Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROFF·ROAD SCORE Baja 1000 e Craig Adams led his David Reese and Wayne Martin Class 30 team to victory. Chuck Miller at the start on a highly modified HRC Honda XR600. A cracked engine case left the MilIerlDan AshaaftlBruce Ogilvie team stranded on Diablo Dry Lake. 8 Hunnicu tt as the n u m be r-o ne team das he d u p th e coast to wards San to T omas. Kaw asak i's lights went o n wi th 200 mil es to go, but in th e moonless ni gh t of Baj a, it was one of the toughest stretches the riders had to face. " I had to open a ll the (rancher's) gates co m in g o u t of Urupan and I rode o ff the co urse twice - just shot off in to the dark," sa id Hunnicutt. " I h adn't a cl ue wher e I wa s go in g to land. It scared th e da yli gh ts ou t of me." Back i n Cl ass 40, a broken light bracket was dashi ng the hopes of R ichard J ackso n , Doc Et ch art and L ynn McG ra w as they scram bled to retake th e lead fro m Casey Folks, Bill Maxim a nd Kei th Pearson. " T h e lights went awa y com pletely o n the coast sec tion ," said J ackson. " Sur p risin g ly we didn ' t los e too m uc h li me." Also running into lightin g p roblems was the R on Law so n , R obb Mesecher and T im T o ll eson H o nda XR 600 tea m, th a t was r unnin g fou rth overa ll h ea d in g i nto San Matias. " We we nt to install o ur lights but they woul dn 't go o n ," sai d L awson. "We ended up h aving to repl ace th e co i l, w hic h cos t u s a bo ut 30 minu tes." T he Lawson / Meseche r/Tolleson team ended up fin ishing fifth in Cl ass 22 a nd ninth o vera ll. As far as the co u rse wen t, th e worst was sti ll a head. Between th e fin al ri der change and th e fin ish lay the 60 mi les of ' new tra il th a t o n ly the lead -off rid er s had seen. Roesel er headed into th e section a t 6.30 p.rn , with a so mew hat comfortable lead. Sweetla nd left Oj o s Negro s in second, and Lewis was ab oard th e KTM a bout 10 minutes back in th ird. " T h e co u rse through th er e' was unbelieveable, " said J ackson, wh o was still hoping for top Cl as s 40 h onors. " It was so ch ewed up from , the buggies coming o ut, i t was a n ab solute silt bed. If yo u 've ever tried to sta rt a four-stroke in the dark o n th e side of a hill i n deep si l t, you' ll kn ow I was i n trouble. We co u ld n ' t close th e gap afte r th a t. " An d th at wa s wh en you cou ld fi nd the co urse. " You co u ld n 't see a thing," said Geoff Sanborn , who ro de the fin a l section in fou rt h p lace for Cl ass 30 partn ers Kit Palmer a n d. Kinn ey J ones. "The markers were all a bo ut eigh t feet h igh in th e trees. If I co u ld've .adj usted the lig h t straight up I might've seen them." T h e mar ke rs d isa p p ea red comp letely in a fiel d a bout 30 miles fro m the fin is h . It was " T h e co rnfield (rom h ell ," acco rd ing to J ohn Braasch. . "The re was no co urse a t a ll," sa id Sweetland . " I got tota lly lost. I rnust 've ridden 30 mi les o ut of m y wa y. I crash ed three times - ha rd , and I'm surp rised I didn 't run ou t o f gas ." Swee tla nd ro de th e hi ghway into G ua da l upe then rejoin ed th e co urse, but L ewis had already sli p pe d by. " I go t lo st in th e fie ld, too, " sai d Lew is. " Bu t I noticed the gro u nd w asn 't c h e wed up en o ug h so I stoppe d a n d trie d to g et my bea ri ngs." Wh il e th e fro n t-r u n ners ch arged for th e finish , ri der after rider go t stuc k in th e field. Griewe ro de circles o n the ATK fo r more than half an hour , J o h n ny Ca m p bell was " sca red to deat h " fo r 10 minutes, and 250cc ri vals Morris and Sanford met in th e dark an d sto p ped to di scu ss th eir opti o ns. Bu t despi te th e co n fusio n , . RoeseIer stayed in fron t. T he last 60 mil es took 90 minutes to co m p lete, b ut wh en he cros sed the finish lin e near 8 p .m . , the Kawsaki /JT/Tri ck / O akl ey/ FMF/ P ro -Ci rcu it/CTi/Bel Ra y/ Du nl o p / Th o r/Ren th a Il N GK / Ceet /Tsubak ilAlpin estar/ Acer bisv Scott G oggl es-backed entry was still half an hour ah ead of the nea rest co m p etito r on adj u sted time. Th e R o esel er/H u n n icu tt/ Sm i t h team averaged 55.49 m p h . "It (the race) was o ne of