2022 SCORE Baja 400 Finish Line Quotes

SCORE MEDIA CONTACT: Dominic Clark, Dominic@SCORE-International.com
September 18, 2022

3rd SCORE Baja 400, Presented by VP Racing Fuels
Post-Race Finish Line Quotes

SCORE TROPHY TRUCK (Unlimited CustomTrucks)
BRYCE MENZIES, No. 7 (First overall. First in class. Bryce Menzies drove solo.) - - We had a clean day. We started out pretty smooth, just trying to chase Luke (McMillin) down. He got a flat early at about race mile 65. We got him while he was changing a flat. And then from there we just held him behind us with about a two and half minute gap and just wanted to keep him there in case we had any issues, to be able to get out in front of him again. Overall, we just had one flat and my co-driver changed it in 50 seconds, which is unheard of. Other than that we had a clean run. It feels really good to win back-to-back SCORE Baja 400’s. We lost our four-wheel drive at race mile 210. It tested my skills. I had to learn how to drive a four-wheel drive, then I had to re-learn to drive it with two-wheel drive. Overall, epic day. I could not ask for a better day. Thank you to all the fans down here. We love coming to Baja. Thank you to SCORE for putting this race on. We wouldn’t be down here without all you guys. I love Baja. I love coming down here and we will be coming down here for a long time to come.
LUKE McMILLIN, No. 83 (Second overall. Second in class. Luke McMillin drove solo.) - - We had a good day. I’m happy to be here at the finish line. This is a great starting spot for the SCORE Baja 1000. It looks like we will end up second and my brother in third, so that’s a great testament to a team effort. We have two trucks starting up front for the big show in November. So I’m looking forward to that. Of course I wish today would have gone a bit better. We earned a flat tire at race mile 70. My fault. We lost front drive so then we had a truck that was pushing, not pulling, so we earned a flat due to that. The rain helped some sections and made other sections worse, so it was a mix. Super rocky course. Bryce drove a great race. Hats off to him and his team. We will be racing the SCORE Baja 1000 with Rob MacCachren again. I think we are leading the points championship, so we will be able to run my number, so that will be awesome.
DAN McMILLIN, No. 23 (Third overall. Third in class. Dan McMillin drove solo.) - - We are very pumped. I want to congratulate Bryce Menzies and my brother, Luke. My day was pretty uneventful but I did have one flat tire at race mile 360. I hit a big rock about the size of a microwave that I deserved. Then I hit another rock and bent my steering wheel. I was just trying to keep up with Bryce (Menzies) and Luke (McMillin), they were very, very fast. Third starting spot for the SCORE Baja 1000 is an awesome spot. Honestly, anywhere in the top ten is great, so a podium start is very sweet. Josh Daniels is going to race with me in the SCORE Baja 1000. We are very much looking forward to it.
ALAN AMPUDIA, No. 10 (Fourth overall. Fourth in class. Alan Ampudia drove solo.) - - We had a lot of fun out there. The course was a little muddy but outside from an electric problem that costed us a few minutes at the start, we did great and enjoyed the race. Our Toyo tires were fantastic, we had no flats or nothing at all. We’re ready for the SCORE Baja 1000. I’m looking to invite some people to drive with me and we’ll see how it goes. We’d like to thank our sponsors and the team that spent some time preparing the truck.
PAUL WEEL, No. 46 (Fifth overall. Fifth in class. Toby Price started and shared driving duties with Paul Weel, who drove to the finish.) - - It was hard work for a bit. We had a few mistakes. Toby (Price) did an excellent job, so I feel like I let the team down a little bit. We had a few issues with being able to see up and over the rises with the bonnet, so we were struggling with that a little bit. We took a wrong turn and Jergensen got us, which was a pain. And then we caught his dust, so a little frustrating on my part. Toby moved up and got us in a great position. Preston did a great job navigating us here. This is our first time here and our first race as a team. It is great to see an Australian team come over here and do pretty well. We are in a good spot for the start of the SCORE Baja 1000. No flat tires, thanks to BFGoodrich. Those are great tires. And KMC Wheels. And PWR radiators that keep us cool. And all the guys in the pits. It is good I have Toby Price with me for the SCORE Baja 1000 because that guy sure can pedal. CO-DRIVER TOBY PRICE said: We had a really good run going from the start. The truck performed well. It is Paul’s first time here. We are excited about it. We will be back for the SCORE Baja 1000. We had a good starting position for it, now we know what we need to do.
