2018 SCORE Baja 500 Results – After winning the season-opening San Felipe 250, SLR (Slam Life Racing) Honda’s Justin Morgan and Mark Samuels took that momentum and—adding Justin Jones to the mix—ran away with the 50th BF Goodrich Tires SCORE Baja 500, round two in SCORE’s World Desert Championship.
2018 SCORE Baja 500 Results
(L-R) Mark Samuels, Justin Morgan and Justin Jones: The winning Baja 500 team. Photo: Mark Kariya
The 50th edition of the storied race saw 321 entries line up with the motorcycles starting at 3:30 in the morning in the heart of town. From there, they faced the longest (at 542 miles) and likely the toughest 500 course in race history, with 187 of those entries making it back to Ensenada within the 22-hour time limit. Jones/Morgan/Samuels completed the distance in 11 hours, 54 minutes and 58 seconds, making them the seventh-fastest vehicle behind a half-dozen SCORE Trophy trucks with Rob MacCachren the fastest of those in 11:21:15.
As winners of the previous round, Morgan and company got to start first, which proved to be an advantage with dust hanging in the still night air longer than during daylight hours. The pace aboard their Monster Energy/Lava Propane/Fly Racing CRF450X proved to be unmatchable day or night, as they eased away from the field with each mile.
“Everybody was in a good mood and it was stress-free and we were really happy the whole time,” Morgan said. “I think that played a big factor.
“I did the first 240 miles and I did as good as I think I could’ve possibly done. I kept it really smooth, I didn’t push it, I rode within my ability level and it turned out good. I gave it to Mark and he rode great.”
Their ride wasn’t entirely trouble-free, though, Morgan revealing, “Jones went up the [Pacific] coast [side of the course] and it was just about perfect until he got before Santo Tomas [around mile 460] and the forks came apart inside. We were riding on just springs because all the oil came out of it on [our] boots. He gave [the bike] back to me near Ojos [Negros around mile 510] and he was like, ‘Don’t let the front wheel leave the ground!’ because it felt like it was going to break it; it felt like the front wheel was going to come out the bottom.” Despite that handicap, they made it to the finish intact and in first.
2018 SCORE Baja 500 Results
Fourth off the line, the defending series champion Max Eddy, Jr./Shane Esposito/Tyler Lynn reportedly made it tough on themselves, sliding back a spot early then playing catch-up to finish second in 12:29:54 aboard their Contractor Nation/Chris Haines Motorcycle Adventure Co./Pro Circuit CRF450X.
A regular in the Kenda/SRT AMA Hare & Hound National Championship Series, teenager Lynn made his SCORE debut after getting the call from Eddy and Esposito who wanted to add a third rider for the 500, and he performed solidly in a different type of desert racing.
“It was definitely something different hitting the VCPs (Virtual Check Points),” he explained. “There’s [physically] nothing at the VCPs; it’s just that you have to hit them [by using GPS coordinates].”
He continued, “You can’t push it as hard [as at a hare & hound]. You’ve got to save the bike, you’ve got to give it off to your other rider [in good shape], you’ve got hundreds of miles [to do] and you can’t push as hard as you can for 150 miles [like in a hare & hound] so you’ve just got to pace yourself really good.
“I had a great Baja experience coming down here for the first time and being able to ride with the 1X with Max and Shane. They taught me a bunch of stuff this last week and it’s really helped.”
The fifth bike off the line belonged to Skyler Howes/Garrett Poucher/Michel Valenzuela, but after steadily hammering away, they ended up third in 13:13:15 aboard their Garrett Off-Road Racing/STI/Fly Racing CRF450X, the team’s first-ever SCORE podium.
Howes took stints in both the dark (just after start to mile 120) and during the day (270 to 405), saying, “[The section from the Mike’s Sky Rancho cutoff to Colonet on the Pacific side] was brutal because the quads and the Sportsman bikes got to cut off that whole [northeastern] loop (thus reducing their total miles to about 473). I think there were four or five quads ahead of me and a Sportsman bike. Only one of the [quad riders] looked back and pulled over. Every single other quad [rider] looked back and tried to race me, and it was super, super deep in silt. I ended up going down in a silt bed. It was gnarly and kind of zapped me and got me super-frustrated going across the cross-over, but I actually made up a ton of time, apparently. I got back around 4X (the Santiago Creel/Ray Dal Soglio/Braxton Gallian/Austin Myers/Troy Vanscourt/Mark Winkelman team eventually DNFed). We were about 18 miles back from 66X (Santiago Creel/Massimo Mangini/Brandon Prieto/Eric Yorba’s Monkey Business by La Baja Race Team/Mass Brothers Powder Coatings/O’Neal Racing KTM 450 XC-F). By the time I got back off the bike [at 405], we were less than eight.”
After Poucher took the bike up the Pacific Coast side, Howes said they were even closer so he got back on at 465 and passed 66X before handing the bike to Valenzuela at 500. From there, new father Valenzuela kept the bike ahead for their first podium, 66X having to contend with a fuel-delivery issue that led to them finishing fifth in 13:50:54. Veterans Tim Abshire/Ben Binkley/Kreg McCoy/Damon Myers/Scott Myers/Brian “Spud” Walters snuck in for fourth overall bike on their Echo Collective/Stadium Pizza/Precision Concepts CRF450X in 13:48:54.
Other class winners were Sergio Garza/Philip Jaramillo/Jorge Ramirez/Arturo Salas in Pro Moto Limited (less than 400cc) with a final time of 13:56:15, Greg Bardonnex/Ryan Liebelt/Andrew Puckett/Justin Schultz in Pro Moto 30 (13:59:44), Jeff Kawell/Jano Montoya/Alberto Ruiz/Sergio Vegas in Pro Moto 40 (14:18:18), John Griffin/Troy Pearce/Earl Roberts/Giovanni Spinali in Pro Moto 50 (14:36:09), Craig Adams/Doug Smith/Bob Johnson/Guy Laycraft/Dave Potts in Pro Moto 60 (15:58:49) and Hector Cardena/Joe Leal/Oswaldo Moncada/Raul Ortega, Jr./Carlos Silva/Carlos Silva, Jr. in Sportsman Motorcycle (13:20:19 for the abbreviated course).
