DUAL WINS FOR HONDA IN 2024 BAJA 1000

Honda teams enjoyed remarkable success in the 57th SCORE International Baja 1000 this weekend, highlighted by SLR Honda taking their sixth win in the Pro Moto Unlimited class, and Honda Talon Factory Racing earning victory in the Pro UTV Normally Aspirated division. This year’s grueling course for the legendary off-road event started and finished in Ensenada, with a 864-mile counter-clockwise loop circling the northern half of the Baja Peninsula.

The SLR squad’s first win came back in 2018, and it was followed by four more in a row, before last year saw them taken out by a hard crash while fighting for the lead. This year’s lineup of Justin Morgan, Tyler Lynn, Brandon Prieto and Ryan Surratt was not to be denied. Lynn was the first rider off the start at 1 a.m. on Friday, and he built a 14-minute lead before Prieto took over 260 miles later. His 200-mile section was relatively smooth apart from some wire becoming tangled in his front wheel, but the team was able to remove it at the next pit. Despite the delay, the lead was 17 minutes when the bike was taken by veteran Morgan (competing in his final Baja 1000 as a motorcycle racer), who added another 10 minutes to the lead during his 260-mile San Felipe section. Surratt continued the dominance until Lynn took over again for the final 80 miles, finishing with a total time of 17 hours, 52 minutes, 33.799 seconds later, nearly an hour ahead of the second-place team (Arturo Salas, Carter Klein and Ciaran Naran, also Honda-mounted). It marked Honda’s record 33rd Baja 1000 overall motorcycle win and the 17th for the CRF450X—the winningest vehicle in the history of the race. It marked the seventh time that Morgan has been on a winning team, but it was just the second for Prieto and the first for Lynn and Surratt.

“After what happened last year, it was a little nerve-wracking coming into it this year, but it felt really good to have a really smooth race, like normal,” said SLR owner Mark Samuels. “This was my first time not racing on the team, and it was cool to just focus on managing things and watch the next wave of the sport coming in. It was nice to have everything come to fruition.”

Comprised of drivers Michael McFayden and Zach Sizelove, along with codrivers Saydiie Grey and Jimmy Sizelove, the Honda Talon Factory Racing squad campaigned a Talon 1000R in the event. The sun was out by the time McFayden left the start as the fifth vehicle in the class, and he was in the physical lead by mile 50. Sizelove drove through the night in the middle section, and McFayden took the final stint to the finish, notching a winning time of 22 hours, 25 minutes, 3.611 seconds that was one hour, 21 minutes faster than the second-place team. Finishing third was the David Pedder-piloted, Raceco USA-prepared Talon of the Pedder Racing Team, which earned the series championship.

“The race actually went really well,” said Honda Talon Factory Racing team owner Jeff Proctor. “We put a lot of energy into logistics and planning for these endurance races, but it’s not often that it all goes according to plan. We’re always pivoting on the fly, but this was one of those races where it went really smoothly. Michael got up front and did a great job of clicking off the miles and preserving the lead, and Zack did awesome as well. He has a lot of experience in Baja, but it was good to see him get his first win. Overall, there wasn’t a lot of drama, and that’s what it takes to win.”

“On behalf of American Honda, a big congratulations and thank-you to SLR Honda, Honda Off-Road Factory Racing,” said Brandon Wilson, Manager of Racing and Advertising at American Honda. “Baja is a huge part of Honda’s heritage, and for good reason: the race is so demanding that winning requires reliable vehicles and talented, intelligent riders and drivers. The success that Honda has enjoyed in Baja over the decades—and that these two teams have achieved this year—shows that Honda products are up to the task, and we greatly appreciate their efforts.”SC

Other classes to be won by Honda-mounted teams included Pro Moto Limited (with lead rider Jose Armondo Ortiz Garcia); Pro Moto 30 (Ryan Liebelt); and Sportsman Moto (Ernesto Sosa).