Salas Jr. Wins Baja 500—Again
W
inning the overall motorcy-
cle for the second straight
year and the first time as rider of
record of his own race team was
Arturo Salas Jr., 20, of Chula
Vista, California, with another
young gun Clayton Roberts, 21,
Hesperia, California. The talent-
ed new duo covered the blis-
tering course in a penalty-free
10:29:59, averaging 45.11 miles
per hour on their KTM 450XCF.
In one of the most competi-
tive motorcycle battles in recent
SCORE history, Salas battled
three other teams for most
of the race, exchanging leads
physically several times.
Another young gun racing for
the first time in a SCORE race
as ROR, finishing second was
second-generation desert racer
Connor Eddy, 17, of Barstow,
California, in a time of 10:38:13
on his Honda CRF450X.
Third place among the motor
-
cycle competitors Ciaran Naran,
23, Huntington Beach, Califor-
nia, who won this year's SCORE
San Felipe 250. In this race he
and his four-rider team finished
10:41:38.
Last year, Salas was on the
winning motorcycle team led by
Bolivian Juan Carlos Salvatierra.
Salvatierra and his five-rider
team finished fourth on correct
-
ed time this year in 10:47:51.
In his first SCORE race as
the rider of record with his
own team, an emotional Salas
expressed at the finish line, "It
was a very good race. It took
us a lot of time and effort to
make it possible and this would
never have been such a good
race without the support of our
incredible team and our amazing
families. The race was awe
-
some, full of competition.
"We battled the 9x [Eddy], 3x
[Naran] and 1x [Salvatierra] until
the very last mile, and I want to
give them props for a great race
WIND
IN THE
P56
Arturo Salas Jr. and
Clayton Roberts were
this year's winning
duo in the SCORE
Baja 500.
