SCORE Baja 1000 Post-Race Quotes

41st annual SCORE Tecate Baja 1000
Final round of the five-race 2008 SCORE Desert Series
Nov. 19-23, 2008 -- Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico

Post-Race Quotes


PRO CARS & TRUCKS

SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK
8 ROGER NORMAN/LARRY ROESELER, 1st in Class. (Larry started and drove to race-mile 400 and Norman drove from RM 400 to the finish.)
Norman said: “I got in the driver’s seat in the lead thanks to Larry and I just had to bring it home. But that is easier said than done. I took it easy and kept gaining a little ground on B.J. This is the toughest and greatest race in the world and we were racing against the greatest desert racers in the world. I knew we had to have a flawless day to win and we did. We had no flats; our BFG Tires were tougher than the Baja rocks. The only little thing is we went too strong off of a jump around Valle de Trinidad and our top lights came off so we stopped for about a minute and a half to put them back on and they were fine. We’re here and we have a team that won’t quit and we made it to the finish line with all the body parts.”
Roeseler said: “It was a fantastic day. I followed B.J. off the start. He started 20 seconds in front of us and Brian Collins was doing a heck of a job. It was exciting all the way down until we finally got by the field. We were first on the road and we kept that spot ever since. B.J. was keeping us honest. If he got back in front of us, then we would have had to have finished within 30 seconds of him. Roger did a heck of a job. He kept that five, six-minute lead all the way from when I gave him the five or six minutes. What a wonderful, wonderful race. I went all day today to the 400-mile marker with no flats and I’m pretty sure Roger went all the way to the finish with no flats, so we won the Baja 1000 with no flat tires. Winning Primm was a great race for us and great momentum for the team so coming to the 1000 with that momentum, for sure, got us going and with our pre-running and preparation, it all paid off.”

97 B.J. BALDWIN, 2nd Overall and in Trophy Truck, the second-place finish gives him the Trophy Truck point championship.
B.J. said: “It was a tough day for me, driving the whole thing. It’s not like a peninsula run. It’s very rough. It’s very technical. There were lots of places to make mistakes. You probably make twice as many left and right turns than a peninsula race, even though it is 400 miles shorter. I was battling with some brake petal things all day. We had to deal with it. We had an early flat tire and I had to play catch up the rest of the way. I was hoping to be out first by nightfall. At night, the air is thick and cold, and the dust just hangs there. And we had absolutely no wind all day. So the dust hung there. I had a hard time passing four-wheelers and motorcycle because of that element. Roger (Norman) and Larry (Roeseler) can have the 1000 win. We were racing for the championship. That was an executive discussion from the office and here. You can’t be excited when you make that discussion (to concentrate on the championship points). We can’t roll the truck or tear a corner off it in a race like this. We have done that before. We made that discussion early on. And they (Norman and Roeseler) were fast. It was not easy to get close with them. I was able to get by Chad (Ragland) at San Felipe. But the Norman truck was very fast today. We had some great racing today. But I didn’t want to take some risks that would hurt our chances for the championship. I am getting tired of running conservatively for the last three years. Each year we start strong and hold the point lead. Then I can’t really go all out at the end of the year. We also do well at Laughlin and we are right in the point battle. I would like to really run all out, but we race for the championship too.”

33 CHAD RAGLAND/LARRY RAGLAND, 3rd in Class. (Larry started and drove to RM 355 and Chad took over and drove to the finish.)
Chad said: “I would love to tell you I raced all day but I just survived all day. It was nonstop dust and fog and treachery around every corner, so we just survived. Honestly, I’ll bet our pre-run speeds were faster because we never had any open space – motorcycles, quads, guys everywhere -- and I never had a chance to race. All things considered, it was a great day. No flats, the truck ran really well and it looks like both of our trucks are going to finish.”
Larry said: “The course is a great course. There was nothing there that surprised us. I didn’t have to deal with the fog, just the dust. I didn’t have much night driving at all – I just knocked the light bar off for Chad so he had to drive it like that. Chad and I, a few years ago, I got in a race with him, unplanned, but this was the first time we actually had a plan to drive together. It was neat.”

