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/128109
Tecate SCORE Baja 500 S T O RY AND P HOTO BY BRIA N F A RIS ENSENADA, MEXICO, JaNE 1-2 o n d a fact ory r iders St ev e He ng e v eld a n d Jo n a h S t r ee t turned a close du el with tea m ma t es Joh nn y Campbell and Ti m Staa b into v i ctory at th e 33rd Annu a l T ecate Sc or e Baj a 500 . ide nt ic a lly p re p ared Rid i n g XR650Rs, th e t wo t eams were o n ly m inutes apart until th e leading Campbe ll /Staab b ik e lost a clutch com ing off the beach section on the Pac if ic side. Th ere, Hengeveld pass ed Staab, and then went on to finish th e race in a time of ni ne hours, 55 minutes and 26 seconds , averaging 48 .77 mph. Campbell and Staab fin ished in 10 hours, five minutes and 13 seconds after losing a three -minute, 45 -second le ad that t hey wor ke d to o h ard t o build . When th e cl utc h went out, the y had t o at th e Honda pits in Urudan , while Honda 's own Bru c e Ogilvie and c o - w o r k e r s r epl ac ed th e cl utch i n roughly seven m inutes. Bu t the dam age was don e. " I j u st kept goi ng, kept p us hin g and i t ju st we nt m y w ay, " said Hengeveld , wh o ro de the winn in g bike across th e fi nis h line . This was the th ird str aight Baja 500 w in for Heng eveld 's te am m ate, St reet. Both factory bikes fi ni shed ah ead of the firs t four-wheel ent ry , as did th e th ird place bike - an XR's Only rac eprepped XR6 50R ridden by a Phoenix, Arizona -ba sed team made up of Eric Brown, Dayton Rader , Todd Johnson and David Grun land. They completed H the race in 11 hours, four m inu t es and 34 seconds . Th e Brown t eam was press ed by an X R6 5 0 R r idd e n b y Phil Ze i g er , A ar o n Tu ck and Ron W ilson , w ho were slowed by an oil leak tha t they thought w as a ki c k- st arter sea l and changed it tw ice. Th ey la te r disc ov ered that th e leak w as ca us ed by a cracked engi ne ca se. "It was a good course, [but] we just had a tough day ," Ziegl er said. After rid ing the last 100 m iles to the fin ish, Raper, who had a three-m inute lead over the Zeiger bike, de scrib ed his ride as being "90 percent. " Bruce Og ilvi e replaces the c lutch o n the Cam pbe ll/Staa b b i k e. The team was leading until developing clutch problems. " I rode j ust smooth eno ugh not to go down , no t to mak e a m i st ake ," Raper said , His team overc ame ha ving to rid e 50 m iles on a flat front tire . Ju a n Ru v al caba sc ored his t hi rd stra ig ht Cla ss 21 vic tory in th e Baj a 500 . He fi ni shed the race in 12 hours, 24 m in ut es and 16 seconds, best in g Carl os Mo lina , who was aboard a Preci sion Concepts-prepped Yamaha . Th e Ruvalcaba family, from Ensena da , has suffered so me spectacular crashes in past Baja races , but this time the Ruv alc abas rod e steadily aboa rd the Yam aha YZ for the class win. Ruva l caba sa id , " It was a tough race , but a very interest ing co urs e." C la s s 3 0, which featured 13 entrants, was won by a team made up of Fred Willert, Mi ke Barnh ill , Brian SchmuckIe and Casey Johnson, who were ab o ard another XR650 R. They fi nis hed out the race in 11 hours, 17 minutes and 22 seconds, crossing th e fin ish lin e some 17 minutes ahead of the Serg io Vega Honda XR650R . "Brian Schm uck le passed 10 of the rid er s in fro nt of us by Oj os Neg roe s," Will ert said , " but he crashed passing th e Veg a b ik e b ec a use o f a bo oby trap . We ran a goo d race other tha n that. " F in ish ing t hi rd in Class 30, co m p leti ng th e rac e in 12 hours, 20 min utes and 41 sec onds, was the Eddie Zell er , J im F erguson , Jack Mont gom ery , Jason Potts Yama ha YZ. For a wh ile , the Class 40 winners J im O'Neal , Cliff M atl oc k and T im 40 JUNE 20, 200 1 • cue I e newvs Winner Steve Hengeveld, here waiting for the start, teamed with Jonah Street to win the Baj a 500. W ithers - st ayed c l o se t o th e le ad bike s, but an over -the -bars crash by Ma tloc k tha t broke th eir bike's re ar b ra k e c a l ip e r, co st th em va l ua bl e tim e. Th ree fl ats d idn 't help them , either. "T he Honda pits k ept us together," Matlock said . Finishing in a tim e of 11 hours, 29 minutes and 53 seconds , almost an hour ahead of second -in -class , was Eizabu r o Karasawa of Japan, rid ing an XR650 R. The Team C aveman C l a ss 50 entra nts , Richard J ac k so n and Bob Wad low, won the ir class as soon as the y crossed the start li ne, since they there were t he only Class 50 entry. But they didn 't just cru ise the who le wa y . T heir respectab le 12 -hour, 44minute fin ishing time gave them 38th veh icle ove ra ll in the 248 -strong fie ld . W adlow , h owev er , a p p e a re d to br eak his little finger when he sli d out at the end of th e go at trail at Highway 3 , nea r th e ro ad to Mike's Sky Ranch . It didn't seem to slow him down any , thoug h. Wa d low said , "We h ad fun raci ng aga inst th e yo ung guy s." Rich ard J ackson sai d, "M y day was made befor e I ev en st arted the bike: Apparently, one of th e vi sit ing Japan ese riders t old J ackson that he wa s ver y well known in Japan because of his Baja success . Th is was Jackson's ninth Baj a 500 class wi n.