IN
THE
WIND
P28
SLR Honda Wins Baja 500
T
eam SLR Honda captured the
motorcycle (Pro Moto Unlim-
ited) win at the 52nd running of
the SCORE International Baja
500, September 26. The Honda
CRF450X-mounted team, made
up of Mark Samuels, Justin Mor-
gan and Justin Jones, completed
the 491-mile course in nine hours
and 39 minutes with a 51.02 mph
speed average. The trio had an
approximately 20-minute lead
over the next-best team.
"That was really brutal," Samu-
els said. "The heat, how hard it
is on your bike and everything
connected to it, it was really, re-
ally tough."
The race began at three a.m.
in San Felipe. Samuels led off
for the SLR team then handed
off the bike to Morgan for the
first long stint heading north.
Averaging 50 mph and pulling a
nine-minute lead, Morgan set the
winning pace.
Morgan gave the bike back to
Samuels, who battled the rising
sun and temperatures through
San Felipe. Nonetheless, he
pulled away while headed south,
reaching mile 397, where Jones
was waiting. Jones took over and
conquered the last two canyons
and set out on the last stretch
towards the finish line.
Jones eventually brought the
bike just south of San Felipe
where Samuels jumped back on
for the ride to the finish line.
Santiago Creel, Eric Yorba
and Brandon Prieto made up
the second-place squad. Creel
started for the KTM 450 EXC-F-
mounted team, and then handed
the bike off to Yorba at mile 40.
Prieto rode from mile 280 to the
finish in a total of nine hours and
59 minutes.
A little less than an hour
later, the third-place team rolled
across the finish line, but they
got to celebrate the Pro Moto
30-class victory. Francisco Sep-
tien, Shane Esposito and Rober-
to Villalobos got the job done in
10 hours and 57 minutes despite
a crash along the way.
"Francisco had a fall, the bike
is a little damaged, but he's fine,"
Villalobos said.
Fourth overall and third in the
Pro Moto Unlimited class was the
Colton Udall team, made up of
Udall, Nic Garvin and Derek Aus-
serbauer. The team, which rode
a Honda CRF450L (dual sport),
finished approximately 18 min-
utes behind the Septien team,
completing the race in just over
11 hours and 15 minutes.
In the Pro Moto Limited class
for motorcycles under 400cc,
the win went to Fernando
Beltran, David Zarate, Rodlfo
Patron, Rigoberto Gomez, Adan
Garcia and Michel Valenzuela
aboard a Yamaha YZ250.
Vance Kennedy, Dennis Bel-
ingheri and Dave Mayer made
The SLR Honda team
won the 52nd running of
the SCORE Baja 500.
