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FINISH LINE QUOTES: BFGoodrich Tires 52nd BAJA 1000
SCORE MEDIA CONTACT: Dominic Clark, dominic@score-international.com
November 25, 2019
BFGoodrich Tires 52nd SCORE Baja 1000
presented by 4Wheel Parts
Nov. 23-24, 2019—800.5 miles–Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
Post-Race Quotes
(Finish line—as recorded by Tom Blattler, Paul Hanson, & Jose Vazquez)
(transcribed by Cindy Clark)
Pro Cars, Trucks & UTVs
(transcribed by Cindy Clark)
Pro Cars, Trucks & UTVs
SCORE TROPHY TRUCK (Unlimited CustomTrucks)
ALAN AMPUDIA, No. 10 (First overall. First in class. Alan Ampudia started and drove to race mile 350. Aaron Ampudia drove race mile 350 to race mile to 695. Alan Ampudia drove race mile 695 to the finish.) - - It was the gnarliest day ever. A dream come true. This has been a dream for us since we were little. Watching Ivan Stewart, Robby Gordon, all the legends in this sport. To be able to come out here with a stacked field like it was today and come out on top through all the elements Baja threw at us this year with the rain and the mud, it was crazy. There are so many stories to be told. Me and Tavo (Vildosola) battled for miles. Our truck was amazing. It was on rails today. The puddles were insane.
CO-DRIVER AARON AMPUDIA said: Alan gave me the truck in first physical on the track and on time. When I got out we had a fourteen minute lead on Luke (McMillan) and about an hour on everyone else, we pushed and made a little mistake. We had to stop and got some help from the MacCachren team, so we really appreciate those guys. We got back to our pit and fixed the issues. It was a great day. We knew we had to put in a clean, solid race to have a chance to win and that’s what we went out to do.
NAVIGATOR RODRIGO AMPUDIA said: The race overall was an awesome event. It was cold coming over the summit; the plants were frozen. The water splashes were freezing. We just put our heads down and stuck to our plan and it worked. We are from Ensenada and this is our hometown race.
JESSE JONES, No. 76 (Second over all and second in class. Toby Price started and drove to race mile 530. Nassar Al-Attiyah drove from race mile 530 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER TOBY PRICE said: I love Mexico. It is unreal. I really enjoy coming back here. I’ve been able to experience some bike stuff here, but with the Dakar Rally coming up in January it is so close to that event we were not able to bring a bike here. The very best next thing is a SCORE Trophy Truck and I’m very grateful to Jesse Jones to have me in his truck. We have had a very good race here today, we made some good ground, started 28th or so and made it to third. It’s crazy, we are really stoked to get a podium; two Dakar champs. We had a good race; I only had one flat. I slid into a rock and punctured the tire. The truck was flawless. Mason Motorsports built a really amazing vehicle. Jesse Jones has really been looking after us and keeping us going. Red Bull, KMC wheels, BFGoodrich tires it’s been an amazing effort. CO-DRIVER NASSAR AL-ATTIYAH said: This is my first SCORE Baja 1000 and it was fantastic. I am so happy to be here to see everybody, all the fans. It is a really fantastic for us to finish on the podium. We worked very hard. Thank you to our sponsors, Red Bull, BFGoodrich tires, Jesse Jones. We are so happy for everything that happened this month. Compared to my Dakar car, there is no limit with these trucks and I really love to be here. I promise I am coming back next year.
LUKE MCMILLIN, No. 83 (Third overall and third in class. Larry Roeseler started and drove to race mile 330. Luke McMillin drove from race mile 330 to the finish.) - - We had a stuck throttle, no brakes, we lost an alternator, a power steering pump, we lost water pressure, we thought we lost an engine when it just dropped dead in its tracks at one point. All that happened today. It was incredible. We just kept pushing and pushing. We made it to the lead in the desert, which is something we knew we could do; we have been fast down there all year. This truck does really well down there. The throttle pedal I just had to deal with. The alternator we switched it, no brakes makes it extremely difficult to drive but the biggest problem was the 30 minutes to change the power steering pump. CO-DRIVER LARRY ROESELER said: It was a very difficult SCORE Baja 1000. It started off really good. I got by a couple guys right away. On corrected time we were leading a couple of times. When we got into the standing water that is where things started to act up. The throttle linkage got bound up and wouldn’t return. I tied a rag to part of the linkage and literally drove with one hand and leaned over and pulled on the throttle for like 150 miles. So dealing with that and dealing with the standing water and vision, vision became a factor, but the truck was amazing. I was physically second at the driver change at race mile 330 and they tried to work on the linkage. Then Luke got by Ampudia when they had problems with a jack but then we had to change a power steering pump out in the middle of the desert so that cost us 30 minutes.
MIKE WALSER, No. 89 (Fourth overall and fourth in class.) - - “It ended up being a good race for us. I started and finished. Luke (Johnson) did a great job from our team. We had a few issues but it was a pretty clean race for us. The Trophy Truck class was so competitive and you can’t afford any problems to race in the top five. So, placing fourth overall feels good. When you beat top racers like Rob MacCachen and Ryan Arciero, you know you have done a good job. The course was so much different at the start with all of the water and mud. You had to be technical in several areas too. We are happy to take fourth and get ready for next year.”
ROB MACCACHREN, No. 11 (Fifth overall and fifth in class. Justin Smith started and drove to race mile 371. Rob MacCachren drove from race mile 371 to the finish.) - - Justin did a great job. Gave me the truck in probably fifth on the road or so. We ended up losing an alternator around race mile 580. The truck ran awesome. Rockstar Energy, Makita, BFGoodrich, Vision Wheels, Fox Shocks, I gotta thank Brian Lopez, my co-rider and Brady Thompson who rode with Bean, they all did a great job. We came down here and did a lot of pre-running. We wanted to win. We didn’t have the best year so we came here to win this race. We just had two little things that held us back - the alternator, and also Justin Lofton. He blocked the road, he lost the steering servo and we pulled up behind him and had to help him get out of the road, take the tie rod off his truck just to get the wheel straight. So we lost probably 15-20 minutes there. Other than that it was a pretty good race. It was epic honestly. The rain. I’ve been racing down here a lot of year and never have I seen so much of the course have rain puddles. The beginning of the course was muddy and when I got in the truck it was just covered in mud. The San Felipe section was dry but once we got to the top again there was mud and puddles, just splashing through them. We came here to win and 2019 just hasn’t been our year so we are looking forward to 2020.
RYAN ARCIERO, No. 32 (Sixth in class. Ryan Arciero started and drove to race mile 330. Dan McMillan drove from race mile 330 to race mile 695. Arciero drove from 695 to the finish.) - - We started losing brakes around race mile 230 and then around 240 the rear brakes were completely gone. We were getting into the real technical stuff where you need brakes the most so we pulled over to try to fix them and got going again but it didn’t fix the rears so we had to pull over again and plug the rear lines so I had no rear brakes from that point until race mile 330. We got Dan in at 330 and they replaced all the rear calipers and we had an OK pedal the rest of the way. The weather this year put the race on a completely different level. Some of that water was so deep and the mud was so bad, it was survival. I have seen a lot of SCORE Baja 1000’s and I’ve never seen anything like this. Look at the way these vehicles look when they come in and it’s all over us. It’s too hard anymore to do the SCORE Baja 1000 by yourself. The attrition level, the pace you have to run is too fast now. One guy would be completely wore out. It’s not like it used to be. You can’t make any mistakes any more and still win; you need a second driver. There is no pacing anymore; it’s flat out. You run as hard as the truck can win for all 800 miles.
ROBBIE PIERCE, No. 30 (Seventh in class. Robbie Pierce started and drove to race mile 330. Rafael Navarro IV drove from race mile 330 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER RAFAEL NAVARRO IV said: That was a long night. The course was rough. This was my first race in a SCORE Trophy Truck and I’m very thankful to Robbie Pierce for having me in this truck for this race and to Jimco Racing. We tested in this truck and this truck is on another level. I got comfortable in this truck quickly; it’s very easy to drive, very fast. The biggest thing for me today was judging the difference between this and my spec truck with braking points and the power and the speed. It’s a huge difference power-wise. The truck ran really good. I’ve never been so cold in a race though. We were freezing going up the summit and there was a lot of water and mud so that added to what we had to think about. I was just trying to nurture the truck to the finish line. The brakes started to fade but otherwise it was a great race. No flats.
MIKEY LAWRENCE, No. 85 (Eighth in class.) - - It went fairly well; trouble free. We had a couple flats that were driver error. The truck ran perfect. Thanks to my grandpa and family business, Lawrence Equipment.
ZAK LANGLEY, No. 50 (Ninth in class. Zak Langley started and drove to race mile 340. Kyle Jorgensen drove from race mile 340 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER KYLE JORGENSEN said: It didn’t really go that well for us really. We pushed through but everything that could have went wrong pretty much did go wrong. We were down early, like two hours down. I’m assuming the mud. I got in at race mile 380. I had no brakes for half of it, so that really wore me out when we got into the mountains. And then no GPS, no intercom. The little things that make it easier for us we didn’t have. We did a good job keeping it on the track with our challenges. It was tough. It was just one of those years. But we had no flats and everything else went good. We are just happy to be here at the finish.
GARY MAGNESS, No. 45 (Tenth in class. Gary Magness started and drove to race mile 340. Devon Housh drove from race mile 340 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER DEVON HOUSH said: We got stuck in the mud trying to pass other cars. The truck ran well. Flawless race.
CARLOS ‘APDALY’ LOPEZ, No. 9 (Eleventh in class. Juan Lopez started and drove to race mile 500. Carlos ‘Apdaly’ Lopez drove from race mile 500 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER JUAN C. LOPEZ said: It was a rough one and super muddy. We are glad to be at the finish line. We had some trouble at race mile 162 with bearings but we fixed it and were trying to get back in the physical lead but on race mile 485 we lost both alternators and ran out of battery and had to wait for three hours for a chase truck to give us a charge and new alternators. Also we lost rear brakes at about race mile 300 so that slowed us a little. After that the truck ran great, with no other problems. Our whole team helped bring this truck to the finish.
CASEY MEARS, No. 42 (Twelfth in class. Casey Mears started and drove to race mile 330. Doug Fortin, Jr. drove from race mile 330 to the finish.) - - It was wild. I think having all that rain made it great for having no dust but the puddles were insane. We had some sections, like 300 feet of 2-3 feet deep puddles. We got some water in some electronics causing a fair amount of down time getting that fixed, but outside of that things went pretty well. Baja lived up to its infamous name, very challenging, very difficult. It was a lot of fun, what a great experience. CO-DRIVER DOUG FORTIN JR. said: We hit a mud puddle early on and lost a crank trigger on the engine and it cost us a couple hours. After those repairs, the truck had no problems at all.
ANDY MCMILLIN, No. 31 (Thirteenth in class. Bryce Menzies started and drove to race mile 200. Andy McMillin drove to the finish.) - -That was a wild race. As far as the Championship, as soon as we couldn’t win the race anymore, that was definitely our goal. In order for us to lose the Championship, Luke (McMillin) would have to win the race and we had to finish 28th or 29th. I don't think Luke won and we finished. It was one of those Baja days. Baja tried to beat us and it did for a little while. But we came back fighting. My team and Bryce’s team, we persevered through some issues and put our heads together and made it to the finish. All in all, we won the Championship. This is my first SCORE Trophy Truck Championship. I got to thank Bryce and his guys for the help. Bryce drove an absolutely amazing race; he was leading the race and then something happened. I haven’t heard what yet. And then it was move on to Plan B and get the truck to the finish line and here we are. It’s great to win the Championship; it says a lot about our team. The guys at Mason Motorsports put together a hell of a truck. We did not have one issue all year with the truck. We lost a transmission today; it was a mechanical failure not a prep failure. All my guys at the shop, all of Bryce’s guys and his family, and all our volunteers that come and help us with the race program, chasing us from eight o’clock yesterday morning until nine o’clock this morning, it’s really cool. I always say Baja has a way of humbling you and it humbled us today and it really makes you cherish the wins and good runs because they are hard to come by. Bryce and I were stoked with the rain because we knew the four-wheel drive would have an advantage on the slippery hills and in some of the mud. He was able to get around Arciero and get first on the road and he held it that way for a while. The Mason guys just build a great truck. We are excited for next year. The Championship this year says a lot about our team and finishing all the races and having a good showing. Hopefully we can take that momentum into next year and try to win more races.
JAYSON STRACHAN, No. 44 (Fourteenth in class. Driving duties were split between Jayson Strachan, Bill Apgood, Kendall Bringhurst, and James Burman.) - - Pretty much everything that we saw pre-running was non-existent. All the lines that we had planned were gone, tore up. The desert itself was nothing like it was when we pre-ran. Some areas went from hard-packed to desert sand and other areas got nicer. When the course is like it is, you couldn’t just dive into any corner that you couldn’t see in case there was a puddle in it and then you would just slide off the track. We had many close calls, but luckily we had less than others. We broke a right rear spring, I don’t know when exactly but I noticed I couldn’t see over the hood anymore for over half the race. We made some shock adjustments and the sway bar took a beating. Then about 20 miles out, the alternator died and we barely made it in. The brakes got packed up with dirt and it was hard to stop. We are all just friends from Utah. We got two trucks, but we are a small team.
BOBBY PECOY, No. 14 (Finished fifteenth in class. Greg DiStefano drove from race mile 370 to race mile 546. Cameron Steele and Bobby Pecoy also shard driving duties.) - - We were having a good drive but just got beat up there at the end. That’s it. We will just come back next year and go after it again and see if we can get that number one spot again. CO-DRIVER CAMERON STEELE We were out in the middle of the mountains and lost coolant. Clyde Stacy, Mikey Lawrence and the COPS boys all stopped to give us water but it wasn’t enough and we had to wait for a chase truck to come get us. We camped, begging for water with signs. I want to thank Monster Energy, Bulletproof Diesel, Method, BFGoodrich, Baja Designs, Factory Canopies, and everybody that makes this thing go, and thank Bobby for letting me drive his truck.
