SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
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RIDING FAST AND CLEAN WINS Pro Moto And Quad Classes Struggle To Find The Right Lines By Dan Sanchez, Paul Hanson, and Isaac Flores Photos by Get Some Photo As the SCORE Pro Moto and Quad classes left the starting line early on the morning of Saturday March 23rd, most had pre-run the course and knew they had to finish the 285.69-mile course in the fastest time possible to stay ahead of the heavy competition in their respective classes. SCORE fans were excited to see new teams develop and the return of former champions to the season, including multi-time Pro Moto Unlimited Champion Justin Morgan on the 7x Honda with Ciran Niran and Tyler Lynn, the 2023 Class Champion Juan Carlos Salvatierra on the 1x KTM with Shane Logan, Justin Carnes, and Ryan Surrat, and several other teams of experienced riders, ready to battle it out in San Felipe. Among the new teams were the 11x SLR Honda with Arturo Salas Jr. as rider of record with Carter Klein, both on the new Hero Racing Team of SCORE Pro Moto 50 multi-time Champion Giovanni Spinali. While every new team had something to prove, the Pro Moto Unlimited race would take an unexpected turn, as the first SCORE Pro Moto Unlimited riders began crossing the finish line. When the 13x bike of Adrian Ortiz pulled up first to the finish with Sergio Garza riding, the initial celebrations were soured, after SCORE Officials disqualified them. The 1x team of Salvatierra, and the 7x team of Morgan also found themselves disqualified as SCORE officials determined these three teams (and others in various moto classes) unintentionally rode on areas designated as off limits, which resulted in an automatic disqualification. “The areas around Morelia Junction, VCP 100A, and the highways around race mile 210 and 30 were updated last minute and were brought up during the Drivers Meeting held before the day of the race,” said Andy Kirker, SCORE Moto Liaison. “Riders often find it difficult to navigate the terrain and unfortunately some of the top Pro Moto Unlimited teams, and several other teams in the Moto and Quad classes, were disqualified because they unintentionally rode through these areas.” The result was costly for those teams, but it left the door open for the 11x team of Salas Jr, who acquired a penalty, but earned time credit for helping the 25x team on the course. The 8x team of former SCORE Pro Moto Limited Champion Fernando Beltran, also earned time credit for helping the downed 25x team. After everything had settled, Salas Jr. and Carter Klein claimed their first win of the season. “The course was good, rocky; kind of like what we race back home,” said Klein. “Arturo rode well in the beginning, and I had to do some catching up on our section. With a two-man team we had to push hard. When Arturo came into the first pit in Chinero, the bike shut off and we had to bump it and lost 20-30 seconds.” The win boosted the morale of the 11x HERO Racing team who rode a conservative race and set them up for a great start to the season. With no penalties applied, the 9x team of Austin and Connor Eddy, with Jerett Megla, also had a clean race and rode into second place. “It was awesome,” said Austin Eddy. “My section had what I call an enduro-cross section, a wide-open section, and a super gnarly section. It was fun chasing all these other guys around. So I’m excited to see the results, where we stand. We had an awesome motor. I prepped the bike. It was a good race. It was awesome. I love it down here.” The former Pro Moto Limited Champ Beltran on the 8x bike, finished third in class. “My section was rough because the first 40 miles are just whoops and rocks,” said Beltran. “They are the famous towers, the trash can, the little tree, and the 3sticks. But thank God we didn’t have any problems with the motorcycle or have any falls.” ARMANDO ORTIZ WINS IN PRO MOTO LIMITED Also running a clean race with no penalties was the Pro Moto Limited team of Armando Ortiz. Riding the 110x Honda out of Tijuana, Mexico, Ortiz teamed up with Andre Enrique and crossed the finish line nearly 30-minutes ahead of second place team of Neithan Davis on the 150x Honda. “My sections were good but a little dangerous,” said Enrique of the 110x team. “I did have a couple of close calls on the course, like a spectator in a