SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/972318
The Speed Melee Class 1, Trophy Truck Spec and Class 10 vehicles clash on the San Felipe course By Dan Sanchez, Photos by Get Some Photo With the rest of the four-wheel classes only 30-40 minutes behind the Trophy Truck leaders, there was some tough racing going on in San Felipe. Leading the pack in the Class 1 division was Justin Davis in the number 185 Jimco. With an average speed of 52.6 mph, Davis finished ahead of several Trophy Trucks and took first place in the class and finished 12th overall. With that kind of speed, Davis managed to work through the pack to have a perfect race even after starting last in his class. “We were the last car off the line and I just picked my way through it,” said Davis. “We didn’t have one flat -- nothing. We just kept her rolling, we were the first car on the road by mile-160 and never looked back. I battled with the Wilsons a little bit and I got around them. To start the season off with a win is big, especially now you start the ‘500’ where you finish. It’s a good place to start and the only SCORE race we haven’t won is the ‘500’ so we set our goal this year to win it.” 2017 Class 1 Champion Brian Wilson, also had a great race, but couldn’t keep up with Davis’ momentum. “Honestly, it was who could hang on and go the fastest in that second half,” said Wilson. “It was whooped out to no end and (Justin Davis) has bigger muscles than I have, I guess. The car ran great, I had a clean run. It just wasn’t in our cards to win today. We’re heading for another championship so we’re off to a good start.” Wilson finished second in class and 14th overall ahead of teammate Brad Wilson who finished third in class. Finishing not too far behind the Wilson’s was Chase Warren and Martin Richardson in the number 1008 Class 10 Alumicraft buggy, who also had a perfect race. “Quite a bit went right for us today,” said Warren. “We changed one wheel in a pit when we were getting gas and had no flat tires. Outside of that, it was a pretty good day.” Warren started third in class, ahead of 2018 Class 10 Champion Broc Dickerson, who gave him a tough battle before Dickerson had issues that cost him too much time. This allowed Warren to move up and pass Todd Winslow who started first, and Miguel Tornel who started off the line in second position. “We got caught up in the dust pretty bad on a couple people but we ended up making our way around them and wound up first physically. We had a pretty good battle with Dickerson earlier on,” said Warren. “He got by us and we kind of settled in right behind him. He ended up pulling out on the side of the course and we didn’t see another car after that.” Second place in Class 10 went to Corey Goin and Robbie Suprenant in the number 1036 Alumi Craft, followed by Cody Reid and Adam Pfankuch in their new Alumni Craft car. “We had a great day with no flat tires and no issues,” said Goin. “We stopped for fuel and we have no idea where we’re at. We started at the back so we just ran our pace and kept pushing. We saw guys wadded up on the side of the road early in the race. We never got out of the car. We stopped and got fuel and that was it.” Tight Race Among The Other TT Classes In the Trophy Truck Legends class, Gus Vildosola Sr. was favored to win the race, but the experience from the veteran racers made it difficult for all of the competitors in this class. Ultimately Russel Buehler, with Wes Uhlig managed to stay out in front of Vildosola Sr. and Scott Bailey to take first place in the class. Finishing third was RPM Off-Road’s Clyde Stacy with Armin Schwarz at the wheel. While the Legend’s battled for their class win, there was a huge race in the Trophy Truck Spec class. With 18 starters and 13 finishers, lots of these trucks battled Baja and each other to try and take the win in San Felipe. With some familiar names moving into this class, fans expected to see them finish up front. One of these was 2017 TT Spec Champion Elias Hanna, who had a more difficult time on the course and managed to finish in fourth. Ahead of him was Rafael Navarro IV, who moved into the class from Class 10 and managed to finish in third place. The race for the lead came between William Hedrick, with Vincente Guerro in the 295 ID Chevy, and Bryce Swaim in the number 242 TSCO Chevy, who had help from Austin Jones and Garrett Stone. “It was the perfect way to start the season,” said Hedrick, who ultimately came in first in class. “We didn’t expect things to end like this but we’re super excited. It was rough since the beginning. There was a lot of dust and we were very loose. Our transmission was overheating but we continued our pace and we did our race and it worked. The ‘500’ is the next race and me and my dad are going race that one for sure.” Despite losing their power steering and some damage to the truck, Swaim managed to finish second in class. “It was pretty rough out there,” said Swaim. “Bryce was doing absolutely amazing and I jumped in at mile 165. We were cruising for a while, we got over to mile 230 and we actually lost a power steer pump. We pulled over and it