MIKE WALSER, No. 89 (Sixth overall. Sixth in class. Jax Redline started and drove to race mile 220. Mike Walser drove from race mile to the finish.) - - We had a day out there! We started off in third. Jax put it up front in qualifying but then we smoked a rock and bent a sector shaft, killed a tire, which put us several spots back. We had to work our way back, got by Toby Price again, but then Dan (McMillin) was just too far ahead of us and my sector shaft was bent too bad. I was losing cylinders on the engine and we just decided this was good enough and brought it in. I would like to thank my crew. We have a lot of Mason guys on our crew and guys from all over – Texas, California, Oklahoma. Mason preps this truck; they do an awesome job. I can’t say enough about the engineering of this thing. I couldn’t do it without everyone’s help. We had great Toyo tires, great traction, no trouble. I hope we get to start the SCORE Baja 1000 in fourth. Those guys in front of us are fast. We are fast, I think we can run with them. If we can start in the top ten we have a good shot at it. Jax is my teammate. He is fast. It’s a good team.
ANDY MCMILLIN, No. 31 (Eighth overall. Eighth in class. Andy McMillin drove solo.) - - Bebo is the nickname my sister gave me. I have Bebo on the back of my helmet. I was a big fan of Kobe Bryant and he said be relentless and be legendary. That kind of stuck with me. The race was dusty. Unfortunately a lot of the rain dried up and the dirt wasn’t as tacky as we were anticipating. Starting this far back, the first 25 trucks through are just burning the top layer off and digging up all the silt underneath. We were picking off guys really well off the start. Right before race mile 77, we were getting ready to pass someone and I hit a stump I didn’t see and got a flat. Then we started picking guys off again and were only six minutes behind Bryce (Menzies), so I thought that wasn’t too bad. But then we got stuck behind two or three slow trucks going up through the Mike’s loop and we lost another ten minutes, so that put us way back. At that point we just wanted to keep it solid and get a good finish. We kind of cruised, ran hard when we could, but got stuck in dust. It was a good day. We are here at the finish and that’s all that matters. I wanted a clean run and we needed this. We are looking forward to the SCORE Baja 1000.
JONATHAN BRENTHEL, No. 27 (Ninth overall. Ninth in class. Kyle Jergensen drove solo.)  - - CO-DRIVER KYLE JERGENSEN said: Jonathan couldn’t drive today so we drove the whole race. My co-driver did a great job navigating all day. He had been with me a long time. We didn’t pre-run, not one mile. A different approach this year. I wouldn’t do it this way again. We were struggling out there to pick the right line. Maybe we finished fourth, don’t know about corrected time. We passed Walser and Toby. This Brenthel all-wheel drive did a fantastic job today. Not one mechanical issue. We had been struggling the last couple races, but I think we got it sorted out. I think Jonathan and I are doing the SCORE Baja 1000. I am feeling good about this truck. We beat the shit out of it today and it kept wanting more. No flats, just cruising.
ROB MACCACHREN, No. 1 (Twelfth overall. Eleventh in class. Rob MacCachren drove solo.) - - It was a good day. I knew at the starting line that it was going to be a tough one. There were a lot of trucks on the line at the green that can go really, really fast. We pushed hard all day long. We had a pretty good day. No complaints. We are here with a small block and two-wheel drive. This truck has been around since 2013 and has a lot of miles on it. It is getting tougher to keep up with the big motors and four-wheel drives. I have to thank BFGoodrich tires, Vision Wheel, Fox Shocks, KC Lights, VP Fuels, everyone that helped me out – the Baja Fools did our fuel pitting, Collins Motorsports for prepping the truck. And all my crew that comes down here to help. It was flawless. A great day. That is two races in a row we haven’t had to put one wrench on this truck in both the SCORE Baja 500 and the SCORE Baja 400. We are happy about that. We moved the shop to Las Vegas in the Collins Motorsport shop and I’ve been spending a lot of time down there working on the truck so I really appreciate the mechanics that work on all these trucks. It is a lot of work. There is a lot of moving parts. I want to thank SCORE. They continually step up the game on the race course, keep taking us to new areas and old areas that are pretty cool as well. This course is tight and technical and very enjoyable. Baja is beautiful. I love the spectators and they are doing good staying off the course. It was a great day. It was fun to push hard. We really had fun. We will be back here for the SCORE Baja 1000 racing with Luke McMillin. It looks like we have a good starting spot. We will try to win in November.
GUSTAVO TAVO VILDOSOLA, No. 12 (Twentieth overall. Thirteenth in class. Gustavo Vildosola drove solo.) - - This is one of those days where you learn a lot. At least it is at the SCORE Baja 400 and not the SCORE Baja 1000. This is a brand new truck. I found a couple of gremlins on it. Going back to the drawing board and fixing it. Once we fell back, I started pushing it too hard and got a flat. Other than that, the steering wheel is a little cocked. We are happy to be at the finish line. It was a long day. We slid it hard sideways into a berm and lost a fender and tire, pushing too hard. Now we know what the limit is. We are going to go have fun at the SCORE Baja 1000.
