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Finish line quotes from 2022 SCORE Baja 1000
SCORE MEDIA CONTACT: Dominic Clark, Dominic@score-international.
BFGoodrich Tires 55th SCORE Baja 1000 Presented by 4 Wheel Parts
Final Round of the four-race 2022 SCORE World Desert Championship
November 18-20, 2022 – 828.25 miles
Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
Finish Line, Post-Race Quotes
(Finish line - As interviewed by Paul Hanson, Isaac Flores;
transcribed by Cindy Clark, Ariana Medrano)
Pro Cars, Trucks & UTVs
SCORE TROPHY TRUCK (Unlimited Custom Trucks)
LUKE MCMILLIN, No. 83 (First in class. First overall. Rob MacCachren started and drove to race mile 394. Luke McMillin drove from race mile 394 to the finish.) - - Today is really, really special for the entire team for quite a few reasons. Today is our third SCORE Baja 1000 in a row in the No. 83 SCORE Trophy Truck. That’s unbelievable. Only two other people in the history of the SCORE Baja 1000 have done that – Rob MacCachren and Larry Ragland – two legends I have looked up to my entire life. Another reason it is a special day is the big blue M. My brother and I are here 1 and 2. I don’t think anyone is even close behind him. That’s awesome. That is a testament to the race shop, everyone that works on these trucks. The amount of work we put in, we work really hard to do this and we really earned this. I am really pumped for this team. This is awesome. Today was good. This SCORE Baja 1000 probably had the most highs and lows I have ever had in a SCORE Baja 1000. At the end, it was probably the most calm I have ever had in a SCORE Baja 1000. At the beginning, Rob MacCachren passed Bryce Menzies about race mile 70 for the physical lead and I was like, all right, that’s pretty cool, but it’s early. And then Rob got a flat and Dan McMillin and Bryce got by him and Rob worked his way past both of them again. My brother started having a little bit of engine issues, some popping and stuff, no big deal, it worked its way out and his truck was running good after that. Rob caught Bryce on Zoo line and I was waiting down the road and to my surprise, Rob was first. That was pretty cool. So that was the high. And then the low was we lost a driveshaft on Puertecitos road and we had about 20 minutes of down time and I was sitting at my pit waiting for the truck and I was ready to get in and do battle with the No. 7 and was looking forward to that but unfortunately it didn’t work out for either one of us. At the time, Rob had dropped down to fourth on the road, but there was no one else. There was only four or five running…the two of us McMillins and Bryce and Larry Roeseler and Cameron Steele was in the mix. Behind that was a big gap so once we changed the driveshaft, I knew Rob could push back up and catch him and sure enough, he caught Cameron, then the No. 7 had a transmission change, so then we were third on the road. I got in at third on the road and then Cameron lost a transmission, so then my brother and I were one and two. We got up on them in the desert. They did a driver change and went into Mike’s [Sky Ranch] only a minute or two separating us, which was pretty exciting. From there I drove the entire Mike’s loop blind. I couldn’t see five feet in front of me. Unfortunately my brother got a flat, so then we got around him and just drove it in from there. It was odd; the last 300 miles, my brother was ten or fifteen minutes behind us and then behind him they were saying there was a 45-60 minute gap, so it kind of like a long pre-run. No pressure. That’s what my brother and I do down here, we just kind of follow each other. And here we are. A three-peat. CO-DRIVER ROB MACCACREN said: Here we are at the finish line, overall winners. McMillin Racing, BFGoodrich tires. What an honor to be invited to race with the McMillin family two years in a row now. It is Luke’s third overall win in a row. I’m not counting for me. It is good to get another SCORE Baja 1000 victory under my belt. I ended up going the first 400 miles. I got first on the road at about race mile 80 but then I got a mystery flat. We changed that but Bryce got back by and Dan got by. We ended up getting both of them back by the time we got to San Felipe and then we were first truck on the road, going toward Matomi and I thought hey this is a great situation because the sun is going down and usually when the sun goes down the dust starts hanging, but then for some reason we had a driveshaft come out of the truck. So Duncan and I, the co-driver who drove solo by the way, got out and changed the driveshaft. It took us about 18-20 minutes or so. Let 3 trucks by. We got that done and got back out on the road and started pushing hard because I knew Luke really wanted to win this race to make it three in a row, so I figured we need to push hard now. I handed the truck to Luke about seven minutes behind Dan and he pushed hard and caught him going up the summit and followed him all the way through there. When they got over on the beach side, Dan had a little problem and that let Luke get by him and then from there it was just the two of them. It is great to have the McMillin’s one and two, it is a testament to the McMillin team and mechanics and team strategy. It is awesome to be here. I want to thank SCORE for allowing us to race across this desert and do what we do. And thank you to all the fans.
MARK MCMILLIN - - (Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame Inductee, 5-time SCORE Baja 1000 overall winner and Dan and Luke’s father) --I want to tell the whole world that the McMillin family is a strong family. It started with my mom and dad, Corky and Bonnie. Then there was me and my sister and my brother Scott, whose team had a little hard luck today but today we are here and we are one and two overall and that's something that the McMillin family has never done. We’ve been one, three and four. We’ve been one and three and we’ve been three, two, three, but today we’re first and second overall and I’d like to thank my boys who had the steering wheels in their hands but everyone else had a big part in this. Corky is smiling on us today. My dad is a hawk, he’ll be out here. Congratulations to SCORE for putting on yet another great SCORE Baja 1000 and I love the Mexican people, every one of them.
DAN MCMILLIN, No. 23 (Second in class. Second overall. Dan McMillin started and drove to race mile 155. Josh Daniel drove from race mile 155 to race mile 480. McMillin drove from race mile 480 to the finish.) -- It went great. I started the race and went to race mile 155. I had no real issues. Then Josh got in and got me the truck first on the road and first on time. He got a couple flats in his section but kept moving and guys were dropping out. Billy and Josh did a killer job and I can't thank them enough. Great teammates, great partners. And then from Mike’s road on, we just stayed in front of Luke. It was Luke and I by about 45 minutes in front of the third place truck and I think it’s over an hour now. Right before San Telmo road, I hit a ditch, got a flat and busted my brake line so we had to stop, re-rack a tire, fix the brakes and then Luke got by me and here we are first and second. So for the last 2-300 miles I was about ten miles behind Luke the rest of the time. First and second for Luke and I and the McMillin family is just awesome. Incredible.
LARRY ROESELER, No. 43 (Third in class. Third overall. Larry Roeseler drove solo.) - - Oh my gosh what a day, what a day. Just a tough race, it was just relentless, technical, and a lot of bumps. It was super exciting, I got lucky at the beginning. Got by a couple guys that had some early problems. Lofton got a flat, not sure what happened to Gomez, but going down the summit I caught Ricky Johnson and that was really fun. I was able to close up on him and Stella him and siren him so he found a spot and pulled over for me. Got by Toby Price over by race mile165. Killer pass on him. He saw the hole underneath the truck going over this jump, I’m sure, because we came together and sort of did a big fly. San Felipe sort of took its toll on us. I got a flat on Puertecitos Road and then our pit forgot to re-rack a new one for me and then I got another one going up Azufre. So now I had to do the rest of the washes with no spares, So I was really nervous about that and I definitely slowed down. The washes were really fun, they were good but of course there are a lot of rocks and jagged rocks and it’s easy to stub your toe. It was my fault. The flats were my fault, of course, but not having any spares was a little nerve wracking. I finally made it to the next pit and got spares, got fresh tires on the rear, got fuel and we just kept pushing. Actually Pat Dean got by me. I let him go by, but then he got a flat. I knew he wasn't too far back and then I caught back up to the 21L. We were third on the road and we just kept pushing and pushing. We heard on the radio that Luke and Dan were an hour in front of us. Pat Dean and Tim Herbst, the 19, started only a few minutes behind us so I knew I needed to push or they would beat me on time and I don't know what happened to them. I hope they're okay. I don't know if they had mechanical issues or what happened but we had a good race going and it was fun. I’m super happy we’re on the podium.
