FINDING A BALANCE

Jano Montoya Kept Tuning His Motorcycle For Back-To-Back Pro Moto 30 Championships

By Mike Vieira / action photoby GetSomePhoto

Jano Montoya’s first-place finishes in every SCORE race in 2023 netted him both the Pro Moto 30 and overall Moto championships.  While his record might lead you to believe he had a trouble-free racing season, that wasn’t quite the case.

In both the SCORE San Felipe 250 and the SCORE Baja 500, fuel injector problems plagued him.  “In the San Felipe 250, we actually ended up burning two injectors,” he says.  “But we were able to fix them just in time to keep going.”  The issues in both races led the team to trace the problem to fuel filters that weren’t up to the task and caused the fuel pump to work too hard. 

Changing out the filtering setup allowed Montoya to be prepared for the later-season races.“We also kept working and working on the suspension all year,” he says, “By the time we got to the SCORE Baja 400, we had it dialed in.  After working on it further, by the time we got to the SCORE Baja 1000, we had an excellent suspension.  The challenging part for us is that we have all kinds of different riders.  I only weigh 150, and I’m five feet five-inches tall. 

One of my riders is 170 and five-foot eight-inches tall. There are also a couple of riders that are almost six feet tall, and 180 or 190 pounds, so the bike works differently for all of us.” 

Through continuous testing and adjustments, the team was able to find a balance that worked for them all by the time the SCORE Baja 1000 rolled around.  “It’s very unusual for all five of my riders not to complain, but nobody had anything bad to say about it, so that was good. We were all happy,” said Montoya.

The SCORE Baja 1000 wasn’t without trouble for the team either, as they found the batteries on their KTM motorcycle were not strong enough to get them through the nights with all their lights on.  Riding with reduced lighting, a couple of push-starts, and a couple of battery swaps during the race got them through.  On one of the longer nighttime stretches of the course, one of their riders carried an extra battery in his backpack.  “That’s Baja. You’ve got to improvise,” says Montoya.

In all, it was a back-to-back SCORE Pro Moto 30 Championship for Montoya, but winning the SCORE Baja 1000 was special for him, as he’s been trying unsuccessfully for a victory there for several years.  The team is looking forward to the 2024 season, although they are still in the process of deciding what class they will run in.

Montoya is grateful to his team and the fans who cheer them on through the night, and says, “I thank SCORE for putting together this incredible race.  It’s amazing to be able to go there and do it. Every year, it gets a little bit better. I love the full-race series.  It’s very challenging, and I can’t give it up!”