Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

o rw ar d o n adjus ted ti me , and the Hie Co x /Keith O 'N ea l/ Ch u c k em p sey Ka wasaki KX250 led the cc d ivision (Class 21) by four timedjusted m in u tes over Suzuki R M250 ilots Da rren Sanford and Fr ed iIIen. oJrhe so utherly loop ga ve an unexcted boost to Hurd 's 'so lo run in lass 20. , " I was about four m in u tes down on e 125 class lead er when he stopped o help a n in jured rider," said Hurd. 'He was co mi ng ba ckwards o n the urse to get help when I wen t by." ,( H u n n icu tt kept the Roeseler/Hunicutt entry out in fro nt all the way ver the San Antonio Moun ta in pass a th e Pacific Coast near Santa Isab el nd was still enjoy in g a trouble-free . .de as the course turned north to wards e 250-mile mark a t Santo T o m as. ehind him, th e problems were starting to pile up. l aylor was less than two timedjusted m in u tes short of the lead . he n he ran o u t of gas befo re Santo o mas. " I mi ssed our pit by the beach. hey had to move it because the ighway was too crowded and I went igh t by," said Na ylor. "I sat there for maybe 20 minutes until a guy vacationing along the beach gave m e some gas." Hamel rode 20 m iles up th e beach on a flat tire and Krause lost ti me Changing a wh eel. In C lass 21, th e sto ry was much th e arn e. The Cox/O 'Nea l/D empsey Kawasaki had grabbed the physical lead and was stretch ing out the timeadjusted margin wh ile its 250cc rival s started to suffer . " T he axle nut came loose j us t before I got joey Lane (Mo rr is/ L a n e / Richardson ) on th e beach," sai d Tim Morton , who ta ckl ed the coas ta l section o n th e Kawasak i KX250 he shared with Brian Schmuckle and Lincoln Peirsol. "T he cha in wa s so loose it wa s kipping teeth on th e sp roc ket a nd th e back wheel would change side s every time you hi t the brakes or th e gas." T he Sanford/Willert Suzuki wa s making slow progress after a crash that broke the radiator, a nd Lane lo st round when he missed a newl yarked shortcut in the course. Class 30 hope fu ls Parry and Forward d worked their wa y up steadily from la st- i n -cl a ss start and took the hysical lead in th e coastal section, hile a clos e ra ce still raged in Class O . " The top four were within five inutes of each other the whol e wa y," id jim O'Neal, who shared a Kawaki KX500 with Chris H aines and irst-tirne Baja racer Bill Tanner of lgary, Canada. " It was th e closest ne I' ve ever been in . It was so m uch un." The Roeseler/ H unnicu tt Kawasaki 'as o u t lro nt all th e way as the course urned east -fr o m Uruapan to wa rds res H ermanos and was pulling out n im p ress ive lead over its tro ubled rnpetitors. Bu t the team 's hopes m e to a sudden end nea r the 280ile m ark with a bl own tra nsm issio n. " H e was standing th ere besid e th e i ke n ea r Tres H erman os; " sai d amel, who was th e first racer to reac h unncicutt. " I was shocked. I knew was in second alter Naylor ran out J 'ga s, so 1 kept plugging along but wasn't expect ing to end up in lirst ust like that." With the Roe seler/ H u n nicu tt entry ut of the picture it was a brand new ce with just over 100 miles to go. amel was in front as he charged hro ugh th ~ highway crossing at El amo Road and handed over to Lewis or the final run north from Santa Ca ta rina Dam to th e timed fin ish a t Ojos Negros. Davis flew by less than a m inute beh ind Hamel, putt ing the AT K th ree minu tes a head on correc ted time , a nd Krau se ha nded over to Sweetl and two m inutes later, just 20 s~conds behind H a mel on ad j usted ume. "We got word tha t my bike had br oken , then the three o f them ca me through so close. We started th inking, he y, Kawa saki co uld still win th is," said Roeseler. "We kn ew Zitterkopf had the last section a nd he co u ld n' t ride so we jumped in th e truck and went to Santa Catarin a 90 miles from the fin ish. 1 took over lor the las t sect io n ." After al most eig h t ho urs a nd more than 350 mi les of racing, th e fin al 90 miles were a grueling cha llenge for the tiring rid ers. "SCORE stuc k in a new section about 50 miles long th e day befor e the race. T hat was th e worst part o f the 'who le course," sai d Hurd, who was still hanging on at th e head o f the 125cc pack . " It was hilly, twisty, rocky, silty a nd dusty. It had so many turns it wore yo u out and yo u got hit by sti cks lrom all th e bushes ." . The tight linal section was right up Roeseler 's a lle y and the Kawasaki started to reel in th e leaders , right as th eir lu ck started to run out. Lewis fell victim to Roeseler ab out 25 m iles from th e fin ish. " I was really close to him after he passed a nd it