SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
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MacCachren’s Sixth Rob MacCachren repeats his 2017 SCORE San Felipe 250 victory, adding a sixth overall SCORE Trophy Truck win in this event By Dan Sanchez Photography: Get Some Photo Once again, Rob MacCachren, one of the most dominant racers in off-road racing history, made it look easy for a repeat SCORE Trophy Truck and Overall win at the 32nd SCORE San Felipe 250. In reality, the battle for the lead and the overall race win was tough. MacCachren started sixth and could not catch up to first place starter Cameron Steele, who ran a near perfect race, but only to finish in second place. “With the draw we got real lucky being up there,” said MacCachren. “It’s pretty tough to come from the back. We got by Mike Lawrence in the wash before race-mile 60, (Adam) Householder had a flat, we got by him and we just set sail and tried to catch up to Bean (Justin Smith) and Cam. We were slowly making ground on them.” For MacCachren and Steele, it was nearly an identical situation to the 2017 SCORE San Felipe race, where Steele lead for most of the race, only to be surpassed by MacCachren. This time, Steele started first and was first across the finish line. “We started first and finished first so at least that’s a good thing,” said Steele. “Rob Mac is a legend and I love to hate him. San Felipe is the roughest and I felt like I was in a paint shaker all day. We punished this truck. I made a couple mistakes, which is unusual for me. It cost us a couple minutes in the first part of the race. I’m not going to cry about it, I would say it was a near-perfect race. Something happened to the power the last 40 miles but it kept going, the hamster was still on a treadmill but he might have lost a couple toes along the way.” MacCachren definitely worked hard for the win. He couldn’t avoid some of the problems during the race, but the experienced racer and team managed to get him through to have the fastest time and squeeze out the win. “We got to Borrego and Bean (driving the number 7 Trophy Truck for DOR Bryce Menzies) had a problem. He pulled out right in front of me,” said MacCachren. “It would have been good for us to get ahead of him there but we just had to trail him until about mile 200. He pulled over and got gas. That’s when we went by. Right before Matomi Wash, it was a real twisty road and I was trying to tiptoe through there and not hit any rocks. I clipped one, we jumped out, changed the flat really quick, and nobody got by us. We lost that time to Cam but coming up to the finish I could tell we were catching him again.” This win adds to MacCachren’s incredible career. In San Felipe alone, he won the race overall in 2003, 2007, 2011, 2012, and in 2017. He’s also had numerous class wins here that all total up to making him one of the toughest guys to beat in Baja. “I know it’s incredible out there on the course,” says MacCachren. “All the people you see on the side of the road cheering you on. As you’re coming it’s almost like a sea. The course is closed, you’re coming, there are cameras, there are drones, it’s incredible. You come through at 100, they open up and you come on through. I love racing San Felipe.” Trophy Truck Racers Stir The Pot With Cameron Steele finishing in second place, the SCORE Trophy Truck division is set for some heavy competition from many of the teams that are stepping up their game this season. Included in the mix is third-place finisher Luke McMillin, who was followed by Andy McMillin in fourth place, who was already looking towards a win at the 50th BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 500. “Our strategy was to get a good starting spot for the 500,” said McMillin. “Then you get in race mode, your adrenaline starts pumping, and you start to attack the course. We had a good run going the first 20 miles then I had a rear flat. I hit a rock in the wash and then got a real clean run the rest of the way. We started making up time on Cameron and Rob when I hit another rock right before Puertocitos Road, about mile 265. That put us out of contention so we just brought it in and got a solid finish out of it.” Finishing in fifth place was veteran Ryan Arcerio in the number 32 Herbst/Smith truck who also looks to be in serious contention for a championship season. Missing from the top of the SCORE Trophy Truck field in San Felipe, however, was Billy Wilson who had won this race in 2016, Clyde Stacy who came close to winning the SCORE Trophy Truck Championship last year, and 2017 SCORE Overall Champion Apdaly Lopez. It was strange not seeing Lopez finish in the top five. He had some problems during the race and was only able to finish in 21st place, behind his dad Juan Carlos Lopez who finished in 18th place. For Apdaly Lopez, he may have to win the 50th BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 500 to stay in the race for another championship season, but for him, that may not be too difficult of a task. Nevertheless, the 50th BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 500 is set up to be one of the tightest races that SCORE fans haven’t seen in quite a while. SJ