1 MARK POST/ROB MacCACHREN, 4th in Class.
Post said: “Rob MacCachren started this race and did a fantastic job. I got in at race mile 130 when we first gassed up and we were in position and then we had communication problems. We couldn’t talk, we had no navigation, no notes and we ended up getting behind a little bit there. Then Rob, when he got in his section, he was doing fine but then he lost his lights so we were going backwards for about the last 200 miles. We’re happy to be in Ensenada. It’s a great race, but we didn’t have everything go right today to win.”

34 DAN FRIEDKIN/DANNY SULLIVAN/STEVE HENGEVELD, 5th in Class and Overall in Four-Wheel Vehicles. (Sullivan drove from the start to mile 193, Friedkin to mile 353, Hengeveld to the finish.)
Sullivan (the 1985 Indy 500 winner) said: “The team was great today. We had a few moments out there. There were a couple of times where we just had to completely stop. I couldn’t see two feet in front of me. We started 27th today and the first time we hit the dirt we had dust everywhere. It was really a blast for me. What I am really happy about is that this team is young, just 16 months old. We are the only two-truck Trophy Truck team out here. And we finished third (Larry and Chad Ragland) and fifth with our two Toyota trucks. That’s a great accomplishment. And it shows the potential we have with this operation.”

Hengeveld said: "I just want to thank all the guys, Mr. Friedkin, Danny Sullivan and Chad for really teaching me how to do this. I'm just getting better every time. I thought the fog was going to be gone and I didn't really expect rain either. Baja is not supposed to be easy, but we made it to the finish line. I like this, this is my new chapter in life."
Chad Ragland said: "I think we're the only team out here with two SCORE Trophy-Trucks out here. We get a third and a fifth, that's pretty good. I'm real excited, I think people need to take T-Force real seriously. Danny Sullivan, the team director, has put great people that just work well together and give it 110 per cent. I think it pays off. Danny has done more than most people know."

20 justin lofton/bob loffton, 6th in Class.
Justin said: "I clipped a rock and got a right rear flat. About mile 200 we lost the brakes and drove about 120 miles with no brakes at all, just driving between first and second. Other than that, the truck ran great. First race in the SCORE Trophy-Truck, first race down in Mexico, we can't complain, we're at the finish line. I've got to thank my dad and all my crew guys, it's all volunteer work and I really appreciate all their effort and time to come down here and support us."
Bob said: "I think this is the toughest race course I've been with. The truck ran great, we had a couple of flats."

81 MARK MILLER/RYAN ARCIERO, 13th in Class. (Miller and Arciero drove the Volkswagen-Red Bull Baja Race Touareg TDI – the first clean Turbo-diesel to run in the featured SCORE racing division.)
Arciero said: “I heard every one of the fans as we were going through the wash at the start because this Volkswagen engine is so quiet. We heard them and they were like that the entire time I was in the Touareg, it was amazing. They always come to the course and cheer us on. We had a goal to get this thing to the finish line and Mark did a heck of a job getting it here.”
Miller said: “I think Volkswagen is freakin’ awesome! We went the whole day with no punctures -- BFG was phenomenal. We just had a great day. It was the first race and we expected to have some adversity and we lost the clutch early, but we overcame it. It was such a team effort and I’m so happy. To come in with all this support that VW has, it’s first-rate. We have big plans for the future and this is the first step for us. We finished the Baja 1000 and that was our goal and now we can work on performance and try to win one of these things.”

CLASS 1
101 CHUCK DEMPSEY/JOHN HERDER, 1st in Class. (Herder drove the first half of the race and Dempsey drove to the finish.)
Chuck said: “My day was really just going up and down and trying to get it there. It was a good day. The race was awesome. John kept it out front all day and our whole crew did a great job at every pit. They were spot on, got the tires changed, did all our fuel really good and we just stayed out front all day. It was a matter of keeping everything together. We saw a lot of stuff broken down out there all the way in. The race was awesome. It was tough -- it wasn’t 1,000 miles but it was still tough.”

