Honda Off-Road Factory Racing Team Dominates SCORE Baja 1000

La Paz, Baja California Sur Mexico

The Honda Off-Road Racing team earned two hard fought victories in the 4th longest point-to-point, Ensenada to La Paz, SCORE Baja 1000. The Baja-prepped No. 709 Honda Ridgeline crossed the finish line with a time of 27:10:00 and the No. 1920 Honda Talon finished with a time of 29:18:38 – both capturing class wins (34th/53rd overall), in Class 7 and Pro UTV NA, respectively. It’s the third Baja 1000 win for the Ridgeline and the fifth career Baja 1000 win for team owner/driver, Jeff Proctor.

The 54th running of the SCORE Baja 1000 saw just 206 official finishers out of 302 entries. The grueling course was 1,227 miles of iconic Baja terrain - high-speed dirt trails, sandy, rocky and silty terrain, Baja washes and canyons, runs along the Pacific Ocean and Sea of Cortez, and elevation changes from sea level to over 3,000 feet.

The team fielded two Honda Talons in the Pro UTV NA class - No. 1920 Honda Talon led by driver Elias Hanna and No. 1925 with Zach Sizelove as the primary driver. The Talons race pace was fast and they quickly took the lead positions in the class early on.

The No. 1925 Talon ran strong off the start and was in great shape when Sizelove handed it off to Kelton Glaszczak at RM 421. Around RM470, Glaszczak crashed the Talon. The team lost about four hours repairing and getting the Talon back on course. Unfortunately, the damage was too much and stress fractures in the front end finally gave out at RM936.

Hanna and drivers Bobby Smith and Eric Kosin had one of those “perfect” Baja days. The Talons held up well with only one mechanical refresh in Loreto. The crew saw signs of wear on the two upper rear wishbones and didn’t want to take any chances, so they switched them out and Elias finished the race. It is Hanna’s sixth Baja 1000 win.

Proctor adds, “I’m so incredibly proud of this team. The Baja 1000 is the kind of race that results don’t always reflect the effort, so when it does, the victory is even sweeter. We made it happen for the Ridgeline and one of the Talons this year.