LARRY ROESELER, No. 43 (Sixteenth in class.  Larry Roeseler drove solo.) - - What a day we had. We started off really, really well. We just ran hard and put our heads down. We passed a few cars and just kept pushing. We managed to get from 15^th to sixth at checkpoint one, we were in really good shape. Shortly after that we started getting issues with our oil and smoke in car. From that point on, it was just about survival. We lost so much oil that we think it hurt the engine. It’s a bummer that something that small took us out of the race, but we’re still very happy to be here.
TIM HERBST, No. 19 (Eighteenth in class. Pat Dean started and drove to race mile 220. Tim Herbst drove from race mile 220 to the finish.) - - Pat Dean drove a great first half of the race and passed the truck off to me and that’s when all our problems started. We lost a transmission and then a rear end gear. Another great SCORE Baja 400. We have a great truck, we just can’t have all these failures. We haven’t had a transmission failure in years. They come once in a while. Other than that, the truck ran great. No flats. Our BFGoodrich tires ran great. Thank you to the people of Mexico for letting us run down here in their back yards.
DAN MYERS, No. 6 (Twentieth in class. Dan Myers drove solo.) - - We had some wiring issues and were able to fix it on course, but it cost us six hours. We had to borrow a fan from Dan Fresh. These Brenthel trucks all have interchangeable parts. We were doing about 130 mph on the highway and the hood decided to take off. Some people found it and brought it back for us though. We had no flats. Our BFGoodrich tires were flawless. We are ready for the SCORE Baja 1000. Hopefully my wife will let me go do it. She bought the truck, so we will see. I want to thank my wife and kids, my father-in-law watching on satellite, Toyota of Escondido, Hyundai of Escondido, Maxima oil, VP fuels, KMC Wheels, BFGoodrich tires. We are happy to be here and get a good starting spot for the SCORE Baja 1000.
*SCORE TT LEGEND (Unlimited Production Trucks, Drivers over 50 years old)—
GUSTAVO VILDOSOLA, SR., No. 12L (First in class. Ricky Johnson started and drove to race mile 224. Gustavo Vildosola Sr. drove from race mile 224 to the finish) - - We had no problems all day. Just a nasty course. It was difficult but it was great. It was rocky, silty, the water exposed more rocks. We are looking great for the SCORE Baja 1000. This race is the first time we have two Trophy Trucks for this team. Our team did an excellent job. I’m very proud of them and would like to congratulate them. I want to thank my navigator Nico, he did an excellent job and changed our flat quickly and thank you to Ricky Johnson. CO-DRIVER RICKY JOHNSON said: Our Toyo tires were great. We had zero flats. We had one issue. We slowed down for the big puddle and I probably should not have. The guys that blasted it fast didn’t have any problems. But I injected so much mud into our truck we ended up getting stuck in second gear for a while. It didn’t slow me down that much, but we had to pull into the pit and we lost about ten minutes. After that it worked perfectly. The truck worked perfectly.
CLAY LAWRENCE, No. 85L (Second in class. Steve Cawler started and drove to race mile 200. Clay Lawrence drove race mile 200 to the finish.) - - It went fantastic. The course was fire and ice. It was fast, but also very technical, rocky and rough. So, you were either going fast or holding on, all day. We had a good lead over the third-placed car, so we just brought it back here. There was no point in going off the road for no gain. This car is still the Trophy Truck Spec that we ran last year. We’ll get a new motor for the SCORE Baja 1000 and then will be able to run a little better. We’re happy to be here. I just learned how to have fun with this truck and I love it.
  CLASS 2 (Unrestricted cars/trucks including Forced Induction)--
JEREMY DAVIS, No. 2085 (First in class. Jeremy Davis started and drove to race mile 310. Tyler Peterson drove from race mile 310 to the finish.) - - The race started off well and we were passing people. About 10 miles from Mike’s Sky Ranch, we lost an alternator and had to wait for a new one. Luckily a 1600 car brought me one up the hill, so thank you to 1616. Then we just cruised from there. We pulled some stuck people out. We got to the pit and noticed we were losing another alternator so we changed it. Then we started losing the lights and had to hard-wire them to the battery. Then we just wanted to finish and do our best. We are ready for the SCORE Baja 1000.
  CLASS 1 (Unlimited open-wheel single or two-seaters)--
BRIAN PARKHOUSE, No. 100 (First in class. Brian Parkhouse started and immediately handed the car off to Cody Parkhouse, who drove to the finish) - - This was an awesome course. Jose (Grijalva, SCORE’s President and Race Director) did a great job laying this course out. It was very technical. There was a lot of new stuff. It was cool how much new stuff there was. The course dried out a lot from last week. It is time to go celebrate.