ROBBY GORDON, No. 77 (Sixteenth in class. Gordon started and drove to race mile. Steven Stahovich drove to the finish.) - - At mile marker 600, our truck shut off and we sat there for six hours. Really unfortunate. The guys did a great job. This is a fluke. It’s not a mechanical. It was a tough race. Fun, but tough. I want to thank Clyde Stacy and Justin Matney. We worked really hard on our new truck and I crashed it about a month ago. We really didn’t get any test miles on it before we came down here. They offered up this brand new truck. It was built for Justin. That was pretty cool of them to hand over the keys to this thing. I felt that this would be our best shot at winning because the reliability is here but unfortunately we had one fluke deal with a sensor and we chased lack of front brakes all day. Other than that, this truck is awesome.
*SCORE TT LEGEND (Unlimited Production Trucks, Drivers over 50 years old)—
ROLF HELLAND, No. 37L (First in class. Rolf Helland started and drove to race mile 345. Rick Johnson drove from race mile 345 to the finish.) - - That was tough. I drove the first 345 miles. The rocks, the mud. It was a tight technical course, more than any other race I’ve done here before. I drove 170 miles with no visor. Rick took it home from there. He did a hell of a job. Getting a win here today means a lot to me.
CLYDE STACY, No. 5L (Second in class. Clyde Stacy started and drove the race mile 330. Nick Vanderwey drove from race mile 330 to race mile 500. Todd Wylie drove from race mile 500 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER TODD WYLIE said: Nick Vanderwey did a great job taking care of the truck. We tried to catch Rick Johnson but he managed to stay out in front of us, couldn’t quite reel him in. We did some tree trimming out there and gave ourself a flat but we managed to get that fixed right away in the race mile 580 pits. We never had to get out of the truck. We need to thank Geiser Bros, King Shocks and especially Clyde Stacy for letting us do this and all my pit crew for helping us get here.
JOSE DE JESUS FLORES, No. 55L (Third in class. Jose de Jesus Flores started and drove to race mile 230. Andrea Tomba drove from race mile 230 to race mile 540. Oskar Slingerland drove from race mile 540 to the finish.) - - The whole course was difficult, but the first 200 was the most difficult. It was very technical. We are glad to finish.
CLASS 1 (Unlimited open-wheel single or two-seaters)--
BRENDAN GAUGHAN, No. 162 (First in class. R. J. Anderson started and drove to race mile 330. Buddy Feldkamp drove from race mile 330 to race mile 500. Brendan Gaughan drove from race mile 500 to the finish.) - - It was a hell of race but we have a hell of a race team. We got to the end. I had Dr. Buddy Feldkamp’s son and R.J. Anderson so I had the man that made Walker Evans what he is, Dr. Feldkamp, and Michael Gaughan’s grandson and son just won the SCORE Baja 1000. Doc won it a couple of times, but my dad never did so we are all excited and can’t believe we got this baby to the finish. Kevin Kroyer who does my motors and my transmissions, its a Fortin transmission with a converter and we smoked the converter in the mountain and we were able to refill it and make it to the end. Kevin Kroyer and Doug Fortin are the man! Since we had to limp it in it took longer than I would have liked but I don’t care, we won the freaking SCORE Baja 1000! Great job. All three guys knew what to do. Robbie Goerke and the Collins guys…this is a fifteen-year-old Jeffries car. Damon built this thing fifteen years ago and it just won the SCORE Baja 1000 in 2019. I’m so happy to be out of NASCAR and back home. I’m so pumped. My dad never won the SCORE Baja 1000 and I got my nephew Jake co-riding with me, Ed Justice on the side of this car. The Justice Brothers have been around, Ed had been in this sport forever, and he is a big supporter of mine. He’s the biggest thing on the door; I put him bigger than the South Point Hotel and Casino. I got the Justice family, I got the Gaughan family, I got the Feldkamp family, I got the Anderson’s, which is Walker Evans, I mean we got some pretty cool people affiliated with us. And we brought it home. So proud of everybody, so proud of my guys. I hope they are all here.
BRANDON BAILEY, No. 129 (Second in class. Dave Macy started and drove to race mile 420. Jason Dudley drove from race mile 420 to race mile 580. Brandon Bailey drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - Definitely a long day. We had to fight for the finish. We had some issues early on that we had to overcome and we did and made up for lost time. Then we had a flawless run after that until we had to change a steering rack. That took some time. But after I got in it we didn’t have any down time or any issues. We are happy to be here at the finish. I thought there would be more water getting in the car, but it probably helped having the SCORE Trophy Trucks go through the water first.
MASON CULLEN, No. 105 (Third in class. Mason Cullen started and drove to race mile 340. Matt Cullen drove from race mile 340 to race mile 520. Chuck Sacks drove from race mile 520 to the finish.) - - It was rough and wet and flooded. There were a lot of exposed rocks and it was rougher than when we pre-ran it. It’s always good to get a finish in the SCORE Baja 1000. And I think we put it on the podium. That would make twice being on the podium this season. It was a great rookie year for us. Maybe even a Championship, we are still figuring the math. It’s really cool to be able to finish the year off strong and come back next year.
TROPHY TRUCK SPEC (unlimited Truck/SUV, stock, sealed engines)
AUSTIN ‘A.J.’ JONES, No. 279 (First in class. Broc Heger started and drove to race mile 330. Jones drove from race mile 330 to the finish.) - - Broc did a really good job in his section. He passed everyone we needed to pass. I took it from 330 on and finished the race. We ran a quick pace and didn’t want to mess anything up. We went slow in some sections but I think we put good time on the next competitor. No issues. I got to take Toby Price and Nassar Al-Attiyah down here pre-running. I’m not going to take credit for their success but I did get to show them a couple things here and there. I hope I helped them.
SARA PRICE, No. 204 (Second in class. Price drove solo.) - - I’ve never driven that long in my life. Just to finish this is unbelievable. Pretty gnarly. The comradarie with our class is great. We were battling back and forth all race. It was really wet out there. Big thanks to RPM and 4 wheel parts. We have the most amazing tires in BFGoodrich. This is the longest race I’ve ever done. I never thought I would be iron-woman-ing the SCORE Baja 1000, but we did it and we finished and I don’t know how. We had a few issues. At one point we hit a big rock so it delayed us quite a bit and our body panel was falling off and rubbing on the tire so we had to stop and take that off. We were battling back and forth with Dorrance and with that little mistake that cost us some time, but other than that we were going good. Third place came out of nowhere at the end so we torqued it up, but then I had to take it easy because I could feel the truck starting to go. The engine light was on, the temperature was too high so we had to baby it. I’m pumped just to make it to the end, but I want the SCORE Championship.
JEFF BADER, No. 261 (Third in class. Dan Fresh started and drove to race mile 372. Jeff Bader drove from race mile 372 to the finish.) - - It was wetter towards the end which made it cold. We pre-ran a ton which prepped us well for this race. The truck is in pretty good shape; we have all of the body panels. We had a few flat tires and gremlins in the electronics that we overcame and that was the only thing that slowed us down. We pre-ran the San Felipe sections and that side wasn’t as effected by the rains so we were in good shape on that section. This is our first SCORE race, our first SCORE Baja 1000 and we loved it.
CHARLES DORRANCE, No. 299 (Fourth in class. Charles Dorrance started and drove to race mile 340. Justin Davis drove from race mile 340 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER JUSTIN DAVIS said: At race mile 340 the starter started to short out, we have some electrical issues and it took almost two hours to get it fixed. And then after we that we just had to make it through the pack. We had no issues, we just kept going. There was a lot of mud but we made it, we are here at the finish.
GUILLERMO ZAMACONA, No. 269 (Fifth in class. Guillermo Zamacona shared driving duties with Carlos Larranaga and Isak Frayle.) - - Our team is 100 per cent Mexican and our backup and support team is 100 per cent Mexican from La Paz and Mexico City. It was a great race. I am very happy. It was very complicated. I am very thankful to the whole team. We will not make any changes. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. We are going to come back next year strong.
ROBERT MALONE, No. 237 (Sixth in class. Robert Malone started and drove to race mile 195. Jack Crownover drove from race mile 195 to the finish.) - - I started with my co-driver Cody Johnson and we drove to race mile 195. We were going to switch but there were some people on his tail so we kept him in there and let him finish. We traded the dust for the rain and it was pretty rough with the mud when it would splash. Then you couldn’t see your lights. We plan on coming back next year for the 2020 SCORE season.
CHELSEA MAGNESS, No. 232 (Seventh in class. Chelsea Magness started and drove to race mile 197. Todd Burt drove from race mile 197 to race mile 330. Mike McNutton drove from race mile 330 to race mile 495. Steve Knudson drove from race mile 495 to the finish.) - - The course was fun and challenging and had a lot of different parts to it, and a lot nicer that we expected, to be honest. It was so much different that what we pre-ran, but a lot of fun. CO-DRIVER STEVE KNUDSON said: We had to change the driveshaft at the Summit so we limped down the mountain and replaced it. This is our 25th Anniversary racing down here. I need to thank Gary and Chelsea and all our guys. Our Mango team is awesome. We love it down here. Thank Roger Norman for putting on a great race.
BOBBY PATTON, No. 240. (Ninth in class. Barry Karakas started and drove to race mile 340. Tim Vail drove from race mile 340 to race mile 580. Bobby Patton drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - We had a little trouble on one of the hills where the water seemed to be coming out faster than we could go up and one flat tire and we are pretty happy to finish in under 24 hours. We are really proud of the fact that this team finished all four of the SCORE races. It’s been a really big accomplishment for us. I hope people appreciate what SCORE does to get this together. What a difference a day makes, right?
HAMMER TRUCK UNLIMITED (unlimited, 4-wheel drive Rock Crawler)
CASEY CURRIE, No. 4402 (First in class. Casey Currie started and drove to race mile 375. Cody Currie drove from race mile 375 to the finish.) - - The course was brutal. All the puddles in the beginning made for a long day. Parts of the course are really chewed up but we made it through. We had no issues. Our tires held up, we had no flats. We ran the same set of tires all day. It was pretty crazy. The guys did a phenomenal job. We work hard at this. This is my third time finishing first in the SCORE Baja 1000. I love it down here. It’s freaking home.
CLASS 10 (Limited, sealed engine, single or two-seaters)
CHASE WARREN, No. 1008 (First in class. Adam Pfankuch started and drove to race mile 340. Chase Warren drove from race mile 340 to the finish.) - - Adam lost the power steering around race mile 50 and got down about 40 minutes and that put us behind in our class and behind some other classes. By the time they got the car to me we were right behind third on road. We took it from there and put the hammer down. It was flawless after that. We made up some of the hour deficit.
ELISEO GARCIA, No. 1075. (Second in class. Eliseo Garcia started and drove to race mile 170. Javier Montoyo Jr. drove from race mile 170 to race mile 345. Garcia drove from race mile 345 to race mile 580. Montoya drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - This was an awesome race. This was the first race for this car. It is from Race Co/Jamie Campbell and it was perfect. We are on the podium. We are doing the 2020 season. We are fired up. This is incredible. We were shooting for a podium finish but this is a gift from God.
JEREMY DAVIS, No, 1085 (Third in class. Larry Jobs started and drove to race mile 340. Tyler Peterson drove from race mile 340 to race mile 580. Jeremy Davis drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - It was a good race. I got in at race mile 580. We were having a good solid day at the start. Then we lost the rear calipers due to overheating from all the mud on them. We had to change that and that lost us about an hour and then we got in a bottleneck and sat there for like another hour so then we were about two hours behind. I knew we had to just had to keep the car going because I knew people would drop out because it’s the SCORE Baja 1000 and there is always people dropping out. But it was a good solid race. It was muddy but it wasn’t crazy, it wasn’t bad.
HIRAM DURAM, No. 1016 (Fourth in class. Hiram Duran started and drove to race mile 85. Eric Duran drove from race mile 85 to race mile 340. Evan Duran drove from race mile 340 to race mile 535. Hiram Duran drove from race mile 535 to the finish.) - - We were doing good at until race mile 580, then we had brake problems. Then we got a flat around race mile 630 so that cost me some time. Somehow we caught a big piece of wire that wrapped around the tire and cost us an hour and a half. But we made it to the finish.
DAN BERG, No. 1069 (Fifth in class. Dan Berg started and drove to race mile 250. Mike drove from race mile 250 to race mile 450. Another driver from race mile 450 to race mile 580. Mike drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - It was very wet for the first couple hundred miles. Then we lost an oil sensor that caused us to go into limp mode. And then we lost our primary navigation system. Something always goes wrong but we finished.
CLASS 7 (unlimited, six-cylinder, production appearing trucks or SUVs)
MIKE SHAFFER, No. 710 (First in class. Mike Shaffer started and rove to race mile 330. Adam Aresenault drove from race mile 330 to race mile 580. John Bowers drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - The first couple hundred miles was probably the hardest but it was that hard for everyone. The important thing is we came out on top. We tried to pace our selves and not hurt the car. The lights got muddy and so it was hard to see, but everything worked flawlessly. No flats. We had a great time running the SCORE Baja 1000. CO-DRIVER JOHN BOWERS said: I’ve been wanting to do this since I was in high school and now we have taken home a SCORE Baja 1000 win. It’s a dream come true.
CLASS 5 (Unlimited Baja Bugs, VW concept engines allowed)
GREG SULLIVAN, No. 507 (First in class. Greg Sullivan drove the start to race mile 225. Jesus Marquez drove from race mile 225 to 525. Miguel Pabloff drove from race mile 525 to race mile 725. Sullivan drove from race mile 725 to the finish.) - - The course was good when it dried out. The first two hundred miles there was a lot of water. The last little section as a mud puddle and that’s why every car looks like this. The last seventy miles we drove conservatively so we could take care of the car once we knew we were in the lead. This had been a lifelong dream, to win the SCORE Baja 1000.
