SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/812217
FINISH AT ALL COST MORE FOUR-WHEEL RACERS CROSS THE FINISH LINE IN SAN FELIPE With the lowest attrition rate in the recent history of the SCORE San Felipe 250, more four-wheel class racers crossed the finish line to win and complete one of the harshest courses within the SCORE Desert World Challenge. While the higher-horsepower classes had the option to qualify for starting position, the rest of the four-wheel classes participated in a draw which had Miguel Tornel Sr. draw the first starting position for Class 10, with Tornel’s son Miguel drawing the first position in SCORE Lites. With Class 1/2 1600 being one of the most competitive, the first starting position is a huge advantage in this class. Ultimately Roberto Romo drew the first start within a large field of 14 competitors in San Felipe. Likewise in the large Pro UTV FI class, Marc Burnett drew the first place starting position to lead the field of 13 competitors, which included 2016 Class champions Derek and Jason Murray, as well as overall Pro UTV points champion Alonzo Lopez, who moved into the Pro UTV FI class from the normally aspirated class this year. Matlock Starts A Run For The Championship With lots of tough competition from veteran drivers in the UTV field, second place starter Wayne Matlock in his Polaris RZR XP4 Turbo managed to pull a victory in the Pro UTV FI class at the 2017 SCORE San Felipe 250. The win was quite a surprise to Matlock and his wife Kristen, who competed in the Pro UTV NA class, as both struggled with food poisoning they suffered before the race. In addition, an accident completely took out the rear section of Kristen Matlock’s UTV, but the team scrambled to re-build the car, allowing her to finish in third place in the NA class. “We wanted to come here today and get a good finish because we are going for the championship this year,” said Wayne Matlock. “We thought we were in second when we pulled up to the line because we've been chasing Marc Burnett all day long. It was an awesome race so when we pulled up here and they told us we were first we were blown away.” Burnett who started first, also had a rough time in San Felipe, breaking his wrist when the steering wheel violently twisted to one side. “I drove about 185 miles with a broken wrist and it was really painful,” said Burnett. “We started out strong and we ran out of fuel twice about 10 miles from the finish.” Despite the problems, Burnett managed a second place finish in the class. Brandon Schueler in his Polaris RZR XP4 Turbo finished in third, followed by Derek and Jason Murray in their Can-Am Maverick X3. In the Pro NA class, 2016 season champion Alonzo Lopez wasn’t present as he moved into the Forced Induction class to finish in fifth place. This left the NA class in San Felipe with five starters, of which the 955 team of Justin Smith won the class with driver of record Paul Champion and co-drivers Travis Castell and Jason Smith. In second place was the 1998 team of Don and Bill Whittington, followed by the 1954 car of Kristen Matlock. A Tough Course Weeds Out Top Buggy Competitors The Class 10 racers weren’t so lucky as the rest of the four-wheel field. Only half their field finished the race, including Brock Dickerson in his number 1023 Alumi-Craft Chevy. Justin Davis finished in second place, followed by Cody Reid in third. Class 1/2 1600 fared much better in San Felipe, with eleven of the 14 starters finishing the race. At the head of the pack was Jorge Sampierto in the 1697 car, with co-driver Misael Arambula taking the first place win. They were followed by the number 1601 car of Roberto Romo and