SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1522709
METHOD RACE WHEELS QUALIFIER Improving The Odds For A Win At The SCORE Baja 500 By Dan Sanchez, Paul Hanson, Isaac Flores, and Guilherme Torres Photos by Get Some Photo As thousands of SCORE fans congregated in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico for the start of the race, teams had already begun pre-running what would be a difficult course that had many high-speed, technical, and rough sections. While they were becoming familiar with the course over several weeks, the location and terrain of the Method Race Wheel Qualifier weren’t revealed until May 30th, right before it took place. Unlike other seasons, where teams started in the order of how they finished at the SCORE San Felipe 250, the 2024 SCORE Baja 500 starting positions were determined by the Method Race Wheel Qualifying event. This new approach for the entire 2024 SCORE World Desert Championship season offers racers the opportunity to have a chance to be ahead of or run with the top teams in the SCORE Trophy Truck, Trophy Truck Legends, and SCORE Trophy Truck Spec classes. So far, the results have been a game-changer and the MRW Qualifier shakes up these classes for a unique race with the fastest up front. While Class 1 buggies are also included in the Method Race Wheel Qualifier, teams in this class decided among themselves to allow their finish positions to start each race and to forgo the qualifying sessions. Qualifying took place over a 5.24-mile course created just outside of Ojos Negros, Mexico. The course was fast and had several jumps in which some vehicles had hard hits upon landing, forcing them out of qualifying and to the rear of their class starting positions. Among these were SCORE Trophy Truck Spec racers Mick Magher in the No. 261 TSCO truck, and 2023 SCORE TT Spec champion Jason McNeil in the No. 200 TSCO truck. McNeil unfortunately had so much front-end damage that he could not compete in this year’s race. In the SCORE Trophy Truck class, Rob MacCachren in the No. 11 Jimco Fastball truck had issues during the practice laps and had to make repairs before he was able to qualify and start in the 12th position. After all the classes had their preliminary runs and final qualifying runs of the day, Toby Price and Paul Weel had the fastest average qualifying time of 6:34:301 from their No. 46 truck, allowing them to start the race first in the SCORE Trophy Truck class. “We had a pretty good run— just made a couple of minor mistakes,” said Price. “All in all, the truck did really well, and I think we’ll be in a good position to start the race, which should help us get a dust-free run. The truck looks good— we did a good job prepping it and we’re ready to move to race day now.” The top three in this class also had Alan Ampudia in the No. 10 truck, with a close time of 6:36:094 for a second-place start. “Driving this truck in the qualifier is super fun,” said Ampudia. “We’re stoked to have a clean truck for Saturday, and we’ll see where it takes us.” Christopher Polvoorde in the No. 94 truck finished with a time of 6:37:760 for a third-place start. “I was just trying to keep the truck on the road, and I think we did well, with no big mistakes,” said Polvoorde. “SCORE threw a really wild, technical course at us this time. It was a very risk-reward type of course and we had to play with that the entire time. But the truck did really well— it continues to amaze me. I’m still trying to learn it and trying to keep up with these Baja legends.” In the SCORE Trophy Truck Legends class, it was veteran Ricky Johnson behind the wheel, partnering with Gustavo Vildosola Sr. in the 1L truck that had the fastest time for the class (6:48:152). “The course was really good; it was much better than last year,” said Johnson. “We were able to race it more aggressively and not have bigger problems. I’m happy with our qualifying and the goal is now to be up there with these guys all day long on Saturday and just race it.” In SCORE Trophy Truck Spec, former Trophy Truck champion Apdaly Lopez, the co-driver with Jordan Brenthel in the No. 273 truck, had the fastest time in class, (6:57:994) to start first. VIDEO SECTION Missed all the action of the Method Race Wheels Qualifying at the BFGoodrich Tires 56th SCORE Baja 500? Watch the entire live stream programs here.