AVE Racing / Baja Promotions Punta Banda GP & PURE 125
The original course was designed as a 22-mile romp through sections that remind everyone who knows Baja what it’s really all about. A few days before the event, rains pelted the area and trail conditions deteriorated and damaged certain sections of the course that would take longer to repair than there was time. As a result, the course was cut in half to a little over 10.5 miles but it still offered the same challenges and spectacular views of the Ensenada bay.
In what had to be a resounding statement, Justin Morgan, El Cajon, CA, 25, blasted from a dead-engine, straddle-your-front-tire-style of a start (Classic Baja Promotions) and took the lead for the next two hours, completing nine laps in a time of 02:01:05 hours beating the nearest competitor, Jesse Lundin, by over five minutes. Talk about making a clear statement of control, Morgan served notice that PUNTA BANDA, at least until next September, belongs to him.
UTV racers Bradley Howe and co-driver Cain Smead survived a great duel with Josh and Jim Westling along the Punta Banda hills and incredible panoramas to emerge winners of the PURE “125” – AVE’s first race in Baja in twelve years.
By all accounts, this race was a huge success, not only expressed by wide-smiling racers at the finish but locals and officials of Ejido Coronel Esteban Cantu, where the entire 10.6 mile course was laid out just outside the city of Ensenada Baja California, Mexico. It was a beautiful and picturesque setting with “golf course and country club” like views within a fun, yet formidable course layout.
