TemecuCoastie
Husqvarna
Pro Class

BAJA 500 NOTES
This year there were two Bud Light Baja 500s, one in the North and one in the South. Last month, Colton Udall won the southern version by riding solo. For the northern version, he was racing in Australia, so his Ox Racing Teammates Justin Jones, Ray DeSoglio and Mark Samuels handled the duties without him. The Precision Concepts THR Kawasaki team was in a similar situation: team leader Ricky Brabec was riding a National Hare & Hound, so Max Eddy Jr., Justin Morgan and Ian Young rode his 1x bike.
In the end, the 1x Kawasaki won the race, as reported. But not without a lot of drama. Now that everyone is home, the stories are coming out. Justin Jones was leading the race at mile 96, when he hit a truck that was on the wrong side of the road. “I knew the area was sketchy,” said Justin afterward. “There was a lot of traffic and during prerunning there was a speed limit imposed. I knew the turn was blind, so I went outside as far as possible, and that’s where the truck was. I went off the road on the right and he went in the same direction. I don’t think there was anything I could have done.”

The Baja 500 was also troubled with a number of crashes on the truck side of the fence, involving Robby Gordon among others. All this brings issues of safety back to the surface. The Caselli Foundation had the funds to provide helicopter support for part of the race, but unfortunately, that had ended before the Jones crash. There will be more updates to come.