Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

OFF-ROAD 29th annual SCORElTecate Baja 1000 , (Left) Paul Krause rode the final sections before the finish for the winning team. Krause later described crossing the finish line for the team as a "bitchln' feeling." (Below) (Left to right) Davis, Krause and Zltterkopf handle press chores In Ensenada after scoring the victory. Tomas. A short (six-mile) section of Highway 1 led to Uruapan. From there, the course followed hard-packed, rutted two-track roads east to Tres Hermanos and then north to Ojos egros. It then rejoined the outbound course for the 75 miles to the finish. Promoter Sal Fish and his crew laid out a course that offered a little of everything in Baja, it seemed: skirting farmers' fields, villages, mountain fire Brieflv... - . Though Team Green is entertaining thoughts of pulling support for Baja races, sheer demand may keep them In the 1000 next year, SCORE is said to be planning another run down the peninsula to mar\< the race's 30th anniversary. And get this: Rumor has It that the race will be 2,000 miles long - down, then back - to commemorate the new millennium In either 1999 or 2000, Donnie Boole, Scott Morris and Dave Ondas formed Team Green's Class 22 "B" ream, and they ran well early in the race, However, Book crashed in the pine forest, necess~ tating a time-consuming radiator replacement. Even so, the bike apparently lost enough coolant before the replacement to warp the head. The KX500 died near Morelia Junction, forcing Ondas to push a while. . though the personnel there saw him, jumped into a truck and carried fuel to him. "With the filter and stuff, he dropped another 10 minutes, so we were about 15 minutes down," Campbell said. "I got back on and had a pretty good ride up over Mike's and out to the coast. We hung the lights [onto the bike) at Highway 1 in San Vicente. Actually, to Ojos, I pulled about five minutes on Krause. He said he hadn't prerun that section very much, and 1 spent a lot of time in there. I knew it at night because I practiced at night." Campbell was still charging about 55 miles from the finish, but he fell victim to the silt ruts where the cars had run in the morning. The result was a rear flat and after that, Campbell crossed a rut and fell down pretty hard. "I lost one of my lights," Campbell said. "But I got back going again, got to our pit, changed the wheel. I was kind of amping, and they had to calm me down, Basically, I had only 49 miles to make up 15 minutes and there's no way you're going to do that, so I just cruised in from the last pit. "It proved to be a good race for us because we had no bike problems. As you know, we've been kind of plagued with bike problems before, ignition problems or mechanical problems, and I think this year was probably one of the cleanest rides for our bike, mechanical- we'll continue to go down there... because It's pretty important to Honda to race ,n Baja. They've been there ali along, if you look back. " Ron Bishop kept his Baja 1000 streak 'alive, He's the only motorcycle-racer to have competed In all 29 Baja 1000s, though, his Class 50 ream eamed a DNF: terkopf, Wash), and there was this gate up," Davis reported. "I ran into the gate, I didn't see it because the sun was kind of in my eyes. I jumped on the brakes when I saw that it was up, and I didn't know what I should do. I know those gates are barely up, and I thought I could just hit it and knock it down, but barbed wire got stuck in my rear wheel. I had to cut the barbed wire out, and Johnny went by. I got going again, caught up to Johnny and passed him before the pit at the end of the wash. Once I passed him there, it was clear sailing all the way." Teammate Greg Zitterkopf agreed. The recently crowned AMA ational Hare & Hound Champion took the bike on the rugged so-called "lower loop" from San Matias through Matomi Wash and past San Felipe. "My ride was actually kind of boring." he said. "Nothing really happened, but I guess that's what you always hope for." That gave Team Green its ninth consecutive victory in the 1000. The trio's time of 14;11:02 was a bit slower than anticipated, a testament to the tighter, twistier portions leading out of / into Ensenada, plus the pine forests, and worked out to an overall average speed of 50.4 mph. That's nearly 10 mph slower than the usual speed average of past 1000 winners. Campbell spent a lot of time on the roads, sand washes, boulder fields, dry lakes, beach runs and more. Most racers found it both interesting and challenging. The race for the win turned out to be fairly brief. Team Green's Ty Davis passed Honda's Johnny Campbell before the first pit stop and then encountered the only real drama of the event. "I got about halfway up (Guadalupe Gary Colbert, Richard Jackson and Jim O'Neal seemed the pre-race team to beat in Class 50. After a rear wheel change nearly 500 miles into the race, however, an axle nut fell off, resulting in all sorts of chain grief, O'Neal didn't have the necessary tools to hx thin,gs, couldn't get help and ended up hi,tching a ride back to civilization, The. team retrieved the bikethe next aftemoon. Kawasaki Team Green's Win at the Baja 1000 marked,the fourth In a row for Ty Davis, third for Paul, Krause and first for Greg Zit· XR628R that he shared with Jeff Capt, riding from the start to San Matias, waiting while Capt did the lower loop, then racing again from San Matias to the finish. "] think I did, like, 500 miles," Campbell estimated. "I was the first bike off, and it was a little eerie. I've never been first bike before. I rode tight my whole section. I rode really stiff; I couldn't loosen up. I rode in (Davis') dust all the way to Ojos. ] fell down once, just kind of slid out in a comer and I had an okay ride going up into the mountains, but Ty pulled a lot of time on me there. By the time we got down by Trinidad, he'd pulled, like, five, seven minutes or something, "I kind of knew he would catch and pass me but it was a little sooner than I anticipated," Campbell continued. "But I also didn't want to lose that much time in the pine forest. I thought I could stay within three or four minutes, and it ended up being five or seven. I was kind qf bummed at my ride because I ran real tight." Adding to the red team's woes, an air filter didn't get changed during a pit, and it began to clog near the end of Capt's stint. In fact, it caused him to run out of gas a sh9rt distance from one pit, The future of Baja racing, however, seemed Most of Team Green skipped the awards grim with the decline in the number of entries ceremony. After hnishing, each member had litcompared to last year's Tijuana to La Paz tle time for more than a shower and checking extravaganza, Team Green Manager Ron out of their hotel rooms because they wanted Heben is weig)1ing the pros and cons, the pro to head back across the border in order to race side consisting of the fame attendant to win- the Elsinore Grand Prix the next two days. ning (and the Japanese bosses love thPt sort of Most got to bed around two in the moming and glory) and the cons being tremendous expense were up before the sun to get ready for Satur· and rider safety. "Every year, the population day's racing. grows, and the more people there are, the harder it is to control," Heben said, Ty Davis Most teams in the 1000 sported three or more made no secret of his feelings: "I wanted to riders. The only top team to use just two was win this one because, hopefully, it'll be my last the Honda Campbell/Capt duo. "I think we one", and I wanted to go out with a win, Things were at a disadvantage running a two· man might change next year if it goes to La Paz: team because it was so rough,' Campbell $sid, that's a real biggie. That would be worth going "Last yea~ when I rode With Jimmy (Lewis) to down there and doing that one, But as far as La Paz, Ithought it was an easier ride, riding all the 'Ioop-de·do' things, I can almost guarantee the way from Tijuana to San Ignacio straight you this is my last one. No more 500s. no through. It was still kind 01 easier than doing more 1000s, I hate taking chances at those 'two 250-mile sections because it (was) just speeds for a measly $300, It's fun riding down straighter, faster. This' year, Jeff had that whole there, It's awesome riding, bui you've got to be bottom loop, and that's why I ended up riding so, so careful. It kind of takes the fun out of it more mileage because. yeah, my sections were when you're racing." Honda's Johnny rough, but they weren't whooped oUl Jeff's Campbell, on the other hand, said, "I hink good in that stuff. "

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