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GOFF-ROAD ~ SCORE International Off-road Series: Final Round Who else but Team Green at Ba aMil I By Chris Jonn um Photos by Kinney Jones MEXICALI, B.C., MEXICO, NOV. 12-13 t wouldn't exactly have taken a high roller to place a wi nning bet at the 26th running of the Tecate Beer IScore Internatio nal Baja 1000, though odd s makers wouldn't have given mor e than even money on suc h a wager. Coming into the event with five-consecutive wins, a sup po rt helicopter , a tr ac tor-trailer, m ultiple box vans, countless pit cre w memb ers and a bullet-proof KX500 close to the one ridden by AMA 500cc National MX Ch a mpion Mike Lalcocco, only a long-shot gambler would even think of betting against Kawasaki's Team Green. And if an incredible record and detailed preparat ion we ren't enough, Kawa saki pu t together a tal en ted trio of riders, headed by eight-time event winner and the undisp uted "King of Baja" Larry Roeseie r . Join in g Roesel er wer e Danny Hamel, who had jus t wrapped up his th ird-straight National H are & Hound Championship with an unprecedented "sweep" of the series, and Ty Davis, a former 125cc Supercross Champion and the "Top American" at the recent Dutch Six Days. Team Green lived up to all the expectations, securi ng th e ov era ll lead soo n after lea ving the Mex icali st art I fini sh a re a and s tayi ng up front fo r th e remainder of the 762.4-mile race. "M y r id in g p a rt went okay, but it was a long day," said Roeseler at the finish line. "In terms of tou ghness, it was right up th ere. Th is is the most (bike) parts we've eve r gone through.ยท I do n't kno w h ow m an y w h eel s we wen t throu gh; maybe four of five." This marked the first time since 1972 that the infamous race started in Mexicali, an d the first time ever that it finished there. Organizers decide d to move the start from the trad itional location of Ensenada when they encountered resistance on the part of city officials and resi- I 6 dents. The move east was rewarded with a hu ge and enthusiastic crowd, and most racers seemed happy with the change. "There was a lot of effort put forth," said Adolfo Yee Ch ek-ng, p resid ent of the convention and tourist b ureau in Mexicali . "I wouldn't call it a compe tition, but th ere was a cont est between Ensenada and ou rselves. There was very little time to get this going ...but this race brings visitors for pre-runs, all the way up to the d ay after race d ay, and th e exposure we ge t tells the story of our city to many more people." . "I think the cro wds are much bett er over here," said Hon da's Dan Ashcraf t. "In Ensenada lthink they wan t to see us crash or something. When we leave Ensenad a there are 50 or more (booby) traps to run over. I only saw a couple here. The crowds seemed to be more into it." After leaving Mexicali and head ing south for a short distance on Highway 5, the course turned west and then sou th a gain to fo ll ow th e eas te rn edge o f Laguna Salad a, a hu ge dry lake bed that held water befor e the Colorado River was damned up an d used for irrigation in the U.S.. At the bottom of the laguna, the course began the long coun ter-clockwise San Felipe loop, its southern- most point being the Matomi Wash. The rider s returned to th e begi nn ing o f the lower loop by skirting Highway 5 near San Felipe, then circulated the circu it again befor e ret urning to Mexicali via the western edge of Laguna Salada. As us ua l, the bikes left the start at 6:00 a.m., well before the cars, but because the San Felipe loop was completed tw ice, car traffic would prove to be a problem for even the lead ers. . The sun was barely beginning to rise as Hamel, the rider of record for Team Green's "A" squad and the fifth racer off the line, hea ded out of Tecate Depot and onto the highwa y. But Roes el er took over where the course turned off-road just seven miles later, and he had the big KX singing as he followed Lagu na Salada south to the first checkpoint at Azufre Pass. Roeseler's stint continued through checkpoin t tw o, where th e cou rse rejoined the highway at Agua Coyote, and he handed it back to Hamel ju st before checkpo int th ree at Oasis Road , approxima tely 100 miles into the race. Honda' s "A" team of Ashcraft, Dave Donatoni and Chuck Miller had started two bike s ahead of the Kawasaki, but they were alread y experi encing troubles and Roeseler had the overall lead when he arrived at Oasis. "I had no problems," said Roeseler after his stint. "I was riding along and I sta rted to smell oil. I kept going and I