SCORE Journal

SCORE-Journal-May-2021

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

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JAGGED-X MARKS THE SPOT UTV veteran Brandon Schueler and rookie desert racer Cayden MacCachren capture the class win for team Polaris By Larry Saavedra Photography By Get Some Photo Brandon Schueler and his factory Polaris team, Jagged X, kicked off the SCORE racing season with a class win at the single-loop BFGoodrich Tires 34th SCORE San Felipe 250 Presented by Ford. Schueler is a UTV contender, recruited by Polaris in 2007. He’s logged some 50,000 race miles and has numerous class wins, and championships to his name. Schueler now has the points lead in SCORE Pro UTV FI class going into the BFGoodrich Tires 53rd SCORE Baja 500, presented by 4 WheelParts. Schueler’s driver strategy at San Felipe put Cayden MacCachren, the son of SCORE Trophy Truck champion Rob MacCachren, in the co-driver’s seat. “For the first time at San Felipe, we had another driver,” Schueler said. “Cayden ran the first half of the race until mile marker 150, and then I took the wheel to the finish.” Cayden’s contribution to the win was a great idea, according to Schueler. A crowded field, as well as super soft sand conditions, put Cayden’s desert racing driving skills to the test. “We made sure to give him enough seat time to get used to the car before the start,” Schueler said. Even though Cayden started the race in the 29th position, he was quick to work his way to the front of the pack. The conditions at San Felipe, however, caused Jagged X to underestimate the fuel burn, and Cayden ran out of fuel about a mile before the intended driver change. The team was able to get a chase truck to him in order to refuel, but they got passed by several teams in the process. “I was ready to get into the car when I heard the radio call,” Schueler said. “It always takes the wind out of your sails to hear your car is down on the course. This time it was just fuel. Considering that Cayden started so far back though, second behind the leader Austin Weiland to that point was amazing.” Schueler said that at this point, he was in panic mode. “It was stressful, but once that was over, I only had to catch four or five people that passed when we refueled.” Thankfully, Schueler was fresh and totally up for the challenge. He got around some of the drivers in front of him. It came down to the last 30 miles to catch Weiland, Phil Blurton Jr., and Kolton Hustead. “I had a great pace at that point to catch those guys, and then Wes Miller in a Polaris flew past us in a challenging section of the course,” Schueler said. He stayed on Miller until there was an opportunity to pass. Miller developed some sort of problem with his car, and that’s when Schueler snuck by. With less than 20 miles to go, however, Schueler still had lots of work ahead. Weiland, Blurton, and Hustead were still in contention. “We managed to get by Blurton, and we got caught up in the 37-mile-per-hour speed zone,” Schueler said. “That’s when we saw Hustead off the course. Later, someone said they had run out of fuel.” Schueler ultimately crossed the finish line with an official corrected time of 6:17:45, taking the class win away from Weiland who physically crossed the finish first in an official time of 06:18:50. It was close. “Cayden was motoring and that really helped,” Schueler said. “He took all the right lines. The MacCachren family is a wealth of knowledge for us, and hopefully, we will have Cayden back for the rest of the season.” SJ

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