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

Relishing in the euphoria of yet another record-setting performance, the team of Robby Bell/Kendall Norman/Johnny Campbell along with the team of Roger Norman and Larry Roeseler enjoyed the well-earned fruits of their laborious journey by capturing the overall 2-wheel and 4-wheel victories late Friday in the grandaddy of all desert races.

Beating a deep and talented field of 347 starters that came from 29 U.S. States and 34 countries, the Bell/Norman/Campbell trio won Class 22 on the No. 1x Johnny Campbell Racing Honda CRF450X motorcycle while Norman/Roeseler powered their way to the top of the marquee SCORE Trophy-Truck division in the No. 8 Norman Motorsports Ford F-150.

The world’s best known and most prestigious desert race started for the 34th time and finished for the 19th time in Ensenada, 65 miles south of the U.S border at San Diego.

As the final checkered flag dropped Saturday evening for the last of 227 official finishers in the 41st annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, it was obvious that another incredible and colorful chapter had been added to the legacy of this popular desert race in the magnificent Baja California, Mexico, peninsula.

The 347 starters are the most ever in race history for a ‘loop’ race and the third most of any race in the 41-year history of the event. The 227 finishers are also the third-most in event history.  The finishing percentage this year was an impressive 65.4 percent.

With Bell, Sun City, Calif., starting the race and riding a second time as well and Norman, Santa Barbara, Calif. and Campbell, San Clemente, Calif., each riding on leg, the talented trio helped Honda to increase its record overall victory total in this race to 19 total, covering the tight, technical and rugged northern Baja California race course in 12 hours, 29 minutes, 10 seconds, averaging 50.56 miles per hour.

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.

The Honda team easily outdistanced the second of three JCR teams in the race--Caleb Gosselaar, Juniper Hills, Calif./Timmy Weigand, Santa Clarita, Calif./Quinn Cody, Buellton, Calif../Tim Morton, Escondido, Calif., who finished in 12:55:35 on their Honda CRF450X, 26 minutes and 25 seconds behind their championship teammates.

Norman shared his thoughts after the race.  “I thought it was a really good course.  I have never raced the northern Baja terrain by Mexicali before.  It was a new experience for me.  I thought SCORE did a really good job with the course.  They made it shorter this year and that was more affordable for the racers.”  Having experience helps. “When we first started racing down here we both had the speed to go win but we were both immature and we didn’t have the experience.  But we have learned together and put it together.  Now we can come down here and both ride solid races every time, it seems like.  That’s what the key is to winning down here: being super solid and having someone you can rely on so that you don’t have to worry about your teammates, you just do your job,” he said.
 
“When you get handed the bike with a 10-minute lead, it makes it a little easier,” said teammate Campbell. “Baja is a special place and I’ve been fortunate to live a lot of my life down here.  I think I’ll just take a day off after this and relax.  It’s a lot of work, a lot of head work,” 
 
There were moments when it didn’t look so easy. “I actually ended up hitting a rock and tweaking my wrist a little bit, so I gave the bike to Kendall in third place.  But he was my hero today he got us back in the lead and gave me a good lead when I got back on.  Definitely stoked he picked it up when I let it down a little,” said a jubilant Bell.

While Bell, Sun City, Calif., won his second overall title in the SCORE Baja 1000 and Norman, Santa Barbara, Calif., his third, Campbell, San Clemente, Calif. 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, Irvine, Calif., who won the SCORE Trophy-Truck vehicles race with a time of12:40:33 (49.81 mph).

Roeseler, who was going for his race-record 13th overall race win in this event (he has also won two 4-wheel titles), shared the driving duties in the No. 8 Ford F-150 with team owner Roger Norman, of Reno, Nev.  By three-quarters of the way through the race they were leading Las Vegas' B.J. Baldwin, who was driving solo in the No. 97 Chevy Silverado, by just 4 minutes, 30 seconds.  A pace the two competitors maintained to the finish seeing Baldwin cross the line about five minutes after Norman’s F-150 sealed the victory and turning in a time of 12:45:26 while averaging(49.49 mph).

Roeseler talked about this hotly contested victory.  He said, “It was a fantastic day. I followed B.J. off the start. He started 20 seconds in front of us and Brian Collins was doing a heck of a job. It was exciting all the way down until we finally got by the field. We were first on the road and we kept that spot ever since. B.J. was keeping us honest. If he got back in front of us, then we would have had to have finished within 30 seconds of him. Roger did a heck of a job. He kept that five, six-minute lead all the way from when I gave him the five or six minutes. What a wonderful, wonderful race. I went all day today to the 400-mile marker with no flats and I’m pretty sure Roger went all the way to the finish with no flats, so we won the Baja 1000 with no flat tires. Winning Primm was a great race for us and great momentum for the team so coming to the 1000 with that momentum, for sure, got us going and with our pre-running and preparation, it all paid off.”

Norman said: “I got in the driver’s seat in the lead thanks to Larry and I just had to bring it home. But that is easier said than done. I took it easy and kept gaining a little ground on B.J. This is the toughest and greatest race in the world and we were racing against the greatest desert racers in the world. I knew we had to have a flawless day to win and we did. We had no flats; our BFG Tires were tougher than the Baja rocks. The only little thing is we went too strong off of a jump around Valle de Trinidad and our top lights came off so we stopped for about a minute and a half to put them back on and they were fine.  We’re here and we have a team that won’t quit and we made it to the finish line with all the body parts.”

Enthusiastic crowds estimated at nearly 300,000 stretched out along the race route. Roeseler has captured the last four unlimited Class 1 titles in the SCORE Baja 1000 in addition to his overall SCORE Baja 1000 titles.

NASCAR Sprint Cup team owner/driver and three-time SCORE Baja 1000 winner Robby Gordon had a tough start to his 2008 SCORE Baja 1000 run when his Chevy Silverado flipped at mile eight, just outside Ensenada.  Gordon's crew was able to repair the truck, but the Charlotte, N.C. driver was well off Roeseler's leading pace.

With 347 starters competing to compete in 28 Pro and 7 Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs, the granddaddy of all desert races, the event is the finale of the five-race 2008 SCORE Desert Series. The starting field, coming from 39 U.S. States and 24 countries, was a record for a "loop" race in the SCORE Baja 1000, bettering the 1977 mark of 346.

The 631.35 mile course remained open until 7:21 p.m. on Saturday as 227 racers out of 347 starters made it to the finish within the 31-hour time limit in the elapsed-time race. The finish line was located on Boulevard Costero in front of the Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center in the heart of Ensenada.

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.

For more information regarding the series, contact SCORE at its Los Angeles headquarters 818.225.8402 or visit the official website of the SCORE Desert Series at www.score-international.com  .
 

For complete results of the 2008 Baja 1000 Go to the next page ---