Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Ensenada b r o th e rs Jose and Leo ne l Ruvalcaba too k a first in Class 21 (25 0c c) fini s hed the rac e with a time of 10 hou rs , 12 minutes an d 40 seconds on a Yamaha YZ250. Second -pla ce finishers in Class 2 1 were Ma rtin Be ja ra no and Chuc k Demps e y , wh o sta ye d close to th e Ruva lca ba bike a ll da y. They ended up finis hing 14 m inutes be hind the m . De m ps e y sai d , "We were d oi ng rea l well un til we lost ou r rea r bra ke on the beach section." Solo 250 cc ride r Art Kawa guch i, a bo a rd an XR250, took over 12 ho urs to finis h th e race , but he fe lt it was worth it. "It was tou gh o ut there," he sai d. "I wanted to q uit a co uple of times , bu t I'm g lad I stuck it o ut. " Baja Highw a y Patrolmen Tato a nd Ro y Bu eln a teame d wi t h Sa ntan a Capemega to win Class 30 . The team was close to an ho ur down one -third of th e way throug h the ra c e , bu t pic ked up the pace to wards the e nd . Roy B uelna was hap py w ith the XR650's perfo rmance. "The bike ran good ," he said. "The o nly problem we had was with a b ro ke n pipe ." The pipe was a n afte rm a rket ve rs io n d es ig ned to inc re a s e p e rfo r mance, but met its matc h in the Baja terrai n. Non ethe le s s , the te a m finished fifth overall in a tim e of 9 hours , 52 m inutes a nd 47 seconds . S ec ond in Class 3 0 was Kent Kro eker on a Husqvarn a . The bike s uffered rear bra ke prob lems in the earl y goi ng, but he got thin gs wo rked o ut to fini s h in a ti me o f 10 ho urs , 4 1 minutes and 35 seconds . Fo llowing up a win a t th e San Felip e 250, Klaus Groeg er tea med with fe llow S an D ie g o -ba se d High wa y Patrol ma n Bill Fe rgu son to win Class 40 o n a S u z u k i D R-Z 4 0 0 . Th ey finis hed up in a tim e of 1 1 hou rs , 39 m inute s a nd 16 se co nds . Fe rg u son found race da y a little toughe r than his norma l beat , g ett in g wooz y at d inner afte r a to ug h da y of racing. 50 e n tra n t C la ss Richa rd -J a c kson p ic ked up his e ig hth Baja 500 win with the help of his te ammates Dave Olen a nd Bob Wadl ow . "I ha d a clean ride and didn 't miss a sh ift a ll d a y," J a ckson said . "The XR650 wo uld h it 100 mph o n t he pa veme nt a nd we didn't have to d o anything to it." The team cloc ke d in 10 hou rs , 4 7 minutes and 12 seconds. Rounding out the e ntra nts in Class 50 was the XR650 r idden b y J im O 'Nea l, an d G en e a n d S a m Dempse y. Th e team 's finishing time wa s 10 hou rs , 4 7 m inut e s a nd 12 seconds. Bria n Sheakly, of Mar ina , Cal ifo rnia , ro de a Ya m a ha WR4 0 0 to first o ve ra ll in t he h igh ly c o mp et it ive Sp o rtsman Motorcycle class . The first seven ride rs in th e class were sepa rated by a little over one hour. Ove ra ll winner J onah Street d idn't hav e mu ch to sa y a bo ut his te am ' s ride. "A cle a n start - no problems. " None o f the motorc ycle entr ies we re affected by man -m a d e c ourse m od ifica tion s , one of which inc luded a t wo -fo ot poo l o f water tha t wa s ca used by a bro ke n wate r ma in just before the co u rse left Ens en ad a . The first 293 miles of the Baja 500 co urse will a lso be th e s a me for the November Teca te SCORE Baja 2 000 , bill ed a s th e lo nges t po int -to -poi nt desert race ever held . While th e logisti cs of staging a Ba j a rac e are becomi ng more a nd more d ifficult, SCORE officials a re making strides in assuri ng rider and spectator safety . SCOR E had several ditches d ug near th e st a rt ba ckfilled and stressed rider ca u tion. Alo ng w it h va r ious pr og r a m s ai med at he lp ing Baja co m m un ities, (Above) Jose and Leon e l Ruvalcaba combined efforts to w i n the 250cc class on a VZ250 Yamaha. (Left) Phillip Zeiger, Crai g Sm ith (shown) and Ron Wilso n made it a Honda 1-2-3 sweep. Staa b w it h 60 m ile s to t he fini s h . Sta a b eventually m ade the pass but had to stop just prior to th e finis h line to let Ca m p be ll bac k o n the bike to s a ti sfy SCO RE rules th at state tha t the rider of reco rd mu s t e ithe r st a rt or finish on th e bike . Bruc e O g ilvie , who foll owed the fac tory bikes by helicopte r, desc ribed watching J o na h Stre et fro m th e a ir: "He rod e like a wild m an - it look ed rea lly sca ry from the ai r, bu t he was making the deci sions , a nd he must've be e n comfo rtab le wit h t he m ." EviCN de ntly. , SCORE p e rs onn el a ls o stress t h a t race tea ms a nd s upport peo ple m a inta in a low e n viro nmenta l im pa ct to protect Baja ecolog y. With non e of th e usual ea rly m orn ing fog and dampness , and tem pera tur es near 90 deg re es - e ve n o n th e Pa cific Coast re gio n - th is m ade rac ing d iffic ult a t bes t. For t he Hon d a facto ry riders who we re never m o re th an two minutes apart, th e elbow -to e lbo w racing took its to ll. Both tea m s TecateSCORE Baja 500 Ensenada, B.C Mexico . Results: June 3, 2000 we re for c ed to d ev iate fro m the ir planned st ra te gies , as fatigue caused th e m t o ma k e unp lann ed ri de r c ha nges . J ohnny Campbell, after c hasi ng Steve Hengeveld on th e wes t co ast section a nd through th e Uraupan Val le y, had S taab ta ke ov e r t he bi ke ne ar Ojos Negro es to race Jon ah Stree t to th e finis h. At th e Ojo s Neg roes road c rossing, S t re e t h ad a 2 3 s ec o n d le ad ov e r cue I e CLASS 21 : 1. Jose/ Leonel Ruva lcaba (Yam ); Ma rt in B ej ar an o / Ch u c k D em psey (KlIw); 3 . A rt Kawaguch i (Han ). CLASS 2 2 : 1. J onah St reet/Steve He nge vel d (Han) ; 2. J ohnn y Campbell/Tim Staab (Han); 3 . Phillip Zeiger/C raig Smi th/Ron Wilson (Han); 4. Tex Mitchell/S cott Myers (Han) . CLASS 30 : 1. Roy Buelne/Teto Buelna (Han); 2. Ken t Kr oeker (Hus) ; ·3 . Joseph Will iams (Hus) ; 4. Kev in Ward (Han ). CLASS 4 0 : I . Klau s G roeg er / B i ll F ergu so n (5uz ); 2. Koj i Kato (Hon ). CLASS 50: 1. Richard Jackson/D ave Olen/Bo b (Hon) ; 2. J im O 'Nea l/Sa m Dem psey/Gene Dempsey (Hon) . SPRTSM N; 1. Brian SheakJey (Hon). n e VV S • J UNE 21 , 2000 47

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