Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127868
OFF-ROAD Ensenada, Baja California 30TH AN NUALSCOREITECATE BAJA WOO (Left) Jo hnny Campbell (s hown) teamed with Tim Staab and Greg Bringle to win the 30th running of the Baja 1000. It was Team Honda 's first win In 10 years . (Below) Fred Willert and company topped the 250cc class . finishing third overall. By Kit Palmer Pho tos by Track s ide Pholo ENSENADA, BAIA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO, 'OV 14-15 r-, 0\ 0\ ..... rr) .... Q) ,.D ~ o 14 u Q) rs been burdening me for a long time, but I knew it would come," said johnny Ca mpbell, Tea m Honda 's rider of reco rd (RO R) for the 30th run n in g of the SCORE Baja /Teca te 1000. The "it" Ca m pbell was refe rring to was to "win" the Baja 1000. a race hil s finis hed in second mor e tim es than he wo uld like to rem embe r. But this time, Ca m pbell wo n't for get a th ing, as he and his teammates Tim Staab and Greg Bringle, on an XR628 four-stroke, combined their effo rts to win the prestigious off-road race. "I've finish ed second three tim es, a nd it rea lly feels good to win it thi s tim e," Campbell sa id . " Actually, I would 've been q uite bummed if we didn' t win ." H e w ould ha ve been bummed because Team Green Kawasaki, who has dominated the eve nt for the past nine yea rs, co m ple te ly ignored this yea r's race a nd d id not field a tea m . In fact, there w er e only a fe w Kaw as a ki machines registered in the eve nt, but H onda ' s presence w a s su re ly mad e known, as Honda-mounted riders filled the top 10 finis h ing p osit ions. A lso, Ii onda is quick to po int out tha t every Honda motorcycle that started the event finished the n O-mile race. "I'll tell ya, it would 've been a good ra ce had th ey (Kawasa ki) com pe ted," Campbell said. "Kawa saki, they've done a go od job the last nin e ye a rs, but I didn' t miss them (this year)." This year's victory by Team Honda was it s fir st sin ce 1987, when Bruce age) co m petition, Honda XR400mounted Chris Eberz and Mark Daniels, both fro m Santa Barbara , California , too k the win , sto pp ing the clocks in 20 hours, 0 minutes and 24 seconds. However, the Class 50 team of Richard Jackso n and Ga ry Co lbe r t d id Eberz and Dani els three hours better, finishing the race in 17 hou rs, 0 minutes, and 17 Sl'Conds . In a ll, .32 motorcycle team s sta rted the race; 17 of them failed to make it to the finish line . The only mot orc ycle to fini sh other than a Honda was a KTM ridden by the third -placed Class 50 team of Ron Bishop, Dick Vick and Bill Mencha n. Race d ay dawned cold a nd da mp . On Th ursday, the day before the start, rain saturated the course and, although Ogilvie a nd Dan Ashcraft raced to the win. It took Campbell, Staab and former quad racer Greg Brin gle 13 hours, 19 minutes and 59 seconds to complete the course, and their speed average computed to 52.61 mp h. Their speed was also good enough to overall the entire even t, besting the top four-wheel vehicle - a Chevrolet C1500 trophy tru ck dri ven by Larry Ragland - by more tha n 30 minu tes. "It feels good to bea t the qua rter..,fa-million-dolla r tru cks on ou r $10,000 mo torcycle," Bringle said . "They (the car and trucks ) get all the TV coverage, so it's nice to beat them." "Yeah, it's cool to beat the tru cks," Staa b sa id . "It's just a good feeling to beat everyone. It just pr oves how fast we we nt." Bringle, who qu it racing motorcycles to m ake a success ful li ving racing qua ds, is now shifting his attention back to motorcycles. 'This is my bigg est win on a motorcycle, period," Bringle said. "I've wo n a lot of races on quads, bu t no thing can match overalling the Baja 1000 - being the machine across the finish line first it feels gre at." Finishi ng second overall was another Honda -mounted, five-rider team, th is one com prised of Marc Burnett (ROR), Mike Healey, Jeff Capt, Tex Mitchell and Robert Prather. Th e priva te Hond a squad gave the factory Hond a trio a run . for their mon ey ea rly in th e race, but they could n't maintain the fast pace set by Cam pbell, an d then Staab and Mingle, the whol e way. Approx ima tely 250 mil es in to th e race, th e Burnell team started to d rop back and was latter ham pered by a br oken exhaus t pipe and a foul-running bike. They soon fixed their problems, but the damage was already d one and all they could do at tha t point was hope - hope tha t something ba d wo u ld happen to the leading team. Nothing d id . Burnett' s team cha rged hard bu t still end ed up finishing more than an hour behi nd the winning duo. Thi rd overall wen t to the top-finish ing Class 21 (250cc) team made up of Fred Will ert (RO R), Tim Morton and Ron Wilso n. The Willert team rod e its Hond a CR250R to victory in a time of 14 hours, 56 minutes and 58 seconds, averaging 46.81 mph. The winn ing Class 30 (riders over 30 years of agel team crossed the finish line in fourth place overall, and one of the team's riders was two-time AMA Supercross Champion Rick johnson. johnson an d teammates Matt Barney (ROR), Cliff Matl ock , Ken Grimsley and james Cloud rod e a Honda XR628 and finished the race in 15 hours, 16 minutes and 12 seconds, with a 45.93-mph speed overall. In Class 40 (riders over 40 yea rs of it was s till cloud y a nd g ra y Frid a y morni ng, it had stopped raining for the start of the race in Ensenada . Because of the rain , some se ctions o f the co urse were rerouted . Campbell was the first mot or cycle rider off the starting line, and he qu ickl y discovered that things we re different. . 'The rain had really cha nged things," Ca mpbell said . "Everything was really different. Th e wa sh es were real rocky because of the flood ing, a nd the ruts had grown. It was real wet and muddy, a nd as we dropped into O jos Negros Vall ey, it go t real foggy and we had problems wit h ou r goggles foggin g up ." The next bike left the starting line 30 seco nds later with Healey at the controls, and it did not take long for Healey to catch Campbell on the muddy cou rse. '1 rode the first 250 miles and I knew Mike would be right there," Campbell said of the start . "He has more mud expt.~ . rience than me and he caugh t up to me." And a battle roya l commenced .