Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

OFF-ROAD SCORE INTERNATIONAL BAJA 500 By Anne Van Beveren Photos by Trackside Photo ENSENADA, MEXICO, JUNE 7 ith Kawasaki opting out of south-of-the-border racing, the field for this year's SCORE Baja 500 was noticeably smaller than usual - but what it lacked in size, the race more than made up for in intensity, as the two top Honda factory teams duked it out over a tight, technical and almost dust-free course, separated by less than five minutes for most of the 47D-mile event. When the nine and a half hours of racing were over, the Honda XR628mounted team of Johnny Campbell and Bruce Ogilvie took the overall win just. seven minutes ahead of Tim Staab, Casey Longman and Greg Bringle, who campaigned Honda's second factory entry. Both teams beat the first-placed truck piloted by [van Stewart but that (aside from their almost identical XR628s) was' all they had in common. At 44, Ogilvie has three decades of experience in Baja, and took the first of his four Baja 500 wins way back in 1975. "That's 22 years, or half a lifetime, ago," said the veteran racer. At just 17 years old, Longman was competing in the first Baja event of his life. 24 "Both teams had a really good race. The bikes were flawless and, except for a flat tire right before the finish, things ran smoothly all the way," Ogilvie said. "We had a very good day:' The raCe started just after dawn out- Ensenada, Mexico (Above) Team Honda's Johnny Campbell (shown) and his partner Bruce Ogilvie scored the overall win at the SCORE Baja 500. (Above right) Tim Morton, Eric Hjalmarson, Fred Wilert and Jeff Martinez combined efforts to win the 250cc class. (Right) Honda's "B n team took runner-up honors with Tim Staab, Casey Longman and Greg Bringle at the controls. side the Convention Center in downtown Ensenada, and it was anything but racing-as-usual as the seven Open class entries powered off the line, with the three 250cc teams in hot pursuit. Heavy rains the night before the race had soaked the course, eliminating the dust that usually plagues the start, and giving later starters on the one-bike-every3O-seconds grid the same clear air as the front-runners. "When I heard I was going to be first off, I was really happy - but then it rained, and it wasn't a big deal any more," Campbell said. '1 was actually a little nervous off the start, because it's always scary heading out of Ensenada when you're first, so I rode pretty cautiously in the first section." The lead-off rider also faced the challenge of racing headlong into new and unknown rain ruts, and also knew that the trailing riders were keying off his tire tracks in the soft ground. Campbell's cautious opening let Staab, who led off for Honda's B Team from the number-two spot on the starting grid, close up behind him and, for a while, Tex Mitchell, who was captaining the third bike off the start, joined in the hunt. "! did really good early in my section and caught Staab. He passed me back in a wash, and we freight-trained it and caught Campbell," said Mitchell, who was sharing an Escondido Cycle Centerbacked Honda XR600 with Ron Wilson and Brent Blount. "We were 50 feet apart through Guadalupe Canyon, and I knew I was ahead on time, but then I lost the rear shock and had to nurse it into the first Honda pit, and they got away." The racing was hot and heavy as the course made a large circle north, then headed south into Ojos egros and on into the pine-forest loop before making the first highway crossing at El Alamo. "There was not a speck of dust anywhere, and that let the.racing stay really tight for about the first 200 miles of the course, because nobody had to slow down," Ogilvie said. "The conditions were pretty unusual. It only happens every eight or nine years for this race. It wasn't slippery, sloppy mud, but some of the number plates were unreadable because of the mud flying up off the wheels." , The lack of dust let the Mike Healey /Mark Burnett team close the gap behind Mitchell, as he struggled towards his pit with a broken shock, and thenlet them power through to take over the number-three spot - but it wasn't helping the lead-off bike in the 250cc division at all. "We led for about the first 80 miles," said Tim Morton, who was sharing a KTM with Eric Hjalmarson, Fred Willert and Jeff Martinez. "We started right behind the Open bikes - all seven of the XR Hondas. We told our pit to just to listen for a two-stroke and it'll be us. It was kind of comical." Hjalmarson turned the bike over to Willert with the 250cc lead intact at the 6D-mile mark but, just 15 miles into his section and running fourth in the overall standings, Willert felt something in the engine go south. "We think we broke a reed, and from there on we just had to ride at midthrottie," Morton said. "We had a spare motor that we could've pulled apart to get the part, but it wasn't worth the down time. We could still make the bike go pretty good - it was just boring. Our top speed was about 55 rather than 90:' The cut in top speed let a rival Yamaha YZ250 piloted by Rojelio Pando and Juan Ortiz take over the class lead, and the Ensenada team was out in front when Ortiz took over for the dash south from El Alamo, about 180 miles into the race. But the Yamaha wasn't in front for

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