DAVE TAYLOR, No. 26 (Fourth in class. Fifth overall. Dave Taylor started and drove to race mile 450. Ryan Poelman drove from race mile 450 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER RYAN POELMAN said: The race was crazy. It was super fast, super fun. Dave Taylor started in about 28th and gave it to me in about eighth position. I picked up a couple more spots. This is the best finish I have ever had here in SCORE in the SCORE Trophy Trucks so I am pumped to do that in the SCORE Baja 1000. The truck was flawless. The guys prepped the car perfectly and we had flawless pits. Dave got stuck in the bottleneck and lost about 25 minutes, otherwise we may have had an ever better finish.
MIKEY LAWRENCE, No. 85 (Fifth in class. Ninth overall. Mikey Lawrence drove to race mile 475. Dustin Grabowski drove from race mile 475 to the finish.) - - It went fairly well. I started and drove to mile 475. I had to change the power steering pump. I gave it to Dustin Grabowski; he did an awesome job. We had to fix some brakes real quick, but besides that, it was a decent race. Really good points, so we might be third in points after this, hopefully. Looking forward to next season. It’s going to be a logistics nightmare, but I’m ready to drive it.
TIM HERBST, No. 19 (Sixth in class. Eleventh overall. Tim Herbst started and drove to race mile Pat Dean drove from race mile to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER PAT DEAN said: The first half of the race went very well. Tim did a phenomenal job. We had a bad finish in the SCORE Baja 400 so we started this race about 17th and Tim took it all the way to 5th place. No issues. I got in and got by a couple more trucks but got a couple flats and some other issues. Nothing too bad, obviously we got here. We are happy to be at the finish line. I want to thank Monster Energy, Terrible Herbst Motorsports and BFGoodrich tires.
DALLAS LUTTRELL, No. 87 (Seventh in class. Fifteenth overall. Dallas Luttrell started and drove to race mile 395. Billy Goerke drove from race mile 395 to race mile 635. Larry Ragland drove from race mile 635 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER BILLY GOERKE said: I think this race was amazing. I got to drive up through Mike’s (Sky Ranch) and a little bit of San Felipe and a little bit on the coast. I love all the mountain trails that SCORE has on this course. It was good. I think this is one of the best SCORE loop Baja 1000’s of all. CO-DRIVER LARRY RAGLAND said: We didn’t have any issues, just a little bit slow. There wasn’t anything to fight for so we just had to bring it home, which we did. Thanks to the Goerke brothers, Collins Motorsports, Dallas Luttrell and BFGoodrich.
RAUL GOMEZ, No. 90 (Eighth in class. Sixteenth overall. Raul Gomez started and shared driving duties with Darian Gomez and Sergio Garcia.) - - I passed three trucks on the Summit. I am a rock crawler so I didn’t have any problems with the rocks on this course. The truck shut off at race mile 130, and we lost 45 minutes but we banged on the dash and it came back on. We had a fuel issue we battled all day but we got here. This was a well-planned brutal awesome race course. Our plan is to run all the SCORE races next year and we are looking forward to the La Paz-Ensenada Peninsula SCORE Baja 1000 next year. Thank you to SCORE for putting on this awesome event. We love coming down here to race. Happy to be here.
SAM BALDI, No. 82 (Ninth overall. Ninth in class. Jake Johnson started and drove to race mile 450. Sam Baldi drove from race mile 450 to the finish.) - - It was a tough day. We had power steering issues in the SCORE Baja 400 and didn’t finish so we started this race way in the back in 20th. Jake got caught in the bottleneck in the summit. Then down below in the valley he must have got a rock in it and pitched a belt. When they replaced it they didn’t get it on there tight enough and shredded that belt also, so they were down for about two and a half hours. So we didn’t get the finish we wanted but we finished our first SCORE Baja 1000. We are going to do the whole 2023 SCORE season. We want to thank SCORE for putting this on. And Mexico. We love Mexico. We have made a lot of friends here. We love being here.
DAN MYERS, No. 6 (Tenth in class. Dan Myers started and drove to race mile 450. Luke Johnson drove from race mile 450 to the finish.) - - We had a couple of issues. We had a couple of flats that I totally deserved. I hit a couple of huge boulders – one the size of a coffee table that flattened two tires. So then we had no spares. And then I hit another boulder and got another flat tire on the Summit and luckily the guys from Fast Ball racing let us have a tire out in the middle of the desert. I told him if he got a flat I would give it back to him. But we all made it out to the next pit. Super rough race. We overcame some stuff, broke a light bar. Then I handed it off to Luke Johnson at race mile 450 and he brought it in perfect. It was fun. It was a great race. I want to thank SCORE for putting on a great race and the people of Ensenada and Baja California and all the people that have come down here and my family.
TRACY GRAF, No. 58 (Eleventh in class. Tracy Graf started and drove to race mile 475. Justin Smith drove from race mile 475 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER JUSTIN SMITH said: We had a decent day. We did have a trailing arm break randomly so that took us down for about three and a half hours and put us behind a bunch of traffic. Once we got that fixed it was just a matter of fighting through the dust. No other real issues. It was a good race.
GARY MAGNESS, No. 45 (Thirteenth in class. Gary Magness started and drove to race mile 457. Armando Bravo drove from race mile 457 to the finish.) - - The race was long. Very long. The course got bumpy. I didn’t even know it was the same track I was pre-running on. Our shocks got packed up on us by mile 70. So we were running kind of a dead boat. We had about a 45mph average to race mile 457, which I thought would be worse than that. So that isn’t that bad. CO-DRIVER ARMANDO BRAVO said: It was rough. Cold. I got in at mile marker 450. This is my second SCORE Baja 1000 but this one was intense. I want to thank Gary and Mango Racing for this opportunity.
CODY SWANTY, No. 25 (Fourteenth in class. Cody Swanty started and drove to race mile 475. Rory Ward drove from race mile 475 to race mile 800. Swanty drove from race mile 800 to the finish.) - - Our race was great out there today. We had no flats. In the middle of the night we had a little electrical issue, had to put in a new alternator. It took a little bit of time to get one over there, but other than that we had a good race out there. We want to thank KMC, BFGoodrich tires, Collins Motorsports, Kroyer Racing Engines. We had no flaws all day. The truck ran good. We tried for a good, conservative pace and make it to the finish. We are happy to be here.
*SCORE TT LEGEND (Unlimited Production Trucks, Drivers over 50 years old)—
GUSTAVO VILDOSOLA SR, No. 21L (First in class. Seventh overall. Ricky Johnson started and drove to race mile 310. Michael Coleman drove. Gustavo Vildosola Sr drove race mile 310 to the finish.) - - I think I need to say that we had an almost perfect day. No flats, no problems. We had a transmission pressure sensor go bad. We thought we had a transmission problem, but after putting some oil in it and everything continued the same, we decided it was the sensor and I think we were correct. So here we are. No problems, just a little oil in the tranny. Had a great day. Ricky started and did a great job, handed us back a great truck. Then Mike Coleman got in it and handed me a perfect truck. Good brakes, good suspension, good steering. Everything was working, so here we are. Very excited to be here. I’m very proud of my team because these guys were all over the course and worked very hard to get the truck ready. These guys worked really hard and I want to thank them. CO-DRIVER RICKY JOHNSON said: I started and went to mile 450 and then Mike Coleman got in and did the next 200 and then Gus is doing the last 200. When I got out of the truck we were third on the road and first SCORE Trophy Truck Legend by quite a ways because we were up in the first group so we could kind of get away from everybody. Obviously the Lawrence’s in the 85L and also Rolf Holland and the other Rick Johnson, Rick D. Johnson, are always a threat but right now we have a good day and hopefully we make it to the finish. This is Baja man. If anyone bitches about rocks and stuff all they have to do is go do one King of the Hammers, in the Hammers Race. Go do the rock crawling race and once you do that one time you never complain about the rocks down here. That's part of it; we can't just always go fast over bumps. I like the challenge of slowing down and doing what you have to do to get to the finish. It’s racing, it was a very challenging course, very rough. Guys have run the heck out of it, Very challenging and fun. Huatamote wash was actually better in the race than in pre-running because you would go down there and you couldn't see the tracks. So guys were starting to knock some rocks out of the way and show you where to go. It was a landmine field and they're all from softball size to bowling ball size to Volkswagen size. So you see the Volkswagens, but you think which bowling balls am I going to hit? Toyo tires gave us a great tire, no flats through the wash. I got some at the beginning of the race but nothing at the end. It's been a great day for us.
