SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
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been competing in Classes 22, 21, 30, 40, 50, and 60. O'Neal himself, has a total of 46 class victories. About 20 of those were in Class 40. Many of these are on the 400x bike, which has been deemed as the "winningest bike in Baja." The bike was raced from 2004 through 2006. During that time, it has earned a total of three Class 40 championships, nine straight Class 40 wins, and several top three overall wins. In addition this Honda 400x has never finished out of the top five overall in any race it has competed in. O'Neal claims the success of the bike is a combination of the parts used on it, and the determination and winning spirit of the riders who have been fortunate enough to sit behind its handlebars. "The old 400x was a great bike, but even more importantly we had a really solid group of riders that would do anything to finish," says Jim O'Neal. "There were times we had injuries and mechanical issues early in the race. Sometimes we were not even in the top 30, but battled our way up to a top 5 o/a and a class win." During the three years the Honda 400x was competing, the over 30 and 40 classes had lots of competition. "This was an era when motorcycle sales were flourishing," added O'Neal. "Some races we had over 150 motorcycle entries. Sometimes I think it was a great accomplishment just to finish the combined total of the nine races with the bike. A total of 4752 miles." Completing nearly 5,000 hard racing miles took many talented riders, all of which enjoyed the Honda 400x and JIM O'NEAL, CEO OF O'NEAL MOTOSPORTS APPAREL, IS VERY PROUD OF THIS MOTORCYCLE AND HAS IT PROUDLY DISPLAYED AT THE COMPANY'S HEADQUARTERS IN CALIFORNIA. THE ENGINE FEATURES A RACING PROFILE CAMSHAFT, THREE-ROW TIMING CHAIN, AND A HIGH COMPRESSION PISTON. continually pushed it to its limits. These riders included Tim Withers, Jeff Kaplan, Jeff Sheets, Scott Dunlavey, Louie Frano, Steve Cole, Kevin Hines, Randy Morales, Tom Willis, Craig Adams, Jon Ortner, and Eric Brown. In addition to a great set of riders, the Honda 400x also had some good mechanical preparation which was done by Scott Dunlavey from Berkeley Honda. "That bike usually got between 20-30 hours of prep time before each event," said Dunlavey. "As the winning streak grew, it became even more work because nobody wanted to see it end!" At first glance, the Honda doesn't seem like it has anything out of the ordinary. But a closer inspection 033 SCORE JOURNAL