SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1519409
METHOD RACE WHEELS QUALIFIER Top Classes Make Or Break Their Starting Positions By Dan Sanchez, Paul Hanson, and Isaac Flores Photos by Get Some Photo A decision early this season made by SCORE President/Race Director Jose A. Grijalva, was that racers in the SCORE Trophy Truck, Trophy Truck Legend, Trophy Truck Spec and Class 1 divisions, would start each of the four races of the 2024 season by Qualifying in the Method Race Wheels Qualifier. For the King Shocks 37th SCORE San Felipe, the Method Race Wheels Qualifier took place on Thursday March 21st on a 5.10-mile course North of downtown San Felipe, but was not open to the public. SCORE Fans watched the event via SCORE’s Live Streaming on the SCORE International Website, App and Facebook pages. After several practice rounds for each class, Mexico’s Alan Ampudia in the No. 10 Mason AWD truck qualified first with a time of 49.583. In the SCORE TT Legend class, Ricky Johnson, driving for Gus Vildosola Sr. in the No. 1L Mason AWD qualified first in class, along with Jason McNeil in the No. 200 truck who qualified first in SCORE TT Spec. Class 1 racers chose not to qualify. Several of the racers commented about the qualifying course and how they were ready for the race. “I liked the qualifying course. It was fast,” said Ampudia. “We didn’t have any surprises, no mechanical issues. We can’t wait for Saturday’s race.” “Being in the back of the pack is definitely harder,” said Toby Price. “We had a lot of big holes. All in all we had a good clean run. With all the silt it would have been nice to be up front for qualifying but we are ready for 250 miles on race day. We would like to be through mile 160 first with that big silt bed, but overall our truck is in good shape and we will see what the race day brings us.” “Qualifying was good. It’s my first time down here qualifying in a SCORE Trophy Truck so I was nervous,” said Chris Polvoorde. “I just played it safe and didn’t take any unnecessary risks. It is a new truck so I was nervous lining up and tried to stay calm, cool and collected. I made a couple small mistakes, but overall the trunk is in one piece. I think we are right in the mix for a good start.” View Official Method Race Wheels Qualifying Results here. SJ