PRO UTV FI (two-seat Forced Induction, OEM engine UTVs)
JUSTIN LAMBERT, No. 2918 (First in overall UTV and first in class. Victor Herrera started and drove to race mile 340. Justin Lambert drove from race mile 340 to the finish.) - - Victor handed it off to me around race mile 340 in about fourth or fifth place, only about 13 minutes behind the leader and it was exactly what our plan was. What a brutal course. This Cognito monster Polaris held together. This thing is tough. This will be my first SCORE Baja 1000 win. It’s a dream come true. CO-DRIVER VICTOR HERRARA said: Justin gave me the privilege of starting the race. We started 13th and I did what he asked me to do which was bring it to him in one piece. That was our objective and we accomplished it. The car was flawless, we had no problems. It ran all day and did what we asked it to do. It was an amazing day. Glad to be here. It’s been a long time since I won a SCORE Baja 1000 so it’s awesome to be back and win it.
WAYNE MATLOCK, No. 2971 (Second in class. Josh Row started and drove to race mile 340. Wayne Matlock drove from race mile 340 to the finish.) - - Today was judgement day. Josh Row drove the first 340 miles in the super wet conditions. I got in the car for the desert. We led the first 600 miles or so then had a mechanical issue and ended up a little behind. We will be back. It looks like we may have won the Championship in our class
MATT BURROUGHS, No. 2948 (Third in class. Matt Burroughs started and drove to race mile 195. Cody Beeson drove from race mile 195 to race mile 450. Jason LaFortune drove from race mile 450 to race mile 705. Burroughs drove from race mile 705 to the finish.) - - This has been the hardest race I’ve ever done. The mud, it was really brutal. It was fun and hopefully we got a podium finish.
WES MILLER, No. 2989 (Fourth in class. Wes Miller drove solo.) - - The course was really rough and technical. Everyone was worried about the rain but it helped keep the dust down, but it was still dusty in some areas. The Summit was gnarly. We ran up front for a little while, then diced back and forth with Burnett, but I think we finished ahead of him, maybe fourth. We had power steering issues and this is not the race to run with no power steering. Wore me out.
MARC BURNETT, No. 2905 (Sixth in class. Marc Burnett started the race and drove to race mile 460. Bobby Smith drove from race mile 460 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER BOBBY SMITH said: We had a rear trailing arm come apart near San Felipe and that just killed us right there. We were pushing hard in this race to get the Championship for Marc. I don’t think we got it but we made it to the finish. That’s positive and everyone is safe. The prep guys did an awesome job on the car. It was a brutal course.
CHRISTINE GIAMPAOLI ZONCA, No. 2926 (Seventh in class. Jason Farrel started and drove to race mile 340. Christine Giampaoli Zonca drove from race mile 340 to the finish.) - - It was a long night. It was insane. We did our homework but the course is completely different. You always have issues in Baja but the car went great. I’m super happy and we are going to be stronger for next year. We are aiming for the podium next year. This wouldn’t be possible without my team. Everyone works so hard and we are improving.
CRAIG SCANLON, No. 2931 (Eighth in class. Craig Scanlon started and drove to race mile 455. Brandon Simms drove from race mile 455 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER BRANDON SIMMS said: The car was flawless, just a couple issues. We had a great run until about 40 miles to the finish that set us down a little.
JASON MURRAY, No. 2917 (Ninth in class. Jason Murray started and drove to race mile 340. Derek Murray drove race mile 340 to race mile 580. Dan Fisher drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - The race started off pretty well. The tracker stopped working at some point but we were running around third place most of the day. We lost a wheel hub and lost about an hour there fixing that out in the middle of the desert. We had some electrical gremlins but the guys fought hard and brought it to the finish line.
JASON STEWART, No. 2902. (Eleventh in class. Jason Stewart shared driving duties with Jason Luburgh and Steve Watts.) - - We only made it to mile 80 in our start last year. This year we finished so we achieved a good goal. We are from the East Coast so we are used to mud. We know everybody from racing quads but we are not used to running 30 hours. Next year we are going to try to do two or three more SCORE races.
SCORE LITES (VW-powered, Limited single-1776cc-or two-seaters-1835cc)
JIM BUTLER, No. 1266 (First in class. Jason Shipman started and drove to race mile 191. Jim Butler drove from race mile 191 to race mile 370. Doug DeLong drove from race mile 370 to race mile 580. Kent Fults drove from race mile 580 to race mile 730. Butler drove from race mile 730 to the finish.) - - It was a mess. We got 90 minutes behind early on and we thought everything was not going to come together. But then we made up time, but then at the end we had not run the last section and we got lost and had to find the course again. Then we saw our competitor stopped and thought we had it. We just wanted to get it to the finish line, we didn’t think we could win it. I’ve been in racing my whole life but never had a good ride. I was about ready to hang it up and my buddy said he bought a car and you are driving. Then we put together a team. We have 25 people from all over helping us out. We have people not even here guiding us and helping us with logistics. We just kept putting it together.
FREDDIE WILLERT, No. 1206 (Second in class. Stan Potter started and drove to race mile 326. Tex Mitchell drove from race mile 326 to race mile 580. Freddie Willert drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - We had a lot of problems and finished about seven hours longer than we thought. An alternator went out, then we got caught up in that bottleneck and lost three hours there. Broke a tie rod, flat tire, but I think we won the championship, I’m not sure.
DOUG SATTERFIELD, No. 1229 (Third in class. Doug Satterfiled started and drove to race mile 380. Robbie drove from race mile 380 to race mile 580. Satterfield drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - We had a motorhome at our first driver change so we were able to shower and change clothes because we were covered in mud from head to toe. It was really fast that last section. Our main issue was we had a problem getting enough fuel at the first fuel stop so we ran out of gas and our chase crew had to bring us some. The locals helped us out a lot. Some ranchers siphoned fuel out of their vehicle for us. This is my first SCORE Baja 1000. To podium is awesome.
PRO UTV (two-seat Normally Aspirated, OEM engine UTVs)
KRISTEN MATLOCK, No. 1954 (First in class. Kristen Matlock drove solo.) - - This is my first SCORE Baja 1000 win. It is really special. I had tears coming down my face as I drove in here to the finish. This is my fourth attempt at it and I’ve iron-woman-ed it every single time and this is probably the toughest one yet. This was more grueling, wet, muddy, lots of terrain changes. I thought that I knew Baja really well until the rain hit and changed everything. I had a great time and I appreciate SCORE for putting on such a great event. I’d like to thank my family for being down and all my friends that come down and support us, our entire crew. We wouldn’t be able to do this without them. Polaris RZR, Fox Shocks, Yokohama, Steel-It, Rugged Radios, it takes an army. And my new co-driver, Rich Morel, this is his first race. He did a phenomenal job.
KADEN WELLS, No. 1995 (Second in class. Kaden Wells started the race and drove to race mile 330. Travis Wells drove from race mile 330 to race mile 580. Kaden Wells drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - The track changed a lot from the rain. The track was rough but we made it. We look forward to next year.
TRENT BACKUS, No. 1902 (Third in class. Tyler Backus started and drove to race mile 343.Trent Backus drove from race mile 343 to the finish) - - This isn’t as good as our first place finish last year, but we will take it. Everyone worked really hard. We fought for this one, that’s for sure. We broke a sway bar so it didn’t handle that well after that.
JOE BOLTON, No. 1956 (Sixth in class. Joe Bolton shard driving duties with Austin Bolton, Steve Buckley and Bill Boyer.) - - It was awesome. It was a lot longer than we thought. We thought 24 hours but it took a lot longer. But we finished.
CLASS 1/2-1600 (VW-powered, single or two-seaters to 1600cc)
J. DAVID RUVALCABA, No, 1609 (First in class. Esteban Cruz started and drove to race mile 165. J. David Ruvalcaba drove from race mile 165 to race mile 450. Cruz drove from race mile 450 to race mile 580. Ruvalcaba drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER ESTEBAN CRUZ said: This team has been racing together since 1999 on dirt bikes. As they say, with age you get a cage. It was a great call by SCORE to delay the start of the race by 24 hours, but I did get a little over confident and has some scary moments. We got first place today and we won the Championship and we completed every mile of every SCORE race this year. We will see you in San Felipe next year.
BRUCE YEE, No. 1614 (Second in class. Bruce Yee started the race and drove to race mile 198. Jose Robles drove from race mile 198 to race mile 454. Alberto Medina drove from race mile 454 to race mile 580. Yee drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - We had to change our transmission, got stuck a few times, got one flat. But it was fun. Lots and lots of mud. Long day but it was lots of fun.
PRO UTV UNLTD (two-seat unlimited UTV open-displacement)
HERMAN JOHNSON, No. 1851 (First in class. Herman Johnson started the race and drove to race mile 330. Sean Lynch drove from race mile 330 to race mile 580. Austin Johnson drove from race mile 580 to to the finish) - - CO-DRIVER AUSTIN JOHNSON said: Awesome race. Everything went pretty flawlessly. We had a couple broken parts, nothing major. The car held together very well. I think we led the whole race and got first. Very excited.
AL MCBETH, No. 1857 (Second in class. Al McBeth drove solo.) - - It was a long day but it was good. Baja always seems to throw problems at us but we are thrilled to cross the line. I always seem to find Baja rocks. I took an A-arm off with a rock. The last 200 miles we were in limp mode, but we just had to keep going and get across the line. this is our second year of iron-manning it. Thank you SCORE for putting on an awesome race.
PRO UTV STOCK (Stock UTV’s, FI or NA)
MIKE CAFRO, No. 3955 (First in class. Jamie Kirkpatrick started and drove to race mile 225. Mike Cafro drove from race mile 225 to race mile 450. Kirkpatrick drove from race mile 450 to race mile 620. Cafro drove from race mile 620 to the finish.) - - The car was flawless. That’s a testament to this car, bone stock. The course was brutal. Loved it though. We raced SCORE all season, but we raced this car in the Pro Stock class this race to promote this new car from Polaris, the XP Pro. We won the class but we were going for the overall. We will probably go back to the Turbo class next year.
CLASS 3 (short wheelbase 4X4 based on production vehicles)
DONALD MOSS, No. 302 (First in class. Donald Moss started the race and drove to race mile 180. Ken Moss drove from race mile 180 to race mile 330. Dave Grundland drove from race mile 330 to race mile 580. Don Moss drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER KEN MOSS said: That was tough and interesting. Lot of water on the Pacific side. We couldn’t go fast in some parts because it was so slippery. We had about twelve people that came down and supported us.
BAJA CHALLENGE (Spec, Subaru-powered Baja Touring Cars equipped with BFGoodrich Tires)
LANCE CLIFFORD, No. BC1 (First in class. Brian Finch started the race and drove to race mile 380. Jay Jakupa drove from race mile 380 to race mile 580. Lance Clifford drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - We had no flats but did lose a clutch. We got that fixed on the side of the course. that took 3 hours. We were down 60 miles. So we had to go for it and put the hammer down. And here we are! We kept it on the course and got lucky. It was great. Thank SCORE and Wide Open and BFGoodrich for everything they do for us.
ANTONIO TOLEDO, No. BC6 (Second in class. Edu Blanco started and drove to race mile 250. Ariel Joton drove from race mile 250 to race mile 580. Antonio Toledo drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER EDU BLANCO said: The race changed a lot from the rain from a week ago so we decided to go fast in the first section, and the ,slower at night in the middle and conservative at the end. We had one flat tire but everything else was perfect. I hope to come back next year.
CLASS 5-1600 (1600cc VW Baja Bugs)
RUBEN GARCIA, No. 569 (First in class. Ruben Garcia started and drove to race mile 580. Ruben Garcia Jr. drove to the finish.) - - A lot of fun. Very difficult. It was crazy after the rain. Our transmission guy did an awesome job. Our engine was flawless. Our BFGoodrich’s were awesome we finished on the same tires we started with. We had no issues, we just moved forward and kept going. I am very blessed to have my guys around me. They helped me through everything.
CLASS 7F (Stock frame, 2 or 4-wheel drive mini or mid-size trucks)
DAVE COLE, No. 724F (First in class. Doug Stewart started and drove to race mile 330. Bailey Cole drove from race mile 330 to race mile 580. Dave Cole raced from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - Doug Stewart stepped in with us in the last week. He has six SCORE Baja 1000 wins so he has experience. We put him in the car first and experience won out. He delivered it to us first in class. The car was pretty wounded. My son drove his first SCORE Baja 1000. We worked on the car to repair some damage and shortened our lead but we still came out on top. It was awesome. A great run. Stock motor and chassis, we raced the entire SCORE series bone stock.
CLASS 7SX (2 or 4-wheel drive mini or mid-sized trucks)
GERARDO NOVELO, No. 740 (First in class. Gerardo Novelo started and drove to race mile one. Jose Castro drove to the finish.) - - We are very happy, very excited. I am the driver of record but I couldn’t race due to my health. I started and then turned it over to my team. They drove the whole rest of the way. We lost two alternators but no flats. We are very happy, very proud. It was very difficult but I am very excited. I would like to thank SCORE International to promote the best off-road racing in the world.
ALAN AMPUDIA, No. 10 (First overall. First in class. Alan Ampudia started and drove to race mile 350. Aaron Ampudia drove race mile 350 to race mile to 695. Alan Ampudia drove race mile 695 to the finish.) - - It was the gnarliest day ever. A dream come true. This has been a dream for us since we were little. Watching Ivan Stewart, Robby Gordon, all the legends in this sport. To be able to come out here with a stacked field like it was today and come out on top through all the elements Baja threw at us this year with the rain and the mud, it was crazy. There are so many stories to be told. Me and Tavo (Vildosola) battled for miles. Our truck was amazing. It was on rails today. The puddles were insane.