DAMEN JEFFERIES, No. 121 (Second in class. Damen Jefferies started and drove to race mile 200. Stephen Jangaard drove race mile 200 to the finish.) CO-DRIVER STEPHEN JANGAARD said – It went pretty well. We came into this race second in points and there’s a good chance we’ll close the gap to the team that’s first or maybe even take over first place. Damen had a pretty good start and he had a battle in his hands. He’s a veteran driver and he knew what he was doing.
KYLE QUINN, No. 138 (Third in class. Kyle Quinn started and drove to race mile Brad Wilson drove from race mile to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER BRAD WILSON said: We are happy we made it. Had a long day. One big issue cost us a couple hours. Something with the steering. It took a while to get the team out to fix it. We will go back and diagnose what happened and fix it and make sure it doesn’t happen for the SCORE Baja 1000. The course was great. I think SCORE laid out a great course. It had a mix of technical, fast, rough, sandy, everything that Baja can throw at you. You have to appreciate that SCORE likes to give you everything you can get and really experience Baja.
  TROPHY TRUCK SPEC (unlimited Truck/SUV, stock, sealed engines)
CHRISTOPHER POLVOORDE, No. 204 (Tenth overall. First in class. Christopher Polvoorde drove solo.) - - It was a long day. It was a tough one for sure. But we are here in one piece. We got a flat right off the start that put us behind right away. But we put our head down and caught (Ryan) Hancock and sat in his dust from race mile 250 all the way here. The dust was crazy. We got up to his bumper a couple times, but there at the end it got really technical and we couldn’t keep pushing through the dust. Overall it was super good. It set us up good for the SCORE Baja 1000.
RYAN HANCOCK, No. 228 (Fourteenth overall. Second in class. Brock Heger started and drove to race mile 230. Ryan Hancock drove from race mile 230 to the finish.) - - We had a great day. No flats. Everything is a little dirty. We are happy to be here. The team did an awesome job. We are happy to be in first place. Our BFGoodrich tires did it for us. We are going to enjoy starting the SCORE Baja 1000 in first place.
JORGE SAMPIETRO, No. 297 (Seventeenth overall. Third in class. Jorge Sampietro drove solo.) - - This is awesome. It was super tough, super tight. The goal was to get a good starting position for the SCORE Baja 1000. We had one flat, my fault. And then I lost first gear and had to take it easy on the transmission to make it to the finish. I want to thank my family and all the guys at the shop. We had no issues at all, except for the flat that I caused. But that’s racing. I’m a little bit tired, but also very happy that we made it all the way here. Making it to the finish line is what matters. It feels like we had a really good finish and that’s very good.
DUSTIN GRABOWSKI, No. 272 (Eighteenth overall. Fourth in class. Dustin Grabowski drove solo.) - - It went good for the first half and we took over the lead around race mile 200. Then we had some mishaps and spent the second half of the race trying to catch up. We had two flats, one right after another. We hit two or three of the biggest mud puddles out there. We are going to go home, change some parts and get ready for the SCORE Baja 1000.
ELIJAH KIGER, No. 238 (Fifth in class. Jason Coleman started and drove to race mile 220. Elijah Kiger drove from race mile 220 to the finish.) - - We started out ninth and got a couple of flats early. I got in about half way and started picking drivers off and made it back up to sixth, I think. The truck was great. Me, personally, got sick today so that wasn’t the greatest feeling. Pretty jazzed. Sixth for the SCORE Baja 1000 is a good spot to start. So we are looking forward to it.
CHARLES DORRANCE, No. 299 (Sixth in class. Charles Dorrance started and drove to race mile 225. Larry Job drove race mile 225 to the finish.) - - It’s always rough here, it’s Baja. It was muddier that I first anticipated when we got here. I tried to avoid most of it, but still got some. We ran clean all day, didn’t have any problems at all, it was really smooth.
PIERCE HERBST, No. 264 (Seventh in class. James dean started and drove to race mile 200. Pierce Herbst drove from race mile 200 to the finish.) - - Today was rough. It was a really tough course but that is why we love Baja. James Dean started and did a fantastic job. Sadly, we had a rough day. We got a flat and got stuck in dust, not where we wanted to be and then got stuck. Larry Roeseler pulled us out. He’s a great man, he didn’t have to do it at all. We are just thankful to be here at the finish.
MASON CULLEN, No. 207 (Eighth in class. Mason Cullen started and drove to race mile 215. Matt Cullen drove from race mile 215 to the finish.) - - We started eighth and it looks like we finished physically top five. So it was a great day. Played in the dust. We caught some cars in un-strategic places and sat behind them for a while, but it was a super uneventful day. Glad we had FNL on the door, we didn’t have any fuel issues. A huge shout out to BFGoodrich, no flats all day. A clean run, just stuck in the dust. The course was super fun and technical. I didn’t think it would be as dusty as it was. We had some good sun and heat these last couple days. It was fun. It is Baja. It is not bad.