118 HARLEY LETNER/KORY HALOPOFF, 2nd in Class.
Harley said: “It feels wonderful after a long day. Kory gave me the car in like fourth place and I went like 10 miles and wadded it up in a hole and had to dig it out for 30 minutes. I just took it easy from there. At mile 340, I lost all my rear brakes so I just drove the whole thing with the front brakes. I promised my grandpa and Kory I’d get it to the finish line and we did. We finished second and that works for me. After the problems today, we were contending for the lead. I think he was leading about mile 270 before he gave it to me. Then I got caught in that hole and got passed by one car, I dug it out and then I got passed by two more cars when I was messing with the brakes. I caught those two guys back and then they told me the lead was out of the question but I said ‘I don’t care, I just want to finish.’ ”
Kory said: “It’s all about tires. We stopped a couple times because we had to pull the bar off the front for the lights. We didn’t expect that we were going to get in the dark, but it worked out. The course was tight and winding, just like always. We both told ourselves we are not going to be idiots off the start, just drive normal and look what happens: You get second.”

117 RON BRANT/RICHARD BOYLE/TOM KIRKMEYER, 3rd in Class. (Brant drove to San Felipe and Boyle drove it to the finish.)
Ron said: “Third’s better than fourth. I’m just happy to be here at the finish line – I don’t have to go tow it out. It was kind of a nasty course out there. There was a little disaster out there in the first 20 miles. It was so silty and tight out there and there were cars on top of each other. Then there was a blockage at about mile 14, about six to eight Class 1 cars stopped in a silty ditch there. I thought there was a car broken down in there but all it was, the silt was so bad when you went through it that you couldn’t see the course. The first half was a heck of a lot rougher than I thought it was going to be – everything was just torn up down in those washes. But it was fun. Once we got down the grade, we went racing.”

103 ROB BRUCE/MARK WITTE, 4th in Class. (Bruce drove the entire race.)
Rob said: “I just got hit with a rock coming down by the soccer field so I’m a little sore. Someone threw a big boulder at my shoulder. We broke down right at the start – the car caught on fire and burned up the alternator so we had to change that just a few miles into the race. After that, it was pretty much trouble-free other than a few flats. The whole car caught on fire so we had flames coming out of the back that matched (the flames painted on) the front. It (fourth place) could have been worse, that’s for sure.”

CLASS 1-2/1600
1646 ARNOLDO RAMIREZ/MISAEL ARAMBULA/DANIEL LOPEZ, 1st in Class.
Arambula said: “We’re from Ensenada and this is the second year, consecutive, we win. I want to thank all of our fans who are here for us. This is a great win. ”

CLASS 3
303 DARREN SKILTON/CLIVE SKILTON, 1st in Class.
Darren said: “That’s what racing Baja is all about -- we had no flat tires, we didn’t even have to get out of the car. We only had one little problem right off the start in the dust when we got a little stuck for about eight minutes but after that, it was a clean run and we’re here with a class win in Baja.”

CLASS 7
706 GUILLERMO GALVAN/RICARDO GALVAN, 1ST in Class. (Father Guillermo started the race and rolled at mile 15, Ricardo got in the truck at mile 275 and drove to the finish).
Ricardo said: “Holy smokes. I know this is Baja because I live here (Bahia de Los Angeles). But I wish I know a couple of corners better, because I lost some fenders. My dad got the car on its side early in the race. I ran out of fuel and that cost us about 30 minutes. But our crew got to me and we got back rolling down the road. This was our third time trying here. Third time was the charm with the win.”

CLASS 7SX
759 JOHN HOLMES/MARK LANDERSMAN, 1st in Class.
Landersman said: “I think we pulled this (win) off. I drove the last 200-some miles. I got stuck on a sand hill the first time I tried to make it and this really nice guy brought his Jeep down and rolled it right in front of us, right on the side of the hill. We were stuck there for I don’t know how long and I ended up backing down to make another run at it and got up the hill. We had an excellent truck; we just destroyed the truck getting it here. For me, this was my first Baja win but I think it’s John’s third or fourth.”

