ENSENADA, BC. Grey skies and light drizzle set the stage for a day of spectacular racing on the Baja Peninsula. Approximately 200 machines lined up for the 470 mile tour of Baja's Pacific half.
The bikes and ATVs started first with a bunch of Honda Thumpers dominating. It was all Honda all the time, with Johnny Campbell and Baja Ace, Bruce Ogilvie leading from start to finish. Honda Veteran Ogilvie, 44, Fountain Valley, CA, and Campbell, 26, San Clemente, CA, were first off the line. They maintained a 5 to 8 minute lead over the second place team of Tim Staab and Greg Bringle. |
 Honda Vet Bruce Ogilvie at San Vicente |
The cars and trucks were up next. Ivan Stewart with the new T-100 V8 powerplant took the point. Stewart, 51, Alpine, CA, wasted no time putting the new 150 ponies to work winning by 28 minutes. Stewart was in front flag to flag continuously increasing his lead over the rest of the field. Mark McMillian took second overall in the Chenowth. Bob Gordon drove his Toyota powered Chenowth to second Class 1, third overall. Gordon, 40 (something), Orange, CA, and McMillin, Bonita, CA were benefactors of a broken drive shaft on the Team MacPherson Trophy Truck late in the race. Jeff Lewis, 30, Irvine, CA, drove the Chevy to within 25 minutes of Ivan Stewart and was the second vehicle on the road. Lewis Stopped 16 miles from the finish and was passed by Gordon and McMillian as the crew rushed to complete the repairs.
 Jeff Lewis, Chevy Trophy Truck  Juan Ramos, Trophy Truck |
This race offered the potential of a real shootout for the Trophy Trucks. Unfortunately that was not the case. Ivan stole the show, finishing with a time of 9:48:54. The new Toyota V8 had an average speed of 47.928. Ivan left the line first and stayed out front all day. Jeff Lewis ran hard all day and stayed within striking distance of Ivan. Lewis, 30, Irvine, CA had a finishing time of 10:26:48, avg. speed of 45.029. Evidently Team MacPherson is finally getting the bugs worked out of the Chevy. Juan Carlo Ramos was third with an impressive effort. Ramos had a finishing time of 11:27:00, and an average speed of 41.083. |
Larry Ragland had a tough day completing only about 40 miles of the race. Ragland, 51, Phoenix, AZ, was seconds behind Ivan early in the race when Murphy's Law struck. At about mile 30 Ragland suffered a rear flat, the flat helped brake the wheel, which helped sheer the brake line, which helped get Larry hopelessly stuck. Bummer. The "Now you see him, no you don't" award goes to Curt LeDuc. Somehow Curt managed to record a finish, the time was 18:15:49 with an average speed of 25.757. Looks like Curt was up North racing with the SODA gang and had who-knows-who, driving who-knows-what, take his place. Hummmmmm.
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BF
Goodrich Radio Relay Timing
1997 Baja 500
Unofficial Results
To Be Continued
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