the best, and i t was one o f th e toughes t," Roeseler said. " We (Team Green Kawasaki ) d id it - four yea rs in a row, and we 're rea lly happy." Smith was just as happy with th e wi n, but a lo t less enth us ia st ic ab out ra cing th e Baja 1000. " It's long, fast and rough and I'm gl ad it's done," he said. " It was m y Baja debut and m y final e all in o ne. It 's going to tak e a lot of money fo r me to do it again." L ewis brought th e H amel /Lewis/ Ondas KTM home in seco nd, 31 minutes behind Roeseler. . " We didn 't have a ny problems just average wear-and-tear things , but we didn 't h ave th e manpower a nd o u r little chan ges took a little b it longer ," sa id L ewis. " O vera ll we rea lly ca n 't co m p la in. We didn't do a ny th ing wrong." Back in third , 10 minutes behind L ewis , Sweet la n d ' wa s o bvio us ly upset. " It 's not fun ridin g a race and getting lost. We had a good ride going an d we would 've had seco n d," said Sweetl and. Losi ng seco n d pl ace to L ewis a l so cos t Sw ee tl an d SCO RE's ove ra ll motorcycle cha mp ionsh ip for 1991. T he po ints ea rned for third left him j ust two points s hort of t he 199 1 tit le wi n ner Roesel er. T he 250cc race stayed fra ntic all the way to the checkered flag . Campbell crossed th e li ne first , but both Morris and Sanford wer e cla iming th e w in on djust ed t im e. Th e deci si on came late th e following a fte rnoo n wh en SCOR E pos te d resu lt s a n d th e Sanford/W ill ert/ Schmuckl e Suzuki sco red th e class win by seven seco n ds o ver th e Mor ris/Lan e/Hurd team. . . "Great ra ce ," sai d Sc hm uc k le . " We wer e with in a co u p le of minutes a ll day. That 's th e way raci ng sho u ld be. " " T he last part was inter esting," sai d Mor ri s, " No ne of (the to p three 250cc tea ms) h ad th e sa me rid ers th at ha d started in th e mo rn i ng so no ne .of u s kne w where we were going. No p rerun n ing, th e toughest sec tio n of the race a n d I had o ne light o ut and no bra kes." The Campbell / Dona ton i/Campbell Honda scored third less th an three minutes slo wer than Morris' Ka wasa ki. It was Kaw asaki all th e way in Class 20, as Braasch , Kawell and Cap t brought th eir KXI25 home in 16 ho urs and 48 minu tes, more than an hour ahead o f th e runner-u p team o f Craig Smit h a nd Jeff Dickerso n . The winn in g I 25cc bea t th e top O ver 30 co ruen ters by half a n hour, and was j u st 10 mi n u tes slo wer th an p ick up d river Larry Ragl an , the top four-wheel fin ish er. " T h e bike ran perf ect once we go t goi ng. We p inn ed i t the whol e way," Braasch sa id. David Rees, Wayne Martin and Crai g Adams ca me ou t o n to p of th e 20-p lus en tries in Class 30, beatin g th e Mexi can en tr y of Manuel Sa n tan a a n d Arturo Va squ ez b y 38 minutes, with ano ther 13 minutes back to thi rd-pl ace fin ish ers David Callaway, Ji m Evela nd and J ohn Si lva. Two mi nu tes back chased th e Sa nborn / Jo nes/ Pa lmer team . Class 40 went to KT M-m o un ted Ca sey Fol ks, Bill Maxim a nd Kei th Pea rson . T h eir tea m finis h ed 20 minutes a he ad of R ich ard J ackson, Doc Etc hart an d L ynn McGraw, and Cla ss 50 honor s we re claimed by Ross Term i n in a time of 23 ho urs an d t:N 16 m in u tes. Results 0 / A: I. Larry Roeseier/'Ted H un nicu tt/Mar ty Smit h (Kaw) 13 hours. 35 minutes. 25.4 seconds! 55.45 m p h; 2. Dan n y Ham el / J imm y Lewis/David Ondas (KTM) 1 4 :06:26. 6/5H 5 ; ~. Garth Sweet la nd! Paul Kr.tuse/Grq; Zittttkopl (Kaw) 14:16:ll1.8152.86; 4. Darren San ford/ Fred Will er vBrian Schmucklc (Suz) 15 : 44 :~ 7 .~ /47 .90 ; 5. Scott MorrislJ o.y La ne/ Roger H urd (Kaw) 15:44:44.9/ 47.89; 6. , ohnny Ca mpbelf/Dave Dona to niz'jamie Campbel (Hon ) 1 5: 4 7 :52. 2/ 47 .7 ~ ; 7. Don Gr ieweIRon Naylo rlTy Davis (ATK) 1 6 :10;1 5. 6146. ~ ; 8. J ohn Braasch/Jd f KawelllJdl CaPl (Kaw) 16:48:42.V44.86; 9. Ron LawsonIRobb MeoecherITim T ol leson/Robert Rex (H on ) 17:01:40.0/ 44.29; 10. David RttslWayn e Manin / Crai g Adams (H on ) 1 7:26 :40.5/4~ .~ ; II. Ja y HOJ;>kinslDean Hopkins (Kaw) 17:59:19.8/4 1.92; 12. Cra ,,/: Smi lh / Jdl Dickerson (Kaw) 18:01:15.0/41.85 ; I~. L:a5

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