CO-DRIVER AARON AMPUDIA said: Alan gave me the truck in first physical on the track and on time. When I got out we had a fourteen minute lead on Luke (McMillan) and about an hour on everyone else, we pushed and made a little mistake. We had to stop and got some help from the MacCachren team, so we really appreciate those guys. We got back to our pit and fixed the issues. It was a great day. We knew we had to put in a clean, solid race to have a chance to win and that’s what we went out to do.
NAVIGATOR RODRIGO AMPUDIA said: The race overall was an awesome event. It was cold coming over the summit; the plants were frozen. The water splashes were freezing. We just put our heads down and stuck to our plan and it worked. We are from Ensenada and this is our hometown race.
JESSE JONES, No. 76 (Second over all and second in class. Toby Price started and drove to race mile 530. Nassar Al-Attiyah drove from race mile 530 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER TOBY PRICE said: I love Mexico. It is unreal. I really enjoy coming back here. I’ve been able to experience some bike stuff here, but with the Dakar Rally coming up in January it is so close to that event we were not able to bring a bike here. The very best next thing is a SCORE Trophy Truck and I’m very grateful to Jesse Jones to have me in his truck. We have had a very good race here today, we made some good ground, started 28th or so and made it to third. It’s crazy, we are really stoked to get a podium; two Dakar champs. We had a good race; I only had one flat. I slid into a rock and punctured the tire. The truck was flawless. Mason Motorsports built a really amazing vehicle. Jesse Jones has really been looking after us and keeping us going. Red Bull, KMC wheels, BFGoodrich tires it’s been an amazing effort. CO-DRIVER NASSAR AL-ATTIYAH said: This is my first SCORE Baja 1000 and it was fantastic. I am so happy to be here to see everybody, all the fans. It is a really fantastic for us to finish on the podium. We worked very hard. Thank you to our sponsors, Red Bull, BFGoodrich tires, Jesse Jones. We are so happy for everything that happened this month. Compared to my Dakar car, there is no limit with these trucks and I really love to be here. I promise I am coming back next year.
LUKE MCMILLIN, No. 83 (Third overall and third in class. Larry Roeseler started and drove to race mile 330. Luke McMillin drove from race mile 330 to the finish.) - - We had a stuck throttle, no brakes, we lost an alternator, a power steering pump, we lost water pressure, we thought we lost an engine when it just dropped dead in its tracks at one point. All that happened today. It was incredible. We just kept pushing and pushing. We made it to the lead in the desert, which is something we knew we could do; we have been fast down there all year. This truck does really well down there. The throttle pedal I just had to deal with. The alternator we switched it, no brakes makes it extremely difficult to drive but the biggest problem was the 30 minutes to change the power steering pump. CO-DRIVER LARRY ROESELER said: It was a very difficult SCORE Baja 1000. It started off really good. I got by a couple guys right away. On corrected time we were leading a couple of times. When we got into the standing water that is where things started to act up. The throttle linkage got bound up and wouldn’t return. I tied a rag to part of the linkage and literally drove with one hand and leaned over and pulled on the throttle for like 150 miles. So dealing with that and dealing with the standing water and vision, vision became a factor, but the truck was amazing. I was physically second at the driver change at race mile 330 and they tried to work on the linkage. Then Luke got by Ampudia when they had problems with a jack but then we had to change a power steering pump out in the middle of the desert so that cost us 30 minutes.
MIKE WALSER, No. 89 (Fourth overall and fourth in class.) - - “It ended up being a good race for us. I started and finished. Luke (Johnson) did a great job from our team. We had a few issues but it was a pretty clean race for us. The Trophy Truck class was so competitive and you can’t afford any problems to race in the top five. So, placing fourth overall feels good. When you beat top racers like Rob MacCachen and Ryan Arciero, you know you have done a good job. The course was so much different at the start with all of the water and mud. You had to be technical in several areas too. We are happy to take fourth and get ready for next year.”
ROB MACCACHREN, No. 11 (Fifth overall and fifth in class. Justin Smith started and drove to race mile 371. Rob MacCachren drove from race mile 371 to the finish.) - - Justin did a great job. Gave me the truck in probably fifth on the road or so. We ended up losing an alternator around race mile 580. The truck ran awesome. Rockstar Energy, Makita, BFGoodrich, Vision Wheels, Fox Shocks, I gotta thank Brian Lopez, my co-rider and Brady Thompson who rode with Bean, they all did a great job. We came down here and did a lot of pre-running. We wanted to win. We didn’t have the best year so we came here to win this race. We just had two little things that held us back - the alternator, and also Justin Lofton. He blocked the road, he lost the steering servo and we pulled up behind him and had to help him get out of the road, take the tie rod off his truck just to get the wheel straight. So we lost probably 15-20 minutes there. Other than that it was a pretty good race. It was epic honestly. The rain. I’ve been racing down here a lot of year and never have I seen so much of the course have rain puddles. The beginning of the course was muddy and when I got in the truck it was just covered in mud. The San Felipe section was dry but once we got to the top again there was mud and puddles, just splashing through them. We came here to win and 2019 just hasn’t been our year so we are looking forward to 2020.
RYAN ARCIERO, No. 32 (Sixth in class. Ryan Arciero started and drove to race mile 330. Dan McMillan drove from race mile 330 to race mile 695. Arciero drove from 695 to the finish.) - - We started losing brakes around race mile 230 and then around 240 the rear brakes were completely gone. We were getting into the real technical stuff where you need brakes the most so we pulled over to try to fix them and got going again but it didn’t fix the rears so we had to pull over again and plug the rear lines so I had no rear brakes from that point until race mile 330. We got Dan in at 330 and they replaced all the rear calipers and we had an OK pedal the rest of the way. The weather this year put the race on a completely different level. Some of that water was so deep and the mud was so bad, it was survival. I have seen a lot of SCORE Baja 1000’s and I’ve never seen anything like this. Look at the way these vehicles look when they come in and it’s all over us. It’s too hard anymore to do the SCORE Baja 1000 by yourself. The attrition level, the pace you have to run is too fast now. One guy would be completely wore out. It’s not like it used to be. You can’t make any mistakes any more and still win; you need a second driver. There is no pacing anymore; it’s flat out. You run as hard as the truck can win for all 800 miles.
ROBBIE PIERCE, No. 30 (Seventh in class. Robbie Pierce started and drove to race mile 330. Rafael Navarro IV drove from race mile 330 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER RAFAEL NAVARRO IV said: That was a long night. The course was rough. This was my first race in a SCORE Trophy Truck and I’m very thankful to Robbie Pierce for having me in this truck for this race and to Jimco Racing. We tested in this truck and this truck is on another level. I got comfortable in this truck quickly; it’s very easy to drive, very fast. The biggest thing for me today was judging the difference between this and my spec truck with braking points and the power and the speed. It’s a huge difference power-wise. The truck ran really good. I’ve never been so cold in a race though. We were freezing going up the summit and there was a lot of water and mud so that added to what we had to think about. I was just trying to nurture the truck to the finish line. The brakes started to fade but otherwise it was a great race. No flats.
MIKEY LAWRENCE, No. 85 (Eighth in class.) - - It went fairly well; trouble free. We had a couple flats that were driver error. The truck ran perfect. Thanks to my grandpa and family business, Lawrence Equipment.
ZAK LANGLEY, No. 50 (Ninth in class. Zak Langley started and drove to race mile 340. Kyle Jorgensen drove from race mile 340 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER KYLE JORGENSEN said: It didn’t really go that well for us really. We pushed through but everything that could have went wrong pretty much did go wrong. We were down early, like two hours down. I’m assuming the mud. I got in at race mile 380. I had no brakes for half of it, so that really wore me out when we got into the mountains. And then no GPS, no intercom. The little things that make it easier for us we didn’t have. We did a good job keeping it on the track with our challenges. It was tough. It was just one of those years. But we had no flats and everything else went good. We are just happy to be here at the finish.
GARY MAGNESS, No. 45 (Tenth in class. Gary Magness started and drove to race mile 340. Devon Housh drove from race mile 340 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER DEVON HOUSH said: We got stuck in the mud trying to pass other cars. The truck ran well. Flawless race.
CARLOS ‘APDALY’ LOPEZ, No. 9 (Eleventh in class. Juan Lopez started and drove to race mile 500. Carlos ‘Apdaly’ Lopez drove from race mile 500 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER JUAN C. LOPEZ said: It was a rough one and super muddy. We are glad to be at the finish line. We had some trouble at race mile 162 with bearings but we fixed it and were trying to get back in the physical lead but on race mile 485 we lost both alternators and ran out of battery and had to wait for three hours for a chase truck to give us a charge and new alternators. Also we lost rear brakes at about race mile 300 so that slowed us a little. After that the truck ran great, with no other problems. Our whole team helped bring this truck to the finish.
CASEY MEARS, No. 42 (Twelfth in class. Casey Mears started and drove to race mile 330. Doug Fortin, Jr. drove from race mile 330 to the finish.) - - It was wild. I think having all that rain made it great for having no dust but the puddles were insane. We had some sections, like 300 feet of 2-3 feet deep puddles. We got some water in some electronics causing a fair amount of down time getting that fixed, but outside of that things went pretty well. Baja lived up to its infamous name, very challenging, very difficult. It was a lot of fun, what a great experience. CO-DRIVER DOUG FORTIN JR. said: We hit a mud puddle early on and lost a crank trigger on the engine and it cost us a couple hours. After those repairs, the truck had no problems at all.
ANDY MCMILLIN, No. 31 (Thirteenth in class. Bryce Menzies started and drove to race mile 200. Andy McMillin drove to the finish.) - -That was a wild race. As far as the Championship, as soon as we couldn’t win the race anymore, that was definitely our goal. In order for us to lose the Championship, Luke (McMillin) would have to win the race and we had to finish 28th or 29th. I don't think Luke won and we finished. It was one of those Baja days. Baja tried to beat us and it did for a little while. But we came back fighting. My team and Bryce’s team, we persevered through some issues and put our heads together and made it to the finish. All in all, we won the Championship. This is my first SCORE Trophy Truck Championship. I got to thank Bryce and his guys for the help. Bryce drove an absolutely amazing race; he was leading the race and then something happened. I haven’t heard what yet. And then it was move on to Plan B and get the truck to the finish line and here we are. It’s great to win the Championship; it says a lot about our team. The guys at Mason Motorsports put together a hell of a truck. We did not have one issue all year with the truck. We lost a transmission today; it was a mechanical failure not a prep failure. All my guys at the shop, all of Bryce’s guys and his family, and all our volunteers that come and help us with the race program, chasing us from eight o’clock yesterday morning until nine o’clock this morning, it’s really cool. I always say Baja has a way of humbling you and it humbled us today and it really makes you cherish the wins and good runs because they are hard to come by. Bryce and I were stoked with the rain because we knew the four-wheel drive would have an advantage on the slippery hills and in some of the mud. He was able to get around Arciero and get first on the road and he held it that way for a while. The Mason guys just build a great truck. We are excited for next year. The Championship this year says a lot about our team and finishing all the races and having a good showing. Hopefully we can take that momentum into next year and try to win more races.
JAYSON STRACHAN, No. 44 (Fourteenth in class. Driving duties were split between Jayson Strachan, Bill Apgood, Kendall Bringhurst, and James Burman.) - - Pretty much everything that we saw pre-running was non-existent. All the lines that we had planned were gone, tore up. The desert itself was nothing like it was when we pre-ran. Some areas went from hard-packed to desert sand and other areas got nicer. When the course is like it is, you couldn’t just dive into any corner that you couldn’t see in case there was a puddle in it and then you would just slide off the track. We had many close calls, but luckily we had less than others. We broke a right rear spring, I don’t know when exactly but I noticed I couldn’t see over the hood anymore for over half the race. We made some shock adjustments and the sway bar took a beating. Then about 20 miles out, the alternator died and we barely made it in. The brakes got packed up with dirt and it was hard to stop. We are all just friends from Utah. We got two trucks, but we are a small team.
BOBBY PECOY, No. 14 (Finished fifteenth in class. Greg DiStefano drove from race mile 370 to race mile 546. Cameron Steele and Bobby Pecoy also shard driving duties.) - - We were having a good drive but just got beat up there at the end. That’s it. We will just come back next year and go after it again and see if we can get that number one spot again. CO-DRIVER CAMERON STEELE We were out in the middle of the mountains and lost coolant. Clyde Stacy, Mikey Lawrence and the COPS boys all stopped to give us water but it wasn’t enough and we had to wait for a chase truck to come get us. We camped, begging for water with signs. I want to thank Monster Energy, Bulletproof Diesel, Method, BFGoodrich, Baja Designs, Factory Canopies, and everybody that makes this thing go, and thank Bobby for letting me drive his truck.
ROBBY GORDON, No. 77 (Sixteenth in class. Gordon started and drove to race mile. Steven Stahovich drove to the finish.) - - At mile marker 600, our truck shut off and we sat there for six hours. Really unfortunate. The guys did a great job. This is a fluke. It’s not a mechanical. It was a tough race. Fun, but tough. I want to thank Clyde Stacy and Justin Matney. We worked really hard on our new truck and I crashed it about a month ago. We really didn’t get any test miles on it before we came down here. They offered up this brand new truck. It was built for Justin. That was pretty cool of them to hand over the keys to this thing. I felt that this would be our best shot at winning because the reliability is here but unfortunately we had one fluke deal with a sensor and we chased lack of front brakes all day. Other than that, this truck is awesome.
*SCORE TT LEGEND (Unlimited Production Trucks, Drivers over 50 years old)—
ROLF HELLAND, No. 37L (First in class. Rolf Helland started and drove to race mile 345. Rick Johnson drove from race mile 345 to the finish.) - - That was tough. I drove the first 345 miles. The rocks, the mud. It was a tight technical course, more than any other race I’ve done here before. I drove 170 miles with no visor. Rick took it home from there. He did a hell of a job. Getting a win here today means a lot to me.
