Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Craig Adams (shown), Rich B ink ley, Chris Haines, Bob Johnson, Jack Johnson and Paul Ostbo t eam ed up to win Class 40 - and third overall! The KTM 950 V-twin Dakar Ra l ly bike performed admirably in the hands of Larry Roeseler (s h ow n) and teammates Scot Harden, Paul Krau se and Casey McCoy. They f in ish e d third in Class 30 and 11th overall b ike. and 40 seconds . B ig dea l, ri ght? Well , he rod e t hose 805 m ile s solo I As a di rec t or o n the fil m D us t To Gl o ry . M c C o y w as th e feat u red r a c e r sho t b y filmmaker Dana B r o wn - th e son of B ruce Br o w n . T he fil m c rew tota l ed almost 10 0 of th e industry 's m os t de d icated p eo ple and su p po rted fou r heli c o p t er s. a motorcycle , and numerous truckan d car- mo unted cameras . S cott W au g h and Ric h W i l son, who worked wi th th e ju st - r el ea sed surf m o vi e St ep In to Li q u id , h e l p e d carry the d ir ec t o r ' s lo ad . Aft er about 750 m iles of r acing, Mc Coy ph y sic ally and li te rally hit th e wall - in this case a shelf of rock nea r EI Al am o . He also went off a cliff near a g ully and is sti ll no t sure how he got the bi ke ou t a nd ba ck o n to the co urse, where at tha t po int hi s li ghts we re g one and he on ly had his hel m et -mou nt ed Nite Rider li gh t. "A lot wen t on o ut th ere - I nev er gav e up ; I j ust k ept it go ing, " M cC oy sai d . " My h and s di dn ' t w o r k fr om Chapa la o n, and at night the win dchi ll j ust locked m e down - I had no jack et. I' ll hav e th is w ith m e for t he re st of my life ." Incredi b ly , Mo use was shooting for a finish in the top three bik es but said he wou ld still settle for top fiv e. Sti ll, a fin ish in t he to p seven m oto rcycl es, sol o , a g a inst t h e t ea m s h e w as up a ga i ns t , i s hard ly any th i ng to be upset about . M c Coy w as com pletely co her en t at th e fin ish bu t was pr etty m u c h u n ab l e t o m o v e on hi s o w n o nce off th e bike. " A lo t o f p eop l e h elp ed m e o ut the re, " M cCoy sa id . "T hat's th e whole d eal a bo u t B aja ; eve n p eop l e yo u rac e ag ainst help y ou. " An e x amp l e o f th i s w as Tea m O 'Neal r id er J e ff Ka pla n l e t tin g Mous e ride w ith hi m 50 mi les from th e f in ish so t hat M c C o y could use Ka plan's lights. "I helped Mouse int o Ojos; we rod e togeth er and had a blast, " Kapla n said . S C ORE CEO Sa l F i s h , havi ng been a part of eve ry SCOR E ra ce in Ba ja fo r m or e than 3 0 years , had a g ood pe rspec t ive o n w hat M c C o y accomplis hed : "I to ld h im t hi s was no t th e co urse to tr y and sol o. It' s one th ing t o fin ish , but t o carry t he fil m not only as a rider, bu t as a d irector, it' s in credible . He is so ded icated. He p ut his bod y and so ul into it. " J.N . Rob ert s , a lso a pa rt o f th e m ovie effort , rode in Cl ass 30 w ith his son J i m my and G reg T racy. J . N . , along with tea m mate M alc olm Smith , we re th e first m ot o rcyl e ri ders to finish in th e in augu ral B aja 1000 in 19 6 7 , and he bro ug