742 HEIDI STEELE/RENE BRUGGER/CAMERON STEELE, 2nd in class and 2008 Class 7SX champion. (Heidi started and drove to RM 175. Danny Street drove to RM 405 and Brugger drove from RM 405 to the finish.)
Heidi said: “I think we won (the championship) by maybe two points. They (the 759 team) got the first-place victory today and I’m really happy for them but more importantly we got the championship and that’s what we’ve been working on all year. I’m a little choked up. Cameron met us right before checkpoint six and we watched the sun rise and we were praying for the team to get through the silt beds because they’re pretty gnarly out there but everything worked out and they just stormed up the silt hills like it was no problem and here we are.”
Cameron: “It’s all good. We came here to win in the Trophy-Truck and win this championship so we got half of what we came here for and it’s pretty sweet. It’s all a big family. There are 30 guys right here who made this happen and we couldn’t have done it without all of them and all of our volunteers and it means a lot to everyone.”

CLASS 8
801 JUAN C. LOPEZ/BENY CANELA, 1st in Class.
Canela said: “I’m 72 going on 73 and I’ve been racing since 1970. Juan Carlos is an awesome driver, he did a great job and he brought it home to the finish. He’s a heck of a driver. We only had one little problem where we got stuck in the silt and we were down for a few minutes, but it felt like an eternity.”

CLASS 9
902 CISCO BIO/PANCHO BIO/JORGE MARTINEZ/FRANCISCO GUERRERO, 1st in Class in the same car that won the Baja 1000 in Class 9 in 1998.
Cisco Bio said: “My dad, Pancho, started on Friday, but he was sick. We planned to switch off every 100 miles but I ended up driving a lot more. My dad got lost at one point on the course. Something happened to the other 9 cars, because we were leading by about two hours in the early going of the race. I don’t know what happened to them. They started to get closer towards the finish. We lost two front-end parts but we were lucky to get some help quickly. We only lost 15 minutes. I couldn’t see anything on the coast. It was all messed up. I had to stop two or three times to let the dust clear. I have never seen it that bad. We got lucky. The General Tires were great; no flats today. This was the same car that I won the Baja with when I was 19 years old. I started working on the cars for my dad when I was about four years old. My little brother is nine and he is working on the cars. He wants to drive too.”

CLASS 10
1000 LOBSAM YEE, 1st in Class.
Yee said: “I’m from Tijuana but all these people here who help me are from Ensenada. It was a great race for us. We had electrical problems and we lost about 30 minutes fixing that. It was a cable and computer and it took us long to find out the problem and then after that, it was OK. I didn’t race for the championship this year, just this race and the Baja 500. It’s a lot better winning the Baja 1000 than the championship, for sure.”

SCORE LITE
1210 RICK ST. JOHN/DEAN BAYERLE/RAMSEY EL WARDANI, 1st in Class. (St. John, the team owner, started and drove the final mile.)
St. John said: “It was a long day. We were fighting fuel pick-up problems all night long. It took about a half a dozen stops to figure out what it was. We finally figured it out and got it solved but the problem kind of cost us the overall Volkswagen money but at least we got the 12-car championship. I’ve been racing for almost 20 years now and I never had a win. This year, I won Laughlin, I won the Baja 500 in June and then I won the 1000 – all in one year. I can retire now, I guess.”

CLASS 11
1100 RAMON FERNANDEZ/TOMAS FERNANDEZ, 1st in Class 11. (The Fernandez brothers, from Ensenada, won for the straight consecutive year in Class 11 with their VW Bug.)
Tomas said: “This is our second Baja 1000 win. We tried some new Fox shocks at the beginning of the race but they just didn’t work on our car. So we put the old shocks back on the car and it ran great. We were fast on the backside of the course. Ramon and I are very happy to win again. We had a good crowd of friends and family here.”

