Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

" It was a good race," Cam pbell said . " It w as fu ll -on bar-to-bar racing . He (Healey) would pa ss me, make a mistake, and I would pass him back. Then I wou ld m ak e a mis take and he would pass me back ..We went back and forth a lot - bar to bar for the first 80 miles." However, as fhe lead du o headed in to Ojos Negros, th e course changed, becoming more to Campbell's liki ng, and he eventu ally opened up a mod est 30-second lead go ing into the first gas stop . "The cou rse tu rned in to more ro ad, and a lot more spectators were out, and I have more experien ce with th is type of riding," Cam pbe ll sa id. "I was able to pull about 30 seconds on him. " As the ra ce continued on, Cam pbell stea d ily s tre tc hed ou t his lea d over Hea ley and , b y t he thi rd ga s a t EI Alamo, that lead had grow n to approxima tely two minutes. "We gassed a nd th en we he ad ed o ve r the s u mmi t," Ca m pbell said. " It was reall y cold, and ther e was a little rain, to o . Th e tr ail d ropp ed into the desert and I had so me real good lines, and by th e time we go t to Borrego , we had about a 2D-minute lead . 'J hea rd that Healey had a close call w ith a car a nd ha d to ditch it into a bush," Campbell said . "That cost them a couple of minutes." At Borrego, th e lead team made a quick wheel cha nge a nd Sta a b took over, and it was his job to get the bike 180 miles to the Mike' s Sky Ran ch tu rno ff. where Bring le was wa iti ng. Staab wa s ha ppy to get on the bike with about a 2D-minut e lead . " It was grea t," Staa b sa id . "When I go t on the bike, we had a big lead, so I d idn't want to make any mistakes. I had a perfec t rid e; I go t a co ns is te nt pace tha t I thou ght nobod y could match, and I think I gained abo ut seven minutes (on the second-placed tea m ) th e first 40 miles." After havi ng his too-close-for-comfort, encoun ter wi th a car, Healey came in and handed off the bike to Mitchell, and shortly th er ea fter the team would su ffer mo re probl ems - this time a broken exha ust. "I hea rd the bike," said Cliff Matl ock, w ho was competi ng in Class 30. "The ex ha us t pipe was almost dragg ing in the dirt and (the engine) was mis firin g really bad." Staab did his job in ge tt ing the leadi ng H onda to M ike's junc tion an d handed the bike back to Campbell, who (Above left) Rick J ohnson was a member of the w inning Class 30 team. (Above) Chris Ebertz was the only finishe r In Clas s 40. (Left) Mike Healey (s hown) gave Campbell a run early In the race. A broken ex haust slowed his team's progress, but they still fi nished second o verall. took off w ith about a 50-mi nute lead a n d pil oted the bike to Va lle d e Trinidad. It was here, at abou t 3 p .m ., where Campbell turned the bike o ver to Bringle after perform ing some maintenance on the b ike, su ch as cha ng ing wheels, a ir filter and brak e pad s, a nd ha ngin g the bike' s night-lighting system. Bri ngle le ft Valley d e Trinidad en joyin g about an hour lead on th e runner-up team. Repairs w ere m ade to th e secondplace bike at Mike's jun ction , and by the tim e th ey go t back und erway and into Va lle d e T r in idad, Bri ngl e wa s lo ng go ne. "When I go t o n the bike, it was my race to lose," Bringle sa id . "I tho ught, 'Don' t make an y mistak es and just make su re not to hit that killer rock wi th my name o n it.' I ha d to be rea l ca refu l, beca use the rain had changed the course d ramatically. The ruts had grow n five times from when he preran the course." Brin gl e ' s sectio n was the Pacific Coast side of the peninsula, and he was spooked by the many cars and animals he en coun tered along th e way. "T h e on ly thin g I w a s wo r ry i ng about was cars and cow s," Bringle said . "A couple of cows scared me pretty bad, but I really d idn't ha ve too many close calls. Wh en I got the bike from Ca mpbell , he to ld me abou t a sp eed trap (a spectator-made obstacle) and I was prepared for that one, bu t he d id n't tell me abo ut th e eight ot he rs," Bringle joked. "One thi ng you can 't predict in Baja is the weather, the animals, cars and speed traps." Bringle managed to avoid hitting any rocks, ca rs o r co ws, an d brought th e leading Honda into Ojos Negros, wh ere it was decided at the last minute to put Campbell ba ck o n the bik e an d ha ve him rid e throu gh the da rkness - thou gh u nder clear skies and a fu ll moon - to the finish at Ensenada. Bringle was happy to do his part . "I had a smooth ride; actually, it was kind of boring," Brin gle said . 