• Record 18 Baja 1000 wins for Honda’s CRF450X
• Top 16 overall motorcycle-class finishers were all Honda-mounted
• Raceco Honda/Pedder Racing tops Pro UTV N.A. class in Talon 1000R
The SLR Honda team celebrated company founder Soichiro Honda’s 119th birthday in style bey totally dominating the Baja 1000. The winning time of 17 hours, 55 minutes, 39 seconds was more than two-and-a-half hours ahead of the second-place squad (Hero Racing—another Honda-mounted effort and last year’s SCORE champion). “Everything was very smooth this year—a little bit of rain, but nothing too bad,” said SLR Honda Team Owner Mark Samuels, who himself was a part of seven Baja 1000-winning teams as a rider before 2024 saw him elect to focus on managing the effort.”
SLR’s latest victory extended a pair of records for Honda over the course of the Baja 1000’s 58-year history: most overall motorcycle wins by a manufacturer (34) and most overall motorcycle wins by a model (18, for the CRF450X).
“Over nearly five decades, Honda has become synonymous with winning in the Baja 1000, and SLR continues to confirm that status,” said Brandon Wilson, Manager of Racing and Advertising at American Honda. “More than most races, this event demands not only speed and talent, but also careful planning and sound judgement, as well as race-machine reliability. From everyone at Honda, congratulations and thank you to Mark and the entire SLR team for continuing to showcase the capabilities of our products.”
This year’s 854-mile Pro loop course started in Ensenada and followed the Pacific Coast south to San Quintin before crossing the Baja Peninsula and following the Gulf Coast north, then crossing back over to finish in Ensenada. SLR Honda’s Tyler Lynn left the start line at midnight on Thursday night and proceeded to put in a Herculean effort over the next nine hours, building a lead of 18 minutes while riding the first 450 miles (including six hours at night)! David Kamo took over and rode to mile 630, and Carter Klein then rode the final 224 miles.
Other motorcycle classes that were topped by Honda-mounted teams included Pro Moto 30 (led by Jason Alosi), Pro Moto 40 (Shane Esposito), Pro Moto 50 (Mike Prunty), Pro Moto Limited (Ana Rivas), Pro Moto Ironman (Larry Serna) and Sportsman Moto (Arnaldo Casteneda).
Honda also enjoyed success in four-wheel racing, with RaceCo Honda/Pedder Racing drivers Ricardo Torres, Chris Arreaza, Mikey Sandoval and Corey Susag topping the Pro UTV N.A. division in their Talon 1000R side-by-side for the second year in a row. In addition, Honda ATV riders won several classes, including Pro Quad (Faelly Lopez), Sportsman Quad (Gabriel Vasquez) and Pro Quad Ironman (Aaron Kosins).