STOCK FULL
861 CHAD HALL, 1st in Class.
Chad said: “This one’s pretty tough to win but I think this one, you’ve got to learn how to win. You’ve got to hang back and let everybody else do what they’re going to do to themselves and step on in for the win. That’s win number seven – 13 more and maybe I can catch up with my dad. But I’m not sure my body is going to keep doing that. I’ve got to thank everybody – all of my crew, General Motors, Hummer, my wife, everybody – we’ve won a lot of races and we’re going to relish it. This is the kind of day you hope for.”

STOCK MINI
779 GAVIN SKILTON, 1st in Class and Honda Ridgeline’s first SCORE Baja 1000 win.
Gavin said: “I held a six- minute lead but I made a mistake. I got caught in the silt. Kenny Koker pulled me out when my cash ran out trying to get help from the locals. There was enough muscle power with them. But he pulled me out of the hole. I had to make up about six minutes and I couldn’t do it. I broke my vehicle trying to catch the leader. But the competitor (Ryan Millen) broke his vehicle even worse. He broke one mile from my final breaking point. We replaced the axle and he is still sitting there. I had a great race up to mile 570. I dropped my right front wheel in the hole. We had one small flat when I slammed into a road crossing. That was the only time I was out of the truck since noon yesterday. I knew it wouldn’t be easy. It was a shorter race, but the terrain was tough. Never underestimate it, ever. I thought my race was over four miles from the finish. And three miles from the finish, my competitor is stuck in a hole. We always say, ‘Don’t give up,’ and today was proof of that motto. The Honda Ridgeline was the best handling truck in our class today. It’s great to win this event for them.”

760 ROD HALL/MIKE WINKEL, 2nd in Class. (Today was Hall’s 71st birthday as he sought his 20th Baja 1000 class victory this year.)
Hall said: “We were down for about an hour and 45 minutes, so we got behind. I clipped a rock and put us down. Thanks for the birthday wishes. At my age, I take it one day at a time. And, with the Baja, I take it one year at a time. I’m just happy to be coming here each year. Every year, there is something new and different.”

PROTRUCK
JASON VOSS/RICH VOSS, 1st in Class.
Jason said: “The course was just as I expected. My dad did the start to just after mile 290. He handed the truck off to me at about 6 or 6:30 and he had a huge lead for me so I just pretty much had to take it easy on the San Felipe loop and not tear the truck up. I cruised it into the finish problem-free all day until about 10 miles out, I drove it off the edge and got stuck in some tall stuff and I had to get pulled out. But that was the only problem of the day. Things went smooth, no flats on our Generals, nothing. This is my first Baja 1000 win. We won the 500 this year and we won Laughlin this year so I believe we get the Protruck Championship for the year. We won the SCORE championship last year and we wanted to win the 1000 this year.”

BAJA CHALLENGE
BC13 CHRIS KEMP/JAMES DeGAINE/DANIEL ELKINS/VINCENT TRINO/PAT McCLEISH/DINO CRESCENTINI, 1st in Class.
Crescentini said: “I’m stoked. I can’t believe it. I’m so tired and exhausted and beat and happy – I don’t know what to say. I normally race in the boat races and I got into this by my friend Chris Kemp. I couldn’t have done it without all of my teammates and I couldn’t be happier. We had a problem on the first leg with James, he ran into a post and broke a steel arm bar, but we got it fixed pretty quickly and we just made up some time and got it done.”