CLYDE STACY, No. 5L (Second in class. Clyde Stacy started and drove the race mile 330. Nick Vanderwey drove from race mile 330 to race mile 500. Todd Wylie drove from race mile 500 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER TODD WYLIE said: Nick Vanderwey did a great job taking care of the truck. We tried to catch Rick Johnson but he managed to stay out in front of us, couldn’t quite reel him in. We did some tree trimming out there and gave ourself a flat but we managed to get that fixed right away in the race mile 580 pits. We never had to get out of the truck. We need to thank Geiser Bros, King Shocks and especially Clyde Stacy for letting us do this and all my pit crew for helping us get here.
JOSE DE JESUS FLORES, No. 55L (Third in class. Jose de Jesus Flores started and drove to race mile 230. Andrea Tomba drove from race mile 230 to race mile 540. Oskar Slingerland drove from race mile 540 to the finish.) - - The whole course was difficult, but the first 200 was the most difficult. It was very technical. We are glad to finish.
CLASS 1 (Unlimited open-wheel single or two-seaters)--
BRENDAN GAUGHAN, No. 162 (First in class. R. J. Anderson started and drove to race mile 330. Buddy Feldkamp drove from race mile 330 to race mile 500. Brendan Gaughan drove from race mile 500 to the finish.) - - It was a hell of race but we have a hell of a race team. We got to the end. I had Dr. Buddy Feldkamp’s son and R.J. Anderson so I had the man that made Walker Evans what he is, Dr. Feldkamp, and Michael Gaughan’s grandson and son just won the SCORE Baja 1000. Doc won it a couple of times, but my dad never did so we are all excited and can’t believe we got this baby to the finish. Kevin Kroyer who does my motors and my transmissions, its a Fortin transmission with a converter and we smoked the converter in the mountain and we were able to refill it and make it to the end. Kevin Kroyer and Doug Fortin are the man! Since we had to limp it in it took longer than I would have liked but I don’t care, we won the freaking SCORE Baja 1000! Great job. All three guys knew what to do. Robbie Goerke and the Collins guys…this is a fifteen-year-old Jeffries car. Damon built this thing fifteen years ago and it just won the SCORE Baja 1000 in 2019. I’m so happy to be out of NASCAR and back home. I’m so pumped. My dad never won the SCORE Baja 1000 and I got my nephew Jake co-riding with me, Ed Justice on the side of this car. The Justice Brothers have been around, Ed had been in this sport forever, and he is a big supporter of mine. He’s the biggest thing on the door; I put him bigger than the South Point Hotel and Casino. I got the Justice family, I got the Gaughan family, I got the Feldkamp family, I got the Anderson’s, which is Walker Evans, I mean we got some pretty cool people affiliated with us. And we brought it home. So proud of everybody, so proud of my guys. I hope they are all here.
BRANDON BAILEY, No. 129 (Second in class. Dave Macy started and drove to race mile 420. Jason Dudley drove from race mile 420 to race mile 580. Brandon Bailey drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - Definitely a long day. We had to fight for the finish. We had some issues early on that we had to overcome and we did and made up for lost time. Then we had a flawless run after that until we had to change a steering rack. That took some time. But after I got in it we didn’t have any down time or any issues. We are happy to be here at the finish. I thought there would be more water getting in the car, but it probably helped having the SCORE Trophy Trucks go through the water first.
MASON CULLEN, No. 105 (Third in class. Mason Cullen started and drove to race mile 340. Matt Cullen drove from race mile 340 to race mile 520. Chuck Sacks drove from race mile 520 to the finish.) - - It was rough and wet and flooded. There were a lot of exposed rocks and it was rougher than when we pre-ran it. It’s always good to get a finish in the SCORE Baja 1000. And I think we put it on the podium. That would make twice being on the podium this season. It was a great rookie year for us. Maybe even a Championship, we are still figuring the math. It’s really cool to be able to finish the year off strong and come back next year.
TROPHY TRUCK SPEC (unlimited Truck/SUV, stock, sealed engines)
AUSTIN ‘A.J.’ JONES, No. 279 (First in class. Broc Heger started and drove to race mile 330. Jones drove from race mile 330 to the finish.) - - Broc did a really good job in his section. He passed everyone we needed to pass. I took it from 330 on and finished the race. We ran a quick pace and didn’t want to mess anything up. We went slow in some sections but I think we put good time on the next competitor. No issues. I got to take Toby Price and Nassar Al-Attiyah down here pre-running. I’m not going to take credit for their success but I did get to show them a couple things here and there. I hope I helped them.
SARA PRICE, No. 204 (Second in class. Price drove solo.) - - I’ve never driven that long in my life. Just to finish this is unbelievable. Pretty gnarly. The comradarie with our class is great. We were battling back and forth all race. It was really wet out there. Big thanks to RPM and 4 wheel parts. We have the most amazing tires in BFGoodrich. This is the longest race I’ve ever done. I never thought I would be iron-woman-ing the SCORE Baja 1000, but we did it and we finished and I don’t know how. We had a few issues. At one point we hit a big rock so it delayed us quite a bit and our body panel was falling off and rubbing on the tire so we had to stop and take that off. We were battling back and forth with Dorrance and with that little mistake that cost us some time, but other than that we were going good. Third place came out of nowhere at the end so we torqued it up, but then I had to take it easy because I could feel the truck starting to go. The engine light was on, the temperature was too high so we had to baby it. I’m pumped just to make it to the end, but I want the SCORE Championship.
JEFF BADER, No. 261 (Third in class. Dan Fresh started and drove to race mile 372. Jeff Bader drove from race mile 372 to the finish.) - - It was wetter towards the end which made it cold. We pre-ran a ton which prepped us well for this race. The truck is in pretty good shape; we have all of the body panels. We had a few flat tires and gremlins in the electronics that we overcame and that was the only thing that slowed us down. We pre-ran the San Felipe sections and that side wasn’t as effected by the rains so we were in good shape on that section. This is our first SCORE race, our first SCORE Baja 1000 and we loved it.
CHARLES DORRANCE, No. 299 (Fourth in class. Charles Dorrance started and drove to race mile 340. Justin Davis drove from race mile 340 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER JUSTIN DAVIS said: At race mile 340 the starter started to short out, we have some electrical issues and it took almost two hours to get it fixed. And then after we that we just had to make it through the pack. We had no issues, we just kept going. There was a lot of mud but we made it, we are here at the finish.
GUILLERMO ZAMACONA, No. 269 (Fifth in class. Guillermo Zamacona shared driving duties with Carlos Larranaga and Isak Frayle.) - - Our team is 100 per cent Mexican and our backup and support team is 100 per cent Mexican from La Paz and Mexico City. It was a great race. I am very happy. It was very complicated. I am very thankful to the whole team. We will not make any changes. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. We are going to come back next year strong.
ROBERT MALONE, No. 237 (Sixth in class. Robert Malone started and drove to race mile 195. Jack Crownover drove from race mile 195 to the finish.) - - I started with my co-driver Cody Johnson and we drove to race mile 195. We were going to switch but there were some people on his tail so we kept him in there and let him finish. We traded the dust for the rain and it was pretty rough with the mud when it would splash. Then you couldn’t see your lights. We plan on coming back next year for the 2020 SCORE season.
CHELSEA MAGNESS, No. 232 (Seventh in class. Chelsea Magness started and drove to race mile 197. Todd Burt drove from race mile 197 to race mile 330. Mike McNutton drove from race mile 330 to race mile 495. Steve Knudson drove from race mile 495 to the finish.) - - The course was fun and challenging and had a lot of different parts to it, and a lot nicer that we expected, to be honest. It was so much different that what we pre-ran, but a lot of fun. CO-DRIVER STEVE KNUDSON said: We had to change the driveshaft at the Summit so we limped down the mountain and replaced it. This is our 25th Anniversary racing down here. I need to thank Gary and Chelsea and all our guys. Our Mango team is awesome. We love it down here. Thank Roger Norman for putting on a great race.
BOBBY PATTON, No. 240. (Ninth in class. Barry Karakas started and drove to race mile 340. Tim Vail drove from race mile 340 to race mile 580. Bobby Patton drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - We had a little trouble on one of the hills where the water seemed to be coming out faster than we could go up and one flat tire and we are pretty happy to finish in under 24 hours. We are really proud of the fact that this team finished all four of the SCORE races. It’s been a really big accomplishment for us. I hope people appreciate what SCORE does to get this together. What a difference a day makes, right?
HAMMER TRUCK UNLIMITED (unlimited, 4-wheel drive Rock Crawler)
CASEY CURRIE, No. 4402 (First in class. Casey Currie started and drove to race mile 375. Cody Currie drove from race mile 375 to the finish.) - - The course was brutal. All the puddles in the beginning made for a long day. Parts of the course are really chewed up but we made it through. We had no issues. Our tires held up, we had no flats. We ran the same set of tires all day. It was pretty crazy. The guys did a phenomenal job. We work hard at this. This is my third time finishing first in the SCORE Baja 1000. I love it down here. It’s freaking home.
CLASS 10 (Limited, sealed engine, single or two-seaters)
CHASE WARREN, No. 1008 (First in class. Adam Pfankuch started and drove to race mile 340. Chase Warren drove from race mile 340 to the finish.) - - Adam lost the power steering around race mile 50 and got down about 40 minutes and that put us behind in our class and behind some other classes. By the time they got the car to me we were right behind third on road. We took it from there and put the hammer down. It was flawless after that. We made up some of the hour deficit.
ELISEO GARCIA, No. 1075. (Second in class. Eliseo Garcia started and drove to race mile 170. Javier Montoyo Jr. drove from race mile 170 to race mile 345. Garcia drove from race mile 345 to race mile 580. Montoya drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - This was an awesome race. This was the first race for this car. It is from Race Co/Jamie Campbell and it was perfect. We are on the podium. We are doing the 2020 season. We are fired up. This is incredible. We were shooting for a podium finish but this is a gift from God.
JEREMY DAVIS, No, 1085 (Third in class. Larry Jobs started and drove to race mile 340. Tyler Peterson drove from race mile 340 to race mile 580. Jeremy Davis drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - It was a good race. I got in at race mile 580. We were having a good solid day at the start. Then we lost the rear calipers due to overheating from all the mud on them. We had to change that and that lost us about an hour and then we got in a bottleneck and sat there for like another hour so then we were about two hours behind. I knew we had to just had to keep the car going because I knew people would drop out because it’s the SCORE Baja 1000 and there is always people dropping out. But it was a good solid race. It was muddy but it wasn’t crazy, it wasn’t bad.
HIRAM DURAM, No. 1016 (Fourth in class. Hiram Duran started and drove to race mile 85. Eric Duran drove from race mile 85 to race mile 340. Evan Duran drove from race mile 340 to race mile 535. Hiram Duran drove from race mile 535 to the finish.) - - We were doing good at until race mile 580, then we had brake problems. Then we got a flat around race mile 630 so that cost me some time. Somehow we caught a big piece of wire that wrapped around the tire and cost us an hour and a half. But we made it to the finish.
DAN BERG, No. 1069 (Fifth in class. Dan Berg started and drove to race mile 250. Mike drove from race mile 250 to race mile 450. Another driver from race mile 450 to race mile 580. Mike drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - It was very wet for the first couple hundred miles. Then we lost an oil sensor that caused us to go into limp mode. And then we lost our primary navigation system. Something always goes wrong but we finished.
CLASS 7 (unlimited, six-cylinder, production appearing trucks or SUVs)
MIKE SHAFFER, No. 710 (First in class. Mike Shaffer started and rove to race mile 330. Adam Aresenault drove from race mile 330 to race mile 580. John Bowers drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - The first couple hundred miles was probably the hardest but it was that hard for everyone. The important thing is we came out on top. We tried to pace our selves and not hurt the car. The lights got muddy and so it was hard to see, but everything worked flawlessly. No flats. We had a great time running the SCORE Baja 1000. CO-DRIVER JOHN BOWERS said: I’ve been wanting to do this since I was in high school and now we have taken home a SCORE Baja 1000 win. It’s a dream come true.
CLASS 5 (Unlimited Baja Bugs, VW concept engines allowed)
GREG SULLIVAN, No. 507 (First in class. Greg Sullivan drove the start to race mile 225. Jesus Marquez drove from race mile 225 to 525. Miguel Pabloff drove from race mile 525 to race mile 725. Sullivan drove from race mile 725 to the finish.) - - The course was good when it dried out. The first two hundred miles there was a lot of water. The last little section as a mud puddle and that’s why every car looks like this. The last seventy miles we drove conservatively so we could take care of the car once we knew we were in the lead. This had been a lifelong dream, to win the SCORE Baja 1000.
PRO UTV FI (two-seat Forced Induction, OEM engine UTVs)
JUSTIN LAMBERT, No. 2918 (First in overall UTV and first in class. Victor Herrera started and drove to race mile 340. Justin Lambert drove from race mile 340 to the finish.) - - Victor handed it off to me around race mile 340 in about fourth or fifth place, only about 13 minutes behind the leader and it was exactly what our plan was. What a brutal course. This Cognito monster Polaris held together. This thing is tough. This will be my first SCORE Baja 1000 win. It’s a dream come true. CO-DRIVER VICTOR HERRARA said: Justin gave me the privilege of starting the race. We started 13th and I did what he asked me to do which was bring it to him in one piece. That was our objective and we accomplished it. The car was flawless, we had no problems. It ran all day and did what we asked it to do. It was an amazing day. Glad to be here. It’s been a long time since I won a SCORE Baja 1000 so it’s awesome to be back and win it.
