Honda made its official return to ATV off-road racing by winning Class 25 (Open ATV) and taking first overall ATV at the 36th-annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 with the brand-new, never-before-raced TRX450R. The come-from-behind win over several larger-displacement machines was backed up by a second TRX450R ridden to fourth place despite an early race crash that left the rider with a broken collarbone-though he managed to nurse the damaged bike and himself 20 miles to the next pit.

The winning team consisted of veteran racers Poncho Castro, Doug Eichner, Tim Farr (Honda's official factory-supported ATV racer for 2004), John Gregory and Marc Spaeth, who covered the 808-mile course in 18 hours, 27 minutes, 34 seconds, at an average speed of 43.78 miles per hour. That was quick enough to earn them 16th overall vehicle of the 272 original starters, and put a whopping 53 minutes between them and the second-place team. Scott Callen, Shane Hitt, Alberto Marquez and Danny Rudd comprised the riders of the fourth-place ATV, finishing in 20:45:48 on the second TRX450R. After Callen's injury, Rudd rode the last half of the race, and felt the effects afterward of what was considered the toughest, most technical Baja 1000 ever. Besides tight, rocky sections, competitors faced conditions that ranged from hot, dusty and dry to cold, foggy and even rainy. Of the 272 starters, just 153 finished.

This marked the second consecutive victory for a factory-backed Honda ATV in the 1000 after last year's rather surprising 1-3 finish by a pair of virtually stock Rincon sport-utility quads. Unlike last year, however, the pair of TRX450s was widely expected to vie for the win this time.

"The main purpose of racing the 1000 with the new bikes is to confirm the base performance for this product," Honda R&D Chief Engineer Hajime Shogase said before the race. To that end, both 450s were only very slightly modified-a different carburetor and exhaust, dialed-in stock suspension, taller seat and aftermarket wheels with Baja-oriented tires being the notable changes. "Basically, every rider on the two teams was happy with the suspension setting change, and they loved the power!" Shogase reported.

Though they drew the 12th starting position, the eventual winners were in third place unofficially by the time they reached Valle de Trinidad about 110 miles into the race. They continued to hunt down the front-runners until Spaeth caught up to the lead ATV about halfway into the race and saw the leader crash in a silt bed. Seeing that, Spaeth veered to the left but also hit something and tumbled into the powder. However, he got the Honda restarted before the other rider and sped by. That essentially ended the race as the TRX450R simply pulled away in the last half.

"The bike worked awesome!" Spaeth exclaimed. "The only thing I had a little bit of trouble with was the helicopter-I've never had a helicopter over me so it was a little bit intimidating having somebody watching you."

"Everything went smooth," Farr said. "In the past, the teams I've ridden for have just had a lot of problems-organization and bike problems have always plagued the teams that I've been on. This year with Honda and Golden West Cycle it was completely different."

"This bike is everything you could want in an ATV," said Eichner who took the start and finish sections. "The powerband is very useful and very, very easy to ride. The bike handles really well, and it's built like a Honda-it's built good!"

Baja 1000 results, Class 25 (Open ATV)

1. Poncho Castro/Doug Eichner/Tim Farr/John Gregory/Marc Spaeth-Honda
TRX450R-18:27:34
2. Ruben Martin/Gilberto Santana-Bombardier DS650X-19:20:33 3. Carmen Cafro/Mike Cafro-Honda TRX400EX-20:29:47 4. Scott Callen/Shane Hitt/Alberto Marquez/Danny Rudd-Honda
TRX450R-20:45:28
5. Alex Croswaite/Antonio Espinoza-Yamaha YZ450-21:06:15