Change Of Programs, But Same Result At The Escasa 1000
Irvine, CA — With a season championship basically guaranteed, the plan was for Ox Motorsports/MSR lead rider Colton Udall to Ironman the 2016 Bajita 1000 on the 1X bike. In the meantime, Mark Samuels and Justin Jones would team up with Ray Dal Soglio on the matching 3X Ford CRF450X. However , just two days prior to the start of the race, a pre-running crash left Udall with a broken collarbone and put a quick end to the Ironman plan for the 49th Edition of the SCORE Baja 1000 on November 17-20. Despite a last minute alter of plans, the result remained exactly like the team not only defended their Baja 1000 title, but went 1-2!
“This year's Baja 1000 came down to having an awesome team, a completely built CRF450X bike, perfect hole crews throughout the race, and every team member ready to adapt to the changes, ” says Samuels. “This is really a win I am very proud of that Colton and myself put together. ”
“About three and a half hours after I crashed, we were already thinking about what our strategy was going to be for the race, ” adds Udall. The makeshift plan came together as Brian Kamo, who had won three previous Baja 1000 titles with Udall, came out of retirement and Daymon Stokie moved up from the 3X bike to join Samuels and Jones. The 3X team became Beam Dal Soglio, Nic Garvin, Ryan Penhall and Ian Young.
“It is definitely unfortunate that I crashed pre-running plus broke my collarbone… this is the very first time in nine years that I did not race the Baja 1000, however it turns out they didn't need myself, ” joked Udall as 1X went on to a 36 minute win over 3X. The 1-2 punch gave Ox Motorsports the Overall and Limitless Class wins for the fourth amount of time in the past five years, and given Honda its 26th overall SCORE Baja 1000 win in forty-nine tries!
“Until you get out on the program on race day, you don't know what the Baja 1000 is like, ” says team patriarch Brad Oxley. “It is beat up, chopped upward, gnarly, hardcore and unforgiving! ” Samuels admits to the added pressure of assembling the team two days before the race, “It was a really hectic, wide-open and crazy Escasa 1000 for us! ”
“Total domination, ” says MSR Brand Manager Brent Harden. “Winning the Baja multitude of is a big deal to the MSR brand name, going back to when Malcolm Smith won the very first Baja 1000 forty-nine years ago and we are honored to be onboard with Team Ox for every kilometer of every SCORE race this year. ”
Watch the Ox Motorsports/MSR group adapt and overcome to retain their Baja 1000 title: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNU3dN2s3Lc&feature=youtu.be