Campbell takes 11th Baja 1000 win

From the SCORE Desert Series

ENSENADA, MEXICO — Robby Bell, Kendall Norman and Johnny Campbell teamed up to ride the No. 1x Johnny Campbell Racing Honda CRF450R to the overall and Class 22 victory Friday night in the 41st Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 desert race.

Bell/Norman/Campbell rode hard and fast over a tight, technical, body-bruising 631.35-mile course to give American Honda a record 19th overall win in the granddaddy of all desert races. The trio tapped the rugged desert course, completing their victory march in 12 hours, 29 minutes and 10 seconds, averaging 50.56 miles per hour.

With Bell riding the start, Norman the second section, Bell back again for the third and Campbell the final sprint to the finish line, the team easily outdistanced the second of three JCR teams in the race -- Caleb Gosselaar/Timmy Weigand/Quinn Cody/Tim Morton, who finished in 12:55:35 on their Honda CRF450X, 26 minutes and 25 seconds behind their championship teammates.

While Bell won his second overall title in the SCORE Baja 1000 and Norman his third, Campbell added to his SCORE Baja Racing legacy by winning a race-record 11th overall motorcycle title. With the win, he broke the 10-10 tie he had with Larry Roeseler.

With 347 starters competing in 28 Pro and seven Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs, the granddaddy of all desert races is the finale of the five-race 2008 SCORE Desert Series. The starting field, coming from 39 US States and 24 countries, was a record for a “loop” race in the SCORE Baja 1000, bettering the 1977 mark of 346.

Since 1967, the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 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. This is the 34th year it has started and the 19th year it has finished in Ensenada.