SCORE Journal

score-journal-JAN-2020

SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing

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2019 SCORE WORLD DESERT CHAMPIONSHIP REVIEW Top Highlights of each SCORE race during the 2019 season 33rd SCORE San Felipe 250 The 2019 Season Starts With Additional Hard Miles Ahead By Dan Sanchez Photos by Get Some Photo The opening race for the 2019 SCORE World Desert Challenge began with some new changes for the race. The first was the course which now had nearly 100 additional miles added to it, making it a record-setting 349.9 miles. Another was the rule continued from last year, where the finishing positions in this race would dictate where racers would start at the SCORE Baja 500. For racers who wanted to compete and win the SCORE Baja 500, they would need to compete in San Felipe to gain a good starting position. While crowds cheered racers during a two-day contingency along the streets of San Felipe, there was also some sadness as racers and SCORE fans honored the life of “Pistol” Pete Sorhren who passed away a month before the race. Racers put commemorative decals supplied by SCORE with Sohren’s number 2 on their vehicles, and Cameron Steel and the Desert Assassins team wrapped their truck in bright yellow, and carried the remains of Sohren in their truck during the race, to honor the legendary racer and his contributions to off-road motorsports. As the race started, the motorcycle and quad classes left early in the morning of the race, and the reigning Pro Moto Unlimited class champion Justin Morgan with Mark Samuels and Justin Jones was expected to take a nearly lead and showed up to the race with a new Honda CRF450X. They performed with a championship riding style that made winning the class look easy. The large Monkey Business team of Mark Winkelman and headed by Santiago Creel, brought a big presence to the Pro Moto Classes this year. With several teams extending into the Pro Moto Unlimited and Limited classes, the Unlimited 66x team finished third while the 100x team in the Limited class finished second behind the 120x team of Marco Pena in the Pro Moto Limited class. The Pro Quad division had two-time season class champion Said Sanchez wanting to add a third to his racing career. He was challenged at the SCORE San Felipe 250 by Aldolfo Arellano who ran the race solo. After battling on the course, Sanchez finished first, but Arellano would continue to challenge Sanchez throughout the rest of the season. As the SCORE Trophy Truck and four-wheel classes left the starting line at the SCORE San Felipe 250, all eyes were on last year’s race winner Rob MacCachren who started first. During the race, MacCachren had transmission problems that forced him to give up the lead. As the race progressed, veterans from the rear of the pack moved forward, but with varying time differences, it was hard to tell who would win the race overall. Between Ryan Arciero who crossed the finish line first physically, to Dan and Luke McMillin, Bryce Menzies and Andy McMillin all pushing hard for the fastest time, no-one knew who won the race until SCORE officials announced that Andy McMillin had the fastest time and was the Overall Race Winner. Ryan Arciero finished second with Dan McMillin in third. In other classes, Brad Wilson, the Class 1 reigning champion took first, while in the SCORE Trophy Truck Legends class, Scott Bailey and Jerry Whechel drove for Gus Vildosola Sr. to win the class. AJ Jones and Sara Price battled in the SCORE Trophy Truck Spec class with Jones winning in a solo driving effort. The Matomi Wash area was a big struggle for many of the four-wheel class racers. Located in a narrow and technical canyon, vehicles piled up in a traffic jam trying to get around those that got stuck. This information was radioed ahead to racers at the starting line to get to the wash as fast as possible, to get through it before their competition. In Class 10 Cesar Cuevas reached the Matomi Wash area first and charged hard on the rest of the course to win the class. In the Pro UTV classes, Wayne Matlock started at the back of the pack and pushed his way to the front to win the Pro UTV FI class. Mike Cafro finished second while Marc Burnett finished in third. Fans of Pro UTV N/A champion Kristen Matlock wanted to see her win again and she had been gunning for an overall class win to beat both the FI and N/A racers. She ultimately finished first without power steering that went out mid-race.

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