WAYNE MATLOCK, No. 2971 (Second in class. Josh Row started and drove to race mile 340. Wayne Matlock drove from race mile 340 to the finish.) - - Today was judgement day. Josh Row drove the first 340 miles in the super wet conditions. I got in the car for the desert. We led the first 600 miles or so then had a mechanical issue and ended up a little behind. We will be back. It looks like we may have won the Championship in our class
MATT BURROUGHS, No. 2948 (Third in class. Matt Burroughs started and drove to race mile 195. Cody Beeson drove from race mile 195 to race mile 450. Jason LaFortune drove from race mile 450 to race mile 705. Burroughs drove from race mile 705 to the finish.) - - This has been the hardest race I’ve ever done. The mud, it was really brutal. It was fun and hopefully we got a podium finish.
WES MILLER, No. 2989 (Fourth in class. Wes Miller drove solo.) - - The course was really rough and technical. Everyone was worried about the rain but it helped keep the dust down, but it was still dusty in some areas. The Summit was gnarly. We ran up front for a little while, then diced back and forth with Burnett, but I think we finished ahead of him, maybe fourth. We had power steering issues and this is not the race to run with no power steering. Wore me out.
MARC BURNETT, No. 2905 (Sixth in class. Marc Burnett started the race and drove to race mile 460. Bobby Smith drove from race mile 460 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER BOBBY SMITH said: We had a rear trailing arm come apart near San Felipe and that just killed us right there. We were pushing hard in this race to get the Championship for Marc. I don’t think we got it but we made it to the finish. That’s positive and everyone is safe. The prep guys did an awesome job on the car. It was a brutal course.
CHRISTINE GIAMPAOLI ZONCA, No. 2926 (Seventh in class. Jason Farrel started and drove to race mile 340. Christine Giampaoli Zonca drove from race mile 340 to the finish.) - - It was a long night. It was insane. We did our homework but the course is completely different. You always have issues in Baja but the car went great. I’m super happy and we are going to be stronger for next year. We are aiming for the podium next year. This wouldn’t be possible without my team. Everyone works so hard and we are improving.
CRAIG SCANLON, No. 2931 (Eighth in class. Craig Scanlon started and drove to race mile 455. Brandon Simms drove from race mile 455 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER BRANDON SIMMS said: The car was flawless, just a couple issues. We had a great run until about 40 miles to the finish that set us down a little.
JASON MURRAY, No. 2917 (Ninth in class. Jason Murray started and drove to race mile 340. Derek Murray drove race mile 340 to race mile 580. Dan Fisher drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - The race started off pretty well. The tracker stopped working at some point but we were running around third place most of the day. We lost a wheel hub and lost about an hour there fixing that out in the middle of the desert. We had some electrical gremlins but the guys fought hard and brought it to the finish line.
JASON STEWART, No. 2902. (Eleventh in class. Jason Stewart shared driving duties with Jason Luburgh and Steve Watts.) - - We only made it to mile 80 in our start last year. This year we finished so we achieved a good goal. We are from the East Coast so we are used to mud. We know everybody from racing quads but we are not used to running 30 hours. Next year we are going to try to do two or three more SCORE races.
SCORE LITES (VW-powered, Limited single-1776cc-or two-seaters-1835cc)
JIM BUTLER, No. 1266 (First in class. Jason Shipman started and drove to race mile 191. Jim Butler drove from race mile 191 to race mile 370. Doug DeLong drove from race mile 370 to race mile 580. Kent Fults drove from race mile 580 to race mile 730. Butler drove from race mile 730 to the finish.) - - It was a mess. We got 90 minutes behind early on and we thought everything was not going to come together. But then we made up time, but then at the end we had not run the last section and we got lost and had to find the course again. Then we saw our competitor stopped and thought we had it. We just wanted to get it to the finish line, we didn’t think we could win it. I’ve been in racing my whole life but never had a good ride. I was about ready to hang it up and my buddy said he bought a car and you are driving. Then we put together a team. We have 25 people from all over helping us out. We have people not even here guiding us and helping us with logistics. We just kept putting it together.
FREDDIE WILLERT, No. 1206 (Second in class. Stan Potter started and drove to race mile 326. Tex Mitchell drove from race mile 326 to race mile 580. Freddie Willert drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - We had a lot of problems and finished about seven hours longer than we thought. An alternator went out, then we got caught up in that bottleneck and lost three hours there. Broke a tie rod, flat tire, but I think we won the championship, I’m not sure.
DOUG SATTERFIELD, No. 1229 (Third in class. Doug Satterfiled started and drove to race mile 380. Robbie drove from race mile 380 to race mile 580. Satterfield drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - We had a motorhome at our first driver change so we were able to shower and change clothes because we were covered in mud from head to toe. It was really fast that last section. Our main issue was we had a problem getting enough fuel at the first fuel stop so we ran out of gas and our chase crew had to bring us some. The locals helped us out a lot. Some ranchers siphoned fuel out of their vehicle for us. This is my first SCORE Baja 1000. To podium is awesome.
PRO UTV (two-seat Normally Aspirated, OEM engine UTVs)
KRISTEN MATLOCK, No. 1954 (First in class. Kristen Matlock drove solo.) - - This is my first SCORE Baja 1000 win. It is really special. I had tears coming down my face as I drove in here to the finish. This is my fourth attempt at it and I’ve iron-woman-ed it every single time and this is probably the toughest one yet. This was more grueling, wet, muddy, lots of terrain changes. I thought that I knew Baja really well until the rain hit and changed everything. I had a great time and I appreciate SCORE for putting on such a great event. I’d like to thank my family for being down and all my friends that come down and support us, our entire crew. We wouldn’t be able to do this without them. Polaris RZR, Fox Shocks, Yokohama, Steel-It, Rugged Radios, it takes an army. And my new co-driver, Rich Morel, this is his first race. He did a phenomenal job.
KADEN WELLS, No. 1995 (Second in class. Kaden Wells started the race and drove to race mile 330. Travis Wells drove from race mile 330 to race mile 580. Kaden Wells drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - The track changed a lot from the rain. The track was rough but we made it. We look forward to next year.
TRENT BACKUS, No. 1902 (Third in class. Tyler Backus started and drove to race mile 343.Trent Backus drove from race mile 343 to the finish) - - This isn’t as good as our first place finish last year, but we will take it. Everyone worked really hard. We fought for this one, that’s for sure. We broke a sway bar so it didn’t handle that well after that.
JOE BOLTON, No. 1956 (Sixth in class. Joe Bolton shard driving duties with Austin Bolton, Steve Buckley and Bill Boyer.) - - It was awesome. It was a lot longer than we thought. We thought 24 hours but it took a lot longer. But we finished.
CLASS 1/2-1600 (VW-powered, single or two-seaters to 1600cc)
J. DAVID RUVALCABA, No, 1609 (First in class. Esteban Cruz started and drove to race mile 165. J. David Ruvalcaba drove from race mile 165 to race mile 450. Cruz drove from race mile 450 to race mile 580. Ruvalcaba drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER ESTEBAN CRUZ said: This team has been racing together since 1999 on dirt bikes. As they say, with age you get a cage. It was a great call by SCORE to delay the start of the race by 24 hours, but I did get a little over confident and has some scary moments. We got first place today and we won the Championship and we completed every mile of every SCORE race this year. We will see you in San Felipe next year.
BRUCE YEE, No. 1614 (Second in class. Bruce Yee started the race and drove to race mile 198. Jose Robles drove from race mile 198 to race mile 454. Alberto Medina drove from race mile 454 to race mile 580. Yee drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - We had to change our transmission, got stuck a few times, got one flat. But it was fun. Lots and lots of mud. Long day but it was lots of fun.
PRO UTV UNLTD (two-seat unlimited UTV open-displacement)
HERMAN JOHNSON, No. 1851 (First in class. Herman Johnson started the race and drove to race mile 330. Sean Lynch drove from race mile 330 to race mile 580. Austin Johnson drove from race mile 580 to to the finish) - - CO-DRIVER AUSTIN JOHNSON said: Awesome race. Everything went pretty flawlessly. We had a couple broken parts, nothing major. The car held together very well. I think we led the whole race and got first. Very excited.
AL MCBETH, No. 1857 (Second in class. Al McBeth drove solo.) - - It was a long day but it was good. Baja always seems to throw problems at us but we are thrilled to cross the line. I always seem to find Baja rocks. I took an A-arm off with a rock. The last 200 miles we were in limp mode, but we just had to keep going and get across the line. this is our second year of iron-manning it. Thank you SCORE for putting on an awesome race.
PRO UTV STOCK (Stock UTV’s, FI or NA)
MIKE CAFRO, No. 3955 (First in class. Jamie Kirkpatrick started and drove to race mile 225. Mike Cafro drove from race mile 225 to race mile 450. Kirkpatrick drove from race mile 450 to race mile 620. Cafro drove from race mile 620 to the finish.) - - The car was flawless. That’s a testament to this car, bone stock. The course was brutal. Loved it though. We raced SCORE all season, but we raced this car in the Pro Stock class this race to promote this new car from Polaris, the XP Pro. We won the class but we were going for the overall. We will probably go back to the Turbo class next year.
CLASS 3 (short wheelbase 4X4 based on production vehicles)
DONALD MOSS, No. 302 (First in class. Donald Moss started the race and drove to race mile 180. Ken Moss drove from race mile 180 to race mile 330. Dave Grundland drove from race mile 330 to race mile 580. Don Moss drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER KEN MOSS said: That was tough and interesting. Lot of water on the Pacific side. We couldn’t go fast in some parts because it was so slippery. We had about twelve people that came down and supported us.
BAJA CHALLENGE (Spec, Subaru-powered Baja Touring Cars equipped with BFGoodrich Tires)
LANCE CLIFFORD, No. BC1 (First in class. Brian Finch started the race and drove to race mile 380. Jay Jakupa drove from race mile 380 to race mile 580. Lance Clifford drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - We had no flats but did lose a clutch. We got that fixed on the side of the course. that took 3 hours. We were down 60 miles. So we had to go for it and put the hammer down. And here we are! We kept it on the course and got lucky. It was great. Thank SCORE and Wide Open and BFGoodrich for everything they do for us.
ANTONIO TOLEDO, No. BC6 (Second in class. Edu Blanco started and drove to race mile 250. Ariel Joton drove from race mile 250 to race mile 580. Antonio Toledo drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER EDU BLANCO said: The race changed a lot from the rain from a week ago so we decided to go fast in the first section, and the ,slower at night in the middle and conservative at the end. We had one flat tire but everything else was perfect. I hope to come back next year.
CLASS 5-1600 (1600cc VW Baja Bugs)
RUBEN GARCIA, No. 569 (First in class. Ruben Garcia started and drove to race mile 580. Ruben Garcia Jr. drove to the finish.) - - A lot of fun. Very difficult. It was crazy after the rain. Our transmission guy did an awesome job. Our engine was flawless. Our BFGoodrich’s were awesome we finished on the same tires we started with. We had no issues, we just moved forward and kept going. I am very blessed to have my guys around me. They helped me through everything.
CLASS 7F (Stock frame, 2 or 4-wheel drive mini or mid-size trucks)
DAVE COLE, No. 724F (First in class. Doug Stewart started and drove to race mile 330. Bailey Cole drove from race mile 330 to race mile 580. Dave Cole raced from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - Doug Stewart stepped in with us in the last week. He has six SCORE Baja 1000 wins so he has experience. We put him in the car first and experience won out. He delivered it to us first in class. The car was pretty wounded. My son drove his first SCORE Baja 1000. We worked on the car to repair some damage and shortened our lead but we still came out on top. It was awesome. A great run. Stock motor and chassis, we raced the entire SCORE series bone stock.
CLASS 7SX (2 or 4-wheel drive mini or mid-sized trucks)
GERARDO NOVELO, No. 740 (First in class. Gerardo Novelo started and drove to race mile one. Jose Castro drove to the finish.) - - We are very happy, very excited. I am the driver of record but I couldn’t race due to my health. I started and then turned it over to my team. They drove the whole rest of the way. We lost two alternators but no flats. We are very happy, very proud. It was very difficult but I am very excited. I would like to thank SCORE International to promote the best off-road racing in the world.
PRO MOTORCYCLES
PRO MOTO UNLIMITED (400cc or more)
JUSTIN MORGAN, No. 1x (First in overall motorcycle, and first in class. Justin Morgan started and rode to race mile 35. Shane Esposito rode from race mile 35 to race mile 200. Max Eddy Jr. rode from race mile 200 to race mile 350. David Kamo rode from race mile 350 to race mile 540. Morgan rode to the finish) - - It was really good conditions. I was expecting more mud but it was really good in the desert. I would never have thought I would have eleven wins. We lost a lot of races to learn how to win them, so it is finally paying off.
SANTIAGO CREEL, No. 66x (Second in class. Eric Yorba started and rode to mile 70. Santiago Creel rode from race mile 70 to race mile 250. Mitchell Anderson rode from race mile 250 to race mile 350. Brandon Prieto rode race mile 350 to race mile 540. David Walsh rode from race mile 540 to 720. Brandon Prieto rode from 720 to the finish.) - - Eric Yorba was originally going to ride to race mile 250 but he was injured around race mile 70 so I rode from 70 to race mile 250 and that’s why we couldn’t fight for the overall win.
