Campbell eyes 11th Baja 1000 win

From the SCORE Desert Series

LOS ANGELES, CA — Desert racing champions become legends in Baja and Southern California’s popular Johhny Campbell is hoping to enter a league of his own by winning a race-record 11th overall motorcycle title next week during the legendary 41st Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. The world’s most grueling and famous desert race will be held Nov. 19-23 in Ensenada.

A veteran American Honda factory rider and former longtime Honda employee, Campbell, 37, of San Clemente, CA, is completing his first year as owner of Johnny Campbell Racing (JCR) with three factory-supported Honda CRF450X motorcycles entered in Class 22 for open motorcycles that will lead over 150 motorcycles and ATVs into the wilds of the northern part of the magnificent and mysterious Baja California peninsula.

Spending more time with logistics and team management this year, Campbell did pinch hit for then-injured co-rider Kendall Norman and won the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 with team rider of record Robby Bell. Campbell is expected to ride about a third of this year’s race as part of the Bell/Norman team in his quest to capture an unprecedented 11th overall motorcycle win.

The No. 1x team won both the SCORE San Felipe 250 and the SCORE Baja 500 this year and the team will be looking to win SCORE career season point titles No. 11 for Campbell, and third straight for Bell and Norman.

Hoping to break the 10-10 tie in overall motorcycles wins with legendary Larry Roeseler in this race, Campbell has also signed up on the JCR’s No. 10x Honda that will be ridden by Caleb Gasselaar/Timmy Weigand/Quinn Cody/Tim Morton.

With over 375 entries expected to compete in 28 Pro and seven Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs, the Baja 1000 is the granddaddy of all desert races. Completing its 35th year as the World’s foremost desert racing sanctioning body, the event is the finale of the five-race 2008 SCORE Desert Series.

“I have been incredibly blessed in my motorcycle racing career, not only with the opportunities I have received to ride for the Honda factory team, but even more importantly, to learn how to ride and about the sport from a great teacher like Bruce Ogilvie,” said Campbell, who also has seven career overall wins in the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 and five in the Tecate SCORE Baja 500.

“Now that my position has changed to team owner, the demands are even greater and I am thoroughly enjoying the process of developing and maintaining the next generation of factory-supported Honda desert racers.”

Among the legends of Baja who will be riding in this year’s race are nine riders who have earned 64 class wins between them.

Besides Campbell’s 10 wins in Class 22, entered this year are Chris Haines, (13, Class 50), Craig Adams, (11, co-rider in both Class 50 and Class 40), Jim O’Neal, (7, Class 50 and Class 30), Richard Jackson, (6, Class 60), Bill Nichols, (5, co-rider in Class 60), Scott Pfeiffer, (5, co-rider in Class 50), Tim Morton, (4, co-rider in Class 22) and Gerardo Rojas, (3, co-rider in Class 30).

On the ATV side of the race, the battle for the overall appears to be between the two Honda-supported teams of No. 1a Danny Prather and No. 8a Wayne Matlock. Both teams ride the new Honda TRX700XX ATV.

Riding with Prather, the 2007 SCORE ATV point champion, are Mike Cafro, Chad Prull and Levi Marana. Riding with Matlock, who has led teams to victory in the first two SCORE Baja races this year, are Harold Goodman, Marc Spaeth and Wes Miller.

Since 1967, the Granddaddy of all desert races has been run over the mysterious Baja California peninsula. Because of the economics and logistics involved, some years it is a peninsula run while most years it is a loop race, starting and finishing in Ensenada.

The 631.35-mile race will start for the 34th time and finish for the 19th time in Ensenada. The motorcycle and ATV classes will start their journey at 6:30 a.m. (Friday, Nov. 21) with the car and truck classes starting at approximately 10:30 a.m., or three hours after the last ATV leaves the line. Vehicles will leave in 30-second intervals in the elapsed-time race while the fastest finishers are expected to complete the course in approximately 14 hours. All vehicles will have a 31-hour time limit to become official finishers in the legendary adventure.

By drawing the first starting position in the race, Grant Steele and his team will lead the 16 entries to date in Class 22 for open motorcycles on a Honda CRF450X.

This year’s Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 desert race will be televised on a delayed basis as a one-hour NBC Sports special for the fifth consecutive year, scheduled to air at 1:00 p.m. (EST) on Sunday, Dec. 14.

For more information on the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 visit the official website of the 2008 SCORE Desert Series at www.score-international.com.