PRO MOTORCYCLES

CLASS 22
1X ROBBY BELL/KENDALL NORMAN/JOHNNY CAMPBELL, 1st Overall and 1ST in Class. (Bell started the race and rode the third stint also, Norman rode the second stint, Campbell rode the final stint from Trinidad.)
Norman said: “I got on the bike at Honda pit three and I was about two and half minutes down. We were third physically on the course. I just started charging. In the whoops, I caught the 10x bike who had crashed. And I began ride consistently and raced with the 2X bike, who had a phenomenal start. I got to the lead at the end of whoop section. I just started riding my own race. I opened up a good gap at that point. Then I put it in cruise control. Actually, I got off the bike in San Felipe. I rode over 200 miles and Robby (Bell) got back on for the nasty whoop section. Then Johnny (Campbell) finished up from Trinidad. I thought it was a really good course. I have never raced the northern Baja terrain by Mexicali before. It was a new experience for me. I thought SCORE did a really good job with the course. They made it shorter this year and that was more affordable for the racers. It was great turnout for entries this year. When we first started racing down here we both had the speed to go win but we were both immature and we didn’t have the experience. But we have learned together and put it together. Now we can come down here and both ride solid races every time, it seems like. That’s what the key is to winning down here: being super solid and having someone you can rely on so that you don’t have to worry about your teammates, you just do your job.”

Campbell said: “We actually got the lead about mile 158, we just got it going away from there. 6x never pressured us, they held us up quite a bit in the first part of the race, about 80 miles, 1x and 10x were just dogging it in the dust, took forever to get around them. 2x had a big lead, a couple minutes, about mile 120. In the bottom of the Rim Rosa, Robby hit a rock really bad and sprained his wrist and actually dropped back behind 10x when he came into Honda pit 3 (mile 147). Kendall got on and passed 10x, 10x actually tipped over, then he passed 2x. When I got the bike I had a 10-minute lead so I just had to maintain and bring it in. Baja is a special place and I’ve been fortunate to live a lot of my life down here. I think I’ll just take a day off after this and relax. It’s a lot of work, a lot of head work. I’m the decision maker so you’ve got more responsibility. It was a pretty rough course; they get pre-ran to death. I’ve ran rougher than this, ’99 was so tough. This one wasn’t so bad. When you get handed the bike with a 10-minute lead, it makes it a little easier.”

Bell said: “It’s great to see Johnny (Campbell) get some of the glory and finish it, and get his 11th down here. It was such a gnarly race. It was tough with the dust; there wasn’t much wind early. Between pit 1 and 2, around mile 80, I finally got into second place. The 2x bike was gone -- whoever was on the bike was riding like a hero. I actually ended up hitting a rock and tweaking my wrist a little bit, so I gave the bike to Kendall in third place. But he was my hero today he got us back in the lead and gave me a good lead when I got back on. Definitely stoked he picked it up when I let it down a little.”

10X CALEB GOSSELAAR/TIMMY WEIGAND/QUINN CODY/TIM MORTON, 2nd in Class. (Weigand started the race and took the lead before handing the bike to Cody.)
Weigand said: “I started the race and rode in dust for awhile. There were two bikes in front of me. Robby (Bell) got by (Brent) Harden, and I fell near the mountain. So it was hard to come back. I was able to then get by Harden, otherwise Robby would have been gone. I kept plugging ahead and was able to get by Robby in the sand wash. I was feeling and we had a strong riding team. Unfortunately, Quinn made a mistake and fell over. That’s racing. Quinn got going ahead and Kendall (Norman) was on the gas. We charged as hard as we could and second place is good.”
Gosselaar said: “I started, only for the first quarter-mile, then I gave it to Tim Weigand. He was on the gas, he actually caught up and passed 1x, we were in the lead for a little bit. He gave it to Quinn Cody, who was running great, but he ended up going down, he hit something. We lost a little bit of time then. When I got back on the bike I had a little spill, nothing bad but bent the radiator. I’m getting back from an injury, so I had shorter sections, but it was a fun race for sure.”
Morton said: “We (Johnny Campbell and I) got on the bike at the same place so I told him to order me the lasagna when he got here. He’s still standing here; I think he just wants me to feel good. I’m pretty sure Quinn had a little fall, Caleb might have taken a little spill, but the bike is still perfect. I couldn’t say anything better about the bike, I just wasn’t clicking.”

