Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1500749
WIND IN THE P58 and for keeping it fun. We had a perfect bike the entire race, I bet it could still run another 500 miles if we had to. I have no complaints at all and am very happy about how it turned out." Another happy racer, Salas' co-rider Clayton Roberts said, "It was a great day. Arturo and I did this race with just the two of us, so it was a lot of miles today. We rode hard, rode strong and it definitely felt good on the bike. Everything went as planned and it was a great day overall. We didn't have any issues with the bike, and we burned up that last tire pretty good, so we finished with not much of a real tire left, but it held strong for at least 300 miles." Conner Eddy, of the second- place team, said, "The start was pretty rough with all the dust, es - pecially starting dead-last, but it went smooth all day. We all rode well and hit our marks and made it here for the finish. The bike was awesome all day and we did a good job. I made a stupid mis - take and went down, but other than that, we did very well." "It was a good day," said Naran. "Everybody has put on a hell of ride and I'm stoked on the boys' performances. I'm just a little bit disappointed about my performance today; I definitely didn't ride my best. So, a little bit bummed about that, but every - one has an off day. The bike was awesome, Forrest was the only one to mention he had some is- sues with it." The Pro Moto 30 team over- came some minor suspension is- sue to win the class. "We're very happy that we made it to the fin- ish line here at the SCORE Baja 500," said team member Jano Montoya. "It was an interesting race. We had to work a little bit on the bike during the race to ad- just the suspension, but overall it did pretty well. There were a lot of rocks and a lot of whoops in my section, but we know that area pretty well and didn't have any major issues." The winning Pro Moto Lim - ited (Under 450cc) dealt with the dust and suspension issues along the way. "The start was pretty smooth, and I got to pass a few bikes despite the dust," said team rider Jeffrey Row. "The bike started having some issues with the suspension close to San Felipe (race mile 240) but when I got back on it, it was perfect." Brandon Wright topped the Ironman class. "I tried to be very patient at the start. I knew it was going to be dark for about one hour and a half, so I just tried to be patient and put on some work when the conditions allowed. I got down to the desert, tried not to overheat, just kind of keep a good pace over to the beach and, before I knew it, I was here. The Borrego loop (race mile 210 to race mile 250) is always hard, it's very hot there and rough and rocky. At that point of the race, you know you still got a lot of desert left, so it's always tough. Everything went well with the bike, I only had one little tip-over, but no big deal." Unfortunately, the race was marred by the death of 28-year- old Juan Zunino of Mendoza, Argentina, who went down on his motorcycle while pre-running, May 1. Zunino won his class in third overall at the San Felipe 250 earlier this year. Zunino was entered in the Ironman class for this year's Baja 500. Personnel from the Baja Pits organization were alerted by an - other pre-runner that a motorcy- cle rider was down approximate- ly two miles from the pit manned by Baja Pits. He was pronounced dead at the scene with apparent severe head trauma." "This was a tragic accident that took the life of Juan Zunino" said Abelardo Grijalva, SCORE President and Race Director. "The details of the incident are still being investigated but all of us at SCORE are deeply sad - dened by the loss of one of our racers. Juan was just launching his SCORE racing career that started with his victory on our season-opening SCORE San Felipe 250 in April. "We express our deepest con- dolences and send our prayers to Juan's family and friends." CN OVERALL 1. Arturo Salas Jr./Clayton Roberts (KTM) 10:29.60 2. Connor Eddy/Bryce Stavron/ Matthew Combs/Matt Eddy (Hon) 10:38.13 3. Ciaran Naran/Derek Ausserbauer/ Forrest Minchinton/Nick Lapaglia (Hus) 10:41.38 4. Juan Carlos Salvatierra/Shane Logan/Diego Llanos/Corvin McPherson/Colton Aeck (KTM) 10:47.51 5. Adrian Ortiz/Albaro Ortiz/Cody Rangel/Gustavo Gonzales/Danny Mendoza (Hon) 11:25.29