SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1488532
BLESSINGS AND BOTTLENECKS Top TT Spec Teams Finish A Tough Race Course By Dan Sanchez, Paul Hanson, Isaac Flores, Cindy Clark, and Ariana Medrano If you wanted to describe how difficult the course was at the 55th BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 1000 Presented by 4 Wheel Parts, consider that nearly half of the SCORE TT Spec class didn’t finish the race. Most of the racers had to deal with several bottlenecks along the course along with large rocks and tough conditions, leaving seventeen of the twenty-eight starters counting their blessings for being able to finish. During the first part of the race, the top starters began to fall including class points leader Chris Polvoorde in the No. 204 truck, who had increased his lead on the course, but around race mile 355, the truck’s motor had an issue. He and co-driver Ray Griffith had to pull over to end their day early. The race would also end early or Jordan Brenthal, Ryan Hancock, Gerardo Iribe, Mason Cullen, Christian Sourapas with Cayden MacCachren driving, and several others. Left in on the course were Eli Kiger in the No. 238 truck, Justin Davis of the Green Army’s No. 233 truck, the Herbst team of Pierce Herbst in the No. 264, and E.J. Herbst in the No. 263 truck. Also on the course was SCORE Baja 500 winner Jorge Sampietro in the No. 297 truck, but he was too far behind the lead pack to make-up time before the end of the race. The TT Spec class was plagued with a bottleneck at the Summit that slowed everyone down and allowed some competitors to lose their lead. Combined with minor mechanical issues that had to be fixed on the course, the class leaders realized they needed to be more cautious on the course in order to finish. Kiger took this to heart and after working past his competitors, with the help of Jason Coleman and Jason McNeil co-driving, couldn’t catch the class leaders of Pierce and Riley Herbst who crossed the finish line first. Unfortunately for the Herbst team, several penalties pushed their time back to second place, leaving Kiger and the team winning the class. Penalties were a problem for most of the SCORE TT Spec finishers which left them wondering where they would ultimately place in the race. After the times were updated Justin Davis, driving with his brother Jeremy finished in second place. “It was a pretty clean day,” said Davis. “We had an alternator problem that slowed us up a little. We got stuck in the summit. We started so far back and dealing with the dust. But we had a good day. Just two other guys had better days. We will keep hunting for the win.” The Herbst team of Pierce and Riley Herbst, along with co-driver James Dean, fell into third place, but the team was still happy to finish on the podium. “We had a pretty smooth day with no big issues,” said Pierce Herbst. “It was a tough course and we couldn’t be happier. It was a good race. Thank you to all the guys at Terrible Herbst Motorsports, Monster Energy, KC Lights, King Shocks– everyone that helps us come out here and race, and SCORE International for putting on this race, as well as all the fans for supporting us.” OLIVER FLEMATE, | No. 244 | 4th PLACE: “We were in third place in race mile 440, but we missed a line in a wash, crashed, and were stuck. We lost about thirty minutes. But this is our first race in this class and we are just excited to be here at the finish. I love this TSCO truck. It is amazing. We will be racing the 2023 SCORE season. Thank you to SCORE for this awesome event. Viva Mexico!” CHARLES DORRANCE | No. 299 | 