DANNY LOPEZ, No. 229. (Ninth in class. Danny Lopez drove solo.) - - The course was really extreme and tough – there were lots of rocks and dust. But it was really cool, I had a lot of fun. It was a great run from our team. The car was flawless.
MIKE PEREZ, No. 254 (Tenth in class. Mike Perez drove solo.) - - I thought it would be drier, but there was still plenty of mud. All that mud affected our radiators and our transmission got a little hot. We had to clean mud all the time, but here we are at the finish. We didn’t get any flats.
  CLASS 10 (Limited, sealed engine, single or two-seaters)
JOSE DAVID RUVALCABA, No. 1009 (First in class. Jose David Ruvalcaba started and drove to race mile 223. Esteban Cruz drove race mile 223 to the finish.) CO-DRIVER ESTEBAN CRUZ said: The day went really, really well. We had a rear start in our class, but David got a really good pace going on. He handed me car in first place on time. He did his homework and I knew I had to do mine too. I just tried to be really consistent and not make any mistakes. We knew that as long as we did that, we had it in the bag because the time was on our side. SCORE has put on a really good course again. They’ve been doing a great job in putting on really diverse courses over the last few years. That’s really fun for us racers.
STAN POTTER, No. 1006 (Second in class. Stan Potter drove solo.) - - The course was brutal but fun. They put some new stuff that we have never done before. Some really good stuff that you couldn’t take your focus off of for a second.
IVAN TAGLE, No. 1087 (Third in class. Ivan Tagle drove solo.) - - It was a tough course, there was a lot of mud. The car didn’t have any problems at all. We were fighting for first place, but we got hit by Trophy Truck Specs twice and that just costed us a lot of time.
MATIAS ARJONA IV, No. 1002. (Fourth in class. Matias Arjona III started and drove to race mile 135. Matias Arjona IV drove race mile 135 to the finish.) - - It’s been a really tough day. The course was brutal, there was a lot of silt, mud and rocks. We took it really carefully until we got to the coast. Then we started pushing and here we are. We started 15^th and I’m sure we’re finishing way batter than that. The car did great and we’re really happy with this result.
BRUCE YEE, No. 1014 (Fifth in class. Bruce Yee drove solo.) - - It was a difficult course. We started first, but had issues with our alternator and had to switch it around race mile 60. We fell back to 18^th and still managed to climb back. It was a long day, with a lot of dust, but we only had one flat and that helped.
MANLIO DIAZ, No. 1079 (Sixth in class. Eduardo Laguna started and drove to race mile 179. Manlio F. Dias drove race mile 179 to the finish.) - - We were having a good race, but then we had some problems at about race mile 310. The course changed a lot from what we had seen during pre-running, it was really beat up. There was some mud at the start, but after that it was better and we didn’t have many problems for most of the race.
ROBERTO ROMO, No. 1062 (Eighth in class. Roberto Romo started and quickly switched to Roberto Romo Jr. Roberto Romo Jr. drove the finish line.) - - CO-DRIVER ROBERTO ROMO JR. said – The course changed a lot during the race with the cars going on it. There was a lot of dust and some mud in some spots. We had a little problem with the car, but nothing serious, and that was all.
  CLASS 7 (unlimited, six-cylinder, production appearing trucks or SUVs)
DAN CHAMLEE, No. 700 (First in class. Dan Chamlee drove solo) - - The shocks were working so well, the course didn’t seem that bad. But it was nasty. It is supposed to be nasty. Zero failures.
  PRO UTV OPEN (two-seat unlimited UTV open-displacement)
MIKE CAFRO, No. 1876 (First in class. Mike Cafro started and drove to race mile 223. Jaime Kirkpatrick drove from race mile 223 to the finish) - - CO-DRIVER JAIME KIRKPATRICK said: It was a super good course. Most all of the water was gone. There were a few mud holes, but other than that it was a good, technical course. We had a couple little issues but overall it was a solid race for us.
CRAIG SCANLON, No. 1831 (Second in class. Craig Scanlon drove solo.) - - It was a good race. It was rough at times, it was fast at times – a typical Baja course. This is a brand new car and we are getting it dialed in. There was dust, then mud holes, then dust. So thankful to SCORE and all the volunteers who help put this on.
KRISTEN MATLOCK, No. 1854 (Third in class. Kristen Matlock drove solo) - - It was going amazing until it wasn’t. We were leading the UTVs until 62 miles from the finish line and then something went wrong. But we made it. We got all the parts we needed sent out to us. Unfortunately we had to rob parts off the pre-runner so it is still out there. Our crew is working on recovering it. The mud holes weren’t as bad as pre-running. We are ready to figure out our kinks and nail the SCORE Baja 1000.