ht th at part of history to the fil m . Asked to co m pa re this ride with some of his old Baj a efforts , J .N . rep li ed , "Li ke always , t he bik es are a little sm ooth er and fast er. " Jimmy Roberts, who usually rides motocross , enjoyed h is pa rt of it. "It was a grea t experienc e," J immy said . "I had t o pl ay cat ch -up, but I had a go od day - I av eraged 4 7 m p h. " J .N . d id his part, but a crash that inj ur ed his shou ld er at t he sta rt took its to ll. Joinin g Casey M c Co y on a Class 30 en try were Larry Roeseler, Scott Har den and Pau l Krause - not o n a K awa saki o r Husq v a rna , b u t a 950 KTM Ra ll y e , weighing in at 53 1 pou nds wh en fueled. It w as, if an y th i ng , r em in i sc ent of t he 1984 Baj a bo ulder b ust er BMW c am paigned by Gas ton Rahi er and Eddy Hau . KTM's pla n was si m ply t o get some saddl e t ime o n th e bi k e and t est it fo r t h e Pa ris - Dakar r ac e in Janua ry . B oth L.R . and Harden referred to t he rac e as a "t ra ining exercise and a suc cess if we fi nish ." W ith riders like th e KTM team had , y ou ha d t o wonder if t hey m ight be te m pted at some p o int t o pu sh th e 140 -m ph , 104-horsepowe r bike and take a sho t at a to p fin ish , but th ey sta ye d w i t h t h e pr e - race p l a n a nd cruised to third in class. Th e Clas s 22 Points Cham pion sh ip was on the lin e at Mouse McCoy rode the 10 0 0 solo! More im p r e ssive than that, he fin ished 16 minutes behind the w inning Class 30 team, f inishing second in class and si xth bike overall. Riding in memory of Andy Specht, the Mark Daniels/Joe Desrosiers/Larry Gross/Julian Guerra squad survived to c laim Class 21 (250cc Motorcycle) h on ors a n d ninth overall. nick. M ik e Boyd an d Robe rt Lesko . St ill , the Lu ndin Te am ex p resse d disappoint ment at the finis h. " W e got lo st aft er Oj os Negroes, dropped 15 m inutes and l o st two pl ac es," Lund in sa id. ' "It was a g reat bik e , t ho ug h , and we h ad no othe r problems. " Hengeveld spo ke f or al l of the f i nishe rs : " O n c e ag ain, we co nque red Baja ." eN the 1000 (th e fin al race of the SCO RE seaso n) , an d it we n t t o th e YZ2 50mounted tea m o f Joe D e Ros i e r s , J u lian G uerra a n d Larry G r os s. B y aro und the halfw ay point, th e team ha d over an hour's lead and br ought t he bike in afte r 20 hou rs, 20 m inutes and 2 1 seco nds on co urse, enjoying a co nsi derab le cus h io n over t he E d d i e Zeller/ Mike Ma rt in YZ250. As ide from the class win and the poi nt s championsh ip for the year, it was an emotional win for the DeRosiers team , as they dedica ted t he race t o A nd y Spaeth , who d ied in a m oto rcy cl e acc ide nt a few wee ks earl ier. Team Cav em an took home another Class 50 w in , as Ri ch a rd J a c k so n , Bob Wa d low, M ar k Fo rc e , J o hn Rogers and Gu y W il so n bro ught thei r XR650R aro u n d the co urse i n 20 ho urs , 27 mi nutes and fo ur seconds. T hey a lso c loc ke d in at a ve ry repecta ble 27th overa ll. It was J ac k so n's fo urth st raig h t Baj a 1000 wi n , and he credi te d V ic G iff o rd and Phil Keeler with a superior j o b of bi k e pr ep . "W e ran th r e e HI D s, a n d th e y worked great, " J ackson said . "It was w indy eno ugh t hat du st wasn't a fac tor - it di dn ' t just hang in the air." Cana di an s Lukas Lu nd in and P.G. Lun d m ar k wo n Spo rt sm an M otorcy cl e on an XR650R , fin ish ing 5 2 min ut es ahea d o f t h e sec o nd -p l ac e t eam of John K uh lken, Tim Filer , J am es Bart- Baja 1000 Ensenada, BC, Mexico Results: November 19-22. 