Cycle News Staff | April 4, 2022
Forty-year-old Juan Carlos Salvatierra chose young racers Arturo Salas (19) and Shane Logan (20) to help tackle the 280 miles and get the overall motorcycle win at the 35th SCORE International San Felipe 250, April 2. The Pro Moto Unlimited-class trio finished the race in six hours, one minute and 34 seconds with a speed average of 45.97 mph. The Salvatierra KTM 450 SX-F took the checkered approximately three minutes ahead of their nearest rival, the top Pro Moto 30 entry of Jano Montoya, Bryce Stavron, Kyle Tichenor and David Zarate (KTM EXC).
The 10x Team of Shane Logan (left), Juan Carlos Salvatierra (center), and Arturo Salas (right) took the overall win at the San Felipe 250.
Salas and Logan, both new to the SCORE International Championship, helped pilot the 10X KTM into the lead at mile marker 46 and keep it there the rest of the way. It was smooth sailing from that point on, except for a massive crash towards the end of the race in which their seat, muffler, side panels all were left behind in the desert. Logan, the second rider on, went down while negotiating the infamous Matomi Wash.
“San Felipe is always extremely demanding because of all the whoops and the rocks,” Salvatierra said. “It’s a course that always demands riders to be physically fit and extremely aware of everything. We prepared well and I’m very thankful for my mechanics that prepared the bike and my co-riders. They all did a fantastic job.
“Arturo started really well and built a good gap for us. Shane had a crash and lost the seat and some other parts and handed me a half bike, but we made it. The final section was really fun and enjoyable. It wasn’t that fast, but it was very technical.”
Logan said, “It was really good. Arturo gave me the bike with a great lead, so we changed the tire and did all we needed really quick. I did well on my first section but crashed at about mile 170. There was a lot of damage on the bike, but after that was really smooth.”
The 10x team in action.
Montoya, Stavron, Tichenor and Zarate were on another level in the 30-Pro class. It almost seemed that they were the overall winners until a penalty took that away from them.
“The SCORE San Felipe 250 gets more difficult every year,” said Montoya. “It was a very technical course and there were a lot of hidden rocks. I had a lot of fun. We did a great job in pre-running and felt really comfortable on the race today. The motorcycle section was a really good idea. It didn’t change much for the fastest bikes, but for the ones that come behind, it’s a lot safer to get the course in better conditions. I hope SCORE can keep it for the next races.”
Jano Motoya’s team was first in the 30-pro and nearly won the overall.
The 4X bike, a Husqvarna FE 501, piloted by Jason Alosi, Wyatt Brittner and Rya Dal Soglio, had a pretty much uneventful day but had a close battle with Derek Ausserbauer, finishing only a minute ahead of the solo pro racer in third overall, second Pro Moto Unlimited.
“We were physically second when I got on the bike,” Alosi said, “but I had a few struggles on my section and a couple of crashes and lost some positions, but it is what it is. The course was challenging. Ray dealt with low light and a lot of rocks and that kept him on his toes. I had a section too where there were quite a few rocks and I had to ride cautiously. I’m glad to be at the finish.”
Ausserbauer, aboard a Honda CRF450X, made a last-minute effort to race the San Felipe 250 and also try to retain his championship. He opted to race the grueling San Felipe course by himself for the fourth time in his career. Last year, he won the race, and it appeared that he was going to do it again. By mile 75, he had put himself into the lead on time, but he later missed his second gas stop and had to nurse the following 75 miles to the next gas. He lost three positions in the process but on time was only a minute down from the lead motorcycle. About 200 miles into the race, he said he realized that maybe he needed a partner after “bonking” but salvaged a third-place Unlimited-class finish in fourth overall.
“I like to think this course was extra rough, but this place is just super gnarly,” Ausserbauer said. “If someone was wondering what the whoops felt like to me, I’d compare it to doing box jumps barefoot on concrete and just stomping as hard as you could every time. That’s my most accurate sensation about how I felt for the last two and a half hours. But it was fun, I had a good time. The motorcycle session was super fun. The course wasn’t so chewed up by all the cars, so it was more realistic with the pre-running we’d been doing for the entire week. It was really good; I was really stoked on that.”
Fernando Beltran and teammates Larry Serna, Luis Flores, Mauri Herrera and Fernando Taverez (Honda CRF450X) topped the Pro Moto Limited class (fifth overall) with approximately 40 minutes to spare over the next-best team (Christopher Gil and Kevin Murphy).
Ryan Liebelt and the 400x team raced to a flawless win in the 40 Pro division.
Ryan Liebelt dominated the Open 40 Pro class. Their team was made up of Ryan Liebelt, Justin Shultz, and Jason Truby. They had a flawless race that saw them win by over 35 minutes.
Brandon Wright (Husqvarna FE 501) won the Pro Moto Ironman division. “It was really rough the whole way,” Wright said. “I did pretty well for most of the time and was just trying to decide what pace to keep, as I wasn’t sure where my competition was. I was just trying to stay comfortable, and everything was going well until about 15 miles to the finish when the whoops finally hit me. I thought I was done; I was just on survival mode at that point.”
Aaron Richardson (KTM 500 EXC), second in class, said, “It was great. The race had a lot of speed and a lot of roughness as usual. I had a little crash at about race mile 210 that tweaked up the bike a little bit but I’m fine. I’m happy that I made it to the end.”
Vance Kennedy, Dennis Belingheri and Dave Mayer rode a Husqvarna FX 450 to the Pro Moto 50-class win, while Scott McIntosh, Mike Whitman and Harry Harris piloted a Honda CRF450X to the Pro Moto 60-class victory.
David Navarro, Manuel Gomez, Ely Ramirez and Gustavo Grijalva topped the Sportsman class on a Yamaha YZ250FX. They had a 10-minute lead over the Filiberto Garcia, Cody Vascakkatchmar, Shawn Oakley, Edwin Rosin and Mauricio Patron team (Honda CRF450X). – Nic Garvin
Overall Results
1. Juan Carlos Salvatierra (KTM)
2. Jano Montoya (KTM)
3. Jason Alosi (Hus)
4. Derek Ausserbauer (Hon)
5. Fernando Beltran (Hon)
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