SCORE Baja 500 2008
- Updated: June 1, 2008
On May 31, 2008 the American Honda / Precision Concepts ATV team of Wayne Matlock, Marc Spaeth and Wes Miller took the Overall ATV win at the 40th annual Baja 500 race in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico with a time of 10:10:40 (43.34 mph).
The 40th annual Baja 500 would be the first Score race on the new Honda TRX700XX and would be a true durability test for the new ATV. After the team’s Overall win in San Felipe on a Honda TRX450R each team member was looking forward to racing Honda’s new TRX700XX at the Baja 500. Each rider preran their section of the course multiple times during the week before the race and they were ready to take on the competition.
Race Details
Race morning Wayne Matlock was the first ATV off the line and worked his way through the dust, silt, rocks and hills on his way out of Ensenada to pass many motorcycles before handing the quad off to Marc Spaeth at the first rider change near km77.
Spaeth took the quad from Matlock in the lead and had a very tough battle with second place all the way over the summit to Borrego. During the heat of battle with second place, Spaeth took a small spill and broke the radio connection. No radio communications made it difficult to keep tabs on Spaeth but he was able to upright the quad from a ditch using a fence post and luckily had no injuries from the crash. Spaeth was able to get back on the quad and hand it off at the rider change with no other problems. Matlock got back on for his second ride from Borrego to San Vicente and was a position down due to Spaeth’s earlier crash. Matlock’s second section took him from Borrego to San Vicente where he was able to make up over 6 ½ minutes that had been lost in the earlier crash and handed the quad off to Wes Miller just behind the leader.
Miller had a fast, trouble free ride up the coast section and used the awesome power of the new TRX700XX to make the pass for the lead. By the time Miller finished his ride and handed the quad off to Matlock, he had gained over 2 minutes on second place.
Matlock got on the quad in Santo Tomas for his third and final ride all the way to the finish. With second place trying to take the lead, Matlock was able to work his way through more dust, silt, motorcycles and broken race cars to take the Overall win by 21 seconds.
Matlock was excited at the finish and said “The new Honda TRX700XX was awesome! We never turned a single wrench on the quad, it was trouble free all day. All we did was add gas. The Maxxis tires and Tire Balls held up great and we ran the whole race with no flats. This was one of the most exciting races I’ve done in a long time. The whole team rode great and it is exciting to get the overall win at such a tough race!”
The American Honda / Precision Concepts ATV team of Matlock, Spaeth, Miller proud winners of the 40th annual Baja 500 and would like to thank their sponsors:
American Honda, Precision Concepts, Alba Action Sports, Maxxis, Elka, Laeger’s, Moose, IMS-Roll, Pro Honda Oil, IMS, Douglas Wheels, Tire Balls, Quad Tech, AC Racing, Baja Designs, Scott Goggles, Division Four, Streamline Brakes, One Industries, DID Chains, Motion Pro, Tag Bars, Alpinestars