16X COLTON UDALL/JUSTIN SEEDS/BRYCE STAVRON/RON WILSON, 4th in Class.
Udall said: “The bike held up really well, I felt like I rode my section pretty well. I hit a pretty bad rock and almost went off the course. I’m stoked for the team and stoked for the finish. It’s actually the first Baja 1000 that I’ve placed really well. I can’t thank Johnny and Tim Morton enough for providing us the bike and the team. We all put it together today.
Seeds said: “I tried to get a lead, we all rode our butts off. The front brake lever fell off, so I ran about 50 miles with no front brakes, and it was through a pine forest. I’m happy with the way I rode. I’m happy for my teammates, coming in first and second makes it so much better. I’ve been down here all week with Robby Bell, pre-running with him. Thanks to him he really helped me out, knowing a lot of lines. Actually I had a clean day, I was kind of by myself. The only dust I had was from cars on the road. It was basically pretty easy; I didn’t really have to do any work. I’m really excited, with this being just my second time down here (placed third in Class 22 in the Tecate SCORE Baja 500 in June).”

9X GABRIEL WILLIAMS, 2nd Rider to finish Solo.
“It was a tough course. There were a lot of different things out there today. It was beautiful too. I was never lonely. It was just me and the voices in my head. I don’t feel that bad after that ride. I feel like I ran out of skill at the end. I took a ten-minute break at mile 140, ten minutes at mile 190 and fifteen minutes at mile 400. I’m glad I got to the finish.”

CLASS 21
103X FRANCISCO ARREDONDO/JAMES WEST/IVAN RAMIREZ/VICTOR RIVERA, 1st IN Class 21. (Ramirez, the Ensenada rider, started and finished the race with Arredondo (Guatemala), West (England) and Rivera (Spain) riding through the middle of the event).
West said: “It was a great experience. This was my first Baja 1000. I normally ride rallys in the Middle East. I compete against Francisco and Victor. Francisco called me and asked if I would like to run the Baja. I was very excited for the chance. I rode the San Felipe loop and Victor took over for me. Victor won the 450cc Cross Country World Championship.”
Ramirez said: “I started today and then finished too. I was a great win for us.” Arredondo said: “I called these guys to come race the Baja with me. We race in rallys around the world. So I asked them to help me. And we won for the second year.” Rivera said: “This is my first Baja. I have ridden in four Paris to Dakar rallys. This was a great event. And it’s special to win our class.”

CLASS 20
153X CHAD BLACK/CONNOR PENHALL/BRIAN BEBECK/JAKE HULLET, 1st in Class. (Black started and finished.)
Black said: It was pretty foggy there at the end and you just had to take it slow. It was horrible – you just had to sit down and cruise in third gear. It was important to get out front, but it was hard starting 40th because you got stuck in the dust. We made up some time, we picked up like 15 minutes from mile 100 to 150 and that was the key to winning.”

152X TONY RUTTER/TIME STEENEKEN/STEVEN BLACKLEY, 2nd in Class 20. (All three riders from New Zealand.)
Rutter said: “We had a great run today. The Kiwis came through at the Baja. It is exciting to race in the Baja 1000. And we are a long way from home. But New Zealand will know that we competed here. It is a tough race. It’s very satisfying.”

CLASS 30
305x SCOTT MYERS/SHANE ESPOSITO/FRANCISCO SEPTIEN, 1st in Class
Myers said: “Actually I had the worst ride of my life. I twisted my ankle two miles in really bad, and had a lot of problems, I crashed a couple times. It was just terrible. Luckily I still brought it in, we had about a 10-minute lead over the 300x guys. I was the only one who had problems I think. With the chase trucks and running around all over, it was a little stressful but it was good.”
Esposito said: “No problem with the fog, I just caught a couple of bikes in silt sections. Actually when I got on the bike I turned around and saw (300x Gerardo) Rojas not far behind me.”

300x Jim O’Neal/Jimmy O’Neal Jr. /Jason Trubey/Mac Stewart /Gerardo Rojas/Vicente Guerrero /Luke Dodson, 2nd in Class.
Trubey said: “I didn’t pre-run at night so that made it pretty tough, but it was a lot of fun, you just have to pick your way through it. I know one of our riders went down pretty good, but honestly I don’t know a whole lot because our tracker wasn’t working. I want to thank Jim for inviting me to ride with him all year. I’m happy to be here, my eyes are done, I couldn’t see any more. Between all the people telling you to go the wrong direction, pointing the wrong way, trying to get you lost, you’re just happy to see that concrete road.”

