Bell/Norman Break Through to Win 2006 SCORE San Felipe 250 - News - Dirt Rider Magazine

You can't call them rookies any more—not after they took their first overall victory as they start their second season on the Honda Off-Road Team. Robby Bell and Kendall Norman won the 20th Annual Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250, the first of SCORE's three races in Baja California, Mexico.Riding their Precision Concepts/Dunlop/Honda Pro Oils CRF450X, the pair blitzed the extremely rough 240-mile course in four hours, 19 minutes and 36 seconds to win Class 22 (Open Pro), beating the next bike—Class 30 (riders over 30 years old) victors Taber Murphy and Brian Pinard on a Temecula Motorsports/Precision Concepts/MSR XR650R—by 50 minutes. They also gave the bike its first major off-road triumph, perhaps signaling the future.However, the win wasn't without some controversy. Honda's Steve Hengeveld and Mike Childress got their Precision Concepts/Dunlop/Honda Pro Oils-backed XR650R across the finish line first, coming from a rear start that saw them two and a half minutes behind Bell/Norman as Hengeveld took off from the San Felipe arches. At mile 30, where the two American Honda teams would do a rider change, Norman had passed all six teams that started in front of him and had the physical lead over Childress. But by the time they returned to the arches for the finish of the large loop course race, it was Childress crossing the line first, he and Hengeveld having erased the deficit and taken the physical lead over the last half.A post-race review of their Rally Tracker revealed that they deviated from the official course outside of the acceptable margin, and they were subsequently disqualified.Still, Bell and Norman were happy with their ride. Bell said, "We had a great performance. The suspension and motor worked excellent; it was a great race for this bike."It was raining for 65 miles; it was hard to see. Up to checkpoint three was the best. We tried to survive all the rocks all the way to the finish."Among all vehicles, Bell and Norman were the eighth-fastest team, testament to how rough, rocky and fast the San Felipe area is. Of the race-record 340 starters, 128 were bikes or ATVs, with 56 of 73 motorcycles finishing within the 10-hour limit.Besides Murphy and Pinard, a number of other age-group entrants did well, with Scott Myers, Tony Russler and Ron Wilson getting second in Class 30 and third bike overall on their Temecula Motorsports/Applied Racing/Precision Concepts XR650R, less than four minutes behind Murphy/Pinard.Apparel manufacturer Jim O'Neal once again headed up two teams—one in Class 40 and another in Class 50—but he got his best result in 40, winning the class and finishing fourth bike overall less than two minutes behind Myers/Russler/Wilson. The O'Neal/Azonic/Precision Concepts XR650R-mounted class winning team also included Jeff Kaplan, Randy Morales and Tim Withers. O'Neal's 50 team of Rick Gill, Doug Heil and O'Neal ended up second to Gene Dempsey, Sam Dempsey, Charlie Marshall and Doug Smith, both teams aboard XR650Rs.San Felipe 250 Top 10 Motorcycle Results
1. Robby Bell/Kendall Norman, Honda CRF450X
2. Taber Murphy/Brian Pinard, Honda XR650R
3. Scott Myers/Tony Russler/Ron Wilson, Honda XR650R
4. Jeff Kaplan/Randy Morales/Jim O'Neal/Tim Withers, Honda XR650R
5. Jon Ortner, Honda CRF450X
6. Kevin Smith/Chris Stewart, Honda CRF450X
7. Francisco Septien/Sergio Vega, Honda XR650R
8. Kenneth Lopez/Robert Villalobos, Yamaha YZ450F
9. Troy Anthon/Michael Laenger/Kent Perkins, KTM XC
10. Denis Boulter/Jesse Sharpe, Honda XR650R