  PRO UTV FI (two-seat Forced Induction, OEM engine UTVs)
AUSTIN WEILAND, No. 2954. (First in class. Austin Weiland drove solo.) - - We never got out of the car all day. The course was rough, technical and fun. We started 13^th in our class and pushed hard all day. We took first place at about Mike’s Sky Ranch and just kept pushing hard all the way to the finish. There was a bottleneck in one of the mud pits and we just hit a tree. But other than that, we didn’t have a flat or anything else.
RODRIGO AMPUDIA, No. 2910 (Second in class. Rodrigo Ampudia drove solo.) - - It was a fun race. Definitely finishing second and battling for first was good and making the podium. We were battling for the win.
WES MILLER, No. 2989 (Third in class. Wes Miller drove solo.) - - It went good. We had a good race going. We started fourth in our class and we were able to work our way up to the front fairly quickly. We ran up front for a while but had a few problems that slowed us down and we fell back to second. But we were dicing back and forth. Then we had another issue and (Rodrigo) Ampudia got by, so I think we ended up third. The course was great. We had a really good time out there. SCORE did an awesome job with the event. I believe we are now first in points in our class so hopefully we can go into the SCORE Baja 1000 first and try to win and win the Championship. Our Polaris RZR was working great, our Maxxis tires were great, our King shocks were awesome. Our TPR motor was killing it. Big shout out to everyone that helps us. My co-driver and our whole crew and thank you to SCORE.
MATT BURROUGHS, No. 2948 (Fourth in class. Matt Burroughs started and drove to race mile 220. Brad Howe drove from race mile 220 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER BRAD HOWE said: We had no flats, hit a few bushes, obviously a lot of mud. We will clean up, do some more testing and then we will be ready for the SCORE Baja 1000.
MARC BURNETT, No. 2948 (Fifth in class. Marc Burnett drove solo.) - - It was going good until race mile 80, we had an intake boot come off and we lost all the turbo. So we had to go fix that. So we were really far back. From there on, we had an axle go bad and a wheel go bad. But overall, we made it here and we are still in the points. Lots of mudholes and ditches. The course was rough. We will be ready for the SCORE Baja 1000 with a new car.
JESUS MENDEZ JR, No. 2976 (Eighth in class. Jesus Mendez Jr. drove solo.) – It was a very fast and demanding race. My co-driver had to have surgery this week, so I drove all the way, but it all went well. We had a flat tire right at the start, but other than that, we had no problems at all.
JUSTIN LAMBERT, No. 2918 (Ninth in class. Justin Lambert started and drove to race mile 223. Victor Herrera drove from race mile 223 to the finish.) - - It went rough. We had some catastrophic failures that put us down over an hour. But we did get it fixed, luckily my team was where they were supposed to be. Got it fixed and back on the road. The course was rougher than pre-running. We persevered and made it to the finish line. We had a flat and some broken axles. It was treacherous out there.
  PRO UTV (two-seat Normally Aspirated, OEM engine UTVs)
KADEN WELLS, No. 1995 (First in class. Kaden Wells drove solo.) - - The course was super tight and rough and with the water and the rain ruts, there was still silt, but it was rough. No issues with the car, but I messed up and put it in a couple holes. I pushed a 10 car up out of a hole to get up both out, but no flats all race.
JOE BOLTON No. 1957 (Second in class. Austin Bolton started and drove to race mile 221. Joe Bolton drove from race mile 221 to the finish.) - - We had one slight problem. We broke a clutch as we came in to adjust a light. So we had to spend 10-15 minutes to replace that. Then it was smooth. It was a little tough coming in. We couldn’t pre-run that last section. Our BFGoodrich tires were flawless.
   SCORE LITES (VW-powered, Limited single-1776cc-or two-seaters-1835cc)
MIGUEL CORTEZ, No. 1205 (First in class. Miguel Cortez started and drove to race mile 140. Cesar Quirate drove from race mile 140 to race mile 225. Jessy Lopez drove from race mile 225 to 320. Cortez drove from race mile 320 to the finish) - - CO-DRIVER CESAR QUIRATE said: We had a few issues and got stuck, just the usual. It was a tough course. The Green Army made our day. We got stuck and got our rope out and they pulled us right out. Thank you to everyone that came out to help, all our support crew, everyone. I think since we were second in points, with this win, the championship will be decided at the SCORE Baja 1000.
  CLASS 1/2-1600 (VW-powered, single or two-seaters to 1600cc)
ELI YEE, No. 1616 (First in class. Eli Yee started and drove to race mile 220. Angel Barajas drove from race mile 220 to the finish.) - - I started and handed it off to my co-driver and I was going to get back in with 50 miles to go, but the second place car was only two minutes behind us so we made the decision not to stop for a driver change. We had no problems, no flats thanks to Yokohama tires. There was a lot of mud. The course was difficult. We are second in points, so we are going to try to win the SCORE Baja 1000 and another Championship.