CLASS 40
400X BRETT HELM/JEFF KAPLAN/LOU FRANCO/JON ORTNER/CRAIG ADAMS/BOB JOHNSON, 1st in Class. (Helm, Kaplan, Ortner and Franco each rode three segments and Adams and Johnson rode one segment each. Helm started and finished.)
Helm said: “We got into the lead early and Craig just took off. Jon Ortner and Louis Franco and Jeff Kaplan and Bob Johnson, we switched off about three times each – all short segments. There were some kids throwing rocks in one section and blocking it with rocks and logs. But our team loved this course. We got far enough out there with sunlight and it was such a big advantage. This is my second overall championship and, on this team, our sixth race (win) in a row.”

405X MICHAEL KORENWINDER, 1st Rider to finish Solo.
Korenwinder said: “They call me the ‘old corndog.’ I’m 47 years old and I have a great group of family and friends who helped me get through this race. None of this would have been possible without their support. I was able to pre-run the course two weeks ago with a couple of friends, and we ran the entire course. That helped a lot. My wife and daughters are here and they were really supportive in this effort. This is a dream come true for me. At mile 315, I knew I was at the halfway mark and I was racing for the lead. I knew I had to hunker down and finish the deal. My crew raced along with me all day. I have about 30 people here from my hometown area.”

CLASS 50
500X JIM O’NEAL/DOUG NEIL/MIKE SIXBERY/ANDY KIRKER/PAUL NEEDLES/ROBERT HANSEN, 1st in Class. (Six different riders switched off during the race with Kirker finishing.)
Kirker said “We had six guys who switched off through the race. Paul Needles broke his shoulder in pre-running, so he couldn’t run the race. But Dan Dawson did a great job for us. The motorcycle ran perfect all day. All we had to do was cruise to the finish. Jim (O’Neal) started the race and Mike Sixberry jumped on followed by Dan Dawson. Then I ran in the middle and we split up the section before the finish. I rode it in to the checkered flag. We are pleased with this run since we are close to the top 10 in overall motorcycles.”

CLASS 60
600X DONALD LEWIS/SAM DEMPSEY/BOB GATES/MIKE HARPER/CHARLES KOISTRA/WILL ROGERS/DAN DOERKSEN, 1ST in Class.
Lewis said: “It was a mental test. It was foggy out there, about two miles out – and dusty, too. Everything was nice and beautiful this morning and we were just paddling at the end. We got first place in the 250, the 500 and now the 1000 (in Baja) – what a great result for the year. And we got our second championship of the year.”

PRO ATVs

CLASS 25
8A WAYNE MATLOCK/HAROLD GOODMAN/MARC SPAETH/WES MILLER, 1st in Class. (Matlock started and rode to RM 120, Goodman rode to RM 294, Spaeth rode to RM 350, Matlock rode to 400, Goodman rode to RM 460, Miller rode to RM 600 and Matlock finished.)
Matlock said: “We didn’t have too many problems – we had little hiccups here and there but all in all, everybody rode terrific today. We’d get sections where we’d make up a lot of time and then we’d had a little issue and set us back and we kept coming through it. Everyone did a terrific job and I can’t believe it. We were seconds apart from 1A (Danny Prather) all day long.”

CLASS 24
101A GREG CHRISTY/JASON LAY/DAVID SCOTT/JEREMY SANTOS, 1st in Class. Christy said: “We have been working on this win for a long time. We had a lot of thirds and seconds and we, finally, got our first Baja win. We had a little coil problem, but Duncan Racing was there to fix. I got lost twice coming into the finish. A lot of people on the course had flashlights that pointed me in the right direction.”
Lay said: ”I used to race against Greg many times, and we joined forces about a year ago. Our team has been working hard to get this effort together. I want to thank Greg for the chance to ride with this team.”