6th PLACE: “There was a short bottleneck in the Summit that bunched us up. That stinks because you work so hard to get some distance. Then we stopped for about fifteen minutes to tighten the header. Congratulations to the other Spec Truck drivers. Thank you to all our families and to SCORE for putting this on and the people of Baja.” PRESTON BRIGMAN, No. 282 | 8th PLACE: (Co-Driver with Brent Fox DOR) “Brent got caught up in a bottleneck early on and that put us back a little bit. We got in and things were going pretty good– passing trucks and then about race mile 540, we put it on its lid. A couple locals flipped us back over and we had to tie the light bar back on. This is my first SCORE Baja 1000. It is bigger than anyone thinks. It is tough. It is not easy.” CARLOS IBARRA, No. 278 – 9th PLACE: “My seventy-five-year-old father wanted to race the SCORE Baja 1000 so he started and drove the first 200 miles. He even did the summit. It was a good moment. He still has a lot of strength, and it was a good way to honor him. We had a flawless day. Huatamote Canyon was terrible. The course was worse than what we pre-ran. But we had a good time. Everything came through for us. We were having computer and mechanical problems before this event and weren’t sure we would make this race, but we figured it out just in time to make this event. It was an awesome day.” OFFICIAL FINISHERS TROPHY TRUCK SPEC (unlimited Truck/SUV, stock, sealed engines) (28 Starters, 17 Finishers) 1. 238 Elijah Kiger, 23, Kirby, Pa./Jason Coleman, 37, Huntington Beach, CA/Jason McNeil, 42, El Cajon, CA, TSCO-Chevy; 17:49:04, (46.48 MPH) 2. 233 Justin Davis, 29, Chino Hills, CA/Jeremy Davis, 22, Chino Hills, CA, Brenthel-Chevy,18:00:42 3. 264 Pierce Herbst, 20, Las Vegas/Riley Herbst, 23, Las Vegas/James Dean, 26, Las Vegas/Trevor Ellingham, 41, Las Vegas, NV, Herbst/Smith-Chevy, 18:10:39; 4. 263 EJ Herbst, 21, Las Vegas/Ryan Millen, 37, Huntington Beach, CA (New Zealand), Herbst/Smith-Chevy, 19:13:03 5. 244 Oliver Flemate, 45, Ensenada, Mexico/Antonio Espinoza, 30, Ensenada, Mexico/Ana Paula Flemate, 16, Ensenada, Mexico, TSCO-Chevy, 19:45:22 6. 299 Charles Dorrance, 47, Austin, Texas/Larry Job, 55, Las Vegas/Kit Stokes, 44, Las Vegas, NV., Geiser-Chevy, 20:19:58 7. 266 David Ziegler, 47, Reno, Nev./Paul Ziegler, 51, Reno, Nev., Brenthel-Chevy, 21:01:33 8. 282 Brent Fox, 54, Highland, Utah/Preston Brigman, 36, Lehi, Utah, Herbst/Smith-Chevy, 21:01:53 9. 278 Carlos Ibarra, 45, Ensenada, Mexico/Carlos Ibarra, 73, Ensenada, Mexico, Padmur-Ford, 21:22:56 10. 287 Ryan Lewis, 28, San Antonio, Texas/Clint Larue, 28, Boerne, Texas/Eric Sheetz, 38, Carlsbad, CA, Jimco-Chevy, 22:01:23 11. 236 Michael Marsal, 34, Millbrook, N.Y./Hudson Hall, 29, New Braunfels, Texas/Chuck Dempsey, 52, Oak Hills, CA/Travis Chase, 43, Lacrescenta, CA, Brenthel-Chevy, 23:57:16 12. 254 Mike Perez, 40, Houston/Pancho Name, 35, Mexico City/Enrique Murillo, 52, La Paz, Mexico, Brenthel-Chevy2, 24:12:17 13. 232 Chelsea Magness, 34, Denver/Matt Robinson, Denver/Mike McNaughton/Matt Robinson, Herbst/Smith-Chevy, 24:40:48 14. 297 Jorge Sampietro, 31, Ensenada, Mexico/Dan Fresh, 55, San Juan Capistrano, CA/Abelardo Ruanova, 40, Ensenada, Mexico, Mason-Chevy, 25:58:50 15. 280 Bryan Scheible, 58, Georgetown, Texas/Kyle Robinson, 34, Varysburg, N.Y., Brenthel-Chevy, 26:14:14 16. 269 Guillermo Zamacona, 42, Mexico City/Santiago Creel, 37, Mexico City/William Hedrick Jr, Vicente Guerrero, Mexico, Jimco-Chevy, 27:40:04 17. 213 Karl Ebdrup, 50, Canada/Marc Ebdrup, 47, Canada/Josh Beyers, 43, Las Cruces, N.M., Brenthel-Chevy, 31:03:24