MARTIN RANGEL, No. 1626 (Second in class. Daniel Pacheco started and drove to race mile 130. Cesar Fiscal drove race mile 130 to race mile 290. Martin Rangel drove race mile 290 to the finish.) - - The weather affected the course a lot, but there wasn’t much we could to avoid the issues it caused, so we just stuck to our plan and kept going. The car had no problems at all, no flats, anything, and made it here.
   CLASS 5 (Unlimited Baja Bugs, VW concept engines allowed)--
RAMON FERNANDEZ, No. 507 (First in class. Ramon Fernandez started and drove to race mile 225. Greg Sullivan drove from race mile 225 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER GREG SULLIVAN said: We had a clean race. Ramon is the man, he is so solid, he makes it easy. He is smooth and smart and the reason we are here. The team that puts it together does an awesome job. I have to thank them.
PRO MOTORCYCLES
PRO MOTO UNLIMITED (400cc or more)
JUAN CARLOS SALVATIERRA, No. 10x  (First overall motorcycle. First in class. Juan Carlos Salvatierra started and quickly switched to Arturo Salas. Arturo Salas rode to race mile 130. Clayton Roberts rode race mile 130 to race mile 220. Juan Carlos Salvatierra rode race mile 220 to race mile 295. Shane Logan rode race mile 295 to the finish.) – We’re very happy that we won this race after having an issue early in the morning. The bike wouldn’t start and it costed us 30 minutes to make it work. Arturo did a great job in starting our comeback and Clayton gained quite a few positions too. I was able to put us in first place and Shane kept us there until the finish line. For most of the time, we had a problem with our antenna too and didn’t know exactly in which position we were. We’re relieved to be here and very happy with what we did. CO-RIDER ARTURO SALAS said – We had some technical issues right at the start. The bike shut down and wouldn’t start. I thought about 15 opponents passed us. We started to pick up at around race mile 35 and at the end of my section we were fourth.
IVAN DELGADILLO, No. 38x (Second in class. Justin Carnes started and rode to race mile 140. Brad Millikan rode from race mile 140 to race mile 220. Ivan Delgadillo rode from race mile 220 to race mile 290. Justin Kennamer rode from race mile 290 to the finish) - - The race went OK. We started third overall and made some passes and we were running first but we were having Stella problems so we couldn’t track our team and thought we were stuck at race mile 53 but we got a visual at race mile 70 and we were in the lead. But then we cooked the rear brakes. By time we got to race mile 140, we had no brakes and ended up going off a cliff. Thank God everything was OK. By the time I got the bike we were third overall but then 3x (Forrest Minchinton) ran out of gas and the 10x (Juan Carlos Salvatierra) had a slow pit. I got out in front for a little bit. I told myself to take it easy especially with no rear brakes. I really wanted to get this finish. I got it to race mile 290 in third place and we did a brake swap. So we had brakes at the end. We had uphill and downhills, so we needed brakes.
IGNACIO LAVIOSA, No. 32x (Third in class. Ignacio Laviosa started and quickly stitched to Augusto Faure. Faure rode to race mile 50. Pedro Gonzalez rode race mile 50 to race mile 230. Juan Zunino rode race mile 230 to the finish.) CO-RIDER GUILLERMO RINALDI said -- We had some problems, but it was a good race overall. We had a little accident with one of the riders at around race mile 50. We did a good job in switching riders, but just 30 miles later we had another issue and we could fix it in no time. And at mile 308 our driver got lost for a little while.
   PRO MOTO LIMITED (less than 400cc)
FERNANDO BELTRAN, NO. 180x (First in class. Fernando Beltran started and quickly switched to Luis Flores. Luis Flores rode to race mile 40. Larry Serna rode race mile 40 to race mile 130. Mauri Herrera rode race mile 130 to race mile 220. Javier Salazar rode race mile 220 to the finish.) CO-RIDER LUIS FLORES said – It was a very technical course, but it was also a lot of fun. He had a few mishaps but still kept pushing and made it to the finish. The bike did well, but we had a few crashes. Now we’ll start preparing for the SCORE Baja 1000.
  PRO MOTO 30 (Riders over 30 years old)
JANO MONTOYA, No. 325x (First in class. Bryce Stavron started and rode to race mile 65. Jano Montoya rode from race mile 65 to race mile 120.  David Zarate rode from race mile 120 to race mile 220. Kyle Tichenor rode from race mile 220 to the finish.) - - We had a really good race today. Nobody crashed, the bike ran great today so it was a great race and uneventful day for us. It was good. It was a great accomplishment. The team worked so hard, two weeks of pre-running, getting the bike ready. This is incredible to finish in first place in the class. The course was fun. When the hurricane came through Baja, at first we were nervous about the course, but it turned out really good. My section through Valley Trinidad and km77 was incredible. It was so much fun. It was a good course. Everyone had a good time running it. CO-RIDER DAVID ZARATE said:  It was a very tough race, but we’re here. It was a very long day for us. We just had some little issues, but nothing big.