2003 O / A: 1. S te ve He ngeve ld /Jo hnny Campbe ll ( Han ) ; 2 . Ch r is Blala/C huc k De m psey /Andy Grid er ( Han) ; 3 . C h ris Ha i ne s/ B ob J oh n son / Cr a ig A da ms / Pau l Ostbo / clec k Jo hnso n / Ric h Bin c kJey ( Han) ; 4 . Se rgio Vega /Ge rar do Ro ja s/V ic ent e Gu erre ro ( Han) ; 5. J im O' Ne a l/ Ti m W it her s/J eff Ka p lan ( Ha n) : 6 . M ou se M c Co y (H an ) ; 7 . Q u in n Cody/Ta ber Murphy (Han); 8. Joe Desroslersy.Jullan Guer ra/ Mark Dani els (Yam ); 9, Lar ry Roeseler /Paul Krau se/C asey Mc Coy/ Sco t Hard en (KTM) ; 10, IN Ro bert s/Jimm y Roberts (Hon). Cl 2 1: 1, J oe Des ros ie rs/ J uli an Gu erra /Mark Dan iels (Yam ); 2. Eddi e Zeller/ Mike Mart in (Yam) , Cl 22: 1. Ste ve Heng ev eld /J ohnny Campbell (Han ); 2 . Chris Bla is/ Chu ck Dem psey/Andy Grid er (Han ); 3, Quinn Cody /Teber Murphy (Han); 4 , Sy d Schnei der/G abri el Manja rrez/ Marti n Bringa s (Han) ; 5. Beto Verber/M ike Bamhill/Fred Willert (KTM ). Cl 30 : 1, Serg io Vega/Gerardo Rojas/ Vicente Guerre ro (Han) ; 2. Mouse McC o y (Ha n) ; 3 , Larry Roes eJ /Pa ul Kraus e/ Casey McCo y /S c ot Hard en er (KT M) ; 4 , IN Rob er t s/J i m m y Roberts ( Ha n) ; 5, J oshua Lynn /Stuart Gildr ed (Han ), Cl 40: 1, Chris Ha i n es/ Bo b J o hn son / Cr a ig Ad a ms /Pa u l O st bo/ .Jac k J oh nso n / Ric h Bin c k le y (Han); 2. Jim O'Neal/Tim Withers/J eff Kapl an (Han) ; 3 . Ji m F erg u s on /T ed Ca br a l (Han) ; 4 . Mi ke Sc h n e i d e r ( Ha n) ; 5 . Ge ra rd o K a y /Doug Garcia /A leja ndr o Ibarra (Han). Cl 50 : 1. Ric hard J ac kson/ Bob Wadl ow / Mark Fo rce/G uy Wilson / J o hn Ro gers (Han) ; 2. Ste p hen Dea ne/Ro n Bi shop (KTM); 3. Bru ce Galien/E dward Teter (Han) . SP T MC UND ER 250 : 1. Da nie l Buk ev ecz/ Ed uardo Ag uayo (Hus) . SPT MC 25 0+ : 1. P.G. Lundmark /Lu kas Lun d in (Hon). BRIEFLY••• Ron Bishop kept his streak alive of being the only motorcycle rider to ride every Baja 1000 since the event's start in 1967. He was a finisher in Class 50 with teammate Stephen Doane on a KTM 625 SXC. It took Japan's Tomoki Hayashi 27 hours. 31 minutes and 16 seconds to finish his solo ride in Under-250 Sportsman on an XR250. For the first time, the finish line was in Ensenada's Baseball Stadium. -, thought it was a cool finish - something different. " said Steve Hengeveld, who was mobbed by local media, including an Ensenada TV station. Jim Feryuson had a team in Class 30 andClass 40, with the Class 40 team picking up a third. The Class 30 bike had problems but was nursed in. giving Ferguson the Class 30 points champi nship. o cue I e n e _ s • JANUARY 7 , 2004 69

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