Campbell wins record fifth-straight Baja 1000!

Honda claims record 12th overall motorcycle win!

Fortin/Townsley drive Jimco buggy to Baja victory!

November 12, 2001 - American Honda teammates Johnny Campbell and Tim Staab roared to an impressive overall motorcycle victory and the team of Doug Fortin and Charlie Townsley blasted their way to the overall four-wheel win late Friday at the 34th Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, the granddaddy of all desert races.

With racing finishing for the slower vehicles and classes late Saturday afternoon, the Campbell/Staab duo and the Fortin/Townsley team relaxed after defeating a field of 219 starters, competing in 25 classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs. The event ended the five-race 2001 Duralast SCORE Desert Series campaign. Only 103 vehicles finished the grueling 677-miles ovre the rocky, rugged, sitly, tight, twisty and technically-challenging Baja California course within the 30-hour time limit in the elapsed time race.

Wild dogs roamed throughout the Baja peninsula in search of fresh biker bait. Team Honda's Johnny Campbell nearly got it crossed up going into the Ojos mud pit trying to avoid this one. On his way out though, he was faced with another wild dog. This time, he showed the dog his version of the old Baja Boot.

Campbell, San Clemente, Calif., and Staab, of San Diego, overcame two potentially critical racing accidents to win the motorcycle portion of the race, covering the 667-miles over the rocky, rugged, silty, tight, twisty and technically-challenging Baja Callifornia course on their Honda XR650R in a time of 13 hours, 51 minutes and 40 seconds. Averaging 48.84 miles per hour to also win the Class 22 title was remarkable considering the two accidents Campbell had within the first 150 miles of the race. Their dominating performance resulted in a victory margin of over54 minutes.

Fortin, La Mesa, Calif. and Townsley, of Las Vegas, on the other hand, had a flawless day in their Chevy-powered Jimco, to earn the overall four-wheel and the unlimited Class 1 titles in 14:35:42.With an average speed of 46.39 mph for a team racing together for the first time, their victory margin among four-wheel vehicles was an equally impressive split of over 39 minutes. Fortin, 31, and Townsley, 27, are both second-generation desert racers.

Honda, Campbell and Staab, all made desert racing history in the event. Campbell, 30, won the overall motorcycle title for a record fifth consecutive year and fourth with Staab, 23. Honda earned it's new standard by winning the overall motorcycle for a record 12th time in the 34-year history of the race.

"Nobody builds tougher bikes than Honda, and I'm living proof of that," said Campbell, who hit an ATV riden by a spectator who wondered on the course at mile 100 and then 50 miles later smashed the front wheel on his Honda when he hit a cow that strayed onto the race course. "I was going about 45 miles an hour in a wash when all of a sudden I see this cow's head come out from behind a bush and there was not time to react. The impact flipped me off the back and fortunately I landed on soft silt or I would have been hurt really bad. I was happy to turn over the bike to Tim and get some rest before getting back on at the Valley de Trinidad to ride to the finish."

Doug Fortin just nabbed his second Baja 1000 victory in his single seat Jimco buggy. He enlisted the help of Charlie Townsley to help with the chore of bringing his buggy to an epic finish in one of the roughest Baja 1000 ever - and they did it in a buggy.

Campbell and Staab outran their Honda teammates Steve Hengeveld, Oak Hills, Calif., and Jonah Street, Ellensburg, Wash. The Hengeveld/Street tandem entered the race with a two-race SCORE winning streak against the more experience Campbell/Staab team.

"It was a very, very rough SCORE Baja 1000, but we won so it made all the pain go away and it was all fun," said Fortin, who also won the overall four-wheel title in this race in 1997. "This course was so tight and technical, it definitely favored the lighter open-wheel cars over the trucks. It just doesn't get any better in this sport than to win the SCORE Baja 1000. I'm a little older now than in 1997 when I drive solo and Charlie did a masterful job running his section from Borrego around Mike's Sky Rancho and back to the Valley de Trinidad. Amazingly, none of the top three finishers had any flats, proving how Baja tough and well-designed BFGoodrich Tires are."

In what may be the last race of his career, Steve Sourapas, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., held his V6 Chevy-powered Jimco good enough to finished second overall and in Class 1 to the Fortin/Townsley duo.

