SAMUELS, UDALL SCORE BAJA 500 WIN
T
hough handicapped by
starting in the back of the
class, Ox Motorsports Honda's
Mark Samuels and Colton Udall
quickly blazed through the field
and won the 48th SCORE Baja
500 going away, covering the
478-mile course in nine hours,
18 minutes and 11 seconds, June
3-4. And blaze was definitely the
operative word with reported
temperatures of 115 degrees
and possibly higher, making this
one of the most difficult 500s to
complete in recent memory.
Sadly, it will also be remem-
bered for three fatalities: Pro
Moto Unlimited (450cc or more)
contender Travis Livingston,
Sportsman Moto entrant Noah
Evermann and an eight-year-old
boy who was killed after being
hit by a race truck whose driver,
Todd Pedersen, lost control of
his truck. Their identities were
not provided by SCORE.
The Bremen Racing/Chris
Haines Motorcycle Adventure
Company/Precision Concepts
team of Francisco Arredondo/
Shane Esposito/Justin Morgan/
Kendall Norman/Ryan Penhall/
Roberto Villalobos promised
to make the race interesting,
having drawn the first start-
ing position. Not surprisingly,
Esposito took the first stint and
enjoyed a clean ride on their
Pro Circuit/Lucas Oil/Dunlop-
backed CRF450X, though the
front number plate broke. That
would be the least of their wor-
ries. Later on, Penhall crashed
heavily while trying to maintain
the physical lead in the early
part of the torturous San Felipe
loop, with Villalobos reportedly
hitting a horse and suffering a
broken leg. (Coincidentally, that
happened not far from where
Kurt Caselli was killed during the
IN
THE
WIND
P26
Colton Udall (shown)
and Mark Samuels
came from the back
of the class to second
physically early on, then
got the lead just over
halfway into the race.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
MARK
KARIYA
