Cycle News Staff | June 7, 2022
Switching from the unique Pro Moto Ironman class for solo riders after winning two straight season class point championships, Bolivia’s legendary athlete and Dakar Rally veteran Juan Carlos Salvatierra won the overall Motorcycle and Pro Moto Unlimited class for the second time this year. Salvatierra won this year’s SCORE Baja 500 with a four-rider team from four countries: USA, Argentina, Bolivia and Mexico.
Salvatierra’s Baja 500 team was made up of Mexico’s Arturo Salas Jr., USA’s Shane Logan and Argentina’s Diego Llanos.
Together the Salvatierra team completed the racecourse on their number-10x KTM 450 SX-F in 10 hours, 32 minutes and 33 seconds with an average speed of 43.99 mph.
Salvatierra, 40, started the race and rode just one mile before handing it off to Salas Jr., 19, of Tecate, Mexico, who rode to race mile 70. Logan, 20, Lake Havasu City, Arizona, rode from race mile 70 to mile 160, and Llanos rode from race mile 160 to race mile 250. Salvatierra then rode from race mile 260 to race mile 315, Logan from race mile 315 to race mile 360, and Salas finished things off from race mile 360 to the checkers.
“Thank God each of us on our team had a good race,” Salvatierra said. “No crashes, no problems, no issues, and I was super stoked to be able to ride the bike with a seat this time.”
He had to ride his final section in San Felipe without a seat earlier this year.
The runner-up Pro Moto Unlimited team was made of Husqvarna riders Forrest Minchinton, Nick Lapaglia and Ciaran Naran. The trio finished just under two minutes behind the winning team.
Third overall was the winning Pro Moto 30 team made up of Jano Montoya, Bryce Stavron, Jesse Canepa and David Zarate. The KTM-mounted team crossed the finish line approximately 19 minutes behind the Minchinton team.
Fernando Beltran, Larry Serna, Luis Flores and Mauri Herrera (Honda) won the Pro Moto Limited class, and Giovanni Spinali, John Griffin, Jim O’Neal and Darren Elliot (Yamaha) topped the Pro Moto 50 division.
In Pro Moto 40, Ryan Liebelt, James Shultz, Jason Trubey and Steve Tichenor (Yamaha) came away with the class win.
The top Ironman finisher was Aaron Richardson, who rode a KTM 500 EXC-F in 13 hours, 45 minutes, and 36 seconds with a speed average of 33.66 mph.
Chael Urcadiz, Alejandro Gallegos, Alejandro Osuna, Alberto Gomez and Miguel Trujillo combined efforts to win the Sportsman class. CN