would've been a really close race but a Iork slider ca m e unbolted," said Lewis. " I sto p ped a nd fixed it abo u t four times - go t off th e bike, screwed it back in , and even tried to put some dirt in there so it wouldn 't co me loose aga in. It gets scary riding whe n it comes loose, so 1 had to go really slow a nd 1 lost too much time." T he AT K lell victi m to a clogged air clea ne r with the finish almos t in sight. " It (the ' filt er) got so clogged it wo uld n ' t ru n a ny more so Da vis had to sto p a nd clean it o ut," Naylor said, R o ese ler swept b y Davi s as h e worked o n th e bike a nd handed it over to Sweetland for th e final sprint to th e finish . The Kawasaki crossed the line with a tot al ela psed time of eigh t hours and 34 minutes, beating th e ATK ou t of th e win by o ne and a half minutes, with th e KTM entry in third, I I minutes sh y of the win. " It was tough lor a Baja 500; we didn 't kn ow if we were going to mak e it to th e finish ," said Sweetland, who thanked his s po nsors Kawa sak i, Answer , Spro ck et Spec. , Re n th al , Maxima, Metzeler , Brid gestone, Sh oei, Smith , Sinoco, CM Cycle & BMW, Acerbis a nd FMF, a nd Reid No rdi n for bui ld ing the bi ke. " I ha ven ' t won the Baja 500 since 1986. It 's been a while. It feels good to win it again." " I think it 's a bunch of bu ll that th ey (Zi tter ko pfl Kra u se / Swee tla n d team ) ca n pu t Roeseler on the bike," sai d ATK's Naylor, a firs t-t im e Baja racer. " It gav e th em a fresh ma n and it ma de it a lour-ma n tea m , bu t if that's o kay by th e rules, th en 1 guess that 's the way it is here, Do llar lor do llar, we kicked th eir butts. I g ua ra n tee they spe nt a h undred times as much money as we did (to compe te).'.' Fourth overa ll and lirst in Class 21 went to th e Cox /Keith O 'Neal /Dempsey Kawasaki team with a time o f eig ht hours and 55 minutes, 15 min ut es ah ead of seco n d pl ace l ini she r s Schrnuckl e, Molton a nd Peirsol , also on a Kawasaki. The Parry/Forward Kawa sak i KX500 crossed the line with an average speed of almost 47 mph to claim fifth overall and Class 30 honors. Ron Naylor, T y Da vis and Don Griewe com p rise d the runner-up tea m . The Danny Hamel/jimmy Lewis team had to stop for rep airs after a crash. Ri ck Salter's Kawasaki team took seco nd in Class 30, a nd th e race -lo ng battle for Over 40 honors went to th e H aines/ j im O 'Neal/Tanner Ka wa sa ki 12th overa ll, j us t three minutes a head of th e Kawasak i pilot ed by Ri ck Sh irey and Wayne Cornelius. " It's ta ken me 10 years to wi n this. I've been racing it since 1981 and never got more than a second or th ird before ," said jim O 'Neal , whose son, Keit h , topped the 250cc d ivision with Cox a nd Dempsey. Al Guzman , the only entry in Class 50, co m p leted a sol o ci rcuit of the co urse in just under 12 ho urs. I:N The Rick Salter/Dan Worley/Earl Roberts team was second in Class 30. Results 0 / A: I. G an h Sweetl and /Pau l Kra use/ Greg Zitterkop £lLarry Roeseler (Kaw) : 2. Don Gri ewe/ Ron Naylorrry Davis (AT K); 3. Danny Ham el/ J im my Lew is (KT M); 4. Alfie Co x/ Keith O'N Q ll Chuc k Dempsey (Ka w): 5. Ken ny Pa rr y/ Sco n For ward (Ka w); 6. Bri an Schm uc k1e/Li nco1n Periso t/Ttm Morton [Kaw}; 7. Scott Morris / J oey Lane/Dan Richard son (Kaw): 8. Rick Salter/ Da n Worl ey/ Ea rl Roberts (Ka w) ; 9. Greg Sear le/ Brandon Gerbe r (KT M); 10. Darren San ford/ Fred Willert (Suz); II . Rick Lund in/Scott Stea ms (Ka w): 12. Ch ris Hai n es/J im O 'NeaI/ BilI Tanner (Ka w) : 13. Rick Sh irey/Wayne: Cornelius (Ka w) ; 14. John Braasch/ Roger H urd (Kaw]: 15. Mike Harper/Ron Gray/ J oh n Bil key (Ka w): 16. Dav id Call aw a y/ J im Evelan d/Paul Ostbo (Kaw); 17. Richard J ackson/ J ohn Etcha rt (Ha n); 18. Eduardo Vazqu ez/M arias Arjo na / Da vi d J o n es ( Ka w); 19. Beta Verber/ Armando Zertuche (Kaw); 20. Sergio Vega. CLASS 20: I. John Braasch / Reger H urd (Ka w): 2. Pedro Tamayo . CLASS 21: I. Allie Cox/Keith O 'Nea l/Chuck Dem p sey (Ka w) ; 2. Brian Schm uckl e/Li nco ln Peri sol z'T'im Mon on (K.aw); 3. Scott Morr is/Joey La ne/ Dan Richard son (Ka w ). CLASS 22: I. Gar th Sweetland/ Pau l Krau se/ Greg Ziuerko pflLarry Roeder (Ka w); 2. Do n Gri ewe/ Ron Naylorrfy Davis (AT K); ! . Danny Ham el/ J immy Lewis (KT M). CLASS 30: I. Kenny Parry / Soon Forward (Kaw ): 2. Rick Salter/ Dan Wori ey/ Earl Roberts (Kaw); 3. David Calla way/ J im Eveland/Pa ul Onbo (Kaw), CLASS 40: I. Chr is Hain es/ J im O'Nea l/ Bill T an ner ( Ka w) ; 2. Rick Shirq/Wayne Cornelius '(Kaw); 3. Mike H arper/Ron G ray/John Bil key (Kaw). CLASS 30: I. AI Guzman (Kaw). 19

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