took about 20 minutes to switch to our spare. Once we got that got going, we started chasing them down. I was pushing but we’re here now and that’s what matters.” The Field Narrows But Some Pull-Through The growing popularity of Class 8 vehicles had four starters in San Felipe. Driving the number 894 Ford Ranger, Vincent Munoz, Roy Tomkins, and Steven Yates, all from Northern California, managed to finish nearly three minutes ahead of second place finishers from Tecate Mexico, Eduardo Ramirez, Miguel Ramos and Javier Bonilla, in their number 869 Chevy Silverado. Finishing third in class was the Number 869 Ford Ranger was driven by Juan Carlos Calderon and Eric Vences, both from Santa Maria, California. Within the SCORE Lites class, Luis Barragan, Edgar Yepiz, and David Garcia finished first in the number 1210 car despite experiencing several flats during the race. “We had three flat tires but we are here and we are so happy,” said Barragan. They were followed by the number 1258 car driven by Jeremy Davis, and third place class finisher Miguel Bonilla in the number 1240 car co-driven by Antonio Gaxiola. Class 7 racers also had some good competition among the class, with six starters who battled Baja and succeeded. In the end, it was the Ford Raptors that made it through the checkered flag first. The number 721 Ford Raptor, Michael Coleman, son Mitch Coleman, and Omar Preciado finished first. For co-drive Mitch Coleman, it was quite an experience. “It was Mitch’s first time racing anything, said Michael Coleman. “He never has raced a Trophy car or buggy or anything. I did the first half and he brought it in and kept the lead. I knew the race was long and tough. I really didn’t want to do the whole thing. So the next likely subject would be my son. We kept positive and it was absolutely perfect.” Coleman was followed in by second-place finishers Carlos Diaz, Manuel Lopez and Hugo Martinez in the number 711 Ford Raptor. Third place went to Daniel Reyes, Jose Ahumada and Cesar del Real in the number 714 Ford Raptor. Other Classes Take A Toll In the very tough 1/2-1600 Class, Bruce Yee with Angel Barajas finished first in the number 1614 car, followed by Gustavo Avina, Erik Rivera and Gabriel Avina I the number 1678 car. Finishing third in class was the number 1603 car with Oscar Alvarez, Ramon Bio, Fernando Alvarez and Adrian Guerrero. Class 5 competitors also had it rough with the terrain and dust. Nonetheless, Mark and Perry McNeil took their number 501 bug and finished first in class. “At the start, we charged hard and tried to get as much time on the next guy as we could,” said Mark McNeil. “This car works really well in the rough stuff so we pushed hard. We won the SCORE Baja 1000 last year at the 50th and this is the first time we came back to San Felipe since 2013.” The McNeil team were followed by the number 524 Bug of Ben and Pete Swift who finished second in class. Cesar and Victor Iniguez finished first in Class 5-1600 with the help of Emilio Salcido, Omar Arellano, and Miguel Estrada in the number 553 car. Finishing in second was the 577 car driven by Luis Herrera, Ernie Negrete, Jorge Torres, Michael Murray, and Jim Yourdon. In Class 11 it was Art Penner in the number 1156 car that came in first, with Dennis Hollenbek in the number 1100 car in second, followed by the 1149 car of Victor Esparza. In the Pro Truck class, Jason Vandenbom and Kendal Ballentine from Canada, finished first in the number 1377 Ford F-150. Marc Stein with Jared Durnberger, Mike McComas and Cooper Reynolds Gross finished first in Stock Full. Top Four-Wheel Class Finishers SCORE TT Legend 79L Russell Buehler, 59, Liberty, Mo./Wes Uhlig, Kansas City, MO, Ford Raptor (Jimco), 7:03:46 Class 1 185 Justin Davis, 24, Chino Hills, CA, Jimco-Chevy, 6:03:38 SCORE Trophy Truck Spec 295 William Hedrick Jr, 22, Vicente Guerro, MX/German Encinas, 42, Ensenada, MX, ID-Chevy, 6:41:43 Class 10 1008 Chase Warren, 28, Phoenix, AZ/Martin Richardson, 41, La Mesa, CA, Alumi Craft-Chevy, 6:35:44 Class 8 894 Vincent Munoz, 31, Yucaipa, CA/Roy Tomkins, 34, Redlands, CA/Steven Yates, 32, Yucaipa, CA, Ford Ranger, 7:48:29 Class 1/2-1600 1614 Bruce Yee, 18, Chula Vista, CA/Angel Barajas, 41, Ensenada, MX, Barajas, 8:29:44 SCORE Lites 1210 Luis Barragan, 53, Mexicali, MX/Edgar Yepiz, 36, Mexicali, MX/David Garcia, 45, Mexicali, Seagrove, 8:14:07 Class 7 721 Mike Coleman, 51, La Jolla, CA/Omar Preciado, 41, San Diego, Ford Raptor, 7:15:01 Class 5 501 Mark McNeil, 24, El Cajon, CA/Perry McNeil, 67, San Diego, 7:33:32 Class 5-1600 553 Cesar Iniguez, 33, Mexicali, MX/Victor Iniguez, 27, Mexicali, MX/Emilio Salcido, 40, Mexicali, MX/Omar Arellano, 33, Mexicali, MX/Miguel Estrada, 26, Mexicali, MX, 12:11:45 Baja Challenge BC1 David Payne, 57, St. Louis, MO., 10:18:17 Pro Truck 1377 Jason Vandenborn, 43, Canada/Kendall Ballentine, 31, Canada, Ford F-150, 12:25:59 Stock Full 8125 Marc Stein, 51, Hemet, CA/Jared Durnberger, 32, Hemet, CA/Mike McComas, 52, Hemet, CA/Cooper Reynolds Gross, 35, Los Angeles, Ford F-150, 13:07:47 Class 11 1156 Art Penner, 61, Lynden, WA (Canada)/Marco Carmona, 67, Ensenada, MX, 12:31:22