CLAY LAWRENCE, No. 85L (Second in class. Steve Lawler started and drove to race mile 365. Arturo Velazco drove from race mile 365 to race mile 570. Clay Lawrence drove from race mile 570 to the finish.) - - I was trying to keep the truck clean. We had good air in front and behind us. I took a wrong turn but no one passed me. It was like a giant fun pre-run for me. The rains uncovered a lot of rocks but the track was great by race day. The whole experience is great, the weather is great. We are happy to be down here.
CLASS 1 (Unlimited open-wheel single or two-seaters)--
KYLE QUINN, No. 138 (First in class. Kyle Quinn started and drove to race mile 250. Greg DeStefano drove from race mile 250 to race mile 480. Ronny Wilson drove from race mile 480 to race mile 680. Sammy Ehrenburg drove from race mile 680 to race mile 720. Quinn drove from race mile 720 to the finish.) - - No flats. We tore the lower passenger arm off and had to stop and we put it all back together. We are glad to be here at the finish. It looks like we might have the win. We are looking forward to next year. I can’t thank our crew enough and all our sponsors.
DAMEN JEFFERIES, No. 121 (Second in class. Damen Jefferies started and drove to race mile 200. Stephen Jangaard drove from race mile 200 to race mile 405. Corey Goin drove from race mile 405 to race mile 680, Jefferies drove from race mile 680 to the finish.) - - Steve got one flat. Neither Corey or I had any issues. I got caught behind Polvoorde for about ten minutes but it wasn’t bad. The Huatamote wash wasn’t bad, it just looked intimidating but these buggies climb over that stuff really well.
MIKE FRYE, No. 113 (Third in class. Mike Frye started and drove to race mile 200. Jacob Frye drove from race mile 200 to race mile 470. M. Frye drove from race mile 470 to race mile 700. J. Frye drove from race mile 700 to the finish.) - - I have never seen anything like this. I have raced a lot, like over a hundred races. I lost power steering before race mile 200 but luckily the BFGoodrich pits helped us fix it and get going again. My son Jake got in around race mile 200 and he did his section perfect but he almost couldn’t get out of the car, he was so beat up. Then I got back in and screwed the pooch because I tried to catch a VCP and ended up getting stuck down there. After a few hours I finally MacGyvered it out. Then I handed it back to Jake and he finished the last 150 miles or so with no problems.
TROPHY TRUCK SPEC (unlimited Truck/SUV, stock, sealed engines)
ELIJAH KIGER, No. 238 (First in class. Fourth overall. Elijah Kiger started and drove to race mile 360. Jason Coleman drove from race mile 360 to race mile 580. Jason McNeil drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - It was a pretty wild day. The pace off the start was pretty aggressive for an over 800-mile race. I got a flat in my section that cost us a bit of time. Then we hit a bottleneck. Little things got us, but everyone helped us out today. We have a great team with great guys and we have great equipment that helped us get here to second. But with penalties, it could be close. Looking forward to seeing how things play out; hopefully in our favor. The Summit was gnarly. In the bottleneck, we got stuck right behind the truck that got stuck so the first place guy in our class got a big lead over us and third through sixth place got right up on us. That cost us a lot of time and really changed the dynamic of the day for sure. I want to thank everyone that helps us and our family back home. We are looking forward to next season. CO-DRIVER JASON MCNEIL said: We didn’t have first gear the last three hundred miles or so that was a challenge. And no reverse. We had to shut the car off, put it in neutral and roll back when we needed to back up. But we are here. The truck is in one piece. I can’t thank the Kiger family enough for inviting us to down here at the SCORE Baja 1000. I am really happy to be at the finish line. For us to win, there would have to be a lot of penalties ahead of us, but let’s see what happens. I want to thank SCORE for an awesome event.
JUSTIN DAVIS, No. 233 (Second in class. Sixth overall. Justin Davis started and drove to race mile 630. Jeremy Davis drove race mile 630 to the finish.) - - It was a pretty clean day. We had an alternator problem that slowed us up a little. We got stuck in the summit. We started so far back and dealing with the dust. But we had a good day. Just two other guys had better days. We will keep hunting for the win.
PIERCE HERBST, No. 264 (Third in class. Eighth overall. Pierce Herbst started and drove to race mile 390. James Dean drove from race mile 390 to race mile 680. Riley Herbst drove from race mile 680 to the finish.) - - We had a pretty smooth day. No big issues. It was a tough course. But it looks like we are physically here first in our class and we couldn’t be happier. It was a good race. Thank you to all the guys at Terrible Herbst Motorsports, all of our sponsors, Monster Energy, KC Lights, King Shocks, everyone that helps us come out here and race, SCORE for putting on this race and all the fans for supporting. We are looking forward to next years SCORE Baja 1000 also. CO-DRIVER RILEY HERBST said: We had no flats. It was fun. It was fast. Pretty clean day overall. I am excited to be down here and excited for the win.
EJ HERBST No. 263 (Fourth in class. Twelfth overall. Ryan Millen started and drove to race mile 200. EJ Herbst drove from race mile 200 to race mile 480. Ryan Millen drove from race mile 480 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER RYAN MILLEN said: The Summit was narrow. It was wild, difficult, but we pushed through. We had a nice day, no issues.
OLIVER FLEMATE, No. 244 (Fifth in class. Fourteenth overall. Oliver Flemate shared driving duties with Antonio Espinoza.) - - We were in third place in race mile 440, but we missed a line in a wash and crashed and were stuck. We lost about 30 minutes. But this is our first race in this class and we are just excited to be here at the finish. I love this TSCO truck. It is amazing. We will be racing the 2023 SCORE season. Thank you to SCORE for this awesome event. Viva Mexico!
CHARLES DORRANCE, No. 299 (Sixth in class. Charles Dorrance started and drove to race mile 200. Kit Stokes drove from race mile 200 to race mile 450. Larry Job drove from race mile 450 to race mile 680. Dorrance drove from race mile 680 to the finish.) - - There was a short bottleneck in the Summit, but that bunched us up. That stinks because you work so hard to get some distance. Then we stopped for about 15 minutes to tighten the header. That was a weird thing. It was one of those things. Congratulations to the other Spec Truck drivers. It looks like we may take home the Championship. Thank you to all our families and to SCORE for putting this on and the people of Baja.
DAVID ZIEGLER, No. 266 (Seventh in class. David Ziegler started and drove to race mile 200. Paul Ziegler, drove from race mile 200 to race mile 680. D. Ziegler drove from race mile 680 to the finish.) - - I handed my brother a perfect truck in San Felipe and he handed it back to me in Valle de la Trinidad looking like this. The front end is a little broken. We were fifth or sixth coming into the Summit and got into a bottleneck. Then we got a flat and lost some time but came into San Felipe still in the top ten. I think we finished in the top ten. I’ve been coming down here for 35 years. This is my first year in a truck and we finished all the SCORE races this year. It has been a great time.
BRENT FOX, No. 282 (Eighth in class. Brent Fox started and drove to race mile 472. Preston Brigman drove from race mile 472 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER PRESTON BRIGMAN said: Brent got caught up in a bottleneck early on and that put us back a little bit. We got in and things were going pretty good, passing truck and then about race mile 540 we put it on its lid. A couple locals flipped us back over and we had to tie the light bar back on. Other than that, it was a good race. It was rough. This is my first SCORE Baja 1000. It is crazy. It is bigger than anyone thinks. It is tough. It is not easy. I want to thank FX Construction, Brent and Tracy Fox, all of our spouses for letting us do this, BFGoodrich tires, Mach 1 race prep, FX Racing Team. Brent’s plan is to battle for the SCORE championship next year.
