IN
THE
WIND
P30
HENGEVELD WINS BAJA RALLY
S
teve Hengeveld may have
ridden a lot of miles in Baja,
but he's a novice when it comes
to rally racing. That didn't stop
him from picking up the art
of rally navigation quickly and
winning the 3rd Annual Baja
Rally, Presented by Rally Comp,
September 29-October 2, over
a truly international field of expe-
rienced rally raid competitors.
"I think I adapted to it from
riding the old enduro days back
in [AMA] District 37," he said. "I
won a couple of those champi-
onships so I think reading the
roll chart is similar to reading the
road book. That's kind of how I
based it.
"A lot of peopled doubted me
last year and I ended up winning
a couple stages. I had my infa-
mous water-crossing incident
but still had a good ride. Then I
came back this year wanting to
win, for sure."
Like the Sardinia Rally, the
Baja Rally is more suited to en-
duro bikes so that's what Hen-
geveld had Precision Concepts
build for this effort instead of the
more rally-focused Northland
Motorsports CRF450X he relied
on last year.
Great Britain's Lyndon Poskitt,
a veteran of rallies around the
world, put his KTM 450 Rally
Replica into a solid second with
Cameron Steele third on the po-
dium after winning the third stage
on his Derek Newell-prepared
JCR Speed Shop CRF450X.
But while those Rally Pro-
class competitors shared most
of the limelight, it was little
known Rally 1 privateer Trent
Burgiss on a well-broken-in KTM
530 XC-W who stunned the field
on the first day, completing the
stage from Erendira to Rancho
Coyote more than three minutes
ahead of Poskitt, with Quinn
Cody just three seconds back
in third.
"It took me by surprise, that's
for sure!" Burgiss confessed.
"But I had a great day; I didn't
Steve Hengeveld
took the lead on the
second day despite a
fifth-gear crash and
held it to the finish for
his first rally victory.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
MARK
KARIYA