brown Silverado almost running me off the road and I ran into a tree. I’m still covered with twigs and leaves. Other than that, we all had a really good clean race and the bike had no issues.” While the 150x team of Davis finished second, they had difficulties on the course, and struggled to get to the finish line. “This was a very difficult course,” said Davis. “One of our teammates had an accident ,but thank God, he’s doing alright and we’re in a good position. The bike had a couple of problems. We had to switch fuels and clean out the injector, but after that, things worked out. I’d like to thank all of my teammates who did a lot to be here.” SEPTIEN COMES TO PRO MOTO 40 The SCORE Pro Moto 30 multi-time champion and Pro Moto Ironman racer has returned in 2024 to race in SCORE Pro Moto 40. Teamed with veterans Shane Esposito, and multi-time moto class champion winner Jim O’Neal, the team raced the 411x Kawasaki to their first win in the class. “My section was rough, but that’s San Felipe,” said Esposito. “Riding my first section, I wasn’t feeling good. I had arm pump and didn’t ride well, but during my second and the final sections, I rode well. We’re riding a new bike and we’ve got some things we’ve got to learn. Definitely, for the next race, we’ll have it better.” WHEELER WINS IN PRO MOTO 30 The 317x team of Ethan Wheeler, Ryan Johnson and Dustin Ashe Everest from Ocean Beach, California, handled the whoops and rocks to finish first in SCORE’s competitive Pro Moto 30 Class. “We know that in San Felipe, there’s whoops and rocks, cholla cactus, and then more whoops and rocks,” said Ashe-Everest. “But we wouldn’t have it any other way. The motorcycle is great, got a little hot going through Huatamote Wash, but you can’t beat these old carbureted kick start bikes.” Finishing close behind were the 311x Ensenada team of Juan P. Valenzuela in second-place, followed by the 303x team of Carlos Castillo from Mexicali who finished in third place. The 304x team of Juan Miranda and the 354x team of Felipe Barron were among the several moto teams who were disqualified for unintentionally riding across areas designated as off limits. BIG FINISHES IN PRO MOTO IRONMAN At this race, a total of 16 Pro Moto Ironman racers started, with 12 finishing the race. The top three finished in a little over seven hours to take a commanding lead in the 2024 SCORE World Desert Championship. Finishing first in class was Kadin Guard out of St George, UT riding the 719x KTM. “This race was fun,” he said. “It was really fast, really sandy, and very dusty. The first half of the race I had some pretty good wind, which was hard on the bike because it kind of pushed you from side to side in the whoops. But I overcame that. It was kind of nice being a little overcast. I had one get-off around race mile 260. Nothing serious.” Behind Guard was the 745x KTM of Patricio Cabera who took second place. “I’m really happy, I didn’t have any falls during the whole race,” said Cabera. “It was a really hard race with a lot of whoops. There was also a section with a lot of rocks that was really difficult, but I’m really happy. My objective is to win this category and to win the championship. They’ve told me San Felipe is the hardest and it truly felt that way. The bike ran spectacularly thanks to my mechanic Beto. I’d like to thank all of my sponsors and my dad, Mauricio, who are accompanying me from Chile. It was very physical and psychological but I’m happy to be at the finish line and I think I came in a good position.” Finishing third was the 732x Honda of Mike Fermoile. “The race was everything you would expect San Felipe to be,” said Fermoile. “Bob from SD Powerhouse built the bike and that was the one thing I knew was a guarantee. All I needed was gas. Bob builds a bullet-proof bike. I had no issues with it. I just had to ride it. And that was hard enough. Overall it was rough, no time to rest.” AGE HAS NO LIMITS WITH PRO MOTO 50-60 RACERS All of the teams in both SCORE Pro Moto 50 and 60 Classes started and finished the race. The fastest was the 547x team of Mike Prunty from Temecula, California. The team finished in just under eight hours even with a penalty applied. The team consisted of Dennis Beligheri, Dal Truby, Lester Lehigh, Jeff Kelly, and Nick Martin. “Dennis proceeded to do a whole bunch of work and brought it to race mile 40 in front of a whole bunch