SCORE Tecate
BAJA 1000 ATV Race Report
November 20 - 23, 2008 - Ensenada, Mexico
Most Photos By: DesertRacePhotos.com
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BAJA 1000
ATV Race Links |
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8A's
Harold Goodman was awarded the 2008 ATVA
Athlete of the Year while he was racing
the BAJA 1000 |
Ensenada, Mexico
– This year, the current U.S. economic crisis
actually played a roll in how the course was laid
out. While there have been times that the race has
been set up as a point to point race, there have
been others where it has been set up as a looped
course. This year, a looped course was the chosen
format. On average the looped courses are generally
a little bit shorter than point-to-point layouts
but this year’s course was one of the shortest
ever seen, with an approximate distance of only
630 miles. It was said that the course was kept
shorter because officials were concerned that if
the race were set up in a point to point format,
the financial strain of traveling such a long distance
with chase trucks, race vehicles and such would
deter many teams from entering this year’s
competition, therefore, it was decided a looped
format was best.
The decision seemed to work as there were close
to 400 teams from 39 states and 24 countries signed
up to race, including last years Pro quad team
of Mike Cafro, Danny Prather, Chad Prull, and
Levi Marana who would be aboard the number 1A
Honda 700XX. Marana would be the rider chosen
for the start of the race. Levi ran flawlessly
to mile marker 40 where Cafro took over. “We
were in second in our class about 20 seconds behind
the 8A team and at mile marker 95 we pulled ahead,”
said Cafro.
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2007 SCORE BAJA 1000 Champions, (1a Mike
Cafro, Danny Prather, Chad Prull, &
Levi Marana) made the switch to the all
new TRX 700XX for 2008 along with the 8a
Team of Wayne Matlock Wes Miller, Mark Spaeth,
& Harold Goodman |
The pass Cafro made on the 8A team, consisting
of veteran Baja racers, Wayne Matlock Wes Miller,
Mark Spaeth, along with 2008 ATVA Athlete of The
Year, Harold Goodman was only the first in a series
of several position swaps the two teams would
make over the course of the race. “Everything
went really well for us out there, except for
in the big whoops section. Wayne was having some
back pain and there was a bit of a suspension
issue with the quad, so I took over for Wayne
in that section,” said Goodman who ended
up racing about 225 miles of the course.
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| Harold
Goodman charging through the desert with
the 8a Team claiming the BAJA 1000 Win with
a time of 14:47:25 followed by 1a just 9
minutes back after 630 miles of racing |
The two teams battled back and forth, and it
looked as if Cafro’s team would once again
claim another Baja 1000 victory. “We had
a pretty good lead until about half way through
the race. Levi went for his second leg of the
race and was up against Wes Miller, who was still
about two minutes behind. We never saw Wes go
by, but I guess he took an alternate line and
got ahead of us,” Cafro stated.
Once ahead, the number 8A Honda 700XX began to
increase its lead. The 8A team finished the race
in 14:47 with an average speed of 42.69 MPH. Cafro
and his team, who were hoping for a second Baja
1000 win, finished nine minutes behind the 8A
team in second place in the Pro ATV class 25.
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