CARLOS IBARRA, No. 278 (Ninth in class. Carlos Ibarra Sr. started and drove to race mile 200. Carlos Ibarra drove from race mile 200 to race mile 450. Jason Babcock drove from race mile 450 to race mile 710. Ibarra drove from race mile 710 to the finish.) - - My 75-year old father wanted to race the SCORE Baja 1000 so I told him to go ahead and he started and drove the first 200 miles. He even did the summit. It was a good moment. He still has a lot of strength. A good way to honor him. We had a flawless day. Huatamote Canyon was terrible. The course was worse than what we pre-ran. But we had a good time. Everything came through for us. We were having computer and mechanical problems before this event and weren’t sure we would make this race, but we figured it out just in time to make this event. It was an awesome day. We are happy.
RYAN LEWIS, No. 287 (Tenth in class. Ryan Lewis started and drove race mile 158. Eric Sheetz drove from race mile 158 to race mile 470. Clint Larue drove race mile 470 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER CLINT LARUE said: It was rough. It was good. Brutal course. We had no power, I think we are only running on six cylinders so it was a bad day but we made it to the finish. We want to thank Rod Lewis and Lewis Energy group, BFGoodrich tires, KMC Wheels, Jimco and Lead Nav.
MICHAEL MARSAL, No. 236 (Eleventh in class. Michael Marsal started and drove to race mile 275. Travis Chase drove from race mile 275 to race mile 680. Chuck Dempsey drove from race mile 680 to the finish.) - - We had to wait for a couple of traffic jams. But we had no issues mostly. We did need more transmission fluid to get up the hill to Mike’s. This is the eighth race for me and it keeps getting better every year. We will be back next year too. I am so excited for the reverse point to point race next year.
CHELSEA MAGNESS, No. 232 (Thirteenth in class. Chelsea Magness started and drove to race mile 310. Mike McNaughton drove from race mile 310 to race mile 580. Matt Robinson drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - My section was great. The race course was pretty brutal though. My body hurts. My truck wasn’t handling like it should have. But it was fine. We ran good. We are happy. CO-DRIVER MATT ROBINSON said: We had some brakes issues so we had to stop for that. It’s not Baja until you get stuck in some silt, which we did about 40 miles from the finish. It was brutal but fun. I like this was more brutal than last years Peninsula run. But they are all rough. That is why it is a SCORE race. That is why we come to do them – because it is rough, tough, fun. I want to thank Gary Magness and my bride Chelsea Magness, whose truck this is. She lets me drive it. A big thanks to Ryan Abernathy, Connor, John and EJ. Those are the guys prepping these trucks. Both Mango Racing trucks finished and that’s huge.
CLASS 10 (Limited, sealed engine, single or two-seaters)
HIRAM DURAN, No. 1016 (First in class. Thirteenth overall. Eric Duran started and drove to race mile 200 Evan Duran drove from race mile 200 to race mile 470. Hiram Duran drove from race mile 470 to the finish.) - - We had no problems at all except we ran out of fuel and that cost us some time. We had no flats. On time we might be first, but we don’t know about the penalties.
JUSTIN BUCKLEY, No. 1064 (Second in class. Seventeenth overall. Justin Buckley started and drove to race mile 280. Mavrick Gaunt drove from race mile 280 to race mile 580. Chad Dormann drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - We had a flawless day except when I got a flat. Just another day in Baja.
J. DAVID RUVALCABA, No. 1009 (Third in class. Eighteenth overall. J. David Ruvalcaba started and drove to race mile 240. Esteban Cruz drove from race mile 240 to race mile 460. Ruvalcaba drove from race mile 460 to race mile 680. Cruz drove from race mile 680 to the finish) - - CO-DRIVER ESTEBAN CRUZ said: We won the Championship with this finish. We had fuel pump issues, we had brake issues, we had some flat tires so our mentality switched from trying to win the race to trying to win the championship. And that’s what we did. We played it safe. We are happy to win the SCORE World Championship in Class 10 and can’t wait for the awards ceremony. We are happy and want to thank BFGoodrich tires, Major Performance engines, SCORE International for putting on a great race, Dave Foults transmissions, Maxima racing oils and all our sponsors.
RAFAEL AGUIRRE, No. 1022 (Fourth in class. Nineteenth overall. Rafael Aguirre drove from the start to race mile 300. Stephen M. Daus drove from race mile 300 to race mile 600. and Adrian Sauceda drove from mile 600 to finish) - - I’m really happy. I’m really happy with our results. It was a flawless race, no problems. The tires and wheels were excellent. I want to thank Raceline Wheels for sponsoring me. I’d also like to thank my family and my team. I’d also like to thank SCORE and all of their people.
ROBERTO ROMO, No. 1062 (Fifth in class. Roberto Romo started and drove to race mile 200. Roberto Romo Jr drove from race mile 200 to race mile 480. Rodimiro Amaya drove from race mile 480 to race mile 680. Romo drove from race mile 680 to the finish.) - - The Summit was rocky and I caught a lot of Spec Trucks. We had a clean race. We only lost about 30 minutes, but no flats. Thank you to Coast Aluminum.
MARCO DURAN, No. 1021 (Sixth in class. Eric Duran started and drove to race mile 250. Evan Duran drove from race mile 250 to race mile 480. Marco Duran drove from race mile 480 to the finish.) - - We had some issues with the car in the first 250 miles and lost some positions. And then we got a flat trying to make us some time. After I got in at race mile 480 I was able to make up some positions and I think we are sixth right now. It was a brutal day, a brutal course. I am super tired. I have been up for more than 24 hours. I am glad I am here at the finish. Overall a great day. I want to thank all the sponsors and everyone that comes out to help us.
BRUCE YEE, No. 1014 (Seventh in class. Bruce Yee started and drove to race mile 310. Jose Robles drove from race mile 310 to race mile 680. Yee drove from race mile 680 to the finish.) - - We started first and had the perfect run until race mile 310. We passed 15-20 spec trucks and then during our driver change, we noticed our CV boot was leaking so we spent 20 minutes changing that out and lost track positions. The issue came back and we kept falling back but we made it to the finish. Our pace was faster than expected through the first section. I enjoyed it. I think I enjoyed this SCORE Baja 1000 the most. We are coming for the SCORE Baja 1000 plate and the class champions next year. I want to thank BFGoodrich, Method, STG, AlumaCraft, Danzio, Fortin, Baja Blue Eyes, our entire team and our parents that help support our crazy hobby.
CLASS 7 (unlimited, six-cylinder, production appearing trucks or SUVs)
JEFF PROCTOR, No. 709 (First in class. Jeff Proctor started and drove to race mile 200. Chip Prescott drove from race mile 200 to race mile 480. Richard Glaszckak drove from race mile 480 to race mile 675. Prescott drove from race mile 675 to the finish.) - - The Summit was single track, gnarly and like a train of vehicles going through there. We had to be careful because there was a lot of dust and you couldn’t see your lines. There was a truck flipped over upside down in a valley. He is going to be there a while. We had all the elements. We had rocky hill climbs and pounding whoops. We are just happy to be here. We got on our side at one point but flipped back up. Perserverance is the key. I’m stepping back from driving duties after this, so this is bittersweet, going out on top at the SCORE Baja 1000. I want to thank my navigator, Gatlin. This guy was on point all day long and got us to here. They put in all the work to make us drivers look good. Our Honda team is a red army of great team members.
SCOTT BRADY, No. 703 (Second in class. Scott Brady started and drove to race mile 150. AJ Dennunzio drover from race mile 150 to race mile 470. Brady drove from race mile 470 to the finish.) - - The course was incredible. More rock crawling than I have ever seen in a SCORE race before. They did a great job. The Summit was crazy. We had some issues getting through there. I got stuck on a big rock and had to get towed. It is always fun. It just adds to the adventure. We had power steering issues all night – a blown power steering hose. An oil hose went bad. One flat tire. Self-inflicted. Not the tires fault. My fault. We worked for this one.
