Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

B e s t in the D e s e rt Silv e r S t a t e S e ri es R o u n d 6 : Baja M e x 300 ZA turn e d sou th , g et ting onto Hig hway 1 in the sw itch bac ks north of Santo To mas, th en h itting pi t o ne ( m il e 4 4 ) at A ju sc o , j u st no rt h o f th e vil lage . As the lead er , o f co urse, h e f ou nd h im s elf the d efaul t "mi nesw eep er," engaged in cl ear ing the cou rse . " I was r ea ll y n erv ou s at th e start ," he c o nfesse d . " In t he first five m il es, I pa ssed a bu nch of cars and stuff . It wa s reall y scary ; I was going really slow, try ing to tak e m y t i me . T h ere w ere A TVs r i d i ng back w ard s [on the co urse]. and t her e wer e a b un ch of man m ad e j u m p s [ t h e loc a l s] were bu ildin g ou t there . I c rashed about 2 0 m iles in - I h it a ro c k and w ent ove r the bars and broke the muffler. Th en I c am e and a gate wa s cl osed, so I had t o get off [an d o pen S T O RY AN D PH OTO S BY M A RK K A RIYA ENSENADA, BAJA CAUFORNlA, MEXICO, AUG. 23 e a m KTM ' s K u r t Case lli and J oey Lanza pulled off th e b i g g e s t u ps et o f th e i r yo u ng ca ree rs b y b ea tin g H ond a ' s Baj a s pec i ali sts Jo hnny Cam p bell and St eve H e n g e v e l d a t th e seco nd annual Baj a Mex 300 , ro und si x o f B est in t h e D esert ' s Sil ver St ate Ser ies. Not o nly d id Case lli and Lanza pic k up their first BITD victo ry ..it also ma rked the first t ime th ey ' d raced - and wo n - south of the border. FMF /Ans wer /GPR T he ba c k ed du o 's ti me on their 5 25 M XC fo r th e 306 -mile even t w as six hours, 17 m in ut es and 41 sec onds , co mforta bly besting the Honda Pro O ils/HR CA/ Preci sio n Con c ept s X R650R -m ount ed p a ir 's 6 :20:0 6 . Third overa ll wen t t o Tea m Green ' s Mi k e Ch ildress in 6 :34 :3 1, th ou gh he alone was rid in g th e N 1 KX500 tha t Destr y Abbott a n d Shan e Espos it o normally c o m p et e on. W ith T eam Green opting to refrain fro m racing in B aja , yet r el uc tant to gi ve u p a chance at getting po ints, it officially entered A bbott but put o nly Ch ild ress - the defending c o -wi nner of the rac e th e m a c h in e . Th e on O 'N eal/G aern e/G oat -spo nsor ed co mpe ti to r rec eived m uch of his pi t sup port from fr ie nds an d Te mecula Motorsports. This year's rac e - only th e sec on d ever th at BITD ha s run in Mexi co started o n the m ain seaside drag in town , Boul ev ard Laz aro Card enas . Th ough stil l a bit dark at 6 a.m ., afte r a quick trip through the ge ars, co mpetitors j u m p ed off t h e pa vem ent where it c u r ve d to t h e l e ft a nd drop p ed d own i n t o a s ma ll gull y (ap pa rentl y filled with sewa ge run off yo u di dn't want to overshoot th e turns here ) , shot past so me shack s th en clic ke d up for a bl ast south o n th e beac h. Lan za was f irst o f f th e li ne , f o l lo wed b y Hen geve ld and Ch ildress , a n d th ese three ste a di ly b ega n t o sepa ra te the ms elves from the rest of the Rack , th ou gh they co u ldn 't shake on e an oth er. Th e Fou r -Stro k e Pros fo ll owed the Open Pro s off th e li ne, T 50 S EPTEMBER 17,2003' eye it ]," From the re, the co urse turned west for a run to the coast , th en so uth a lo ng the dirt roads abo ve th e ocean to just ou ts ide of San Antonio del Mar aro und m ile 1 15, and head ing east , o nc e ag ai n, sto pping at pit three (mile 135 ) - Lla no Co lorad o - a few miles south of Sa n Vice nte. "T his m orn ing I kn ew that the o nly way I c ould beat the Honda t eam was if I got past them befo re t he coast, and I got p a st [H eng e v e ld ] b efor e th e coa st: Ch il dress sai d. "I took some good c ha nce s this m o rn in g in U r ua pa n a nd j ust go t arou nd h im in the dust. I ki nd of p ushed him ha rd into a c o rner an d go t aro u n d w i t h C h ris to p h e r B l a i s lead ing that cl ass out of town on his B I a i s ra c ing . co m / Mid - Ci ti e s Honda /Pro Hon da O ils XR6 50R , fo l lo w ed b y Paul Kr au se (sha r in g th e Dunlop /S portsm an Cycle/ Sm ith KTM 4 50 MXC w ith Dar yl F ol k s ) a n d Chu ck Dem psey (riding the Americ an Hon d a /O 'N ea l X R650R wi th A nd y Grid er, th e o the r defend in g co -w in ner ). The pl an for m ost t eam s was to have the first ri der st ay on the b ik e I e n e vv s Joey Lanza (p ic tur e d) and teammate Kurt Caselli made the most of their fi rst -off-the-lin e draw and kept their le ad the entire race to score an upset w in. for most of th e Paci fic side of the rac e a nd th e pa rt ner to ta ke th e sw i ng ove r th e m o untains to th e peninsul a's inte rio r, the n bac k . Aft er lea di ng the p arade throu gh t h e hil l s so ut h ea st o f t own , L an za s pe d und ern ea th H ighwa y 1 an d him: Th at p u t h im in secon d overall, an d he th en c rept up on Lanza . The lea d-off KTM rac er finish ed his day at p it three, still in th e lead by a few second s ove r Childress . "I hit a ro ck , and I w ent over the ba rs right before p it three," La nza said . "It took m e a whi le to get th ing s go ing [a ft er tha t ]. T hen I co uld see M ik ey com ing, so th en I was like, 'I've got to p ick it up! ' Wh en I handed th e bike o ver t o K urt, I think we had a m inute wh en we got to p it th ree , so [w e were] still ahead o n ti me by a minute."

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