GREG BARDONNEX, No. 300x (Second in class. Greg Bordonnex started and quickly switched to Kevin Murphy, who rode to race mile 70. Shane Schorno rode from race mile 70 to race mile 140.  Morgan Crawford rode from race mile 140 to race mile 220. Greg Bordonnex rode from race mile 220 to race mile 320. Murphy rode from race mile 320 to the finish.) - - CO-RIDER KEVIN MURPHY said: It was a little dusty. We didn’t have too many issues. I tucked a wheel around race mile 50 and the suspension was a little off, but we had a pretty clean race for what we were dealing with. There is a hundred stories that everyone has out there. It was a good day. The team is great, the riders are great. I’ve known most of these guys a long time. They called me last minute and we came down this week and pre-ran and went racing. I love it. I love racing so it’s hard to say no. I enjoy it. I love being in Mexico. The people, the hospitality is by far the best.
   PRO MOTO 40 (Riders over 40 years old)
RYAN LIEBELT, No. 400x (First in class. Steve Tichener started and rode to race mile 120. James Justin Shultz rode from race 120 to race mile 250. Ryan Liebelt rode from race mile 250 to the finish.) - - The race went good today. I don’t think anybody went down. The bike stayed up all day. Other than the mist and fog this morning, it was a good race. I battled all day with quad 7A (Luis Ernesto Villafana) for basically the last two hundred miles. We were back and forth. It was fun. My section was fun. It was great.
  PRO MOTO IRONMAN (Solo Riders)
FRANCISCO SEPTIEN, No. 730x (First in class) - - It was a little bit rough. I had to go through some mud. I want to thank my family.  We are racing in our back yard and it makes it special.
BRANDON WRIGHT, No. 750x (Second in class) - - We were pretty consistent but it looks like we came up a little bit short, maybe a minute short. I want to thank Eagle Roofing Products, IMS, Jeff Hill from Baja Insurance. He is the man. All my 400x and 300x friends over there, Baja Jerky, Golden Tire, all my sponsors and all my family, thank you.
FABRICIO FUENTES, No. 785x (Third in class) - - The course was very demanding, but that’s Baja and that’s what I love about it. I need to thank the Mexican people for their hospitality – they really make the race more enjoyable for us. And also SCORE for putting on such a great race. I come a long way from Bolivia and I’m very happy to be here again and to make it to the end of such a demanding race. We’re now looking forward to returning in a few months for the SCORE Baja 100.
  PRO MOTO 50 (Riders over 50 years old)
GIOVANNI SPINALI, No. 500x (First in class. John Griffin started and shared riding duties with Bill Sauro and Troy Pearce and Giovanni Spinali rode to the finish.) - - CO-RIDER TROY PEARCE said: Everything was good out there. I had a pretty clean run. It got a little bit rough on the second part of my section. It was a lot different than pre-running. It was pretty rocky. I had a good run, no crashes, kept the bike moving forward and gave the bike off to Giovanni.
VANCE KENNEDY, No. 522x (Second in class. Dennis Belingheri started and rode to race mile 70. Dave Mayer rode from race mile 70 to race mile 140. Belingheri rode from race mile 140 to race mile 220. Vance Kennedy rode from race mile 220 to race mile 320. Mayer rode from race mile 320 to the finish.) - - It was great. We love the race course. We drew the first starting position and held the lead the whole way. We do a lot of our homework before we get here and spend a lot of time pre-running so we were confident going into the race.
PRO QUADS
   PRO QUAD (Open engine displacement)
LUIS ERNESTO VILLAFANA, No. 7a (First in class. Jose Luis Mesa Velez started and rode to race mile 70. Nicolas Velez rode race mile 70 to race mile 220. Luis Ernesto Villafana rode race mile 220 to the finish.) CO-RIDER JOSE LUIS MESA VELEZ said: It was a very interesting race. It was fast and technical at the same time. We thought there would be more dust, but there wasn’t as much as we expected, so it was faster than we imagined. It was a very demanding course and we’re happy we made it to the finish.
  PRO QUAD IRONMAN (Solo Riders)
FAELLY LOPEZ, No. 83a (First in class) - - It was a very good course. It was very technical, with a lot of rocks, and I had a really good time. I didn’t have any kind of issues and was even able to complete the race in good time, it was even better than I thought it would be. I would like to thank our chase team and everyone that worked hard to get the quad ready.