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/128232
point ed t o feel it still sp utter. But after an anx io us moment o r tw o , it cl eaned o ut, and he too k off af te r lo sin g an esti m ate d two or three minutes. Cros sing over the mountains to the inte rior of the peninsula, Campbell finally caught up to Childress at pi t four (m ile 175) in Vall e de Trinidad, where he needed a l o ng e r - t h e n pla nned pit stop to replace a plugged silencer. "I was just chasing du st, and I knew if I got around Steve and ki nd of got in the mi ddle of [the KTM and the Honda ] that I could just kind of cruise b eh ind and go to the fin ish ," Ch il d ress said. "I was 10 fee t off of Kurt all the way acro ss the crossove r road [between pi ts th ree an d fou r). It' s ju st di sap pointment. " Casell i co ntinued to arr ive at eac h pit an d each land m ark first · lndepen den cia , T res Herm anos and Uru ap an . before arriving at th e Estero Beach Resort short-co urse track fo r the fin ish sho rt ly aft er noo n . "Joey di d well ; he pulled o ut abo ut a minu t e lea d, an d I was fine w ith tha t ," Caselli said. "I just kind of rode my own race. Ou r [rear) ti re was a littie ske tchy at th e end there," refe rring to the chunked knobs and exposed cord of the tire they'd started with . In addition , the rea r sprocket was worn enough that the chain skipped a few teeth as he pulled away from the finish to ride bac k to his box van . "I' m just stoked the bike lasted; that's all we n eed ed , " Caselli said. " T h e las t [f ew] d esert rac es we fe lt like we co uld' ve won , but somethi ng would ha ppen with the bike o r wha t eve r. Finall y , it held t og eth er, an d we ac tua lly won one:' La nza said, " The Hon da bo y s and Mik ey pu sh ed us hard all day . It wa s a good d ay fo r us. Yo u ca n' t really ex p l a i n i t ; it w a s ju st coo l. I'm so sto k ed! " A fte r c losing th e gap a f ew m in utes (despite ha vi ng to open a gat e n e ar Tr e s H er m a n o s ) . Ca m p bell found th e sec ti o n in t o Uru ap a n ve ry dem andin g. " T h a t se c t i o n i n t h er e i s prett y to ug h ," Cam p bell sai d. " It has a lot of turns , a lot of b lind co rn ers, a lot of (A b ove) Steve Hengev e ld ran i nt o prob lems, b ut h e and partner J o hnny Campbell came through to secure se c ond overall . (Le ft) Though Team Green elected not to send Destry Abbott and Shane Esposito to Mexico, M ike Chi ldress soloed their bike to third overall, C a m p be ll sa i d. " It fe lt exac tl y li k e th at . lik e th ere's a p i ec e o f d ir t o r so m e t h i n g t ha t m a y b e fr o m th e plu gged fi lt er go t sucked in. I had to clea n it ; I c ou ldn' t rid e it that way . I pu ll ed th e nu t off th e bo tt om of th e c a r b u r e t o r , a n d th ere was so me debris in th e carbur eto r." After fl us hing th e ca rb and bolting thin g s back t o g e t h er , C ampb e ll res t art ed the bik e a n d w as d i sap Hengeveld ca m e into three a close thi rd but o n a b ik e in o b vi o u s d ts tress, sputter in g on top as if th e ai r fil te r or someth in g were clogge d. " It sta rte d happ en in g f iv e m i l es after pi t tw o ," Hengeveld sai d. "It was startin g t o pop li ke th at. I just t rie d go ing as fast as th e bik e wo uld all ow m e to , and I w as surprised I was that rear brake. " After tak in g on fuel and a new air filt er, Cam pbell sp ed away inte nt on runn ing down the two bik es ahead o f him, but that di d n' t last long beca use the b i g Hon d a st ill was n ' t ru nning co rrec tl y . " O nc e I got o n th e b ik e an d felt how b ad i t was , I w a s s u r p rise d close t o [ L an za a n d Ch il dr ess ] bec ause I co uld see th em both. "That wa s the second downfa ll [of the race]. T he fir st do wnfall was thi s m orning . I pu lled m y groi n ag a in . Durin g p rerunnin g , I h it a co w and wen t en d ov er e nd and p u lle d [t he groin] . I'v e been sore all week, but I tho ugh t , 'Okay , I' ll j ust ta k e it ea sy , and rac e d ay w ill be good.' Bu t I had to use it in a weird spot o ut the re , and it j ust pu lled it agai n . I co uldn 't even lift [m y right foo t ] hardl y to use th e [St ev e] st ayed as cl ose as he d id to t hose g u y s ," C a mp be ll s ai d . " I t seemed to run on the low end, bu t it wo u ld n 't run fro m a qu arter th rottl e u p . It to ok m e abo ut ha lf a m ile to figure o ut what I needed to do. I was alm ost at the poi nt wh ere I wanted t o turn around [and go back to th e pit], but you' re not sup posed to ." Ca m pb ell m ad e th e d e c i si o n t o sto p and do so me tra ilsid e rep a irs. " My tho u ght was , bas ically , 'So m et h i ng's p l u g g ing th e m a i n j et,' " c ue I e n ... vv S • S EPTEM B ER 17,2003 51