SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1195215
THE STEADY PACE WINS Justin Lambert Wins Pro UTV Overall By Dan Sanchez Photos by Get Some Photo If there’s a lesson for racers at this year’s 52nd BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 1000 Presented by 4 Wheel Parts, is that patience and a steady pace can win a grueling race. That was the plan for Justin Lambert in the Pro UTV FI class, where he knew the rained-out and muddy course would be tough, but managed to stay in a good spot on the course to win the race. “A week before we headed down to Baja, my son asked me about the race and of course I told him we would win,” said Justin Lambert. “I didn’t realize at the time how that was going to happen but I had a good feeling about it. This was our third race in this Polaris and we finally got all the problems sorted out.” Lambert started 13th and he knew he had a tough job ahead of him, but still pushed through all the rough sections of the course. “This course was super technical and very rough. The rain exposed a lot of sharp rocks and we knew going into it the race was going to be like a chess game,” said Lambert. “We planned to go at a good pace, but to save the vehicle to make it to the finish.” Co-driving the number 2918 Cognito Motorsports, Polaris XP4 Turbo was Jesus Navarro, Victor Herrera, and Adrian Orellana, who drove the vehicle at a steady pace. “I got into the car around race mile 340 and by San Matias, we were about 15-minutes behind Wayne Matlock and Marc Burnett,” said Lambert. “I saved it in the rough sections and went fast in the areas I could. It’s hard to restrain yourself to roll through the whoops but by race mile 580 we were third. That’s when the race started for us.” As the other racers began having issues, Lambert simply kept moving up the class until he was in the lead and had put enough time to make it to the finish first. “Once we found out we were in second place, we just poured it on,” said Lambert. “We passed Matlock who had pulled over with some mechanical issues and we kept going. We had not won a SCORE race this year, so this was a great end to the season. Our win was because of the combination of a good car, and a good plan. I’ve only been racing for five to six years so there’s a lot we learned from this race and we can only continue to get better. We’ve worked hard for this so I’m proud of it, and it goes to show that with a good plan and a little luck you can win the SCORE Baja 1000.” SJ Lambert won the Pro UTV FI class and UTV Overall