DAN CHAMLEE, No. 700 (Third in class. Dan Chamlee drove solo.) - - I am tired. I have been driving since yesterday morning. But we made it to the finish line. We had a major break – driver error – I hit a big rock and broke the end of the A-arm off. We were at race mile 100, which is a really hard place to get to for the crew. It was a feat to get the Super Duty in there because it was a boulder crawl. But we welded it back up and it held up fine. Probably stronger now.
PRO UTV OPEN (two-seat unlimited UTV open-displacement) --
BRANDEN SIMS, No. 1869 (First in class. Branden Sims started and drove to race mile 475. Eric Borgen drove from race mile 475 to the finish.) - - I was the first one to get stuck in the bottleneck in the summit section and had to wait until he got unstuck. The rock crawling section was no big deal with these Polaris RZR’s. We didn’t get out of the car one time. All we did is fuel and driver change. Usually you are battling adversity at these SCORE events. There was dust and traffic but other than that it was pretty uneventful. Great event and ready for the SCORE race.
CRAIG SCANLON, No. 1831 (Second in class. Max Eddy Jr, started and drove to race mile 470. Craig Scanlon from race mile 470 to the finish.) - - It was a good race. Glad to be done. I want to thank my co-driver Keith Redstrom and Max Eddy and the whole team. We will be back for the 2023 SCORE season.
KRISTEN MATLOCK, No. 1854 (Fourth in class. Kristen Matlock drove solo.) - - It was a pretty rough course. Brutal, just like all the SCORE Baja 1000’s I have been in. This is my seventh one in a row. They get rougher and rougher and more challenging but I am up for the challenge and I’ll be back next year for sure. We had a few issues here and there but I’m sure everyone had a few. It wasn’t working as perfectly as I wanted it to. That’s racing though.
MIKE CAFRO, No. 1876 (Fifth in class. Mike Cafro started and drove to race mile 480. Jaime Kirkpatrick drove from race mile 480 to the finish.) - - The course was brutal. This was the most challenging SCORE Baja race mentally and physically that I have ever done. We missed the setup so it beat us up pretty bad. We just built this car and only tested a little bit. The overall platform was flawless, we just missed the setup and had self-induced breakage. We lost the battle but won the war – we won the Championship, so we are pretty happy about that.
PRO UTV FI (two-seat Forced Induction, OEM engine UTVs)
AUSTIN WEILAND, No. 2954. (First in class. Austin Weiland started and drove to race mile 475. Dylan Schmoke drove from race mile 475 to the finish.) - - We pushed hard all day. We had some issues but pushed hard and pretty much let the Pro Turbo class from wire to wire. I want to thank everyone that comes to help us. Can-Am, Raceline, DS Customs, STG, Fortin Racing, Maxima, TSCO, Savage, everyone that helps us out. CO-DRIVER DYLAN SCHMOKE said: It was a good race. I got all the night section into this morning. It is a good think I like driving at night. We had no issues. Me and my co-driver did not have to get out of the car once, so that is always a good day.
PHIL BLURTON, No. 2944 (Second in class. Phil Blurton started and drove to race mile 392. Beau Judge from race mile 392 to race mile 680. Blurton drove from race mile 680 to the finish.) - - It was a good race with really no issues. We got stuck in one bottle neck that separated us from the leader as he got through there before we got there. Other than that, everything was smooth. Cold. We have only done one other SCORE Baja 1000 and it was a peninsula run so this was a totally different game. This loop race was a little bit more tight and technical, with more of a save-the-car strategy. We didn’t have to touch the car all day long. I want to thank Monster Energy, Can-Am, BFGoodrich tires, Vision race wheels, Chris for riding with me, Beau for driving the other section and Jeff riding with him, my whole pit crew down here helping us.
RONNIE ANDERSON, No. 2937 (Third in class. RJ Anderson started and drove to race mile 280. Ronnie Anderson drove from race mile 280 to race mile 680. Randy Anderson from race mile 680 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER RANDY ANDERSON said: It was a long race. I drove the last two hundred miles. This might be my twenty-fifth or thirtieth SCORE Baja 1000 but this one is super cool because I’m racing with my kids. I have had a blessed career.
MATT BURROUGHS, No. 2948 (Fourth in class. Matt Burroughs started and drove to race mile 160. Bradley Howe drove from race mile 160 race mile 600. Burroughs drove from race mile 600 to the finish.) - - Brad drove all night and did a great job. I jumped back in at the end. In the beginning, the Summit was rough. A bottleneck. We only had one flat tire. Amazing. Especially with all the rocks. Thank you to SCORE for this amazing race. Thank you to my crew and my family.
JASON MURRAY, No. 2917 (Fifth in class. Derek Murray started and drove to race mile 360. Mitchell Alsup drove from race mile 360 to race mile 580. Jason Murray drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - We had some minor issues and got stuck in a bottleneck. We lost brakes but we kept our position. We fixed some of the brake issues in our pits and got three of them back. These side by sides are amazing what they can do. Can-Am builds an awesome platform and we thoroughly enjoy coming to Mexico and kicking up some dirt. I want to thank our sponsors, Can-Am, Lone Star, Torco. A lot of people help us. We have been a factory Can-Am team for 13 years now and we are excited to see what next year has to offer.
PJ JONES, No. 2998 (Sixth in class. PJ Jones started and drove to race mile 280. Kyle Vestermark from race mile to 280 race mile 680. Jones drove from race mile 680 to the finish.) - - We had a great run most of the night, running in the top three until the middle of the night. And then we had things that happened that caused us to lose some time. I don’t know where we ended up. Good run. The brand new car we just built at PJ Performance ran great. We bent some radius rods and had a few flats. Had about a 20 minute delay at the Summit. Method wheels, Tensor tires, Gates belts, Maximum oil, Tap clutches really helped out.
BRANDON SCHUELER, No. 2919 (Seventh in class. Brandon Schueler started and drove race mile 440. Pat Stone drove from race mile 440 to the finish) - - CO-DRIVER PAT STONE said: The course was brutal. It was rough. Probably one of the roughest courses we have had here. We had a couple flat tires. We lost a shock and not in the best place to lose a shock. So we had to go about 40 miles without a shock to the next pit and lost a lot of time there. Other than that, everything else was flawless.
PRO UTV (two-seat Normally Aspirated, OEM engine UTVs)
KADEN WELLS, No. 1995 (First in class. Kaden Wells started and drove to race mile 395. JD Marsh drove from race mile 395 to race mile 680. Wells drove from race mile 680 to the finish.) - - Right after Ojos Negros, my car wasn’t running very well so we ended up retuning it and ended up dead last. But then we took back physical lead. Over the summit we lost a tire and lost a spot or two there. Then got that back. Lost another tire but didn’t lose a position that time. JD had a solid section. When we got back in we had a flawless last section. This is our first SCORE Baja 1000 win. And if we get the Championship it will be fourth.
ZACH SIZELOVE, No. 1925 (Second in class. Ethan Ebert started and drove to race mile 394. Wayne Lambert drove from race mile 394 to race mile 695. Zach Sizelove drove from race mile 695 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER WAYNE LAMBERT said: I drove all through the night and saw about an hour of sunlight. It was a great run. We worked our way around a bunch of bottlenecks. There were some big trucks stuck on some of the silt hills. Four-wheel drive gets you where you need to go. The car rocked the whole way. We could probably do another 1,000 miles.
