Mike Childress and Mouse McCoy Pull Baja 500 Upset - News - Dirt Rider Magazine

It was supposed to be a battle between the factories, with the Red Bull KTM duo of Chris Blais and Andy Grider trying to prove that their San Felipe 250 win over Honda's Johnny Campbell and Steve Hengeveld was no fluke. At the 37th annual Tecate SCORE Baja 500, the two heavyweights duked it out over a rough 419-mile-long course that took in most of the northern Baja California peninsula. This time, Honda prevailed, with Campbell and Hengeveld besting Blais and Grider—but it was for second place, not first.In a rather stunning upset, privateer Honda pilots Mike Childress and Mouse McCoy grabbed the lead about 100 miles into the race on their XR's Only/Temecula Motorsports/IMS XR650R and avoided any of the problems that can turn the best-planned race into a nightmare.It was the other teams who had to contend with a variety of hardships while Childress and McCoy enjoyed that rare perfect race. The duo completed the race in eight hours, 40 minutes and 25 seconds—a 48.31 mile per hour average speed that was testament to the severity of the terrain (compared to the usual winning speed averages between 55-60 mph). They were also the first vehicle overall, beating the first four-wheeled vehicle (a Trophy Truck driven by former Team Green motocrosser Robby Gordon in 9:10:42) by a wide margin."Mike was the last bike off the line ," McCoy said, "and he passed everyone before he gave me the bike. Mike rode to mile marker 171, then I took it to 273, and Mike finished it."Our strategy was, there was a really tough stretch so if I was fresh through it, it would help," the star racer of the recent movie Dust to Glory revealed.But it was primarily avoiding trouble that helped keep them in front. Hengeveld crashed just eight miles from the start, and, as so often happens in Baja racing, that began a series of problems that kept them from showing their true speed. The spill damaged a radiator, so the big XR lost all its coolant and would eventually require a new radiator—and a lengthy pit stop to install it, as well as two fresh tires. They would finish in 8:49:45.Though winless in two SCORE races so far this year, they took consolation in the fact that at least they beat their rivals riding the works 710 LC4. "It was important for us to beat KTM," Campbell declared. "We went from our first objective of winning the race to our second one: keeping the points lead."As for Blais and Grider, their problems started before they even got to the starting line, with Blais apparently suffering from food poisoning and being unable to ride 100 percent. In fact, Grider said, "I had to ride the last 30 miles for Chris. He was sick from something he ate last night and couldn't ride."Compounding their woes was not one but two Grider crashes, the second one a hard high-side in the pine forest section, narrowly missing a tree in the process. And with the last-minute change of sections ridden, Grider was unable to hold off the other factory Honda pair of Robby Bell and Kendall Norman. Norman got the bike in fourth place and chased down Grider in the final sprint to the finish, the Honda-mounted duo claiming third overall in 9:08:16 while Blais/Grider ended up fourth in 9:10:48.The showdown in November's Baja 1000 should be a good one with several plots. Campbell and Hengeveld will be eager to get at least one SCORE win this season; Blais and Grider will want to win another and the championship; Bell and Norman will want to win their first SCORE race; and Childress and McCoy would love to beat all the factory teams yet another time."It was amazing—I loved it!" the 21-year-old Childress exclaimed. "It's my first time ever to win a SCORE race. I've been doing this since I was 14, and it was a dream to win a race and now I did it."DR Editor Jimmy Lewis headed up a BMW-mounted team with Tim Morton and Diamond Dave Donatoni. They were running in the top twenty before the shock snapped on the big 1200, loosing about an hour. Despite the hard luck, their team still finished the race.Top Bike Finishers (Official results to come)

1. Mike Childress, Mouse McCoy, Honda, 8:40:25
2. Johnny Campbell, Steve Hengeveld, Honda, 8:49:45
3. Robby Bell, Kendall Norman, Honda, 9:08:16
4. Chris Blais, Andy Grider, KTM, 9:10:48
5. Gerardo Rojas, Arturo Salas, Honda