'In_I
Ntirmin ......
fItlbh, "5eoond pIaoe 18 awlitllll18 • ~~
png lflIIIInst Baja."
TnIYis Pastrana. who IIso drove a truck
In the race. and Grea Godfrey tlIllmed up
with Baja YetllraI1S Andy Grider and RIcky
johnson to bring their four~ 85-mph.
RM-Z-4SO Suzuki to a third-place finish in
Class 22 [Open] and third overall motorcy-
cle. but they were later disqualified for not
mounting a mandatory GPS locator system
on their bike, This moved Temecula
Motorsports riders Brian Pinard, Ron
Wilson, Taber Murphy and Scott Myers into
first place in Class 30 and third overall
motorcycle. The Temecula Motorsports
Team covered the course in 16 hours,
seven minutes and 48 seconds. The team
rode an XR6SOR Honda and were the ninth
overall vehide to cross the finish line.
Pinard, who had to ride with a broken
hand after a pre-running incident, said, "It
was the toughest course I've ever seen. We
put together a great team, and it all came
together for us."
The team lost a little time at Mike's Sky
Ranch with light problems, but otherwise
had a clean ride,
Gerardo Rojas, Vicente Guerrero,
Arturo Salas and Francisco Leal finished
second in Class 30, finishing over four
hours behind Pinard.
"We had a long day of problems," Leal
said. "One of our riders threw it away and
tweaked the bike. I had to ride 100 miles
with no lights and only had Night Riders
[helmet lights]. We battled with the Barnhill
bike until he blew."
Shock problems took their toll on the
third-placed BMW HP2 ridden by Sergio
Vega, Manuel Luna and Arnaldo Ramirez.
"We lost the rear shock, that's why
we're so late," Vega said. "We didn't have a
spare so we used a spring shock and it's
running good now."
Shock problems also plagued the Jimmy
Lewis, Dave Donatoni, Jonah Street HP2
BMW team, which finished after the Rojas
Bike. Before the race, Lewis said that he
intended to muscle the 43D-pound bike
Travis Pastrana, Gregg Godfrey,
And)! Grider and Rick Johnson was
the thIrd team to cross the finish line
on a Suzuki RM-Z4S0, but they
were later 00'ed for not fitting theIr
bike with a transponder.
CYCLE NEWS • DECEMBER 7, 2005
17
