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Tecate SCORE Off-Road Series Round 2: San Felipe 250 flC STEVE HENGEVELD AND .JOHNNY CAMPBELL WIN IT AGAIN SAN FEliPE, B.C., MEX., MAR. 14-15 teve Hengeveld and Johnny Campbell recorded their first SCORE Baja win of the year with a solid effort in the 17th annual Tecate San Felipe 250. The Honda factory teammates rode a Precision Concepts-prepped Honda XR650R and took the checkered flag four hours, six minutes and 14 seconds after the green flag dropped. The duo covered the 227 -mile race with an average speed of 55.56 mph. and theirs was the sixth overall vehicle to cross the finish line. This was the second San Felipe 250 win in a row for Campbell and Hengeveld as teammates, and it was also the sixth class-win for Campbell. It was the third San Felipe win for Hengeveld, as well. The Honda factory didn't go with its usual A and B team format this time, instead choosing to enter only one team - Hengeveld and Campbell - but Honda did fumish Andy Grider, Mouse McCoy and Quinn Cody a factory XR650 to use, which the trio rode to second overall in a time of 4:23:30, some 17 minutes behind the winning team. Rounding out the top three overall finishers was another Honda XR650R-mounted team made up of Chris Blais, Chuck Dempsey and Beau Hayden. The team also took third in class after stopping the clock at 4:39:50. Hengeveid, on the second bike off the line after the 6:00 a.m. start, passed the only bike ahead of him and pulled out a four-minute lead after the first 20 miles. They were never pressed for the remainder of the race. "I hit one booby trap at the start, passed the only bike ahead of me and we had clean air the rest of the way," Hengeveld said. Since the course was very dusty, it was definitely a clear advantage to get out in front early. Hengeveld gave the bike to his teammate Campbell after the first 30 miles at Honda's Pit One. When Hengeveld got back on at the 115mile mark, their lead had stretched to over 12 minutes. "You don't have a lot of pressure, and I was pretty relaxed at that point," Hengeveld said of getting the bike with such a big lead. "Still, I went at a good clip and tried to stay smart about it." Campbell, who rode the top section of the course and turned south, got on again just after the Matomi Wash section and finished out the race shortly thereafter. "This was a man-eating course, rougher than last year," Campbell said. "We had no surprises and no mechanical problems." Later he elaborated by flat-out saying it was the roughest Baja course he had ever ridden. Ricardo Malo and former Team Honda rider Greg Bringle finished fourth overall and first in Class 30. The XR650R-mounted duo finished the race in 4:00:43, just eight minutes ahead of the Jimbo Ferguson and Todd Johnson team, which finished second in Class 30 on their Ben's Cycle Works/POPS Racing XR650R. 60 n STORY AND PHOTO BY BRIAN FARIS S APRIL 9,2003' cue I e e vv s Malo, who expects to ride the whole Baja season with Bringle, said, "The bike was excellent, and we had a clean ride all the way." Johnson did most of the work enroute to his team's second-place Class-30 finish. One of Johnson's teammates was unable to start the race, and Ferguson did double-duty in Class 40, leaving Johnson to ride all but 49 miles. Johnson said that other than having to deal with the dust, plowing into a cholla (cactus), having the shock blowout on his bike and getting lost for about five miles, everything went "pretty good." The third-place finishing team in Class 30 also had some difficulties to overcome. "It wasn't our day; we had a multitude of problems," Kevin Ward said. Ward teamed with Scott Dunlavey and Daryl Hambleton on an XR650R. Their problems included a flat, a bent rim, and a high-speed crash suffered by Ward. In that crash, throttle housing jammed against the front brake. Dunlavey nearly crashed by Diablo Dry Lake while trying to get the brake problem sorted out. Jim O'Neal, Tim Withers and Jeff Kaplan took first place in Class 40 and fifth overall, crossing the finishing line with a time of 4:50: 16 on a XR650R Honda. "We had a pretty big lead all day and a trouble-free ride," Kaplan reported. "It was a fun race, but it was rough - there were a lot of booby traps the last 15 miles to the finish." Jim O'Neal added, "Precision Concepts set up the best race bike we've ever had. We've