2023 SCORE Baja 500 Results

Cycle News Staff | June 5, 2023

Winning the overall motorcycle for the second straight year and the first time as rider of record of his own race team was Arturo Salas Jr., 20, of Chula Vista, California, with another young gun Clayton Roberts, 21, Hesperia, California. The talented new duo covered the blistering course in a penalty-free 10:29:59, averaging 45.11 miles per hour on their KTM 450XCF.

In one of the most competitive motorcycle battles in recent SCORE history, Salas battled three other teams for most of the race, exchanging leads physically several times.

Another young gun racing for the first time in a SCORE race as ROR, finishing second was second-generation desert racer Connor Eddy, 17, of Barstow, California, in a time of 10:38:13 on his Honda CRF450X.

2023 SCORE Baja 500 winners — **Arturo Salas Jr. and Clayton Roberts were this year’s winning duo in the SCORE Baja 500.**

Third place among the motorcycle competitors Ciaran Naran, 23, Huntington Beach, California, who won this year’s SCORE San Felipe 250. In this race he and his four-rider team finished 10:41:38.

Last year, Salas was on the winning motorcycle team led by Bolivian Juan Carlos Salvatierra. Salvatierra and his five-rider team finished fourth on corrected time this year in 10:47:51.

In his first SCORE race as the rider of record with his own team, an emotional Salas expressed at the finish line, “It was a very good race. It took us a lot of time and effort to make it possible and this would never have been such a good race without the support of our incredible team and our amazing families. The race was awesome, full of competition.

“We battled the 9x [Eddy], 3x [Naran] and 1x [Salvatierra] until the very last mile, and I want to give them props for a great race and for keeping it fun. We had a perfect bike the entire race, I bet it could still run another 500 miles if we had to. I have no complaints at all and am very happy about how it turned out.”

Another happy racer, Salas’ co-rider Clayton Roberts said, “It was a great day. Arturo and I did this race with just the two of us, so it was a lot of miles today. We rode hard, rode strong and it definitely felt good on the bike. Everything went as planned and it was a great day overall. We didn’t have any issues with the bike, and we burned up that last tire pretty good, so we finished with not much of a real tire left, but it held strong for at least 300 miles.”

Conner Eddy, of the second-place team, said, “The start was pretty rough with all the dust, especially starting dead-last, but it went smooth all day. We all rode well and hit our marks and made it here for the finish. The bike was awesome all day and we did a good job. I made a stupid mistake and went down, but other than that, we did very well.”

“It was a good day,” said Naran. “Everybody has put on a hell of ride and I’m stoked on the boys’ performances. I’m just a little bit disappointed about my performance today; I definitely didn’t ride my best. So, a little bit bummed about that, but everyone has an off day. The bike was awesome, Forrest was the only one to mention he had some issues with it.”

The Pro Moto 30 team overcame some minor suspension issue to win the class. “We’re very happy that we made it to the finish line here at the SCORE Baja 500,” said team member Jano Montoya. “It was an interesting race. We had to work a little bit on the bike during the race to adjust the suspension, but overall it did pretty well. There were a lot of rocks and a lot of whoops in my section, but we know that area pretty well and didn’t have any major issues.”

The winning Pro Moto Limited (Under 450cc) dealt with the dust and suspension issues along the way. “The start was pretty smooth, and I got to pass a few bikes despite the dust,” said team rider Jeffrey Row. “The bike started having some issues with the suspension close to San Felipe (race mile 240) but when I got back on it, it was perfect.”

Brandon Wright topped the Ironman class. “I tried to be very patient at the start. I knew it was going to be dark for about one hour and a half, so I just tried to be patient and put on some work when the conditions allowed. I got down to the desert, tried not to overheat, just kind of keep a good pace over to the beach and, before I knew it, I was here. The Borrego loop (race mile 210 to race mile 250) is always hard, it’s very hot there and rough and rocky. At that point of the race, you know you still got a lot of desert left, so it’s always tough. Everything went well with the bike, I only had one little tip-over, but no big deal.”

Unfortunately, the race was marred by the death of 28-year-old Juan Zunino of Mendoza, Argentina, who went down on his motorcycle while pre-running, May 1. Zunino won his class in third overall at the San Felipe 250 earlier this year. Zunino was entered in the Ironman class for this year’s Baja 500.

Personnel from the Baja Pits organization were alerted by another pre-runner that a motorcycle rider was down approximately two miles from the pit manned by Baja Pits. He was pronounced dead at the scene with apparent severe head trauma.”

“This was a tragic accident that took the life of Juan Zunino” said Abelardo Grijalva, SCORE President and Race Director. “The details of the incident are still being investigated but all of us at SCORE are deeply saddened by the loss of one of our racers. Juan was just launching his SCORE racing career that started with his victory on our season-opening SCORE San Felipe 250 in April.

“We express our deepest condolences and send our prayers to Juan’s family and friends.” CN