36th Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000
Final Round of six-race 2003 SCORE Desert Series
Nov. 19-22, 2003 Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico

Doug Fortin is 33. He and Charlie Townsley Jr. also won this race overall (4-wheel) in 2001. They are the only team to beat the SCORE Trophy-Trucks for the overall (4-Wheel) in this race in the 10-year history of the class.

Also, Steve Hengeveld rode 427 and Johnny Campbell 381 miles for the winning bike team.

NOTES & QUOTES
The 272 official starters in this year's race represented the largest field since 1991 for starting and finishing in Ensenada.

A SCORE record 305 news media credentials were issued.

This race was the 62nd in the 10-year history of the marquee SCORE Trophy-Truck division and a record 24 trucks started the race.

1x Steve Hengeveld/Johnny Campbell
Hengeveld:
Sal said, "Good to see you!"
I was pumping, so everything was going a million miles an hour. Johnny's doing good. We are about an hour ahead of next biker.

Wash was fine; everything was good. Sal marked everything great. It was fun this year and had a good time. Mile 70, the front wheel broke and cost us 15 min. We just rode into the pit with a broken wheel. Sal said, "Looks like your are the overall winner of the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000." This will make it my 3rd Baja 1000 and I think Johnny's 7th. It feels great to win -once the adrenaline wears off, I'll be tired and crash. The time was great and brought us in safely. Great to see all the people cheering out there. . .

11x Chris Blais/Andy Grider/Chuck Dempsey/Beau Hayden
Blais:
It feels good! We had light problems and barely finished with this set; that's just being unprepared. Good course-had a blast. We were next to 1x but started having problems and withered away. It was worth it-we will try again next time. There was deep fog. I was in second gear just cruisin' along. Had fun, but everything made it interesting. Swapping back and forth most of the day with 1x but once night came you see who is set up and who isn't. But we will try again next year! The crowd is great. This is Baja-anything can happen.

449x Chris Haines/Bob Johnson/Craig Adams/Paul Ostbo/Jack Johnson
Bob Johnson:
It was fun but foggy. I could barely go in second gear through certain sections. Things went well but the bike wasn't running that well, but we nursed it in.

349x Sergio Vega/Gerardo Rojas/Julio Cesar Abril
Vega:
Very happy, a lot of surprises.

306x Mouse McCoy
McCoy:
Baja is really an amazing place. It's not about winning or losing, it's about being down here doing it with your friends. I experienced this race with my best friends in the world taking care of me and nothing could be better than being here. It's an experience I will have with me for the rest of my life. A lot went on out there inside my brain. It's you, your bike and the desert.

I was riding solo for 18 hours. The one thing that I will always be able to have is the fact I know I never gave up. Baja is a big deal, and I had it covered.

I was coming in and my hands were numb; I couldn't use my hands. They shut off so I couldn't use them. I hit a rock and endoed big time. After I crashed, I was laying there in the desert waiting for someone to run over me. I crawled back up and kicked my bike over and knew nothing was going to keep me from getting to the finish line. Then the fog set in at Tres Hermonos and I couldn't see 5 ft. in front of me. My front brake was blown out and I flipped down that mountain, I had no idea how I got out. I just knew I had to make it. My goal was to get 3rd overall-when I hit Honda pit 13 they said 3rd was a few minutes ahead. At that point, I was really worn out but I kept pushing. Thanks for letting us race in this country.

12a John Gregory/Doug Eichner/Tim Farr/Mark Spaeth
Eichner:
The new Honda 450 is an awesome bike. There was a lot of fog and mist in the morning and at night toward the end of the race. There were no surprises.

We ran the course pretty well during pre-running. Everything went well. John is still recuperating from broken ribs suffered at the Tecate SCORE Baja 500 and only road a short distance.

113 Doug Fortin/Charlie Townsley
Fortin:
Feels great to win this race! There was dust in your eyes the whole time.

At 4:30 p.m., it was a nightmare-no breeze. Driving into the sun was horrible. On mile 15, I was pulled over for the first time on the highway with Herbst and several others. This course was tougher than in 2001. The first 325 miles was incredible-a race in itself.

Co-driver Townsley
No problems just a long day. I got beer poured on me at the bridge. Doug and I will be teammates for life.

101x Joe Desrosiers/Mark Daniels/Larry Gross/Julian Gurra
Daniels:
This race is for Andy Specht who passed away November 1 from a motorcycle accident while training for this race. He was going to race the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 with us, so we did it for him. Thanks to all our sponsors. We had some electrical problems earlier but got everything buttoned up. We lost about 20 minutes but when we found out the problem we were rockin' and rollin'. Changed one set of lights that we broke, but it was no big deal. Tom Maggard built the motor and by far it is one of the best bikes I've ridden. It's flawless.

1 Ed and Tim Herbst
Ed:
Lost the race but won the war. We may not have won, but we were the 3rd truck halfway, and finished 2nd in class and 3rd overall. We lost our driveline and were able to change it, but 8-10 cars got by. We picked it back up and we are here. Course is awesome. Neat, neat, neat course! Lot's of fog, rocks and water, though.

4 Gus Vildosola/Rob MacCachren
Vildosola:
After Valle de Trinidad we got lost and that killed us. No mechanical problems-Rob had none either. Didn't really like the course. It was twisty, windy, and you had to slow down to find out where you were.

107 Scott /Andy McMillin
Andy:
Everything was good; no problems all day until we got to mile 77 - on the way in - and lost power steering. We went 15 miles without power steering. It took 45 minutes to change. Pretty happy with 2nd place. It's my second race and I'm confident with going into next year. I know the car will finish good. I'll be racing with my dad next year.

500x Richard Jackson/Bob Wadlow/John Rogers/Guy Wilson/Mark Force
Jackson:
It was a rough course. After the start we ran into a dozen in coming cars on the road. There is always surprises.

738 Bob Graham/Mike Horner
Horner:
Bob started and I finished. He got stuck in the silt bed. It was a silt party out there I lost the power steering. This is John Calvin, our co-riders, first time out here in Baja. Calvin said, "Incredible!"

For information contact:
SCORE International at its Los Angeles headquarters
(818) 225-8402 or visit
the official Optima SCORE Desert Series website at:
www.score-international.com

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