SCORE Journal

SCORE-Journal-Jan-2021

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

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2020 SCORE Pro UTV N/A Class Champion Kristen Matlock Pushed Hard For A Pro UTV N/A Class Championship By Mike Vieria Photos by Get Some Photo Kristen Matlock finished out the 2020 SCORE World Desert Championship season by winning the points championship in the Pro UTV N/A Class with her Polaris RZR. While Matlock has made headlines winning races and Pro UTV Overall while riding solo, this is her first class Pro UTV N/A class championship after taking second place last year, and third place the year before. Matlock prefers to do all the driving in her races, and that led to a first-place class and Overall UTV finish at this year’s SCORE Baja 500, but repeated suspension troubles in the SCORE Baja 1000 held her to a fourth-place class finish. “I went through three A-arms in that race,” she said. “I made it to the pits each time, but I could tell the car just wasn’t handling right. They were folding in backward, not from hitting anything, but I think it’s just a matter of the cars pushing harder into the turns on this course. These were the same parts we used in the SCORE Baja 500, and we didn’t have a single issue there. The course was fun but brutal.” In addition to the A-arm problems, a broken hub caused a major delay as she waited about two hours for a replacement hub to be delivered to the Mike’s Sky Ranch area. “I could have still had the A-arm issues and done well in the overall, but the downtime for the hub pushed us back.” Matlock opts for starting at the back of her class in her races. “I like to be the hunter rather than the hunted,” she said. “In a long race, I’m pretty patient off the start and just pick my way through the pack. Then, if all’s going well, you get to the front and just go for it.” Her factory-backed Polaris RZR dates back to 2017, and she tells us it’s torn down and rebuilt between races so it’s like a brand new car every time. “If there are upgrades available, we stay on top of that,” she says. “It’s changed quite a bit over the years. It’s the same chassis, but with new components added to it.” She plans to campaign with the same vehicle in 2021 but hints that 2022 might bring a new car and even a new class for her. Max Eddy Jr. Joined Matlock this season as her navigator, and the partnership has worked well. “He comes from motorcycle racing, and his dad has always raced, so he’s been at this his whole life,” says Matlock. “Our communication flows very nicely. He tells me exactly what I need to know and nothing more. He gives me just the right amount of information.” The winning combination will be back together as Eddy Jr. has already committed to run the full SCORE season with Matlock in 2021. “I’m super excited, and Polaris is too, about our whole team being able to bring home the championship,” she says. “Every time I got up on the stage, after the SCORE Baja 500 and the ‘1000’, I was thanking SCORE up and down for putting on the events during the pandemic. I know it’s difficult, but they made it happen, and it went well, especially considering everything they went through to get to that point.” SJ

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