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By Brian Faris Photos by Mark Kariya I I U :ii o . 8! ~ g CD c:: :> .., 46 ENSENADA, MEXlCO, JUNE 4-6 ver the years the Pacific Northwest has produced more than its fair share of quality off-road racers, just as the Bostrom family has produced its fair share of talented road rac" ers. Traditionally, when the topic of Washington state's tight and muddy trails and the road racing Bostrom brothers come up, the high-spe~d racing of Baja usually does not work its way into conversation. That was until the team of Washington state's Jonah Street and the eldest Bostrom brother, Torsten, took the overall at the 30th annual Tecate SCORE Baja 500. With a time of 8:49.09 and a speed average of 50.75, the American Honda XR600-backed team completed the 449mile COur e nine minutes and seven seconds faster than the second-place team of Johnny Campbell and Greg Bringle. The American Honda XR600 of Campbell and Bringle took over the lead 12 miles into the race, but it was shortlived. Baja 500 defending champion Campbell took a uncharacteristic spill before the halfway mark of the event. '1 went into a turn too hot on the road to Mike's and I lost the bike," said Campbell. '1 skipped across a couple of rocks and put a hole in the case. Every time the flywheel turned, it pumped out oil" The crash cost the Campbell/Bringle team over 10 minutes at the next pit to make the much needed repairs. It was during the lead duo's downtime that the Bostrom/Street team made it into the lead. The new lead team originally started sixth, but by mile 68 Street had made his way 'up to second. No lead is considered comfortable in Baja, so Bostrom and Street rode conservatively to the finish, where Street did the honors for the rookie winning team. "Our bike ran perfect all day long and the Honda pits did a wonderful job," said Street. The 449-mile race course started and finished in EI Sauzal, a smalJ village a few miles north of Ensenada. Aiter the lead bike left at 6 a.m., the course headed through the Guadalupe Wash and through the pine forest, weaving southeast near Valle de Trinidad before heading north again. The road to Mike's Sky Ranch was used to head west, eventually taking the course along the beach to Santo Tomas. From there the road shifted north again into Ojos Negros and linked up with Guadalupe Wash to head back to the start/finish line. Third overal and third in the Open class belonged to the YZ400 of Chuck Dempsey, Tim Staab and Randy Mosely. For reliability reasons, the Dempsey/ Staab/Mosely team rode a tamed-down version of the bike they rode in the San Felipe 250, which worked, giving the team a respectable finish. Brothers Jose and Leonel Ruvalcaba of host city Ensenada took their Class 21 YZ250 to the class win, finishing fourth overalJ. The Class 21 runner-up team of Tom Grishman, Carl Fischer, Mike Mitchell and ll-time Baja contestant John Alexander piloted their White. Brothers-prepped CR250 to an almosttrouble-free ride. (Left) Jonah Street (shown) and Torsten Bostrom took their American Hondabacked XR600 to the overall win at the Baja 500, beating second place by almost 10 minutes. "After a rough start, everything wen t well and we didn't have to make a tire change," said Grisham. After crashing in a stream crossing and cold-seizing his YZ250, Class 21 rider Ricky Fernandez lost 40 minutes making much needed repairs. "It was a long day, but I'll be back," said Fernandez. Still, the determined iron man finished third in class. The Mike Allsup/Geoff Sanborn team took Class 30 honors with a time of 10:13.49 on their IMS/Honda of Redlands-backed XR600. "We chunked a tire pretty bad, but our pit crew bailed us out with a tire change in less than a minute and a half," said Sanborn, who reported a newly graded 6-mile section of pine forest as a course change from last year. "It was a really fun place to ride." Seven Class 30 teams started, but only three finished. The Honda tlf Mike Barnhill went down early with transmission problems, and Baja Highway Patrol officers Roy and Tato Buelna could not continue after Tato crashed and was knocked out cold with less than 100 miles of racing under his belt. All three starters in Class 40 finished, with the win going to Elizaburo Karasawa and his Japanese co-rider, known only as Mr. Ishii. Karasawa, 43, from Gunma, Japan, and company turned in a finishing time of 10:23.46 aboard their XR600. Second in class, finishing approximately aIi hour later, was the XR600 of Gary Tepner and Ross Gregory. A YZ400 solo ride by Dr. Gilberto Velasco, a surgeon from Colima, Mexico, produced a third place in Class 40. Velasco made a 4000-mile commute to get to the starting line. "Sometimes I think it's harder to get to the race than it is to race," said Velasco. (Left) Multi-time Baja champion Johnny Campbell (shown) and tel!mmate Greg Bringle were favored to win the event until a Campbell crash caused damage that required downtime to repair. The CampbellJSlllngle team still finished second. With no other entrants in Class SO, all Richard Jackson and Dave Olen had to do was cruise to the finish line and collect the hardware at the podjum. They finished, but it was not easy. For the first 133 miles, Jackson rode their XR600 to a top speed of 65 mph due to jetting problems. '1 knew I was in big trouble when an XR400 passed me on the highway," said Jackson. Shortly after several pit repairs got the bike to speed, Olen's day ended when he dislocated his shoulder while dicing three abreast with two quads. Though they lost considerable time, Jackson was able to get to the bike and ride to the finish, ending a 400-mile day for the Baja regular. In the closest race of the day, Joseph West finished 14 seconds ahead of Gustavo Pena for the Sportsman-class win. _ Tecate SCORE Baja 500 Ensenada, Mexico Results: June 4-6, 1999 01 A: 1. Jonah Street/Torsten Bostrom (Hon); 2. Johnny Campbell/Greg Bringle (Hon). CL-21: 1. Jose Ruvalcaba/Leonel Ruvalcaba (Yam); 2. Tom Grisham/Carl Fischer/John Alexander/Mike Mitchell (Hon); 3. Ricky Fernandez (Yam). CL-22: 1. Jonah Street/Torsten Bostrom (Hon); 2. Johnny Campbell/Greg Bringle (Hon); 3. Chuck Dempsey /Tim Staab/Randy Mosley (Yam); 4. Ricardo Malo/Sergio Vega/Phillip Zeigler (Hon); 5. Shad Bodenstadt/Greg Luna (Hon). CL-24: 1. Angel Garcia (Hon); 2. Carmen Cafro (Hon), CL-25: 1. Gilbert Snntanna/ Arturo Salas (Hon); 2. John Gregory / Alberto Marquez/ Danny Rudd (Hon). CL·30: 1. Mike Allsup/Geoff Sanborn (Hon); 2. Scott Dunlavey/Cris Sena Q-Ion); 3. Eddie Zeller/Eric Hingeley/Mike Tiffany (Yam). CL-40: 1. Elizadoro Karas.lwa/lshU '(Hon); 2. Gary Tepner/Ross Gregory (Hon); 3. Dr. Gilbert Valasco. Q...50: 1. Dave Olen/Richard Jackson (Hon). SPTSMN HIW: 1. Joseph West (Hon). SPTSMN UW: 1. Takahashi Hatsuta (Hon).