Also among 16 starters in Class 1, San Diego-area brothers Scott, 41, and Mark McMillin, 45, finished third and fifth overall, sandwiching Jeff Quiin and Bob Gordon, who finished fourth overall and in Class 1. Scott McMillin finished in 15:25:42 in his Porsche-powered Porter while his older brother crossed the finish line on the outskirts of Ensenada in 15:42:04 in a Ford-powered Chenowth.Quinn, Irvine, Calif., and Gordon, Orange, Calif., finished in 15:39:20 in a Jimco.

Surprise! Class 16's Rob MacCachren rolled through the finish line in time to ad another championship to his epic season. Depending on what happens at the BITD Las Vegas 200, he could be helping himself to a historical four-championship season.

After hitting a bolder and ripping off his entire front right wheel less than 20-miles into the race, Las Vegas' Troy Herbst climbed his way back from last (16th) in Class 1 to finish sixth overall in his Terrible Herbst Motorsports Ford-powered Smithbuilt race car. The finish earned him a SCORE record fifth consecutive Class 1 season championship.

In the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division, the team of David Ashley/Dan Smith of Riverside, Calif., finished ninth overall and won their class for the third straight race in the Duralast Ford F-150.

In Class 40 for motorcycle riders 40-years old and above, Chris Haines, Trabuco Canyon, Calif., and Las Vegas' Jack Johnson added to their Baja legend, riding to a class victory and a stellar third-place overall motorcycle finish on a Honda XR650 with Craig Adams, San Clemente, Calif. Haines now had eight career class wins and Johnson seven in the sport's oldest and most prestigious race.

Las Vegas' Rob MacCachren, drove his VW-powered Fraley to an incedible two-hour victory margin in Class 1-2/1600 for his fourth win of the year in the class which featured a race-high 23 starters in Baja. He also finished 15th overall among four-wheel vehicles. In Class 5, George Seeley Jr., Glendale, Calif., won this race for the third in the class for unlimited VW baja bugs.

In the closest class struggle of the race, Mexico's Eric Fisher outdueled Cisco Bio, Spring Valley, Calif., to a narrow victory margin of just 45 seconds after racing for over 21 hours. Bio was attempting to go undefeated in the class after winning the first four races of the season.

Three Japanese women were on a mission - to finish the Baja 1000 on their Japanese model Baja XR 250. Yuki, Mutsumi and Mayumi rode their electric start Honda into history. The Japanese reporters were falling all over them. From what we understand, they're the hot ticket in Japan and just about the last official finisher in Baja. There seen here with Ruben, who co-drove the Championship SCORE Class 11 car of Eric Solorzano, who's goes unchallenged in his class.

Las Vegas' Danny Anderson won in Class 10 in a Toyota-powered Jimco, finishing seventh overall enroute to earning his second win of the season.

Other class winners in the legendary race included: Cory Susag, Dana Point, Calif., in Class 7S (Chevy S-10); Chad Hall, Reno, Nev. in Stock Full (AM General Hummer), Craig Turner, Yorba Linda, Calif. in Class 7 (Ford Ranger), Billy Bunch, La Quinta, Calif., in Class 3 (Jeep Cherokee); Clive Skilton, Orange, Calif., in Class 3I (Jeep Grand Cherokee), Nickk Vanderwey, Buckeye, Ariz., in Class 8 (Chevy Silverado) and Jerry Penhall, Costa Mesa, Calif. in SCORE Lite (Penhall).

Of special note, Isreal's Team Etgarim, led by Eyal Yerushalmi and featuring four drivers who are all physically challenged and use hand controls to operate their Tomcar Sport, overcame an early-race rollover to courageously capture the special Sportsman Buggy International class, finishing in 27:18:36. The team was the first-ever entirely handicapped race team to compete in a SCORE race.

The Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 was taped by Shoemaker Productions to air in the U.S. on the Speedvision Network. First airings of the one-hour special will be Saturday, Dec. 22 at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. (PST) and Sunday, Dec. 23 at 10 a.m. (PST).

A total of 226 entries from 30 U.S. States, Canada, France, Israel, Japan and Mexico competed in this year's renewal of the legendary race. With the 2001 season complete, the SCORE Awards Night will be held on Saturday, Dec. 8 in Las Vegas at the Orleans Hotel.

34th Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000
Final Round of Five-Race 2001 Duralast SCORE Desert Series
677 miles Nov. 8-9 Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
Total Entries: 226 Total Starters: 219 Total Finishers: 103