RAY DAL SAGLIO, No. 4x. (Third in class. Ray Dal Saglio started and rode to race mile 1. Troy Vanscourt rode race mile 1 to race mile 330. Jason Alosi rode race mile 330 to race mile 525. Kadin Guard rode race 525 mile to race mile 580. Austin Miller rode race mile 580 to race mile 730. Kadin Guard rode race mile 730 to the finish) - - As of three days ago we didn’t think we were racing. We had two riders that were supposed to race with us get hurt. So we recruited our chase driver, Jason. I’m still recovering from an injury so I unfortunately didn’t get to race. I tried pre-running and my leg wasn’t quite ready so I got to pit and change wheels. I found that I’m not that good at that so I won’t be hired as a pit guy so they told me I better get back on the bike or I won’t be invited back down. We have a limited crew and are on a tight budget. Some of our riders didn’t get a chance to pre-run their sections; everything was so last minute with guys getting hurt, we just had to make it happen. We are not quitters. We stayed right with it all day today. I’m stoked the team was able to keep up. I’m really proud. We will come back next time with more pre-running and spend a lot more time and we will be a force to be reckoned with. CO-RIDER TROY VANSCOURT said: Today was a fun day for us. It was quite interesting with all the obstacles and challenges that we dealt with earlier in the week. I had a good time. I took the bike from Ray right away and rode down the coast and up and over to race mile 330. Lots of standing water. It was wet out there. Lots of mud. It was a challenge. By the time I got to race mile 220 I was starting to feel a little tired and the rest of the guys did their part. We are pretty happy considering all the obstacles that were against us this week. We are happy with a third place finish here at the SCORE Baja 1000. CO-RIDER AUSTIN MILLER said: We had a tough day. I feel like everyone on the team is hurt, but we pulled through and made it to the finish. I had some vision problems; I don’t know what happened. A huge congratulations to the whole team. CO-RIDER KADIN GUARD said: I took it to the finish. We had a lot of trials throughout the week. The course was pretty washed out and changed a lot from pre-running but we came together as a team and changed a lot of things at the last minute and we made it happen. And we finished third, unofficially. The bike worked great. All of our sponsors really helped out and got us here to the finish. Ray really put in a lot of work. I had a lot of fun and rode really great. I really like riding at night so I was happy to get to finish.
PRO MOTO LIMITED (less than 400cc)
SANTIAGO CREEL, No. 100x (First in class. Sammy Mantalvan started and rode to race mile 225. Alejandro Sardi rode from race mile 225 to race mile 410. Javier Ibarra and Braxton Gallian shared riding duties between race mile 410 to race mile 525. Sardi rode race mile 525 to race mile 625. Larry Serna rode from race mile 625 to the finish) - - Sammy did a great job at the start getting us into second place before we switched riders. CO-RIDER LARRY SERNA said: Mantalvan got us in first place in his section. We had problems in the SCORE San Felipe 250, we got 2nd place in SCORE Baja 400, 1st in the SCORE Baja 500 and now this first place proves that we have a great team. I am now ready to represent the 100x team for the 2020 series. CO-RIDER BRAXTON GALLIAN said: Sammy got us in a really good position in the race. When I got the bike it was flawless for us. We just kept doing what we do. I got to hold the bike wide open on my section. I’m really happy with it. Santiago and the whole Monkey Business crew put together a phenomenal bike and that’s why we won and it looks like third overall and we got the Championship. This is my first race this year. I rode with Santiago last year on a limited bike but luckily this year I was able to team up with these guys and help them out when they needed it. I’m happy to be here. I really like these guys; I enjoy being around them.
MARCO PENA, No. 120x (Third in class. Miguel Cardovez started and rode to race mile 110. Brian Wiperman rode from race mile 110 to race mile 225. Mauro Herrera order from race mile 225 to race mile 330. Francisco rode from race mile 330 to race mile 410. Cardovez rode from race mile 410 to race mile 540. Brian Wiperman rode from race mile 540 to race mile 680. Herrera rode from mile 680 to the finish.) - - CO-RIDER BRIAN WIPERMAN said: The race course was awesome. We lost the lights at race mile 110, but everything else was fine. We can’t wait for the next race.
PRO MOTO 40 (Riders over 40 years old)
JASON TRUBEY, No. 444x (First in class. Jason Trubey started and rode to race mile 70. Stephen Berger rode from race mile 70 to race mile 170. Steve Tichenor rode from race mile 170 to race mile 330. Chad Thornton rode from race mile 330 to race mile 370. David Glass rode from race mile 370 to race mile 465. Colin Potter rode from race mile 465 to race mile 508. Thornton rode from race mile 508 to race mile 536. Paul Luce rode from race mile 536 to race mile 708. Trubey rode from race mile 708 to the finish.) - - For us, with the delay, we were able to get a little bit of riding in. The rain made the course better in some areas but the standing water was difficult. The bike was covered in mud for the first two hundred miles. We built a brand new bike so we can make sure to get to the finish. We all just rode down a little bit, like 10-15%, not as fast as wanted, but nobody crashed. We came out perfect and everyone is healthy. We put it on cruise control and rode our own race. Towards the end of my section the course was the best race course I’ve ever driven and the new trail that was cut after the rains was nice wet dirt and I could have ridden over it three more times. It was about as epic as it gets. I appreciate SCORE’s efforts to put on a great race with different course. We have really had a blast this year. And they have made it safe. No riders were injured. Great season.
PRO MOTO 30 (Riders over 30 years old)
FRANCISCO SEPTIEN, No. 370x (First in class. Francisco Septien started and rode to race mile 170. Shane Esposito rode from race mile 170 to race mile 320. Ricardo Villalobos race mile 320 to race mile 460. Esposito rode race mile 460 to race mile 510. Villalobos rode from race mile 510 to race mile 580. Esposito rode race mile 580 to race mile 730. Villalobos rode from race mile 730 to the finish.) - - We had a rider withdraw so we had to ride more miles than we thought we would and since we didn’t pre-run that section, we got lost a little bit. CO-RIDER RICARDO VILLALOBOS said: Chris Brown didn’t show up. He aborted three days before the race. So we all had to take more routes. Shane got lost because he didn't get to pre-run that section but he got back on track and we made it to the finish. Thanks to my team. Hopefully we can keep our sponsorship and go for the 2020 season.
CO-RIDER SHANE ESPOSITO said: We had one crash but other than that everything was good. Francisco broke his leg at the SCORE Baja 400 and just got his cast off last week and he put in 170 miles. Villalobos rode about 300 miles; I rode about 400 miles. It was a long day. I crashed and hit my head pretty good, but just picked it up and kept going and paced myself after that. I lost the front end at high speed and went head first into the ground but nothing broken, just a face full of dirt.
SANTIAGO CREEL, No. 360x (Second in class. Massimo Mangini started and rode to race mile 225. Carlos Casas rode from race mile 225 to race mile 410. Kevin Murphy rode from race mile 410 to race mile 525. Homero Diaz rode from race mile 525 to race mile 625. Murphy rode from race mile 625 to the finish.) - - CO-RIDER CARLOS CASAS said: It went really good; we didn’t have any major issues. We just kept in on two wheels and conserved the bike. We ran out of gas one time but other than that everything was clean and we had a good race. There were plenty of close calls…it’s Baja! If you don’t have close calls you aren’t pushing it, but we didn’t have any crashes. We had a good race.
JANO MONTOYA, No. 325x (Third in class. Alberto Ruiz started and rode to race mile 85. Kyle Kishner rode from race mile 85 to race mile 125. Jessy Canepa rode from race mile 125 to race mile 200. Rene Magana rode from race mile 200 to race mile 285. Kishner rode from race mile 285 to race mile 330. Jane Montoya rode from race mile 330 to race mile 420. Bryce Stavron rode from race mile 420 to race mile 450. Ruiz rode from race mile 450 to race mile 580. Montoya rode from race mile 580 to race mile 680. Kishner rode from race mile 640 to race mile 700. Stavron rode from race mile 700 to race mile 780. Canepa rode from race mile 780 to the finish.) - - We only had a couple of incidences. One was me going over the handlebars and hitting my head so I was a little bit confused for a while but I’m good. The bike was good. The team was awesome. All the pits were perfect. We had a good time. This is our fourth year in the SCORE series but first in the 30 class. We wanted a little more competition so we moved down from the 40 class. There is a lot of fast riders in this class and we are having a great time. We are giving them a run for their money. We would like to get a little closer to number one. We will work on it and see where we are next year.
PRO MOTO IRONMAN (Solo Riders)
ARTHUR BABCOCK, No. 705x (First in class) - - It was a wild one out there. The course and the weather conditions made it the all time wild ride. I started out with a good start, took over the lead, and never saw anybody from that point. I knew Mike Skurkis was back there so I was trying to keep my distance on him. I had some electrical issues towards the end of the race and some lighting issues and managed to overcome those and take the win. The lights went out about race mile 600 and I limped it in to the Baja pits and tightened the connections, got them to come back on then it started going out again at about race mile 700. Then I hit a huge hole and crashed and just limped in from there the rest of the way in the dark. Hatch River Expeditions put this bike together for me and it ran great. It was awesome. I want to dedicate this win to Carlin Dunne who was my teammate the last two years. He is with us in spirit and he was here today and helped us out.
TANNER JANESKY, No. 775x. (Second in class) - - It’s a really challenging course. There was some relatively easy parts, relatively difficult parts. It seems like those difficult parts came at the worst possible time. It’s very muddy out there. I didn’t get stuck but I did tip over when I was going slow and pacing myself since I was iron-manning it and got an agave spike in my arm. The bike ran good. Because of the cold and when I tipped over I just kind of fell off the pace.
SHANE MOSS, No. 749x (Third in class) - - The race was awesome, man. I was doing really well up until about race mile 400. Then my hand was starting to give up and I was just holding on for dear life. the last 400 miles was really tough. It got so cold this morning there was ice on the ground and I had to stop at a campfire just to keep warm and then I sat in a car to warm up. It took forever to do this last 100 miles. It was so tough. I just had nothing more to give. I was done. I’m just happy to make it to the finish line.
FLORIAN SCHWARCZ, No. 774x (Fourth in class) - - I could not have done this with my crew. I was not expecting the wet and slipperiness, especially in the desert. It was good, it was beautiful. Wonderful country they have here. I attempted the SCORE Baja 1000 in 2016 but it was a failed attempt, so I had to come back and try again. This was an awesome time. We will see if my wife lets me do this next year. God bless, Mexico.
PRO MOTO 50 (Riders over 50 years old)
JEFF KAPLAN, No. 555x (First in class. Lou Franco started and rode to race mile 70. Kevin Ward rode from race mile 70 to race mile 330. Brian Campbell rode from race mile 330 to race mile 410. Mike Johnson rode from race mile 410 to race mile 535. Jeff Kaplan rode from race mile 535 to race mile 710. Ward rode from race mile 710 to the finish.) - - We had a rough day. Lou Franco who started for us crashed really hard and broke four ribs and punctured his lung. So when we got to race mile 70, we were the very last bike, about an hour down from our competition. But then we caught back up, got in the lead and then in the second to last pit we didn’t get all the fuel in the tank so we ended up running out of gas and finished second. It was a long day. But it was some of the best conditions we’ve ever raced. I’ve been racing down here since 1976, and the SCORE Baja 1000 since 1977.
GIOVANNI SPINALI, No. 500x (Second in class. Giovanni Spinali rode from race mile 199 to race mile 174. Spinali rode from race mile 224 to race mile 330. Spinali rode from race mile 535 to race mile 580. Spinali rode from race mile 708 to race mile 726. Spinali rode from race mile 760 to the finish. Earl Roberts, Don Connelly and Jim O’Neal also shared riding duties.) - - We had an awesome run to about race mile 330, with almost an hour lead on our competition. Then our clutch started acting up. We had to pull a clutch out of another bike and that took about 45 minutes and they caught us and passed us and then it was a battle. It was on until about 70 miles to go when I finally passed them back. It was fun to have some competition. With the rains, some course sections were better, while others were more difficult with the standing water. The first section I would have been better off on a jet ski. It made is interesting. I liked it.
JUSTIN MORGAN, No. 1x (First in overall motorcycle, and first in class. Justin Morgan started and rode to race mile 35. Shane Esposito rode from race mile 35 to race mile 200. Max Eddy Jr. rode from race mile 200 to race mile 350. David Kamo rode from race mile 350 to race mile 540. Morgan rode to the finish) - - It was really good conditions. I was expecting more mud but it was really good in the desert. I would never have thought I would have eleven wins. We lost a lot of races to learn how to win them, so it is finally paying off.
SANTIAGO CREEL, No. 66x (Second in class. Eric Yorba started and rode to mile 70. Santiago Creel rode from race mile 70 to race mile 250. Mitchell Anderson rode from race mile 250 to race mile 350. Brandon Prieto rode race mile 350 to race mile 540. David Walsh rode from race mile 540 to 720. Brandon Prieto rode from 720 to the finish.) - - Eric Yorba was originally going to ride to race mile 250 but he was injured around race mile 70 so I rode from 70 to race mile 250 and that’s why we couldn’t fight for the overall win.
RAY DAL SAGLIO, No. 4x. (Third in class. Ray Dal Saglio started and rode to race mile 1. Troy Vanscourt rode race mile 1 to race mile 330. Jason Alosi rode race mile 330 to race mile 525. Kadin Guard rode race 525 mile to race mile 580. Austin Miller rode race mile 580 to race mile 730. Kadin Guard rode race mile 730 to the finish) - - As of three days ago we didn’t think we were racing. We had two riders that were supposed to race with us get hurt. So we recruited our chase driver, Jason. I’m still recovering from an injury so I unfortunately didn’t get to race. I tried pre-running and my leg wasn’t quite ready so I got to pit and change wheels. I found that I’m not that good at that so I won’t be hired as a pit guy so they told me I better get back on the bike or I won’t be invited back down. We have a limited crew and are on a tight budget. Some of our riders didn’t get a chance to pre-run their sections; everything was so last minute with guys getting hurt, we just had to make it happen. We are not quitters. We stayed right with it all day today. I’m stoked the team was able to keep up. I’m really proud. We will come back next time with more pre-running and spend a lot more time and we will be a force to be reckoned with. CO-RIDER TROY VANSCOURT said: Today was a fun day for us. It was quite interesting with all the obstacles and challenges that we dealt with earlier in the week. I had a good time. I took the bike from Ray right away and rode down the coast and up and over to race mile 330. Lots of standing water. It was wet out there. Lots of mud. It was a challenge. By the time I got to race mile 220 I was starting to feel a little tired and the rest of the guys did their part. We are pretty happy considering all the obstacles that were against us this week. We are happy with a third place finish here at the SCORE Baja 1000. CO-RIDER AUSTIN MILLER said: We had a tough day. I feel like everyone on the team is hurt, but we pulled through and made it to the finish. I had some vision problems; I don’t know what happened. A huge congratulations to the whole team. CO-RIDER KADIN GUARD said: I took it to the finish. We had a lot of trials throughout the week. The course was pretty washed out and changed a lot from pre-running but we came together as a team and changed a lot of things at the last minute and we made it happen. And we finished third, unofficially. The bike worked great. All of our sponsors really helped out and got us here to the finish. Ray really put in a lot of work. I had a lot of fun and rode really great. I really like riding at night so I was happy to get to finish.
