The 36th-annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 will go down as toughest one ever, with just 153 of the 272 original starters able to finish. Despite the long, dusty day and cold, foggy night, however, the Honda Off-Road Team pairing of Johnny Campbell and Steve Hengeveld not only coped well but thrived, resulting in a winning ride that saw them literally run away from the entire field to take the overall victory in 15 hours, 39 minutes, 52 seconds. That gave them an average speed of 51.58 miles per hour for the 808-mile course on their XR650R, besting the first truck or buggy by some 45 minutes and the second-place motorcycle by about 53 minutes. It also stretched Campbell's Baja 1000 win streak to seven in a row and gave Honda its 14th overall motorcycle victory, also extending a record. In addition, eight of the first 10 bike finishers relied on the XR650R, resulting in four Pro-class wins out of five (of course, the 650 isn't eligible for the 250cc class).

Though Campbell and Hengeveld finished the three-race SCORE Desert Series with a perfect record for the second consecutive year, don't think that their Baja 1000 win was easy. Campbell was fourth off the line and grabbed the lead just 20 miles later. Early in the race, however, he hit a sizeable rock that sat hidden in the shadows, destroying the front wheel. "I never even knew it was there," he said. "I've been down that road a hundred times, but I hit it going really, really fast! Right when I hit it, I thought it was over with."

Fortunately, Campbell didn't crash, but besides the mangled wheel, he suffered a jammed thumb on his throttle hand, an injury that would affect him the rest of the day. "It kind of dampened my ride because I had a really good rhythm going and everything was working really good until then," he lamented. Still, Campbell managed to limp the bike onward until he could get the broken wheel replaced by the heads-up crew from the next pit. After that, "Basically, I just had to maintain and ride 75 percent because my thumb was hurting pretty bad," he said, and he handed the bike to Hengeveld after 205 miles.

Coming on strong and determined to overtake them, the Christopher Blais/Chuck Dempsey/Andy Grider/Beau Hayden team actually passed Campbell/Hengeveld when the defending champs stopped for a scheduled tire change. That lasted only until they reached the bottom of the course near Chapala Dry Lake and turned north with Hengeveld moving back into the lead for good. "When I passed them at Chapala, my goal was just to ride as hard as I could to San Matias Pass (a distance of nearly 170 miles) because I figured I could put some time on them," Hengeveld explained. "When I got to San Felipe (about 120 miles later) I had six minutes and kept building."

Despite having to avoid a herd of cattle and some wild horses in the dark in the last 150 miles, plus needing to slow markedly for fog, Hengeveld kept extending his margin while Campbell kept tabs via a satellite phone he borrowed.

"There is no greater thrill or accomplishment in our sport than to be champions of the Baja 1000," Hengeveld declared after finishing back in Ensenada. "Don't wake me up; it's unbelievable!

"We rode a couple thousand miles in preparation for this thing. It all worked out so it's okay," he laughed.

The Blais/Dempsey/Grider/Hayden team ended up second overall on their XR650R, their ride slowed by a broken light bracket. Third overall and first in Class 40 for riders 40 or older went to Craig Adams, Rich Binkley, Chris Haines, Bob Johnson, Jack Johnson and Paul Ostbo. It marked the 20th Baja 1000 for Haines and gave him his 10th class victory. Class 30 winners Gerardo Rojas and Sergio Vega took fourth overall by just three seconds over Class 40 runners-up Jeff Kaplan, Jim O'Neal and Tim Withers.

Baja 1000 overall motorcycle results:
1. Johnny Campbell/Steve Hengeveld-Honda XR650R-15:39:52
2. Christopher Blais/Chuck Dempsey/Andy Grider/Beau Hayden-Honda XR650R-16:32:44 3. Craig Adams/Rich Binkley/Chris Haines/Bob Johnson/Jack Johnson/Paul Ostbo-Honda XR650R-17:37:30 4. Gerardo Rojas/Sergio Vega-Honda XR650R-17:43:18 5. Jeff Kaplan/Jim O'Neal/Tim Withers-Honda XR650R-17:43:21