Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

and saved years to be able to one day make the trip to race the famed Baja 1000. Lastly, their command of English is generally only a few baby steps better than their command of Spanish. Yet, they enjoy the experience immensely. Most teams rent vans or motorhomes. Often, they'll purchase their race bike at a Southern California dealership, though some will ship their racer over from Japan. They spend a wee_k prerunning the course, or at least parts of it, and love the freedom of ride ing such fabled terrain, eating different food and living like Baja racers. One Class 21 (250cc) team in particular will be able to say that they nearly led the Baja 1000, unofficially, of course. Riding a '95 Honda CRM250R twostroke dual-purpose bike, the team of "three included a young woman, and they hadn't prerun the initial 75-mile section, the first 40 miles of which offered significant shortcuts. They inadvertently took one of them; which apparently wasn't monitored by SCORE officials, and ended up with only Team Green star Ty Davis in front of them. Their moment of glory didn't last long, of course, and they finished fifth in class, but they'll never forget the week they spent in Baja. Of course, that's better than Ed Tyynismaa, who was entered in Class 30 on the Mike Barnhill team. All his planning and preparation for the 1000 was for naught. Tyynismaa is a Navy SEAL and got shipped out to Bahrain at the 11th hour. His teammates carried on without him and finished fifth- in class in 18 hours, 53 minutes and 50 seconds. Then there was Paul Watts, one of a trio of friends, all first timers from Florida. Motocrossers, they'd never ridden in the desert, never raced over rocks and never been on a KXSOO doing 100 mph in the dirt. About 35 miles into his first section, a contact lens popped out (his friends attributed the cause to "Alfalfa" eyes, in reference to the old TV series character). "I tried to put it back in, but there was no hope, so I rode the last half of my section with no lens (in that eye)," Watts said. "But I had a chance to explore some of the greenery that surrounds the (course) and found myself getting a true taste of the Baja dirt." After finishing his section, Watts hopped into the chase van and proceed- (Above) Steve Hengeveld handles some of the nighttime riding chores for his team, which also Included of Jason Kawell and Oakley Lehman. The 250cc-mounted trio won Class 21 and placed third overall. (Right) Donnie Book was attended to by Team Green members after crashing Kawasaki's Class 22 "B" entry In the pine forest. The team of Book, Scott Morris and Dave Ondas later scored a DNF. (Below) Mike Shoemaker takes his turn et the controls of the Shoemaker/Chris Haines/James DeGainelRex Staten Class 30 entry. The team went on to win with a time of 16:53:13. ed to the next rider change, traveling through the coastal resort town of San Felipe. "We stopped at a place called 'Optica' and had the opportunity to purchase a lens that was half the power of my normal lens and it was a green one," Watts said. "So, with one blue eye and one green eye, I was ready to continue my Baja quest for victory." . Well, maybe not victory in the traditional sense, but Watts, Lance Langston and Bruce TimID (with Southern California and Baja regulars Craig Adams, Brett Leef and Craig Smith filling in at night) did finish, earning sixth Class 22 (Open) and 19th bike in 20:38:10. The Floridians, and the rest of the 58 bike a~d ATV teams that started the event in downtown Ensenada, faced a roughly figure-eight course of 714.6 miles. It headed north out of town in a new twist, cross.ing Highway 3 and old Highway 1 before turning east toward the farming village of Ojos Negros. From there, the course went up to th.e pine forests near the national park then cam'e back down to cross Highway 3 twice while heading south. It got on the pavement just north of Valle de Trinidad and ran the highway 20 miles at an enforced 60 mph for safety before jumping into the sand wash of San Matias Pass, which led to the wideopen Laguna Diablo dry lake. After the challenging Matomi Wash, the course turned northward on the old Puertocitos road, through the streets of San Felipe, and back onto the dirt at Zoo Road. After Three Poles, the course joined the highway for another 20-rnile-long 60 mph breather then looped up the mountains to Mike's Sky Ranch and back down to Valle de Trinidad. A westward shot took competitors to the Pacific Ocean where they turned north for a while, then east to Santo .~ 0\ ...... J:-...' C'l !-< OJ "S OJ ::>- o Z 5

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