'The only person I had to battle was m yself - I wa nte d to go fas t but d idn't w an t to make a mistake. Luckily, I di d n' t make a ny mi st akes an d just p u t it in cru ise m od e, an d I sti ll p u lled away . The important thi ng is to not make any mistakes - that' s how you win Baja." By th is time, the second-placed tea m was well over an hour behind the leading bike and, barring any catastrophes in the last 80 miles, Campbell and his team had the race won. "The last sect ion went well for me," Ca m pbell sa id . "In Guadalupe Was h, I had to watch ou t for some of the jumps an d d i tches th at th e local s bui lt, bu t nothing came of them. Overa ll, nothi ng crazy really happened the whole race. I never had a race this good." Mo re than an hou r and a half later, the Burnett bike crossed th e finish line, followed later by the wi nni ng Class 21 tea m. Rick Joh nson rod e his team' s crippled Ho nd a across the fin ish line in fourth overall. Cliff Matlock, o ne of Johnson's tea m mates, quickly su mmed up their team's rid e : "It was n ' t flaw les s but it w ent good . Matt Barn ey sta rted and chased d own the leaders of o ur class. Ric ky (johnso n) too k th e bike a t th e firs t gas a nd fo llowed th e leaders o f our class un til he said, 'To hell wi th this: and pa ssed the m . Johnson pulled about a two-minute lea d by the time we go t to EI Alamo an d our second gas. "James Clo ud got on, rod e over th e summit and got lost on the dry lakebed (which wasn 't very dry):' Matlock said. "He go t the bike stuck in the m ud and th ou ght it wa s over, but he go t it out, and go t to Borrego, where he ga ve the bike over to Ke n G rims ley . Gri msley had a good rid e but forgot to gas up the bike befo re giving it to me. I went abou t 15 miles and ran out of gas . I eventually found some peo ple who had tw o-stro ke gas, and I rode th e nex t 6 mil es to the Honda pits." Matl ock eventua lly handed the bike back over to Johnson , who later developed transmission problems . "The tr ansmissi on locked up a nd Rick had to push th e bike," Ma tl ock said. "He finally go t it into gea r and was stuck in third . Joh nson go t the bike to me and I was going to ride th e las t 30 miles, but I thou ght it would be bes t if Rick Johnsen rode the bike to the finish. He cras hed once w hen he we n t to the left of a jum p th e locals had buil t and ra n into th e d itch where th ey had dug ou t the sand to build the jump. He we nt .ove r th e bar s bu t was smart enough to keep the engine ru nn ing. He even tu ally go t to the fin is h, and we were happy with that." " SCORE BajafTecate 1000 Ensenada, Baja Calnom la, Mexico Results: November 14-15,1 997 Ct 21: 1. Fred Will ert /Tim Morton / Chad Hauck/Ron Wilson (Han) 14;50:58; 2 Tamoki H.1yaski (Han) 18:00:30; 3. Jay Mann ing /Del Cabo (Ha n) 20 :42 :12 ; 4. Ta ma y u k i Morikita ( Ha n) 21 :4td4 ; 5 . Kiyonari Otuka (Han) 21:46:34. CL 22.: 1. Johnny C a m p be ll / Ti m Staab /Grt> g Bringlr (Hen) 13 :19 :5 9; 2. MHC B u r n t" tt / M il~ Healey / Jeff Capt /Tex Mitcht"II/RolJ,;·rt Prather (Hon) 14:45:47; 3. Arturo Sala!! (Hen) 16:13: 36; 4. Jona h SIrt"t>f (Hon) 22:58:06. C L 30: 1. Matt Barney /Rick John son / Cliff Matlock/Kl.'I1 GrimslcylJ.uncs Cloud (Hon) 15:16:12; 2. Scott Dcalevey (Ha n) 17:33.lXl 3. Mike Barnhill tHon) ; . 17:36:07 4. Ct's'ardo Carda (}-ton) 19'39:06. ; ct.w: 1. Ch ris Ebt-rz

• Cover