Last week, we told you Johnny Campbell Racing won the Baja 1000. Here’s some more information on that story.
The Baja 1000 was actually 1,121 miles long this year (1,804 kilometres); JCR led the way for 970 miles. They finished it in 20:09:30 for an average speed of 55.6 mph (89 kph), over an hour ahead of the competition.
This win gives Honda 16 consecutive victories at the Baja 1000 (23 wins in total), and Johnny Campbell is a huge part of that success. Campbell, the team manager, was signed as a back-up rider this year, but didn’t end up racing. The winning team consisted of Colton Udall, Timmy Weigand and David Kamo Honda.
This was Honda’s 50th year at Baja; the race’s origins stretch back to a Tijuana-La Paz promotional ride Dave Ekins and Bill Robertson did in 1962 to promote the company’s CL72 Scrambler. The bikes have come a long way since then, but nine out of the top 10 teams at the 1000 were on the Honda CRF450X this year. Kawasaki and KTM had taken the 250 and 500 Baja races, but Honda still dominated the big show. This win gives them the SCORE championship.
Only 174 of the 298 starting teams finished the Baja 1000 this year.
Those guys definitely know how to win in Baja!
They had some trouble in the shorter races this year, but nobody can beat Johnny Campbell and team in the 1000. They’ve got it all figured out.
I’m interested to see what happens when Campbell returns to Dakar this year, and also, if Marc Coma will return to race Baja. Those are sort of the two premiere events of their class. Coma did very well at Baja this spring, better than Campbell has ever done at Dakar AFAIK.