of 30-year old’s and second in the 40-year-olds,” said Prunty. “He was way out front with approximately a thirty minute lead. All of our riders did a great job. We had no problems at all. Lester up in the rocks; Dal up in the bike-only section up on top; Nick Martin and Jeff Kelly…everyone did their job and that’s why we won. The motorcycle was great. It’s another great SCORE San Felipe.” The 628x team of Mike Kay finished first in Pro Moto 60, with Mike Whitman, and Dave Kwast co-riding. “Our competition smoked us at first,” said Kay. “We were a little worried. I had pre-run the canyons and piled rocks and made a secret trail. In pre-running I could do it in five seconds but in the race it took me five minutes. It was a good line. The suspension was probably the best I have ever ridden. It was a perfect race.” PRO MOTO ADVENTURE TEAMS CHALLENGED This King Shocks 37th SCORE San Felipe 250 also introduced the new SCORE Pro Moto Adventure Class in which three teams riding on new KOVE 450 Rally Edition motorcycles were entered. KOVE USA sponsored the class giving $1000 to the first five racers who signed up for the class and cash awards in each of the four races this season for first, second and third place winners. With cash on the line, Scott Purcell on the 834x, Dustin Davis on the 805x, and Gerardo Rubio on the 827x bike tried their best on the incredibly tough course. Both Purcell and Davis DNF’d and Rubio received a DQ. ONE E-BIKE EFFORT Many SCORE moto fans wanted to see the first and only e-bike effort that entered into this year’s race. The E499 of Christian Klein out of Austin, Texas from the Pilot Off-Road team took the challenge on a Zero FX electric bike that takes two 3.6-kWh batteries. The team modified the bike for longer travel and strengthened the front forks, adding a carrier for a third battery. Weighing in at 345 pounds, the team had many challenges, including recharging up to 10 batteries and getting them around the race course ahead of the e-bike with 13 scheduled pit stops. The San Felipe whoops and a very sandy hill climb overheated the batteries which put the e-bike into a limp-mode, ending their attempt at their pit stop on race mile 83. PRO QUADS FINISH IN A TIGHT RACE As SCORE fans watched the Pro Quad racers streak by at full-throttle it was easy to understand why many of them finished among the Pro Moto Unlimited racers in time. Sergio Jimenez from Mexicali on the 39a quad was the fastest to win the class with a time of 6:16:51. “This was a really demanding race and a really rough course,” said Jimenez. “It was really fast and technical. I got on the bike from mile 240 to the finish line. My section was a bit rough. It was a motorcycle section but the last 10 miles was through the regular course that had already been run through by a lot of other vehicles, so that made it difficult. I think that we, as a team, did an excellent job in getting the bike to the finish in first place. The bike was great. Various Suspensions did an excellent job. We had no problems and a clean race. I’d like to thank all our sponsors.” In the Pro Quad Ironman Class, the solo racer Jorge Lopez on the 91A quad finished the race to win the class. “I ran the Pro Quad Ironman and I didn’t actually have competition,” said Lopez. “It was a really clean race. My goal was just to make it to the finish line. Morelia never changes, in all the time I’ve been racing. Just miles of whoops. It all went really well; the quad is doing great. I ran the SCORE Baja 1000 with the same motor and completed the SCORE San Felipe 250 with the same motor.” SPORTSMAN CONQUER SAN FELIPE’S BEST In the Sportsman Moto class only one racer did not finish, leaving four other competitors to vie for a podium spot. Finishing first was the 229x team of Joel Magallenes of Mexicali, followed by the 205x team of Francisco Rosas from Tecate, and the 236x team of Andy Valencia from Ensenada. In Sportsman Quad a total of 10 competitors entered the race and all finished for a great start for their season points totals. It was a close race between the 137a team of Jose Miramontes of San Felipe, and the 110a team of Irlaam Gutierrez of Mexicali. Miramontes finished about 20-minutes ahead of Guterrez for the class win. In third place was the 138a team of Gabriel Vazquez out of Juarez. Click here to see the Official Finishers SCORE Pro Moto and Quad Classes SJ