Cycle News Staff | November 20, 2022
The Slam Life Racing Honda team of Mark Samuels, Justin Morgan and Kendal Normal took the 2022 Baja 1000 overall motorcycle win and finished tenth overall among all vehicles. It was the fifth consecutive Baja 1000 win for the SLR team that is owned by Samuels. The team completed the race in 18:51:30, about an hour and seventeen minutes ahead of the second-place team led by Forrest Minchinton with co riders Ciaran Naran, Nick Lapaglia and Tucker Hopkins on a Husqvarna in 20:08:46.
The SLR Honda team of Kendal Norman, Justin Morgan and Mark Samuels (Left to Right) took the 2022 Baja 1000 overall motorcycle win and finished tenth overall among all vehicles. This marked the fifth straight win for the Honda CRF450X mounted SLR team. Photography provided by American Honda.
Night-specialist Morgan was the seventh rider to leave the Ensenada start in the very early hours of Friday morning, and he handed the bike off to Samuels approximately 275 miles later, near Puertecitos, on the Gulf Coast. Samuels, who assumed the physical lead around 65 miles into his stint, turned the bike over to Norman around the midway point, on the road to Mike’s Sky Ranch. Approximately 250 miles later, Morgan took over again at El Alamo, for the final, 100-mile sprint back to the finish in Ensenada.
Justin Morgan (pictured) started the race in the seventh starting position early on Friday morning. The team took the physical lead around race mile 337, which was about 62 miles into Samuels stint on the bike.
“Man, it was a tough course,” Samuels told SCORE at the finish. “It was really rough and actually kind of slower than what we anticipated. We had our hands full at the beginning, but it was a really good race, and by race-mile 340 we were into the lead. From there we just had to bring it home, and we had a great, solid effort the whole way.”
The three SLR Honda riders added to their personal stats as well. This was Baja 1000 win number six for Morgan, seven for Samuels and eight for Norman.
The Honda mounted team led by Fernando Beltran finished third overall motorcycle (and first in the Pro Moto Limited class) with a time of 21:34:59.
Fourth overall motorcycle went to the Yamaha team led by Ryan Liebelt in a time of 22:26:45, which also earned the Pro Moto 40 class win.
Rounding out the top five motorcycle finishers was the Honda mounted team lead by Giovanni Aviles with a time of 23:19:10.
2022 SCORE Baja 1000 Motorcycle Overall Results
- Mark Samuels. Justin Morgan. Kendall Norman. (Hon) 18:51:30
- Forrest Minchington, Ciaran Naran, Nick Lapaglia and Tucker Hopkins. (Hus) 20:08:46
- Fernando Beltran, Luis Flores, Javier Salazar, Larry Serna, Mauri Herrera. (Hon) 21:34:59
- Ryan Liebelt, James Justin Shultz, Stephen Tichenor, Jason Trubey. (Yam) 22:26:45
- Giovanni Aviles, Rodolfo Patron, Jorge Garcia, Angel Antonio Aguirre, Christian Adriel, Arellano Milan, William Young. (Hon) 23:19:10
Complete 2022 Baja 1000 results can be found here.
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