The Bremen Racing Honda team of Shane Esposito leads the motorcycle field off the starting line for the start of the 48th Bud Light SCORE Baja 500.
Under gloomy skies, the 48th Bud Light SCORE Baja 500 got underway at 6 a.m. PDT in Baja California, Mexico, this morning.
The 36 motorcycle entries that left the starting line in downtown Ensenada have embarked on a 477.52-mile rampage around the Baja Peninsula, led off by the number 45X team of Shane Esposito, Ryan Penhall, Roberto Villalobos, Justin Morgan and Kendall Norman. The 42-year-old had contemplated retirement after last year’s Baja 1000, commenting that he was too old to be racing at the speeds required to be competitive in the Unlimited Pro class.
“I still am,” Esposito joked on the starting line this morning. “Ah well, one more year, but I shouldn’t even say that.”
The team’s Baja 500 plan calls for Esposito to race to Race Mile 83 before handing off to Morgan, who will race to San Felipe where Penhall, the son of two-time World Speedway Champion Bruce Penhall, will be waiting to take over the reins. Villalobos will get on at Highway 3. Esposito will climb aboard late in the race and pilot the Francesco Arredondo and Chris Haines-owned Bremen Racing Honda CRF450 back to Ensenada for the finish.
“Starting up front will definitely be an advantage today,” Esposito said. “There are some teams that are just fast enough that it will be hard to start from too far back.”
Esposito was no doubt referring to the 1X Ox Motorsports Honda team of defending SCORE Motorcycle Champions Colton Udall and Mark Samuels, who start at the tail end of the Unlimited Pro field today. The 29-year-old Udall was loose and confident prior to the start of the race. He is scheduled to run the first 100 miles before handing the bike off to Samuels, who will race the next 120 miles. Udall will then get back aboard and finish the remaining 257.52 miles back to Ensenada.
“I’m just going to take it easy, treat it like back in 2010 when I was a B-team rider in the Baja 500,” Udall said. “I’m just going to be smooth, and if I pick a guy off, I pick a guy off. It’s going to be really dusty. I mean, I’m going to be charging, but I just want to be safe. My mom is at home, and she’s scared, so I don’t want her to worry about all this.” with 36 motorcycle entries leaving the starting line in downtown Ensenada
Udall said that the biggest challenge in the first 100 miles of this year’s Baja 500 will be in not making a mistake and throwing the race away.
“There are a lot of rain ruts and holes in corners in the first hundred,” Udall said. “If you get going too fast, the next thing you know is that you’ll put it in a ditch and crash or twist a knee or something. You’ve just got to be really patient. It’s Baja.”
One advantage the team feels it will have in the race is its new pit program, which offers more stopping points along the course.
“We pretty much will have guys in every spot,” Udall said. “Before, we just had a couple chase vans, but basically we are now pitting with five teams. It’s the new Ox Honda pit program, and we are trying to build it and see how it goes. The key today will be attrition. It’s going to be really hot down in San Felipe.”
If the 1X should have issues, it can take consolation in the fact that it has a very capable back-up team in the 3X Ox Motorsports Honda of Ray Dal Soglio, Nick Garvin and Ian Young entered in the Baja 500. As the rider of record for the 3X Honda, Dal Soglio will start the race, and then Garvin will take over for the infamous Summit section before handing off to Young. Dal Soglio will take over again before the finish.
“Third is a good spot to start, and I’m ready to do this thing,” Dal Soglio said. “I will go to Race Mile 100, but I’ll be stopping at Pit 2 where Nic Garvin will get on the bike. Ian [Young] will give it back to me at Race Mile 400. My sections are fast. They aren’t too rough, but I will have to watch out for cattle and other obstacles like that. It may be a little easier, but I still have to stay focused.”
About the only drama prior to the start came when one of the more established teams, the Monkey Business team of Mark Winkelman, Jim O’Neal, Scott Myers, Ricky de La Pena, Max Eddy and Flipper Manchester, appeared to be in dire straits as its brand new Husqvarna FC 350 would not start. The bike, which features an electric starter with no kickstarter for back-up, refused to light, forcing a last-minute scramble in which the team had to remove side covers and sort out the problem. Winkelman made the start in his scheduled slot, although the Husky was clearly beginning to overheat as he waited to take the green flag. Winkelman rode about 100 feet before handing the bike off to Myers. Winkelman then had to head to San Felipe where is real stint aboard the machine will begin in earnest, if it makes it that far.
“I should probably be in the water, surfing, but here we are, out in the middle of Mexico,” Guera said. “This is my third Baja 500, but this is my first race on the KX500. I think it will work out. They’ve been proven down here. Since I’m in the Ironman class, I get to do it all today. I’ve got the support of Baja Pits and my family.”
The winning team is expected to arrive back at the finish line in Ensenada around 3 p.m. PDT.
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