SLR HONDA WINS BAJA 1000: OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

For the third time in as many years, the SLR Honda team rode to victory during this weekend’s SCORE International Baja 1000, extending Honda’s overall motorcycle win total in the event to 30, including six straight and 22 in the last 23 years. It also marked a record 14 wins for the CRF450X. It was a dominant performance for riders Mark Samuels, Justin Morgan and Justin Jones, as the No. 1X bike led the entire way around the 898.4-mile course, turning in a winning time of 20 hours, 50 minutes, 30 seconds.

Team owner and rider of record Samuels rolled off the Ensenada start line at 4 a.m. Friday and quickly handed off to Morgan, who raced 124 miles through the darkness down the Pacific Coast, building a three-minute lead that was largely erased when the team pulled off the headlights at the end of his stint. Jones took over and built up a margin of approximately half an hour before Samuels took the helm at race-mile 304 to tackle a technical, 300-mile, seven-hour section across the peninsula to San Felipe. Morgan remounted at dusk and rode the final 290 miles to the finish back in Ensenada.

The victory also wrapped up SLR’s third-consecutive SCORE World Desert Championship. This year’s series was shortened due to COVID-19 and included just the Baja 500 and Baja 1000, both of which the team won, extending its undefeated tally in SCORE racing to 10.

The victory also wrapped up SLR’s third-consecutive SCORE World Desert Championship. This year’s series was shortened due to COVID-19 and included just the Baja 500 and Baja 1000, both of which the team won, extending its undefeated tally in SCORE racing to 10.

“It starts to create a lot of pressure when you’re expected to win every year,” Samuels admitted with a laugh. “Baja isn’t just about racing other people; it’s also all the other things that can happen. That’s all part of it though, and it’s what makes the wins special. It was tough course this year, but it was great to have Honda prevail again.”