MARC COMA PART OF KTM TEAM’S THIRD PLACE AT SCORE/BAJA 500
published at 2012/06/05 / created by Marcia Hill
KTM’s three-times Dakar winner Marc Coma was this year part of the FMF/Bonanza Plumbing/KTM Team who finished third overall at the 44th Annual running of the Tecate SCORE/Baja 500 in Ensenada, Mexico.
Kurt Caselli launched the team effort starting at seventh place on the grid. He quickly passed on to Ramirez who was due to ride until mile marker 97 but who crashed hard going over the handlebars after just 15 miles. The Mexican rider was able to recover and continue his stretch but the team lost eight minutes on the leaders while repairing damage to the bike.
Mike Brown was next to ride and was able to make up time of the two top teams, even overtaking the second placed JCR/Honda team and putting some distance between their rivals. But then a small but recurring mechanical issue dropped them back to third place.
By the time Marc Coma took over from Brown at Pit 7, the KTM team had resolved the issue and the Spaniard rode a faultless remaining race to the finish line. While Coma was able to make up a substantial amount of time on the front two teams, he was unable to completely close the gap and the team crossed the line some six minutes behind the second placed line-up.
“It was unfortunate that we suffered a mechanical issue,” commented FMF/Bonanza Plumbing/KTM Team Manager Antti Kallonen. “Luckily, we know what caused it and we can correct it for the next race. The third place result drops us in the series points standing but we are still focusing on coming back and running up front for the SCORE/Baja 1000 event. We have a great line-up of riders and have high expectations for that race.”
Next Event: 45th Tecate SCORE/Baja 1000 – November 14-17, 2012




















