Cody Robinson. Third place finishers in the class were Mario Estrella and Martin Gonzalez in the number 1623 car. For the lower powered Class 5-1600 buggies, the pace allowed all five starters to finish the race and provided one of the closest races in this class’s history. Winning the class in San Felipe, was Jorge Gutierrez in the 599 car that was co-driven by Miguel and Octavio De La Mora, and Carlos Molina. Their time of 8:12:17 saw a spectacular race finish between them and second place finishers Hector Hurtado in the number 550 car, with a time of 8:13:41. Hurtado was aided by Fernando Flores and Oscar Chacon. In third place was Luis Herrera in the number 577 car co-driven by Ernie Negrete and Jorge Torres. Rodolfo Martinez in the number 582 car, co-driven by Miguel Camarena and Miguel Rodriguez finish fourth, followed by Tomas A. Fernandez and Adrian Saucedo in the number 555 car. The SCORE Lites team of Vic Bruckmann and Ramon Bio won the class in the number 1299 car, while Rafael Aguirre in the number 1222 car came in second, aided by Felipe Martinez. Finishing in third was the 1202 car team of Matias Arjona IV, with co-drivers Matias Arjona III, and Francisco Pena. Baja Challenge competitors all survived the tough San Felipe course, but the BC4 team of Bud Pecoy, and Rolf Helland finished first, followed by Marco and Marc Gonzales in the BC1 car, with the BC3 car finishing in third with Tim Spurgeon and Barry Thompson. In fourth place was the BC2 team of Gage Gilham V, Gauge Gilham VI, and Jordan Alexander. Once again, the Baja Challenge finished all cars to keep their amazing finishing percentage intact. Truck Classes Push To The Limit For Class 8 racers, the San Felipe course was tough, weeding out a field of six starters, to Noah Ostanik in the number 844 Ford F-150, who finished first in class. Ostanik was aided by co-drivers Steve Susral, Dave Dinsmore and Todd Sanderson. Finishing in second was the 802 Ford F-150 of Scott Ulrich, with Tim Gabbert as the driver of record with co-driver Bill Urich. In the Heavy Metal truck class, Vincent Munoz only had to worry about finishing the race to win the class. The number 8094 Ford Ranger finished the course with a time of 8:37:09 and was co-driven by Roy Tomkins and Steven Yates. Class 7 had a total of eight competitors from which Daniel Reyes, along with Jose Arumada and Danny Martinez won the class in their number 715 Ford Ranger. Mark Johnson finished in second place, followed by Dan Chamlee who finished in third. Kevin Leavitt in the number 349 Class 3 Ford Bronco, won the class with the help of Tim Bradford, while in the Stock Full class, Justin Gueulette in the number 8161 Ford F-150 also simply had to finish to win the class in San Felipe. VW Bugs Leave Nothing Behind In an all-out effort to simply finish the race, VW racers are most often challenged by the course, and finishing is a big deal. Finishing first for Eric Solorzano, however, is a bigger deal, as the veteran Class 11 racer won his eleventh SCORE San Felipe victory. In this small but competitive class, Solorzano is one of the prominent racers in SCORE history, earning eleven season points championships in Class 11. Needless to say, Solorzano in his appropriately numbered 1111 car, defeated Art Penner in the number 1156 car, and Dennis Hollenbeck in the 1121 car. Class 5 competitors also had a tough race that left the team of Luis Lopez with 2016 champion Victor Cesna co-driving, along with Charlie Lopez and Angel Rodriguez to win the class. Racers Prepare For The SCORE Baja 500 With the 31st SCORE San Felipe now in the record books, racers prepare for one of the biggest off-road races of the