ELIAS HANNA, No. 1920 (Third in class. Elias Hanna started the race and drove to race mile 160. Bobby Smith drove from race mile 160 to race mile 473. Hanna drove from race mile 473 to race mile 740. Bobby smith drove from race mile 740 to the finish.) - - It was a long day. We had an early issue that cost us time. Other than that, this is a great platform. It worked so good. Bobby did an amazing job. I want to thank all the Honda racers and Proctor for giving me the opportunity. It has been an amazing couple of years. We put all the Honda’s on the podium. It’s a really demanding course. The SCORE Baja 1000 always has tricks up its sleeve, but we were able to finish. Not in the position we hoped for, but we got on the podium and we completed the team objective, which was finishing. It was a long race. It was a day full of complications. but we overcame and the Honda Talon did its job and came through for us.
SCORE LITES (VW-powered, Limited single - 1776cc-or two-seaters-1835cc)
MIGUEL CORTEZ, No. 1205 (First in class. Miguel Cortez started the race and drove to race mile 260. Jessy Lopez drove from race mile 260 to race mile 280. Abel Cesma drove from race mile 280 to race mile 440. Miguel Cortez drove from race mile 440 to the finish.) - - We’re really happy to be here and be done. It seems like we're first. We hope that's how it is. It was a really difficult and long race. It was a really complicated course in all aspects from the beginning. We won't even talk about San Felipe and the end was really complicated. We had a few problems with our front suspension and got a flat three times. We were really lucky that we were able to resolve all of the problems that came up. We are ready for the SCORE San Felipe 250 next year.
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 370. Angel Barajas drove from race mile 370 to race mile 480. Misael Arambula drove from race mile 480 to race mile 680. Angel Barajas drove from race mile 680 to the finish.) - - I'd like to thank my whole family and Victor Romo for my motor. I’d like to thank SCORE for putting on a great event. We have won three SCORE Baja 1000’s and this year we’ve won the SCORE Baja 400, SCORE Baja 500, and the SCORE Baja 1000. It’s been going really well for us this year and we’d like to continue winning more races. This has been one of our most difficult races we’ve had but we won first place again. Thank you to everyone who supports us and thank you to our sponsors and Yokohama.
MARTIN RANGEL, No. 1626 (Second in class. Martin Rangel, Daniel Pacheco, and Cesar Fiscal shared driving duties.) - - CO-DRIVER CESAR FISCAL said: The course was really, really rough for the car. Usually when the SCORE Baja 1000 starts and ends in Ensenada it’s a rough course for cars, drivers, and everyone. The section I drove, I think, is the most complicated part of the course. I went through the San Felipe desert and crossed over to the Pacific, through Mike’s and Meling. The car did really well there weren’t any big mechanical issues or any flats. I got stuck in Meling for about an hour and forty minutes. There were cars from other classes that were stuck and we just had to wait. That was our biggest complication.
MATT WILLERT, No. 1606 (Third in class. Matt Willert started and drove to race mile 210. Daniel Goodrich drove from race mile 210 to race mile 450. Michael Goodrich drove from race mile 450 to race mile 723. Willert drove from race mile 723 to the finish.) - - Definitely a difficult course. We had a few issues. We had a distributor go out around race mile 16 and had to get towed backwards to a better spot to work on it and got put on our roof getting towed. So that put us behind. It was a smooth race after that.
PRO STOCK UTV (Stock UTV’s FI or NA) –
ANTONIO MENDEZ, No. 3959 (First in class. Antonio Mendez and Alonso Gonzalez shared driving duties.) - - The course was really, really hard; very intense. It was a lot, but we made it and finished first.
HAMMER TRUCK UNLIMITED
COLE JOHNSON, No. 4482 (First in class. Cole Johnson drove solo.) - - We were pretty surprised at the course. Our pre-running notes had labels for mini KOH’s [King of the Hammers] for the rocks. There was a big boulder at race mile 110 blocking the entire race course. We made it through but I don’t know how anyone else did. Every time we came up on something gnarly we were like a Volkswagen bug made it through and we would stare at each other in awe. I have no idea how. This year there was a lot of silt. There is probably a thousand pounds of dirt stuck under this car. It is in my eyes. It is everywhere. We are thinking about running the full series next year. We have another vehicle we are thinking about using for that. I was to thank RCD and Maxima transmissions. Last year we went 70 miles and then lost a transmission and was stuck in middle of the race course. I called them up not too long ago and told them I had a broken transmission and within five days I had it back and I just went 1,000 miles with no problems. I want to also thank BFGoodrich tires and Baja Designs. Thank you to my friends and family. We really appreciate it. I hope it is the first of many. My brother and I had a heart to heart moment in the car about eighty miles from the finish line about how much we cherish this moment of us being here getting it done.
CLASS 5 (Unlimited Baja Bugs, VW concept engines allowed)--
RAMON FERNANDEZ, No. 507 (First in class. Ramon Fernandez started the race and drove to race mile 250. Mike Sullivan drove from race mile 250 to race mile 480. Greg Sullivan drove from race mile 480 to race mile 680. Ramon Fernandez drove from race mile 680 to the finish.) - - The course was a bit difficult. It was only 830 miles but it was complicated. The area in San Felipe was really washed out and Mikey Sullivan was the one that had to drive through there. He doesn’t have a lot of experience with this, but he’s doing really well behind the wheel. We had a few complications before the race and we needed to change our alternator, but during the race we had no problems. No flats or any mechanical issues.
CLASS 5/1600 (1600cc, water-cooled VW Baja Bugs)—
CESAR OMAR INIGUEZ, No. 553 (First in class. Ruben OG started and drove to race mile 170. Emilio Salcido drove from race mile 170 to race mile 380. OG drove from race mile 380 to race mile 470. Cesar Omar Iniguez drove from race mile 470 to the finish.) - - CO-DRIVER RUBEN OG said: We had a lot of problems. Today was one of the days we thought would go easy but we almost didn’t make it to the finish in the allotted time. With this race we are Champions. The summit wasn’t a problem for our small car. It fits in those tight spots. We just needed a little help in the washes and around Mike’s. We got stuck there four times but we had help getting unstuck. We are ready to rock and roll next year.
BAJA CHALLENGE (Spec, Subaru-powered Baja Touring Cars equipped with BFGoodrich Tires)--
FRANK DEANGELO, No. BC1 (First in class. Frank DeAngelo started and drove to race mile 260. John Williams drove from race mile 260 to race mile 580. Lance Clifford drove from race mile 580 to the finish.) - - I did the start. I feel good now. I got a shower and a nap and cruised back up to Ensenada. But I got to tell you, this course was nothing like it was when we pre-ran. It was way, way, way rougher. It was nasty. These guys come from all types of racing. I am honored to be with these guys. CO-DRIVER LANCE CLIFFORD said: We started out with a conservative pace and then we had a flat tire and that kind of threw us off our game plan. But we decided to keep the conservative pace. We were behind at least 30 miles. The plan then became to get the car to the last two drivers, Jason and myself, and then we can figure out where we were. At pit four we were still way behind and we decided we were either going to win, crash or break. So that’s what we did. We went flying by them and never looked back.
CLASS 7SX (2 or 4-wheel drive mini or mid-sized trucks)--
ARMONDO DURON, No. 740 (First in class. Armondo Duron shared driving duties with Israel Duron, Sergio Duron and Antony Duron.) - - These SCORE races seem to be, for lack of a better word, really brutal. It's incredible every time it's more difficult. That's just part of it. That's why you race Baja. It was difficult, but we dominated it. We had no big issues or any flats. I’ve been running my same tires for about two years now. I’ve been racing for almost 40 years and I’ve always ran BFGoodrich tires.
STOCK MID-SIZE (Stock, mid-sized 2 or 4 Wheel Drive Trucks)—
BRAD LOVELL, No. 773 (First in class. Brad Lovell started and drove to race mile 200. to race mile. Jason Hutter drove from race mile 200 to race mile 475. Loren Healey drove from race mile 475 to race mile 680. Andrew Brown drove from race mile 680 to the finish.) - - I can’t tell you how rough the course was. I have spent a lot of time racing King of the Hammers and this course was reminiscent of that. We have silt. We have blown out tires. The rock over the summit was unbelievable. Really technical and difficult. Slow. It took a lot of patience in a lot of areas. We ran it smooth and smart in our Ford Ranger. My competitor Loren Healey is driving with us today. And Andrew Brown came over from Australia to help us out. The truck was amazing the whole time. The biggest issue we had was a broken light mount. We pulled into the BFGoodrich pits and welded it up. We are on the same set of BFGoodrich tires we started with. Everything was perfect. It was a flawless execution.
