SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1522709
REPEAT DEFENDERS Moto And Quad Teams Continue A Winning Streak By Dan Sanchez, Paul Hanson, Isaac Flores, and Guilherme Torres Photos by GET SOME PHOTO The Pro Moto classes saw winners at the SCORE San Felipe 250 return to earn even more wins at the 56th BFGoodrich SCORE Baja 500. While these teams and riders made it look easy, it was a difficult task that took maximum effort to reach the finish line first. After penalties flipped-flopped, the first Pro Moto Unlimited riders that came to the finish line were the 11x team of Arturo Salas Jr., Carter Klein, and Ciaran Naran, who earned the win. This would be the Hero Team’s second win this season, putting them within reach of a class championship. The 7x team of former champion Justin Morgan and Tyler Lynn, had Mogan pushing the Honda motorcycle up to the ramp as he ran out of fuel right at the finish line. While they initially had a slightly faster time than the 11x team, SCORE officials gave them a 20-minute penalty for not having their SPICA safety GPS on their motorcycle after passing one of the checkpoints. This caused them to finish in second place in class. “Baja is always a challenge and that’s why I love racing here,” said Morgan. “It’s not over until it’s over; I always say that and today was a great example of it.” Pro Moto 30 Ethan Wheeler on the 317x Pro Moto 30 bike also garnered his second-class win this season in SCORE Pro Moto 30 with co-riders Casey Thomas, Ryhan Stephens, Dustin Ashe Everest, and Jason Mount. Despite the bike having brake problems and riding through heavy dust that never settled in the dark of the early morning start, the team finished nearly 45 minutes ahead of the rest of the competitors with a time of 14:48:43. “We had some mechanical issues and lost our front brakes after the first 150 miles,” said 317x co-rider Thomas. “But everybody managed to make it through their sections. I did the best I could without the front brakes. The bike was working well.” Finishing in second was the 345x team of Felipe Barron in 15:02:41, while Sam Hardy and the 377x team finished third with a corrected time of 15:50:24. Pro Moto Limited The 110x team of Armando Ortiz had their second win this season, taking the Pro Moto Limited class win with co-riders Andre Enrique, Larry Cerna, Oscar Garcia, Ricardo Velez, and Tyler Perrin. “The entire team worked very hard for us to be ready for the SCORE Baja 500,” said Ortiz. “I think we did a great job in pre-running these past few weeks and picked our lanes very well. It was a great team effort. I had the coast section, and it was very smooth and fast. I had raced there before and it was a similar course as in past years, so I didn’t have many problems. The summit and the whoops in San Felipe were more complicated, but my teammates did a good job. The bike did great all day; we managed to execute our plan well and had a lot of fun.” Pro Moto 40,50, And 60 Winners Proving that age and experience can triumph when it comes to Baja moto racing, Mike Prunty on the 547x Husqvarna added a second-class win this season in Pro Moto 50 with co-riders Lester Leigh, Brian Storri, Jeff Kelly, Dennis Bellingheri, and Nick Marti. The team finished with a great time of 13:17:26. “The race was incredible,” said Prunty. “Dennis killed it from the start to the summit and Brian was phenomenal there too. I was on and off pretty quick and these boys did a great job. Everything went well with the bike too; the guys from Reno Motorsports killed it. It was a great job from our entire team.” Francisco Septien continued to dominate the Pro Moto 40 class with his second win this season. The veteran co-riders Jim O’Neal, Shane Esposito, and Rene Magana brought the 411x Kawasaki to the finish line in 12:13:57 ahead of some of the Pro Moto Unlimited teams. “I got to the summit section and it was a little complicated because there were so many rocks and it was very hot, even early in the morning,” said Septien. “But I heard the entire course was difficult, so it was a challenge for everyone. The bike had some problems with leaking oil and the front brakes were failing at some moments, but we managed to bring it here.” In Pro Moto 60, five teams entered to compete but only the 649x team finished to win the class. Donald Lewis with Louie Franco, Kevin Ward, Steve Buckley, Bob Johnson, Guy Laycraft, and Doug Smith brought the Honda to the finish line with a time of 15:59:58 while other teams in the class were not able to finish. “It was great to see that we had five teams in the Pro Moto 60 class in this race,” said Lewis, the Rider of Record. “It’s been a while since we last had that many. I had some trouble with the SCORE Trophy Trucks, but that’s part of what we do. The bike was excellent all day. We didn’t have any flats or anything else. Age is just a number, so just get out there and do it.” Pro Moto Ironman With 13 competitors in this race, the Pro Moto Ironman class had many of the same competitors come back from the SCORE San Felipe 250 race. But in his first race of the 2024 season, Daniel Mastrude on the 792x KTM was able to finish the race faster than everyone else. “It went smooth; I didn’t have any issues all day— just rode my race,” he said. “My hands were failing a little bit in the last hundred miles, so that part was a little bit tough for me and I was getting tired too.” In second place was Patricio Cabrera who also finished second at the SCORE San Felipe 250. Cabrera, on the 745x KTM, now has a solid lead in points towards a season championship in this class. “The entire course was challenging,” said Cabrera. “I had never started a race in the middle of the night, so I had to take it easy at the start to not have issues with the dust and the fog. It was also hard to control my nerves. The course was really difficult and I tried to be smart with my decisions and had great support from the team. The bike did amazing. I didn’t have any falls and replaced everything we needed during the race to get here with the bike running great, and it did.” Finishing in third place was Brian Roberts on the 788x Honda. “The course was tough,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting it to be that tough, but it was a lot of fun. The team put everything together and we made it work and that was great. The silt was no joke out there, but it’s all part of it. The bike ran well— we only had some GPS issues. We’ll make some changes for the next race and make it work.” Pro Moto Adventure This class got off to a great start this season, and in this race, Gerardo Javier Rubio, on the 827x Kove Rally 450, finished in 14:43:59 to win the class. “It was a very complicated race for us,” said Rubio, who was aided by co-rider Erick Rubio. “We didn’t get to pre-run and our GPS failed, so it was hard to know where we were going. Some parts of my section were nice because they were fast. My brother rode the first part, and he had more issues. We had some little bumps here and there, but nothing major.” Pro Quad And Sportsman Classes The 7a team of Eduardo Hernandez, with co-riders Jason Wyat, and Luis and Felipe Velez, had a great run to finish first in the SCORE Pro Quad class with a time of 12:56:03. The team was especially happy for the win after a disappointing 5th place finish at the SCORE San Felipe 250. “We started in third place and were there for the first 170 miles, but then we took the lead,” said Hernandez. “It was a tough race as one of our riders had an accident and we also had some issues with the quad. We couldn’t pick up our best pace, but kept going and got a very good result. Our team did a great job. I had two sections, and the first one was really fun, but also a little demanding. I got back on the quad at Mike’s Sky Ranch (race mile 280) and it was very technical and difficult. I left the quad with my hands destroyed.” In Sportsman Moto, the 259x team of Jhoan Sanchez had an amazing run finishing first in class with a time of 13:34:2. Co-riding with Sanchez were Christian Sanchez, Ruben Lopez, Damasio Maduena, Frankie Pikrell, and Roberto Armento. “The course was tough and demanding,” said Sanchez. “I rode the first 30 miles, and it was challenging. There were so many hidden rocks that we had to be careful, and it was difficult to see things with all the dust and the fog in the first few hours. It was a challenge, but that’s what brings me here. We only had a couple of light falls, but nothing big. I’m glad we made it here. The bike ran well for the most part.”