SCORE Baja1000 on NBC Sunday
In an yet another impressive display of power and poise, American Honda motorcycle teammates Robby Bell, Steve Hengeveld, Johnny Campbell and Kendall Norman along with the team of Mark Post/Rob MacCachren/Carl Renezeder posted the overall motorcycle and 4-wheel victories early Wednesday to lead the field.
The granddaddy of all desert races, the flagship event of the world’s foremost desert racing series was a rugged peninsula odyssey of 1,296.39 miles from Ensenada in Baja California to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Baja California Sur.
The telecast will mark the fourth consecutive year that the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 is televised nationally by NBC. The race will be shown across the globe starting in January on ESPN International. In association with NBC TV, the race was co-produced by Aura360, the SCORE electronic media partner.
Noted NBC sportscaster Bill Weber will be the anchor announcer for the telecast.
The near race-record 424 starters from a SCORE-record 44 U.S. States and a SCORE-record 20 countries, represented the second largest field in the history of the desert classic. They competed in 28 Pro and 6 Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs. The race was the season finale of the six-race 2007 SCORE Desert Series, the world’s foremost desert racing series.
Mexico tourism officials estimated record crowds of nearly 350,000 spread out along the course from Ensenada down both sides of the Baja California peninsula to Cabo San Lucas.
First to cross the finish line in the elapsed-time race was the No. 1 Honda CRF450X of Bell/Hengeveld/Campbell/Norman, who methodically marched down the grueling course to an overall winning time of 24 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds. Bell, as rider of record took the green flag in Ensenada followed by Norman, Campbell and Hengeveld captured the checkered flag, after riding for most of the night portion of the race. The team average speed over the tougher-than-usual course was 53.43 miles per hour.
While the American Honda teammates rode the fastest vehicle in the demanding race, Post, San Juan Capistrano, Calif./MacCachren, Las Vegas and Renezeder, Laguna Beach, Calif., split driving in the No. 3 Riviera Ford F-150 won the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division, leading all four-wheel vehicles to the finish line by covering the extremely demanding course in 25:21:25, with an average speed of 51.13mph.
Winning the unlimited Class 1 for an amazing fourth straight year Larry Roeseler, Hesperia, Calif. and Las Vegas’ Troy Herbst were third overall 4-wheel finishers with a class-winning time of 26:30:10 in the Terrible Herbst Motorsports Ford-powered Smithbuilt desert race car. In earning a SCORE record 23rd race win since 1997, the remarkable open-wheel race car will be retired to permanent display at the Terrible Herbst Race Shop in Huntington Beach, Calif.
Roeseler’s 16th class win in the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 moved to second by himself on the all-time class win list in this race. Troy Herbst now has six career class wins in this race.
Giving Honda its 11th consecutive victory and 18th total overall win in this desert racing classic, Hengeveld, Oak Hills, Calif., earned his 10th class win including seven Overall motorcycle titles and extended his winning streak to six Bell, Murrieta, Calif., earned his first class win in this race, Campbell, San Clemente, Calif., won his 10th overall motorcycle crown while Norman picked up his second.
The near race-record 424 starters was second-only to last year’s 431. The SCORE record of 237 finishers broke the race-record of 234 set in this race last year. The finishing percentage this year was an impressive 56.4 percent.