As SCORE International legalises rally raid bikes for the 2024 season with the creation of the Pro Moto Adventure category, one manufacturer of such bikes is stepping up to provide support. Kove Moto will offer USD$1,000 (€933.40) to the first five riders who enter the season-opening San Felipe 250 in March, as well as prize money for the top three finishers in the class at each of the four SCORE World Desert Championship races.
The Pro Moto Adventure race winner, regardless of their bike’s brand, will earn $2,500 (€2333.50). Second place receives $1,000 and third gets $500 (€466.70).
Kove has been eager to expand its footprint in off-road racing, spearheaded by its rally raid programme that competes at the Dakar Rally and World Rally-Raid Championship. In January, the Chinese marque fielded six bikes at Dakar and made their début in the W2RC’s top RallyGP division with Mason Klein, whose younger brother Carter won the 2023 Baja 1000 for bikes.
Pro Moto Adventure is open to bikes with single-cylinder engines that displace between 250cc and 650cc. Cross-country rally bikes are required to be 450cc under current FIM regulation, well within that threshold, while the FIM Bajas World Cup has a new Trail class that allows vehicles over 600cc. SCORE also mandates bikes in the class to have a windscreen and navigation tower, the latter used in rally raid to attach roadbooks and other navigation equipment though those are not required here. As such, W2RC bikes like the Kove 450 Rally are eligible for SCORE competition.
In December, Baja 500 Sportsman Moto winner Javier Rubio announced he will run the full 2024 SCORE season on a Kove 450 Rally. While the class had not been unveiled at the time, Rubio effectively became the first confirmed rider in Pro Moto Adventure, and is its only entrant for San Felipe as of this article’s publication.
Pro Moto Adventure is one of two new classes for 2024 alongside Pro Baja-e Moto for electric motorcycles. Christian Klein, racing a Zero bike, is currently the lone rider entered at San Felipe.
The San Felipe 250 will take place on 20–24 March, followed by the Baja 500 on 29 May to 2 June and Baja 400 on 11–15 September. The legendary Baja 1000 will conclude the SCORE calendar on 12–17 November.