STOCK FULL (Stock, Full-Sized 2WD or 4WD Truck, SUV)—
MARK TASSELL, No. 8155 (First in class. Mark C. Van Tassell started and shared driving duties with Darren Webster, Kurt Williams, Ryan Nakaya, David Connors and Will Carroll.) - - It was a rough course. I couldn’t believe how many times I hit the front of the car, the back of the car, and I can hear the antenna hitting the top of car. We didn’t lose any tires. No major mechanical issues. Some minor brake linkage issues, but we got that resolved. We are glad to be here. We hope to be back. This is our third win and eighth finish. We will be back for more.
CLASS 3000/TROPHY LITE—
JOSHUA COBB, No. 6066 (First in class. Lance Fenton started and drove to race mile 200. Kevin Madsen drove from race mile 200 to race mile 480. Joshua Cobb drove from race mile 480 to the finish.) - - Lance and Kevin are a couple road race guys that have turned off-road. They started us off and handed me the truck and I took it to the finish. The course was unbelievable hard. We got lost at the summit. Took a wrong line. The washes were smooth but you could tell 500 vehicles had been on them. There were several opportunities to get flat tires. We only ended up with one. Thank you to SCORE for putting this on. Thank you to the people of Baja. You guys rock. We love doing this down here. We are excited for the next SCORE Baja 1000.
Pro Motorcycles
PRO MOTO UNLIMITED (400cc or more)
MARK SAMUELS, No. 7x (First in class. Tenth overall. Justin Morgan started and rode to race mile 280. Mark Samuels rode from race mile 280 to race mile 475. Kendall Norman rode from race mile 475 to race mile 726. Morgan rode from race mile 726 to the finish.) - - It was a tough course, slower than normal, slower than we anticipated. I am tired, I am sore. Looking forward to getting back and taking a nap. But it feels good to cross that finish line. It is a special feeling for sure. We had our hands full at the beginning. The course was really gnarly from the hurricane that came through. It changed the course a lot, turned a lot of rocks up. The 10x team was on a mission and 3x was riding really good. We had to make our way through the pack from seventh. It was a really good race. By race mile 340 we were in the lead. From there we just had to bring it home. We had a great effort all the way. CO-RIDER KENDALL NORMAN said: Baja was tough. I am tired. It was very rough, technical as well. All the San Felipe and Mike’s loop that has been ridden a lot and the newer summit, I haven’t been down it, but from what I heard it was really gnarly. It was the battle of Baja out there. CO-RIDER JUSTIN MORGAN said: I am happy to be here. The course was awesome. It had a little bit of everything.
FORREST MINCHINTON, No. 3x (Second in class. Twentieth overall. Forrest Minchinton started and rode to race mile one. Ciaran Naran rode from race mile one to race mile 240. Nick Lapaglia rode from race mile 240 to race mile 395. Minchinton rode from race mile 395 to race mile 450. Tucker Hopkins rode from race mile 450 to race mile 680. Minchinton rode from race mile 680 to the finish.) - - It was a challenging race course. With all the rain over the last few months, it made the course interesting. For me it made some sections good and other sections rough, but we went out and accepted the challenge. The bike was amazing; the best it has been all year. The only issue we had is we blew out all of the packing in the muffler and had to switch it out at race mile 680. Other than that we just kept switching out tires, filling it with gas and that was it. That was the coldest last 100 miles ever. But the fans kept me going. This is the best finish we have had in a SCORE race. CO-RIDER TUCKER HOPKINS said: The course was rough. We pre-ran about 30 hours, about 1,000 miles, all week long but it completely changed from the last time I pre-ran on Tuesday to today. The course was chewed up, the silt beds were gnarlier, but it was super fun out there.
JUAN CARLOS SALVATIERRA, No. 10x (Third in class. Juan Carlos Salvatierra shared riding duties with Arturo Salas, Jr. and Shane Logan.) - - Our teammate, Shane Logan, was running pretty good, opening up a good lead but he hit a rock and had a get-off and injured his ankle and could not continue. When the bike hit the ground some cables were torn and it wouldn’t start back up. I found the torn wire, and we fixed it, but we lost three hours. We wanted to win, but after that we were in survival mode and wanted to just finish to get the championship. This would not be possible without my sponsors from Bolivia, Herbalife, Shell lubricants, KTM Bolivia and KTM USA and other partners.
JASON ALOSI, No. 4x (Fourth in class. Jason Alosi started and rode to race mile one. Brody Honea rode from race mile one to race mile 160. Irving Powers rode from race mile 160 to race mile 240. Wyatt Brittner rode from race mile 240 to race mile 362. Powers rode from race mile 362 to race mile 450. Brittner rode from race mile 450 to race mile 475. Alosi rode from race mile 475 to race mile 640. Ray Dal Soglio rode from race mile 640 to the finish.) - - I am a little tired but all things considered. The course was rough but that is to be expected from a loop SCORE Baja 1000. We had a wheel issue but other than that we had one of the best handling bikes I’ve ever had down here. CO-RIDER RAY DAL SOGLIO said: It was pretty cold coming in, this last little bit. We had a tire issue around race mile 150, we blew out a rear wheel and couldn’t even move the bike and lost about an hour there. But no big crashes, we just cruised down the old road. One of my favorite bikes I have ever ridden.
PRO MOTO LIMITED (less than 400cc)
FERNANDO BELTRAN, No. 180x (First in class. Fernando Beltran started and rode to the official start. Luis Flores rode from the official start to race mile 20. Mauri Herrera rode from race mile 20 to race mile 200. Luis Flores rode from race mile 200 to race mile 275. Larry Serna rode from race mile 275 to race mile 370. Luis Flores rode from race mile 370 to race mile 432. Larry Serna rode from race mile 432 to race mile 480. Mauri Herrera rode from race mile 480 to race mile 680. Larry Serna rode from race mile 680 to the official finish. Fernando Beltran rode from the official finish to the ceremonial finish.) - - CO-RIDER LUIS FLORES said: It's a course that has a little bit of everything, a really technical course. Specifically San Felipe, historically it’s land has always been pretty complicated but it seemed a little more difficult this time because of all the rain we’ve had. Up in the Sierra a very important factor is the cold. The cold weather really gets to you. San Felipe, Matomi, A. Huatamote all of these streams and washes require experience because they are all very complicated.
GIOVANNI AVILES, No. 103x (Second in class. Giovanni Aviles, Rodolfo Patron, Angel Aguirre and Christian Arellano all shared driving duties. William Young rode race mile 440 to the finish.) - - CO-RIDER WILLIAM YOUNG said: It was a blast for sure. We had our hiccups, mainly me, breaking brake levers and foot pegs. Other than that, all the others did their homework and brought it to me in good shape. I got to thank these guys for inviting me to come down from Idaho to race with these guys here in Mexico. I have a good chase crew, no hiccups with them. CO-RIDER RODOLFO PATRON said: It was a very demanding course. Very tiring, Very tiring. It takes a lot out of you. The course really changed a lot from one week to another.
