SLR Honda Tops SCORE
Lucerna Baja 400
T
he Monkey Business Work-
shop KTM team of Brandon
Prieto and Eric Yorba gave Slam
Life Racing (SLR) Honda's Ricky
Dietrich, Justin Morgan and Mark
Samuels their closest challenge
yet but came up a mere six sec-
onds shy of pulling off the upset
at the inaugural Lucerna SCORE
Baja 400, round three in the
SCORE World Desert Champion-
ship, September 21-22.
After 390 miles of mostly fast
Baja terrain, the reigning SCORE
Pro Moto Unlimited champs
clocked an official finishing time
of eight hours, 32 minutes and
30 seconds to keep their quest
for a second undefeated season
alive. (Morgan's streak is even
longer at nine straight since he
was on a different winning team
at the final two rounds of 2017.)
The runners-up (with Rider of
Record Santiago Creel having
limited riding duties due to his
involvement in several other of
his teams) finished in 8:32:36
while third place went to former
SCORE champ Colton Udall's
line-up (Derek Ausserbauer, For-
rest Minchinton, Nic Garvin, and
Udall) claimed third bike and third
Pro Moto Unlimited in 8:49:58.
(The first vehicle overall was a
Trophy truck driven by Ryan Ar-
ciero in 8:26:32, the SLR Honda
trio claiming eighth fastest vehicle
overall. Officially, 189 started
the race, 146 counted as official
finishers.)
With the start order determined
by Baja 500 finish, Morgan
enjoyed clean air for his entire
stint before handing the Monster
Energy/Lava Propane/STI Tires-
backed CRF450X off to Samuels
at mile 190 with about a three-
IN
THE
WIND
P42
Justin Morgan rolls into the finish
in Ensenada, winning the Lucerna
Baja 400 by a slim six-second
margin. PHOTOS: MARK KARIYA
