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Motorcycles started the legend of desert racing in Mexico’s Baja California pensinsula and their presence is still felt as Baja legends Steve Hengeveld and Johnny Campbell are hoping to lead Honda to it’s 16th overall motorcycle victory in next week’s 38th Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. The granddaddy of all desert races will be held for the 38th time next week (Nov. 17-20), starting and finishing in Ensenada and running 709 miles around Mexico’s ruggedly majestic Baja California peninsula.
This year’s memorable adventure will cover 709 miles of the rugged and tortuous Baja California peninsula, starting on the Pacific Ocean side and stretching across and down the Sea of Cortez side of the majestic peninsula past San Felipe before winding its way back up to the Pacific Ocean and back to Ensenada.
It’s the oldest and most well known of all desert races, and it remains as the single most appealing accomplishment to a driver. Since 1967, the mother of all desert races has been run over the mysterious Baja California peninsula every year except 1974 when the international fuel crisis forced a cancellation.
“This course will be reflective of the rugged beauty of the Baja peninsula and will have the widest variety of terrain possible, assuring that every survivor will know that they, their crew and their racing machines have overcome an incredibly difficult challenge,” commented Sal Fish, SCORE President and CEO since 1974. “This race is what legends are made of and this year’s course will carve many of them into granite. It will be an amazing experience for everyone involved and yet another memorable chapter will be added into the legacy of the legendary SCORE Baja 1000.”
“Racers will quickly see the challenge before them as this year’s Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 race course has a complete taste of Baja—from sand washes, to narrow, rocky mountain passes, to volcanic rock trails, a dry lake bed, and a blast up the beach,” said Fish, who will lead a small group of SCORE officials on a 10-day expedition starting Thursday to mark this year’s race course. “It will be an incredibly technical course, racers will be tested to the limit their abilities as well as the durability of their unbelievable racing machines.”
The first 60 miles of this year’s course from Ensenada, through Ojos Negros and to Tres Hermanos will be run in both directions and the balance will be a long and winding route covered in a clockwise direction. Among the challenges racers will face include an old route over the historic ‘summit’ in the Sierra De Juarez Mountains, a Technical, mogul-infested route south through San Felipe, a stretch of running up part of the infamous Matomi Wash, up through racer-friendly Mike’s Sky Rancho, back around behind Meling Ranch, and the high-energy run down ‘the hill’ at Simpson’s Ranch.
A race-record field of nearly 360 entries from 31 U.S. States and 12 countries, competing in 27 Pro and 5 Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs, will be part of this year’s tribute to the sport of desert racing.
The colorful history of motorcycles in the granddaddy of all desert races includes the vintage exploits of motorcycle legends Malcolm Smith, J.N. Roberts, Larry Roeseler, Jack Johnson, Ted Hunnicutt Jr., Paul Krause and the late Danny Hamel. For 31 of the first 37 years, motorcycles have recorded the fastest overall times in the event. The last 4-wheel vehicle winner to beat the time of the motorcycles was Ivan Stewart, who did it in 1993 while winning the unlimited Class 1 in Toyota SR5 pickup truck.
For motorcycles, Honda has won 15 overalls, followed by Husqvarna with 11, Kawasaki 9, and Yamaha 2.
With massive crowds reaching nearly 300,000 anticipated to again be spread out along the single loop course, the race will start in front of the Riviera del Pacific Convention Center in Ensenada and will finish for just the second time inside the Deportivo Antonio Palacio baseball stadium in Ensenada.
The motorcycle and ATV classes will start their journey at 6:30 a.m. (Friday, Nov. 18) with the car and truck classes starting at approximately 9:30 a.m., or two hours after the last ATV leaves the line. Faster four-wheel vehicles will leave in 60-second intervals while all other classes will leave in 30-second intervals in the elapsed-time race and while the fastest finishers are expected to complete the 709-mile course in around 14 hours, all vehicles will have a 30-hour time limit to become official finishers.
Since 1997, the motorcycle battle in the most storied desert race of all time has been all about Honda’s Johnny Campbell. Five of this year’s riders have combined for 12 overall motorcycle victories in this race.
Leading the motorcycle field again this year is the legendary American Honda racing team of Hengeveld, 30. Oak Hills, Calif., and Campbell, 34, San Clemente, Calif. Campbell has eight consecutive overall motorcycle victories in this race, including four with the Hengeveld, who has earned his Baja legend status as well.
Sharing seat time on the No. 1x Honda XR650R, Hengeveld also has one other motorcycle class win in this race. In 2002, Hengeveld/Campbell set an average speed record in this race for a motorcycle, averaging an incredible 62.45mph. The third team member this year will be talented newcomer Mike Childress, 20, of Wrightwood, Calif. Childress joins Honda’s ‘A’ team after teaming with Hollywood stuntman Mouse McCoy to win the overall title in this year’s Tecate SCORE Baja 500 in June. Each rider is expected to ride about one-third of the race.
Fielding a second factory team for the first time in three years, Honda’s so-called ‘B’ team will consist of talented young riders Robby Bell, 20, Murrieta, Calif., and Kendall Norman, 21, Santa Barbara, Calif., on the No. 4x Honda XR650R. Norman was part of the overall champion team last year as the third rider with Hengeveld and Campbell.
Hoping to unseat the Baja legends will be two factory teams from KTM, one from BMW, freestyle star Travis Pastrana and a host of privateer teams.
Leading the KTM effort will be Chris Blais, 24, Apple Valley, Calif., on the No. 2x KTM 620 LC4. Blais, with help from former Honda factory rider Andy Grider, broke the 10-race SCORE win streak of Hengeveld/Campbell earlier this year by winning the overall title at the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 in February.
Rider of record for the second KTM entry is Las Vegas’ Kellon Waltch, 22, on the No. 3x KTM 660 Rally motorcycle.
Veteran rally racer Jimmy Lewis, Costa Mesa, Calif., who was the overall motorcycle winner in the 1998 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 riding with Johnny Campbell, is leading the special BMW factory effort on the No. 12x BMW HP2 bike. Lewis, who is the editor of Dirt Rider magazine when he isn’t racing or running riding schools, has put together a veteran team with significant Baja experience.
Making his SCORE racing debut, Pastrana, 22, of Davidsonville, Md., will lead a formidable multi-rider team into the Baja desert on the No. 6x Suzuki 450. Grider, 31, of Los Olivos, Calif., is scheduled to be the team’s primary co-rider and the pair will be joined by Supercross legend Ricky Johnson, Encinitas, Calif., and Nitro Circus Producer Greg Godfrey, Draper, Utah.
Pastrana, a Freestyle Moto X gold medalist and Supercross star, had originally entered three classes, but after pre-running the difficult race course, decided to concentrate on the Class 22 open motorcycle division.
visit the official website of the 2005 SCORE Desert Series at www.score-international.com for more info on this wicked event
