki 's La ne /Morris/ Kurt Hough 250cc entry. ') " I was going to ride the Mike's loo p .to relieve the guys a bit," sai d H un ;nicut t. "With La ne o ut for most of the day, we figured they cou ld do with a rest." T he re was no rest in sight for secondplaced Danny Ham el, as the KTM en try cha rged towards Mik e's. " It was brutal ," said Hamel. " J o hn son and Chase rode to gi ve me two quick breaks to get som e fluids in me, bu t I o nly got orr th e bike for abo u t an hour a nd a half all da y." . T he next bike through was th e KX500 piloted by Krau se and Sweetland , almost half an hour behind th e number one bike o n adjusted time , but clos ing to wi thi n three m inutes of H a m el , a n d th e O g ilvie/M ill er / Summers H onda was seven m in u tes back in fourth. Parry and Ostbo were ru nning a stron g fifth overa ll as th e westerl y ru n to Mike's began. . " O n my way into Mike's I mus r've passed half a dozen spectator cars o n the course. That's o ne of the biggest problems we have down here. It makes it lethal," said Parry. "There's eno ug h to look o ut for witho u t th at but we sort of expec t it down here. That's wh y you never ride 110%here. You can o nly ride about 90%. " '1 Lights came on as the front-runners cleared Valle de Trinidad and started the fina l 84-mile stretch to th e chec kered flag. Darkness hit som e of th e slower riders on the way into Mik e's and th e fir st car racers sta rt ed to overt ak e th em about the same tim e. " An na Merritt got nerfed by a buggy in a corner and that reall y spooked her , and then we found we had a broken T h e ATK team of Greg Zitterkop f and Ron Naylor wer e cruising in second place before sufferi ng tire p roblems and running out of gas in the southern loo p, Kawasaki's Paul Os tbo (shown) an d Kenny Parry were the Class 30 winners. Alfie Cox led his South African threeman team to first place in Class 21. The Scott Summers/ Bruce Ogilvie/ Chuck Miller team landed fourth 0 / A. case and all the oil hadrun o ut, " sai d L illi e Sweetl an d . " We broke .th e tra nsmi ssio n and when I gave the bike to An na for the last 60 miles, it was stuck in six th gear. She said she was goi ng to 'carry the bike o n her back if she had to. " Raci ng wit h ligh ts ca used so me exciti ng mo ments for Vince Skanduras , who teamed wit h Ross Gregory and Craig Adams o n a CR500. "I was goi ng fu ll spee d o n the pave ment doingabout a hundred and the lig h ts went o u t," said Ska nd uras , who later fo u n d th e li ghts ca me unplugged. " I was flying along j us t waiting to h it something. I put o n bo th brak es and slid into a ditch ." The fin al sectio n of the course al so provided some interesting mom ents for th e Martella/Cornelius/Sh irey Over 40 entry. " We were reall y close wi th Casey Folks (and KTM partner Ken Maah s) all da y and the y had us by severa l minutes going to the finish ," said Cornelius. " We thought we were go ing to be seco nd a nd there Folks wa s broken down by th e side of the road abo ut 80 miles o ut." T he race for second overall was heat ing up too, as Sweetland launched a last- min ute hlitz o n the tir ing Ham el. " We started behi nd H amel a nd we ha d the advantage because we kn ew wha t we had to do and he didn 't know where we were at ," said Sweetland. Sweetland was closing fast as the finish line at Ojos Negros came into sight. Roeseler s taved ahead all the way and took the checkered flag just before 6:00 p.m. 10 claim the overall win with a total elapsed time of II hours 11 minu tes and an average speed of 59.40 mph . Wh en H am el crossed th e lin e half . an hour lat er, he had edged Sweetl and o ut of second overa ll by just under 10 seconds . R oesel er describ ed th e winning team 's rid e as " flaw less." "We had a grea t day . No ' flat s, no cras hes, no problem s at all," sai d Ka wasaki /CTi /Barsnake/Be1-R ay/ TsubakilP ro- Ci rci t/ Re n thaIiBri dgestone/ J T / T rick-backed Roeseler, "I think the key to winning here was getting ah ead early. We were in the lead ph ysically by th e 50-mile mark and we never lost it. We mad e some tim e with no dust and no traffic and after we got a 20 minute lead we could slow down. T he pl an then is to brin g it o n ho me." Roeseler described wi nning the Baja 1000 as one of the hi ghlights of his career. . " It 's th e gra nddaddy of all o rr-road races. It 's th e most im portant and pr estigi ous," ยท said Roeseler. " Everybody kn o ws wha t the Baja 1000 is." H amel was almost too tired to enjoy the fan fare whe n he reache d th e ceremo nia l fini sh lin e in Ense nada. " Being tired made a big difference,' sai d the KTM /M et zel er/M ax i ma / Motorcycle Tire Center/ Scott/Acerbis/ F&L/ Gaern e/ Alu mi li te / Z Ra cingbacked rider. " You have to concen tra te so' hard and by the end of the race you don't have very much left. " T hey told me at my last gas that Garth Sweetland was close, but I didn 't kn ow he was that close," sai d the KTM 540 DXC pilot. " T hi s is probabl y o ne of the ro ug hest ones we've had down here," said Sweetl an d. " It was prett y ro ugh the whole way and the average speeds are prob ab ly down. There weren 't very man y sections that yo u could rest;" 7