SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1542694
BEATING THE ODDS Stan Potter Takes The Class 10 And Buggy Overall Points Championship By Dan Sanchez Photos by Get Some Photo Many seasoned buggy racers look at SCORE’s Class 10 as a “driver’s class,” simply because many of the vehicles are evenly matched, and because of the pool of driving talent and experience competing in this class. For Stan Potter and his co-drivers Freddie Willert and Matias Arjona IV, it was their combined experience that led them to achieve the 2025 Buggy Overall Points Championship and the Class 10 Championship. To their credit, Willert has multiple SCORE Baja 1000 wins in his career, Arjona IV was the 2024 Class 10 Champion, and Potter was the 2022 Class 10 Champion. All three have multiple race wins in SCORE, which helped them overcome some of the toughest obstacles this season. “We’ve been racing partners since 2017,” said Potter. “In the beginning, it was Freddie and me, and we raced the Class 12 car for a while. Freddie had other commitments, including his son racing in 1600, so he had his hands full. We decided we needed someone else to race the Baja 500 and Baja 400 this year, so we asked Matias, who has been a great fit.” At the 38th SCORE San Felipe 250, the season started with mechanical issues plaguing their No. 1006 Alumicraft buggy. “We were leading and had to deal with a power steering problem,” said Potter. “Freddie was still able to drive it, but the transmission got stuck in second gear during the last 100 miles of the race.” This pushed the team back to a seventh place finish, but the problems followed them to the next race. It was worse at the 57th SCORE Baja 500, where the team continued to have steering and transmission problems, but added some brake issues too. Nevertheless, even after losing some valuable time, they fixed problems, persevered, and managed to finish in eighth place. It wasn’t until the 6th SCORE Baja 400 that the team was finally getting its “mojo” back. Although it wasn’t a perfect race, with shifter problems and other issues, they had shorter down times and were able to finish on the podium in third place. Finally, at the 58th SCORE Baja 1000, the team each drove a section and had a flawless day. “The race worked out well because we raced in similar sections as from last year, and we were able to use our same notes,” said Potter. “So we had plenty of practice on this course, and we were used to each section. Matias got to drive in the rain, but Freddie and I didn’t have much of it in our sections.” The effort paid off with a big first-place class win and earning enough points throughout the season to take the Class Championship as well as the Overall Open Wheel Points Championship. “The season was great, and all of us love Baja,” said Potter. “The San Felipe course was the best I had ever seen. It was innovative, and the new sections were interesting and enjoyable.” Willert did double duty, driving both the Class 10 car and the 1600 Class car of Dan Goodrich, who also won the Class Championship this season, making for a back-to-back Championship for that team. “Our experience helps and we believe preparation is huge,” said Willert. “We talked to Class 10 racers who have moved to TT Spec, and most of them say that there’s less responsiveness in a TT Spec truck than in a Class 10 buggy.” “One of the things we like best about Class 10 is when we pass groups of people on the course,” said Potter. “They cheer us on as we drive by. They still like the traditional cars, and they get excited to see us race.” For the 2026 SCORE Season, the newly crowned Class 10 champs don’t want to change much and will try for another championship season. “We’re keeping it the same, and we also want to work with the Arjona family again. Hopefully, they will also want to be with us next season, and it’s still in the works,” said Potter. SJ