season, the SCORE Baja 500. In the meantime, the celebrations over the victories at the 31st SCORE San Felipe 250 continue, and the efforts put out by SCORE’s volunteers, partners, and the cities of San Felipe and Mexicali made for one of the best San Felipe races on record. In addition to SCORE’s Live-Feed during the race, which was available on the SCORE App, the El Rey Network will televise the race in a one-hour special. Visit the El Ray Network online at www.elraynetwork.com for air times and dates. SJ SCORE SAN FELIPE 250 TOP OVERALL FINISHERS PRO CARS, TRUCKS & UTVS 1. 11 Rob MacCachren, 52, Las Vegas, Ford F-150, 4:20:15 (62.69 mph) (SCORE Trophy Truck) 2. 15 Billy Wilson, 31, Corpus Christi, Texas, Chevy Silverado, 4:24:11 (61.75 mph) (SCORE Trophy Truck) 3. 1 Carlos ‘Apdaly’ Lopez, 22, Tecate, Mexico, Chevy Rally Truck, 4:25:52 (61.36 mph) (SCORE Trophy Truck) 4. 4 Justin Matney, 32, Bristol, Tenn., Chevy Rally Truck, 4:25:55 (61.35 mph) (SCORE Trophy Truck) 5. 97 B.J. Baldwin, 37, Las Vegas, Toyota Tundra, 4:29:15 (60.59 mph) (SCORE Trophy Truck) 6. 19 Tim Herbst, 53, Las Vegas/Troy Herbst 50, Ford F-150, 4:32:35 (59.85 mph) (SCORE Trucky Truck) 7. 16 Cameron Steele, 48, San Clemente, Calif./Cody Stuart, 32, Capistrano Beach, Calif., Chevy Silverado, 4:41:15 (58.01 mph) (SCORE Trophy Truck) 8. 23 Dan McMillin, 29, La Mesa, Calif., Ford F-150, 4:43:29 (57.55 mph) (SCORE Trophy Truck) 9. 153 Brad Wilson, 27, Long Beach, Calif./ Ronny Wilson, 55, Long Beach, Calif./Justin Munyon, 30, San Clemente, Calif., Jimco-Chevy, 4:57:09 (54.90 mph) (Class 1) 10. 76 Jesse Jones, 51, Phoenix/Toby Price, 28, Australia/Austin Jones, 19, Phoenix, Ford F-150, 4:58:30 (54.65 mph) (SCORE Trophy Truck) 11. 45 Gary Magness, 63, Denver/Devin Housh, 36, Desert Hot Springs, Calif., Ford F-150, 5:02:41 (53.90 mph) (SCORE Trophy Truck) 12. 274 Elias Hanna, 34, Ensenada, Mexico/Rehuel Ramirez, 34, Las Vegas, Chevy 1500, 5:07:04 (53.13 mph) (TROPHY TRUCK SPEC) 13. 24 Cory Keysar, 49, Colorado Springs, Colo., Ford Raptor, 5:13:39 (52.01 mph) (SCORE Trophy Truck) 14. 85 Mike Lawrence, 29, Murrieta, Calif./Luis Meyers, 30, Riverside, Calif., 5:16:25 (51.56 mph) (SCORE Trophy Truck) 15. 104 Rob Archibald, 44, Lakeside, Calif./Judyta Katona, 37, San Diego/Travis Rojas, San Diego, Jimco-Chevy, 5:18:04 (51.29 mph) (Class 1) PRO MOTORCYCLES 1. 1x Mark Samuels, 27, Yucca Valley, Calif./Daymon Stokie, 27, Australia/Ryan Penhall, 30, Laguna Niguel, Calif., Honda CRF450X, 5:12:38 (52.18 mph) (Pro Moto Unlimited) 2. 45x Francisco Arredondo, 39, Guatemala/Shane Esposito, 42, Temecula, Calif./Justin Morgan, 27, El Cajon, Calif./Roberto Villalobos, 27, Dulzura, Calif./, Honda CRF450X, 5:12:56 (52.13 mph) (Pro Moto Unlimited) 3. 13x Derek Ausserbauer, 23, Santa Ynez, Calif., Honda CRF450X, 6:03:12 (44.92 mph) (Pro Moto Unlimited) 4. 401x Kevin Johnson, 40, Escondido, Calif./Ryan Gustine, 43, San Diego, Husqvarna 501, 6:06:45 (44.48 mph) (Class 40) 5. 23x Mark Winkelman, 58, Cedar Hill, Texas/Austin Miller, 28, Austin, Texas/Grant Statley, 22, La Jolla, Calif./ Schuyler Schoonmaker, 22, Alpine, Calif., Husqvarna 501, 6:09:18 (44.18 mph) (Pro Moto Unlimited) PRO QUADS 1. 13a Said Sanchez, 31, Tijuana, Mexico, Honda TRX450R, 6:01:59 (45.07 mph) (Pro Quads) 2. 12a Oscar Ruiz, 21, El Centro, Calif./Jose Contreras, 32, Tecate, Mexico/Juan Mejarado, 22, Tecate, Mexico/Jorge Martinez, 32, Tijuana, Mexico, 7:04:54 (38.40 mph) (Pro Quads) 3. 22a Edwin Lopez, 35, Juarez, Mexico/Alejandro Gonzalez, 35, Juarez, Mexico/Inaki Elguea, 31, Juarez, Mexico/Alan Arrunada, 31, Juarez, Mexico/Gerardo Mata, 37, El Paso, Texas, Honda TRX450R, 7:47:19 (34.91 mph) (Pro Quads)