PRO MOTO LIMITED (less than 400cc)
SANTIAGO CREEL, No. 100x (First in class. Sammy Mantalvan started and rode to race mile 225. Alejandro Sardi rode from race mile 225 to race mile 410. Javier Ibarra and Braxton Gallian shared riding duties between race mile 410 to race mile 525. Sardi rode race mile 525 to race mile 625. Larry Serna rode from race mile 625 to the finish) - - Sammy did a great job at the start getting us into second place before we switched riders. CO-RIDER LARRY SERNA said: Mantalvan got us in first place in his section. We had problems in the SCORE San Felipe 250, we got 2nd place in SCORE Baja 400, 1st in the SCORE Baja 500 and now this first place proves that we have a great team. I am now ready to represent the 100x team for the 2020 series. CO-RIDER BRAXTON GALLIAN said: Sammy got us in a really good position in the race. When I got the bike it was flawless for us. We just kept doing what we do. I got to hold the bike wide open on my section. I’m really happy with it. Santiago and the whole Monkey Business crew put together a phenomenal bike and that’s why we won and it looks like third overall and we got the Championship. This is my first race this year. I rode with Santiago last year on a limited bike but luckily this year I was able to team up with these guys and help them out when they needed it. I’m happy to be here. I really like these guys; I enjoy being around them.
MARCO PENA, No. 120x (Third in class. Miguel Cardovez started and rode to race mile 110. Brian Wiperman rode from race mile 110 to race mile 225. Mauro Herrera order from race mile 225 to race mile 330. Francisco rode from race mile 330 to race mile 410. Cardovez rode from race mile 410 to race mile 540. Brian Wiperman rode from race mile 540 to race mile 680. Herrera rode from mile 680 to the finish.) - - CO-RIDER BRIAN WIPERMAN said: The race course was awesome. We lost the lights at race mile 110, but everything else was fine. We can’t wait for the next race.
PRO MOTO 40 (Riders over 40 years old)
JASON TRUBEY, No. 444x (First in class. Jason Trubey started and rode to race mile 70. Stephen Berger rode from race mile 70 to race mile 170. Steve Tichenor rode from race mile 170 to race mile 330. Chad Thornton rode from race mile 330 to race mile 370. David Glass rode from race mile 370 to race mile 465. Colin Potter rode from race mile 465 to race mile 508. Thornton rode from race mile 508 to race mile 536. Paul Luce rode from race mile 536 to race mile 708. Trubey rode from race mile 708 to the finish.) - - For us, with the delay, we were able to get a little bit of riding in. The rain made the course better in some areas but the standing water was difficult. The bike was covered in mud for the first two hundred miles. We built a brand new bike so we can make sure to get to the finish. We all just rode down a little bit, like 10-15%, not as fast as wanted, but nobody crashed. We came out perfect and everyone is healthy. We put it on cruise control and rode our own race. Towards the end of my section the course was the best race course I’ve ever driven and the new trail that was cut after the rains was nice wet dirt and I could have ridden over it three more times. It was about as epic as it gets. I appreciate SCORE’s efforts to put on a great race with different course. We have really had a blast this year. And they have made it safe. No riders were injured. Great season.
PRO MOTO 30 (Riders over 30 years old)
FRANCISCO SEPTIEN, No. 370x (First in class. Francisco Septien started and rode to race mile 170. Shane Esposito rode from race mile 170 to race mile 320. Ricardo Villalobos race mile 320 to race mile 460. Esposito rode race mile 460 to race mile 510. Villalobos rode from race mile 510 to race mile 580. Esposito rode race mile 580 to race mile 730. Villalobos rode from race mile 730 to the finish.) - - We had a rider withdraw so we had to ride more miles than we thought we would and since we didn’t pre-run that section, we got lost a little bit. CO-RIDER RICARDO VILLALOBOS said: Chris Brown didn’t show up. He aborted three days before the race. So we all had to take more routes. Shane got lost because he didn't get to pre-run that section but he got back on track and we made it to the finish. Thanks to my team. Hopefully we can keep our sponsorship and go for the 2020 season.
CO-RIDER SHANE ESPOSITO said: We had one crash but other than that everything was good. Francisco broke his leg at the SCORE Baja 400 and just got his cast off last week and he put in 170 miles. Villalobos rode about 300 miles; I rode about 400 miles. It was a long day. I crashed and hit my head pretty good, but just picked it up and kept going and paced myself after that. I lost the front end at high speed and went head first into the ground but nothing broken, just a face full of dirt.
SANTIAGO CREEL, No. 360x (Second in class. Massimo Mangini started and rode to race mile 225. Carlos Casas rode from race mile 225 to race mile 410. Kevin Murphy rode from race mile 410 to race mile 525. Homero Diaz rode from race mile 525 to race mile 625. Murphy rode from race mile 625 to the finish.) - - CO-RIDER CARLOS CASAS said: It went really good; we didn’t have any major issues. We just kept in on two wheels and conserved the bike. We ran out of gas one time but other than that everything was clean and we had a good race. There were plenty of close calls…it’s Baja! If you don’t have close calls you aren’t pushing it, but we didn’t have any crashes. We had a good race.
JANO MONTOYA, No. 325x (Third in class. Alberto Ruiz started and rode to race mile 85. Kyle Kishner rode from race mile 85 to race mile 125. Jessy Canepa rode from race mile 125 to race mile 200. Rene Magana rode from race mile 200 to race mile 285. Kishner rode from race mile 285 to race mile 330. Jane Montoya rode from race mile 330 to race mile 420. Bryce Stavron rode from race mile 420 to race mile 450. Ruiz rode from race mile 450 to race mile 580. Montoya rode from race mile 580 to race mile 680. Kishner rode from race mile 640 to race mile 700. Stavron rode from race mile 700 to race mile 780. Canepa rode from race mile 780 to the finish.) - - We only had a couple of incidences. One was me going over the handlebars and hitting my head so I was a little bit confused for a while but I’m good. The bike was good. The team was awesome. All the pits were perfect. We had a good time. This is our fourth year in the SCORE series but first in the 30 class. We wanted a little more competition so we moved down from the 40 class. There is a lot of fast riders in this class and we are having a great time. We are giving them a run for their money. We would like to get a little closer to number one. We will work on it and see where we are next year.
PRO MOTO IRONMAN (Solo Riders)
ARTHUR BABCOCK, No. 705x (First in class) - - It was a wild one out there. The course and the weather conditions made it the all time wild ride. I started out with a good start, took over the lead, and never saw anybody from that point. I knew Mike Skurkis was back there so I was trying to keep my distance on him. I had some electrical issues towards the end of the race and some lighting issues and managed to overcome those and take the win. The lights went out about race mile 600 and I limped it in to the Baja pits and tightened the connections, got them to come back on then it started going out again at about race mile 700. Then I hit a huge hole and crashed and just limped in from there the rest of the way in the dark. Hatch River Expeditions put this bike together for me and it ran great. It was awesome. I want to dedicate this win to Carlin Dunne who was my teammate the last two years. He is with us in spirit and he was here today and helped us out.
TANNER JANESKY, No. 775x. (Second in class) - - It’s a really challenging course. There was some relatively easy parts, relatively difficult parts. It seems like those difficult parts came at the worst possible time. It’s very muddy out there. I didn’t get stuck but I did tip over when I was going slow and pacing myself since I was iron-manning it and got an agave spike in my arm. The bike ran good. Because of the cold and when I tipped over I just kind of fell off the pace.
SHANE MOSS, No. 749x (Third in class) - - The race was awesome, man. I was doing really well up until about race mile 400. Then my hand was starting to give up and I was just holding on for dear life. the last 400 miles was really tough. It got so cold this morning there was ice on the ground and I had to stop at a campfire just to keep warm and then I sat in a car to warm up. It took forever to do this last 100 miles. It was so tough. I just had nothing more to give. I was done. I’m just happy to make it to the finish line.
FLORIAN SCHWARCZ, No. 774x (Fourth in class) - - I could not have done this with my crew. I was not expecting the wet and slipperiness, especially in the desert. It was good, it was beautiful. Wonderful country they have here. I attempted the SCORE Baja 1000 in 2016 but it was a failed attempt, so I had to come back and try again. This was an awesome time. We will see if my wife lets me do this next year. God bless, Mexico.
PRO MOTO 50 (Riders over 50 years old)
JEFF KAPLAN, No. 555x (First in class. Lou Franco started and rode to race mile 70. Kevin Ward rode from race mile 70 to race mile 330. Brian Campbell rode from race mile 330 to race mile 410. Mike Johnson rode from race mile 410 to race mile 535. Jeff Kaplan rode from race mile 535 to race mile 710. Ward rode from race mile 710 to the finish.) - - We had a rough day. Lou Franco who started for us crashed really hard and broke four ribs and punctured his lung. So when we got to race mile 70, we were the very last bike, about an hour down from our competition. But then we caught back up, got in the lead and then in the second to last pit we didn’t get all the fuel in the tank so we ended up running out of gas and finished second. It was a long day. But it was some of the best conditions we’ve ever raced. I’ve been racing down here since 1976, and the SCORE Baja 1000 since 1977.
GIOVANNI SPINALI, No. 500x (Second in class. Giovanni Spinali rode from race mile 199 to race mile 174. Spinali rode from race mile 224 to race mile 330. Spinali rode from race mile 535 to race mile 580. Spinali rode from race mile 708 to race mile 726. Spinali rode from race mile 760 to the finish. Earl Roberts, Don Connelly and Jim O’Neal also shared riding duties.) - - We had an awesome run to about race mile 330, with almost an hour lead on our competition. Then our clutch started acting up. We had to pull a clutch out of another bike and that took about 45 minutes and they caught us and passed us and then it was a battle. It was on until about 70 miles to go when I finally passed them back. It was fun to have some competition. With the rains, some course sections were better, while others were more difficult with the standing water. The first section I would have been better off on a jet ski. It made is interesting. I liked it.
PRO QUADS
PRO QUAD (Open engine displacement)
ADOLFO ARELLANO, No. 21a (First in class. Adolfo Arellano started and rode to race mile 120. Francisco Vera rode from race mile 120 to race mile 220. Marcos Cocsino rode from race mile 220 to race mile 330. Christian Rojas rode from race mile 330 to race mile 410. Arellano rode from race mile 410 to race mile 540. Cocsino rode from race mile 540 to race mile 620. Vera rode from race mile 620 to race mile 720. Arellano rode from race mile 720 to the finish.) - - CO-RIDER FRANCISCO VERA said: We had a lot of problems throughout the race but the team and help from friends we fixed all the problems and achieved our goals and finished first place. We had some broken suspension and a broken rim but no accidents. The machine ran flawless.
JAVIER IBARRA, No. 22a (Second in class. Oskar Espinosa started and rode to race mile 125. Jorge Recio drove from race mile 125 to race mile 230. Alexis Vera rode from race mile 230 to race mile 280. Javier Ibarra rode from race mile 280 to race mile 320. Juan Sanchez rode from race mile 320 to race mile 330. Nicolas Nunez rode from race mile 330 to race mile 450. Ibarra rode from race mile 450 to race mile 530. Espinoza rode from race mile 530 to race mile 580. Nunez rode from race mile 580 to race mile 600. Vera rode from race mile 600 to race mile 680. Nunez rode from race mile 680 to race mile 750. Ibarra rode from race mile 750 to the finish.) - - CO-RIDER NICHOLAS NUNEZ said: We didn't have any problems. The only accident we saw was a motorcycle that hit a rock by Mike’s and flipped but there were no injuries and our race was flawless.
ADOLFO ARELLANO, No. 21a (First in class. Adolfo Arellano started and rode to race mile 120. Francisco Vera rode from race mile 120 to race mile 220. Marcos Cocsino rode from race mile 220 to race mile 330. Christian Rojas rode from race mile 330 to race mile 410. Arellano rode from race mile 410 to race mile 540. Cocsino rode from race mile 540 to race mile 620. Vera rode from race mile 620 to race mile 720. Arellano rode from race mile 720 to the finish.) - - CO-RIDER FRANCISCO VERA said: We had a lot of problems throughout the race but the team and help from friends we fixed all the problems and achieved our goals and finished first place. We had some broken suspension and a broken rim but no accidents. The machine ran flawless.
JAVIER IBARRA, No. 22a (Second in class. Oskar Espinosa started and rode to race mile 125. Jorge Recio drove from race mile 125 to race mile 230. Alexis Vera rode from race mile 230 to race mile 280. Javier Ibarra rode from race mile 280 to race mile 320. Juan Sanchez rode from race mile 320 to race mile 330. Nicolas Nunez rode from race mile 330 to race mile 450. Ibarra rode from race mile 450 to race mile 530. Espinoza rode from race mile 530 to race mile 580. Nunez rode from race mile 580 to race mile 600. Vera rode from race mile 600 to race mile 680. Nunez rode from race mile 680 to race mile 750. Ibarra rode from race mile 750 to the finish.) - - CO-RIDER NICHOLAS NUNEZ said: We didn't have any problems. The only accident we saw was a motorcycle that hit a rock by Mike’s and flipped but there were no injuries and our race was flawless.