saw (Ashcraft) just cruising. He had oil all over his rear fender." . The Class 21 Suzuki RMX250-mounted team of Jeff Martinez, Darren Sanford and Davide Trolli was having their own troubles. "I only got about 20 miles off the start wh en the thing just locked up ," said Sanford. "The crank broke. It happened at an other race, but I thought it was a fluke - I guess not." The break was even more depressing for Trolli, who had traveled all the way from his home in Italy only to have the bike quit before his first rid ing stint. The spee dy Italian ha s been cursed by bad luck in North America. He had the overall lead in las t August's seven-day Neva da Rally before getting lost on day six. Secon d th ro ug h th e chec k was Kawasaki's " B" team of Sco tt Morris, Craig Smith and Dav e Ondas, a nd the Kawasaki KLX650R fou r-strok e-mounted squad of Ted H unnicutt, Paul Krause and Gar th Swee tland was thir d. Next, on Honda's B team, was forme r motocross- er and runner-u p in the Nevad a Rally, Cha rles Halcomb, whose last try at Baja had come in 1986 on a Cagiva 125. " It wasn't too bad, but look at my rear tir e," said Halcomb , pointing a t th e totally knobles s ru b be r tha t h is crew had rem oved. "My back end kept wanting to come ou t on me in tha t lake bed , and the first 50 miles were really dusty . I d idn't even know if I w as. going to be rid ing until about a week ago, wh en (Iohnny) Campbell broke his collarbone pre-running. Honda called me and I came down and pr e-ran my sectio n four times, which should be more than enough." Ashcraft ca me in to the pits several m inutes later, vi sibly up set. While Kawasaki puts the ir top teams aboard two-stroke KX500s, Honda has traditionall y chosen to campaign Baja aboard XR600 thumpers. "Big Red" earned several wins in th e ea rly ' 80s, b u t th ey lacked the spe ed to se rio us ly threaten Kawasaki 's imp ressive push of the last se ve ra l yea rs . Hond a co u n te re d by building highl y mod ified XRs to go up aga inst th e big MX bi kes, but has had trouble making the trick machines last over Mexico's long distances. Considering the fact tha t he has seen strong rides go for nau ght du e to mechanical gremlins, Ashcraft was understandably frustrated wh en he arrived at the Hond a pit, jumping off the bike and thr owing his gogg les to the grou nd . "The thin g would n't run right off the star t," said Ashcraft as he limped to the box van , watching as a horde of Japanese mech an ics swa rmed over the bike. "It wouldn't even pull fourth gear on the pav ement, I had no power, so I hit a washout and jammed my leg." Ashcraft calm ed down w hil e his crew replaced what wa s reportedly a factory ma gn eto gone bad, and he got back on the bike for the stint to the next checkpoint at Borrego, near Highway 3. Davis took over the con tro ls of the leading Kawasak i at the Borrego pit, but noticed a problem soon after. "I wasn't really nervous, but right after I got the bike I looked down and I saw water all ov e r my bo ot. I thought, ' Oh no, I'm gonn a get stuck with all the problems!' I stopped and got off, and I sa w that the hose clamp was bad. I decided to use a zip tie , but I broke a bunch of th em before I could get one snugged up. The o the r two Kawasakis got by me, but I got back on' and passed them both and pulled about eight minutes." Davis took the bike all the way to San Felipe, where he h anded it back to Hamel. .Hamel rode north through the EI Ch inero pit stop near th e H ighway 5 crossing; at that point he held a substantiallead of almost 20 minutes on the MorrislSmith / Onda s team. Morris' bike was beginning to suffer from a disintegrating air filter, which was passing d ust and wreaking havoc on the Kawasaki's spark plug. The Team Green crew replaced the filter, but Morris qu ickly returned to the pit with the bike still hack ing. The crew then replaced the spark plug as well. At the same time, Hunnicutt came thundering in aboard th e KLX, holding down third place. The big thumper was in need of a new clutch, and directing the speedy 10-mi n u te change of pla tes was none other than Roeseler. "I got on the bike in San Felipe; and something felt wrong," said Hunnicutt. "I thou ght the clutch was slipping, but I don't know the bike, so I wasn't su re. It got worse and the bike started revving, and that's when I knew it was slipping. It was getting really bad coming in here - I don 't think it wo uld have mad e it to an other pit." After installing a new clutch, buttoning up the right side cover, and bolting on the foot peg and brake and kick-start