Honda Goes 1-2 at Baja 1000 - Pastrana's Suzuki Team Disqualified

By Mark Kariya

Steve Hengeveld en route to...

read full caption

The 38th Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 will go down in the books as the roughest to date, though it didn't seem to affect the Honda factory teams from easily running away to post a 1-2 finish. Johnny Campbell, Mike Childress and Steve Hengeveld of the Honda A team battled only the course and the Honda B team of Robby Bell, Quinn Cody and Kendall Norman, completing the 709-mile course in 14 hours, 20 minutes and 30 seconds for an average speed of 49.42 miles per hour instead of the usual speed averages of 55-62 mph. The B team finished in 14:38:01 on their identical Precision Concepts/Honda Pro Oils/Dunlop XR650R.

Bell got the B team out to an early lead with Hengeveld moving into second place in the first 60 miles. The gap shrank to nearly nothing when Bell hit a "booby trap" in a tree's shadow and crashed hard, and when he handed off the bent bike to Cody at the second pit stop, he had only a bike-length on Hengeveld, who gave the bike to Campbell.

Travis Pastrana made his Baja...

read full caption

Unfortunately for the A team, Campbell got sick the night before, and he couldn't muster the strength to really go after Cody. Thus, by the time he turned the bike over to Hengeveld at pit four, he'd lost a bit of time and would ultimately have to sit out his night stint, forcing Childress to ride a section he hadn't pre-run since he hadn't expected to raced it. "These guys really took care of me," Campbell said, referring to his teammates. "Steve rode a lot of miles; Mikey came up and rode a little bit of my sectionI was had; I was so done. I've never had so much pain without getting off."

Childress got the A team into the lead for good by the halfway mark, roaring past the B team whose bike was undoubtedly slowed a bit by the bent exhaust system.

"What a year, what a year," Childress said at the finish. "It was always a childhood dream to win the 500 (which he and Mouse McCoy did in June) and then to win the Baja 1000 is huge."

Quinn Cody teamed up with...

read full caption

Despite his ailments, this marked Campbell's ninth consecutive win at the 1000, and it was Hengeveld's fifth time as overall winner.

Motocross and freestyle icon Travis Pastrana did a fine job in his Baja debut, teaming up on an RM-Z450 with Gregg Godfrey, Andy Grider and Rick Johnson to finish third physically. However, the Class 30 team of Taber Murphy, Scott Myers, Brian Pinard and Ron Wilson on their Temecula Motorsports/MSR/IMS XR650R were quicker in adjusted time at 16:07:18 to push the Suzuki off the overall podium. Making matters worse for the RM-Z team was the fact that they didn't have the SCORE-mandated transponder affixed to the machine, and they were subsequently disqualified.

Class 21 victors Salvador Hernandez, Tim Morton and Jason Trubey claimed fourth overall on their Club Tangaloo/Renta Moto Ensenada/Tecate CRF250X in 18:01:38 while fifth overall motorcycle honors went to Class 40 winners Louie Franco, Jeff Kaplan, Jim O'Neal and Tim Withers on their O'Neal Racing/RK Chain/IMS XR650R.

Baja 1000 Motorcycle Results
1. Johnny Campbell/Mike Childress/Steve Hengeveld, Honda XR650R
2. Robby Bell/Quinn Cody/Kendall Norman, Honda XR650R
3. Taber Murphy/Scott Myers/Brian Pinard/Ron Wilson, Honda XR650R
4. Salvador Hernandez/Tim Morton/Jason Trubey, Honda CRF250X
5. Louie Franco/Jeff Kaplan/Jim O'Neal/Tim Withers, Honda XR650R
6. Ryan Gustine/Kevin Johnson/Anthony Sanchez, Yamaha YZ250
7. Robert Laughlin, Honda XR650R
8. Jim Castillo/Scott Forward/Chris Haines, Honda CRF450X
9. Joe Desrosiers/Dean Sharp, Yamaha YZ250
10. Vicente Guerrero/Francisco Real/Gerardo Rojas/Arturo Salas, Honda XR650R