Baja 500 winners
Prather and Hardesty Teams
By Johnny McDonald

500 miles is a long way with no front end. Photos by John Jones

An all terrain vehicle (ATV) can be as difficult to handle as a bucking bronco in an off-road race but Ramona's Danny Prather and his partner, Mike Cafro of Carlsbad, "straddled" their class in the recent Baja 500.

They were 15th overall and topped their nearest class rival by a minute and a half despite losing a gear. Average speed for the Honda TRX450R was 40 miles per hour, covering the distance in 10 hours, 23 minutes, 45 seconds.

"Mike rode the first 30 miles and I took over for 270 miles of the 'super technical' stuff through pine trees and making a lot of turns, getting it up to second spot." he said. "Then, it was back to Mike, who stayed in second for the next 200. Halfway through we lost third gear and had to shift, second to fourth." He took over to the checkered flag.

With a possible championship in sight, Prather, a 26-year old supervisor at Legacy Paving, said his team awaits a map of the Baja 1,000 in November. "Win that and we win the championship," he said. Currently, the dynamic duo is second to Wayne Matlock of El Cajon and Chad Pruit of Laveen, Ariz., in SCORE's Pro ATVstandings.

With only a few miles on the highway, it's a tough dirty race as this unknown motorcyclist shows at race mile 19 of the Baja 500.

"We'll study the course and determine who runs where and we'll have four riders for that one," he said. "We'll try to break it up with 300 mile runs. I'll do the night driving."

For the Baja 500 he took off seven weekends for pre runs. Weather, obviously, is a factor and they'll have to go around the dry or wet lakes. When dry, he said the silt is like talcum powder and it's hard to see through the stuff.

It started as a hobby but he said "we're at a level where we can make some money at it. I do mainly SCORE desert races in Vegas, Arizona, Utah, Mexico. Then, a few local Grands Prix, AMA national hare and hounds and a few motocrosses...about 30 a year."

Honda provides three bikes for the year and gives them contingency and other support. Sponsor Temecula Motor Sports takes care of he rest. To do this it takes about 10 ATVs for the season.

He took time off last weekend to marry Tiffany Perry.

Another Ramonan, Darren Hardesty, posted his first Baja off-road victory but with less than 100 miles from the finish it was far from easy. He and Poway partner Mark Randazzo were leading the pack and 10th overall when their 1650cc AlumiCraft buggy's Volkswagen engine sprang an oil leak.

Upon reaching the Ensenada finish line, Hardesty said it was of obvious concern but they kept putting in oil and it kept running.

The Hardesty-Randazzo team was the highest finisher not in an open class and one of four from San Diego County to pick up class championships in the largest field ever assembled for a SCORE race in Mexico. It was Hardesty's second 1650cc buggy SCORE title of the season.

They are third in the points standings, 14 behind leaders Bill Gasper of Chino Hills and Eric Stewart of Loma Linda.