PRO MOTO 40 (Riders over 40 years old)
RYAN LIEBELT, No. 400x (First in class. Ryan Liebelt started and rode to race mile 70. Jason Trubey rode from race mile 70 to race mile 160. Steve Tichenor rode from race mile 160 to race mile 250. Trubey rode from race mile 250 to race mile 350. Tichenor rode from race mile 350 to race mile 440. Liebelt rode from race mile 440 to race mile 480. Trubey rode from race mile 480 to race mile 520. Justin Shultz rode from race mile 520 to race mile 690. Liebelt drove from race mile 690 to the finish.) - - We are stoked to get the win and the Championship. If we didn’t get the win we were hoping for the championship so to get both is pretty cool. The other competitors had some issues so we ended up with a substantial lead so we just had to cruise it to the finish. We started 25th so to end up physically fourth or fifth. That is a lot of bikes to pass. The course was technical. We had a flawless day, no crashes. Changed the rear tire only. CO-RIDER JUSTIN SCHULTZ said: This is pretty cool finishing my first SCORE Baja 1000. Today was a plan we had in place and we executed it to perfection. I think we are the fifth physical bike to finish today. We did a lot of homework. We knew we just needed to keep the bike off the ground. This bike was amazing all day. I got on at race mile 520 and the bike felt like it was brand new. This is pretty cool. I think I pre-ran harder than I had to race. We love Baja. We have been doing this a long time.
ALIRIO AMADO, No. 441x (Second in class. Ryan Kaza started and rode to race mile 30. Guillermo rode from race mile 30 to race mile 70. Kaza rode from race mile 70 to race mile 160. Dario Bergoglio rode from race mile 160 to race mile 220. Gaston Vazquez and Adrian Indusco took turns from race mile 220 to race mile 420. Alirio Amado rode from race mile 420 to race mile 500. Kaza rode from race mile 500 to race mile 580. Guillermo rode from race mile 580 to race mile 680. Bergoglio rode from race mile 680 to race mile 800. Kaza rode from race mile 800 to the finish.) - - We had Curtis Lisenby controlling logistics through technology. We had no flats. A few get-offs but no injuries. The bike performed excellent. We are lucky to finish. Thank you to the team and the support team. Above all thank you to God for keeping us safe. And thank you to all our sponsors. CO-RIDER GASTON VAZQUEZ said: The Huatamote wash was hard. It looked smooth but it was dangerous. There were a lot of rocks. I’ve never seen so many rocks there before.
PRO MOTO 30 (Riders over 30 years old)
DARREL COLLINS, No. 301x (First in class. Darrel Collins started and rode to race mile 158. Ryan Mecham rode from race mile 158 to race mile 308. Frank Goodson rode from race mile 308 to race mile 475. Kyle Negus rode from race mile 475 to race mile 680. Corin Fator rode from race mile 680 to the finish.) - - It was awesome. It was very challenging. Hardest race I have ever done. We loved it. Lots of blisters, lots of crashing, lots of broken parts, but we finished first. When the sun comes up and there is dust, you cannot see anything. The rocks were tough but the sun made it harder. It was fun. The bike performed. We lost a front brake and had to change the caliper. We changed an air filter and tires and we were good. It was awesome.
JANO MONTOYA, No. 325x (Second in class. Jano Montoya started and rode to race mile one. Bryce Stavron rode to race mile one to race mile 70. Kyle Tichenor rode from race mile 70 to race mile 160. Francisco Septien rode from race mile 160 to race mile 250. Stavron rode from race mile 250 to race mile 360. Septien rode from race mile 360 to race mile 390. Montoya rode from race mile 390 to race mile 410. Tichenor rode race mile 410 to race mile 680. Stavron rode from race mile 680 to race mile 720. Montoya rode race mile 720 to the finish.) - - We fought the bike all day with fuel pump issues. At the end I had to get on the bike in a section I did not pre-run. I went down but it wasn’t that bad. We had to change the fuel pump once in San Felipe and again in the last 100 miles. I was freezing my butt but so happy to be here. All in all, it is Baja and we are here and safe. I want to thank all my sponsors and all the people to get us here and our pit crew that worked hard all day to get us here.
PRO MOTO IRONMAN (Solo Riders)
TANNER JANESKY, No. 775x (First in class.) - - The race was extremely difficult. You can’t even describe the terrain. It was so dangerous but we made it through. The bike worked great. One little issue when I went over the bars pretty hard and the bike landed on me and broke my subframe and hurt my back.
AARON RICHARDSON, No. 739x (Second in class.) - - Not sure where I placed. About half way through I was wondering what I was doing out here. The last ten miles, the wind and the dust when the trucks pass you. I want to thank my buddies for giving me a hand and Guy Laycraft.
BRANDON WRIGHT, No. 750x (Third in class.) - - I am feeling alright. A little disappointed in the finish. A bolt that holds my handlebars on decided to shear off. From then on I got frustrated and crashed a few times. But I finished. I was feeling good for most of the day before that. My broken ribs were not an issue today. I am glad I finished. There was a whole bunch of people that helped me today.
FABRICIO FUENTES, No. 785x (Fourth in class.) - - I’ve been racing for twenty years. This race was hard, very physical and mental. I had some electrical problems and a couple get-offs, but overall it was a great race. Thanks to God.
MARCO MOLINAR, No. 788x (Fifth in class.) - - The course was very demanding and had a lot of bumps. It was short in miles but very, very technical in all aspects. There were a few places where you could rest, but not many. The summit was a little tough since the hurricane, but we were able to get through with no problems. Our purpose was to win and fight for first place, but we couldn't. Yesterday, after the start, I'm not really sure what race mile it was, but at around 5am, we had problems with the motorcycle and it took up a lot of our time. I ended up in last place behind all motorcycles and quads. That was a really important factor, having to go through everyone's dust cost me some time as well. But what’s important is that we made it and we’re here at the finish. We’re happy to be done with the 820 miles.
SEAN KUBECKA, No.722x (Seventh in class.) - - It was brutal. It was way more rocks than it probably should be. Everywhere. And coming up after the SCORE Trophy Trucks there were rocks where there were none in pre-running. My friend told me it doesn’t rain in Baja. But it rained in Baja. I broke my shifter at race mile 90. One of the SCORE guys actually had some parts out there and he helped me patch it back together. I kind of suicide shifted to race mile 160 and then got a new shifter on and finished the race.
PRO MOTO 50 (Riders over 50 years old)
VANCE KENNEDY, No. 522x (First in class. Steve Hatch started and rode to race mile 70. Dave Mayer rode from race mile 70 to race mile 160. Vance Kennedy rode from race mile 160 to race mile 250. Dowell Trubey rode from race mile 250 to race mile 360. Kennedy rode from race mile 360 to race mile 440. Dennis Belingheri rode from race mile 440 to race mile 475. Lou Franco rode from race mile 475 to race mile 600. Hatch rode from race mile 600 to race mile 725. Mayer rode from race mile 725 to race mile 800. Belingheri rode from race mile 800 to the finish.) - - The course was rough, but we had a good time. We didn’t have any bike problems or rider problems. We had a few get-offs but Baja treated us very nicely this time. We got lucky. We wanted to beat the 500x team on the course, but they had a mishap out there. I stayed with Giovanni for at least an hour. That was disappointing for him with a championship on the line.
PRO MOTO 60 (Riders over 60 years old)
GUY LAYCRAFT, No. 649x (First in class. Guy Laycraft shared riding duties with Craig Adams, Jeff Kaplan, Kevin Ward, Doug Smith, Steve Buckley and Jon Ortner.) - - I have a home in San Felipe and I pre-rode about eight times. The first time I went through Huatamote wash there were two tracks and one of those tracks was from the course marker. But it got hammered in pretty good and wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. We had one mechanical failure that cost us about two hours in repairs, but we had awesome amazing help. Baja is tough, it never fails. I came in 2008 and fell in love with the place and then the people. I am living the dream.
Pro Quads
PRO QUAD (Open engine displacement)
LUIS ERNESTO VILLAFANA, No. 7a (Second in class. Luis Ernesto Villafana shared riding duties with Luigi, Felipe Velez, Nicolas Velez and Jose Luis Meza Velez.) - -
I feel really happy to have won the Baja 1000. It’s my first complete year with SCORE Baja and thanks to God I was able to win the SCORE Baja 1000 this year. The course was really difficult and really technical. There were really difficult sections but we are the best drivers in the Baja so we were able to overcome all of that. The motorcycle was prepared by the best - Felipe Velez from San Felipe; not even a drop of oil. Everything arrived great. In reality, a perfect motorcycle.