had some good ones before, but this was better. Our only problem was we forgot to turn a petcock back on after pit three." Jimbo Ferguson, also riding an XR650R in Class 40, finished second in class with the help of his teammates John Albro and Gwin Voughn. They maintained a pretty steady pace despite dusty conditions. "Dust was a problem," Albro said. "There was no air moving for the first two hours." Only two teams entered Class 21 (250cc), but Eddie Zeller, Greg Fountain and Mike Martin worked just as hard to win it as if there were 20 classes. The trio rode their Yamaha YZ250 to victory with over 1'/, hours to spare over the second-place team made up of Joe Desrosiers and Brian Sheakley. They, too. were aboard a YZ250. The always-competitive Sportsman's class featured the most contestants with 15 teams, and 13 of them finished. John Kuhlken, James Bartnick and Mike Boyd rode their XR650R to the class win in a time of 5:10:15. "Everything went smooth," Boyd said. "We had no mechanical problems, and we are happy to finish in front of the four-wheelers." This year's running of the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 made use of the same course as last year's, mainly to lessen the impact of an off-road race on natural terrain and in cooperation with the wishes of Mexican officials. Sal Fish, SCORE CEO said, "Obviously this is about as close as it gets in our sport to be able to run the same course." The course started and finished at the Arches in San Felipe, running both north and south of town. The racers ran along the edge of Diablo Dry Lake and used the Chanate, Huatomote and Matom; washes. After prerunning all week, both Hengeveld and Campbell felt that a Trophy Truck was likely to get the overall win. "It's always rough, but this time it's on the extreme side," Campbell said. "It feels like a truck race." "We didn't think we could beat the trucks here; it was just too rough," Hengeveld said. "We wanted to stay healthy." This year's race was marred by the death of Sportsman rider David Bills from Utah. Details of the accident have not been released, but it appears that dust was a factor, and there's been speculation that at least one Trophy Truck was involved in the incident. eN San felipe 250 San Felipe, B.C., Meaico Results: Mon:h 14-15, 2003 (Round 2 of 61 CLASS 21: 1. Eddie Zeller/Greg Fountain/Mike Mllftin (Yam); 2. Joe Desrosiers/Brilln Sheokley (Yam). CLASS 22: 1. Steve Hengeveld/Johnny Campbell (Hon): 2. Andy Grider/Quinn Cody (Han): 3. Christopher Blais (Hon); 4. Gabriel Menjerrez/Rob Debney (Hon); 5. Freddie Cardenes/Eric Boce (Hon); 6. Jose Mezll/Sergio GUll~be; 7. luis SOlo/Riclirdo Sanchez (Suz). CLASS 30: 1. Ricardo Malo/Greg Bnngle (Hon): 2. Jimbo Ferguson/Ted C&br&1 (Hon); 3. Kevin Wlird/ScOtt Dunlavey (Hon): 4. Jose Expinoza (Hon); 5. Joshu& lynn/Eric Bjorklund (Hon). CLASS 40: 1. Jim O'Ne&I/Tim Withers/Jerr Kapllm (Hon): 2. Jimbo Ferguson/Gwln Voughn (Hon): 3. CUlve Simpson/Oan Closson (Vem); 4. $em Dempsey/Gene Dempsey (Hon). SPRTSM.N:: 1. John Kuhlken (Han); 2. Jason Undstrom; 3. Gilberta Cerv&ntes: 4. Adam Neuwirth; 5. AJejandro Olguin. BRIEFLY. •• The family and friends of David Bills. the off-road motorcycle racer who passed away during the race. has set up the David Bills Memorial Fund in an effort to raise the needed funds to cover the costs of transporting his body from Ensenada. Baja Califomia. Mexico to Utah and to assist with the remaining funeral and burial expenses. A Pay Pal Account has been set up for all those who wish to assist his family in their time of need by contributing to the DaVid Bills Memorial Fund. To do so. log onto www.PayPal.comandmakepaymenttoDavidBillsMF@cox.net. The mailing address (postal maiD to send your condolences is: Mike and Marti Bills. 5725 North 1070 West. St. George, UT 84770. For payment via check or money order, donations can be sent to the follOWing address' Mike and Marti Bills. 5725 North 1070 West. St. George. UT 84770 or to a special account at: Downey Savings. 659 East Palomar Street. Chula Vista. CA 91911. payable to: David Bills Memonal Fund. For payment via direct Electronic Funds Transfers (EFTI. use the follOWing info Corp Address: Downey Savings, 3501 Jamboree Road. Newport Beach. CA 92658-60oo. account #: 8580007490. routing number' 322270356 WebSite: downeysav· Ings.com . for more Information regarding EFT.