Kawasaki Wins Baja 500

KAWASAKI WINS BAJA 500

FOR 15 YEARS, HONDA HAS DOMINATED THE Class 22 Pro Motorcycle division in SCORE competition on the Baja peninsula. But that streak finally came to an end this past June when the Kawasaki KX450F-mounted THR Motorsports Monster Energy team of Robby Bell, David Pearson and Steve Hengeveld crossed the finish line in the Tecate SCORE Baja 500 two minutes and 28 seconds ahead of the JCR Honda team of Colton Udall, David Kamo and Tim Weigand. Finishing third was the KTM FMF Bonanza Plumbing Team of Kurt Caselli, Mike Brown, Ivan Ramirez and Spanish Dakar legend Marc Coma. Cycle World’s own Ryan Dudek teamed up with Guatemala’s Francisco Arredondo and Matt Karlsen aboard a Honda CRF450X to card a sixth, just 53 minutes behind the winning team.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Bell and company, but they pulled off the victory despite nearly running out of fuel. “I kept stopping by locals at the side of the track, trying to get some gas,” said Bell. “Finally,

I found two that had some and who were more than happy to give me enough to get to pit two. I would really like to thank them. They kept us in the race; I was getting really low around mile 57 or 58. It wouldn’t have been much longer until I ran out.

"I'm so happy with how the day went. It's great for the sport and for the Kawasaki brand."

Blake Conner