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Honda / Matlock
Racing ATV Team Wins BAJA 1000 & Championship
::Continued::
Caster’s second section included San Felipe’s
famous desolate Matomi Wash and the extra rough
and rocky whoops of Old Puertocitos Road. Matlock
unknowingly passed the 5A team during his section
and still believed he was running in the second
place position. When the quad was passed off to
Caster at Morelia Road, Matlock was in a hurry
to get Caster on the road so he could help regain
the lead. Caster believed the competition was
close behind so he charged hard to regain more
time. The next quad did not come through Morelia
Jct for another 23 minutes and by this time Caster
was well out of radio range to be notified and
was still charging hard to gain time on the competition
that he believed was right behind him.
Caster reached race mile 307 at the end of Matomi
Wash without any issues and believed he had pushed
hard enough to gain time on the competition. After
a quick stop at a Honda/JCR pit he was off towards
the infamous Old Puertocitos Road whoops. As Caster
was working his way back towards San Felipe in
the whoops, he got word over the radio that no
other quads had come through race mile 307 for
over 30 minutes. He slowed the pace after getting
this news to avoid damaging the quad in this rough
section of the course and continued his way towards
San Felipe before handing the quad off to Matlock
at Zoo Road located at race mile 355.
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| 1a's
Josh Caster comes into the pits with a flat
tire, which is changed in less than 50 seconds
with Wayne Matlock taking over on Zoo Road |
During Caster’s section he hit a buried
rock causing one of the rear wheels to vibrate
at high speeds so this was changed at Zoo Road
during the rider change. Matlock was now on his
third ride of the day which would continue from
the big sandy whoops of Zoo Road to race mile
378. He worked his way through the whoops without
any issues before handing the quad off to Goodman
for his final ride.
Goodman took the quad from Matlock at race mile
378 and worked his way north towards Borrego once
again and then on to San Matias Pass. Goodman
continued to gain time on the lead and raced his
way up the sandy San Felipe washes towards the
mountains before he would hand the quad off to
Matlock again. He reached the Honda/JCR pit in
San Matias Pass located at race mile 417 as planned,
just before dark. The rear tires and air filter
were changed to keep them fresh and the Baja Designs
HID headlights were attached to the quad for Matlock’s
fourth ride of the day.
Matlock was off into the night heading up into
the mountains around the rocky, silty and dusty
Mike’s Sky Ranch loop. The Baja locals had
piled rocks and sandbags up at the three stream
crossings and the water would be almost seat deep
as Matlock worked his way through them trying
not to get stuck in the middle and still stay
dry in the process. He made his way around the
winding and twisty roads taking a small slow speed
spill in the silt before reaching Valle De Trinidad
at race mile 495 and passing the quad off to Wes
Miller for his section.
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