SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1530871
RE-ENVIGORATED Next Level Vehicles Awaken Some Classes By Dan Sanchez, Paul Hanson, Isaac Flores, Ariana Medrano, Adilene Ponce Photos By Get Some Photo It took some time but AWD Class 1 buggies have finally emerged as the game changer when it comes to the next level of class competition. Several of these vehicles competed during the BFGoodrich Tires 57th SCORE Baja 1000, leading to a victory with the No. 168 AWD Buggy of Cody Reid, to win the Overall Buggy title. While AWD buggies are more reliable and finish races, Baja can still have a bag full of obstacles to throw out at competitors. At the start of the race, Class 1 competitors began trading the lead several times, until one problem after another plagued most of the fastest teams. The Reid team had its own set of issues with two broken rear brake rotors and a flat tire and managed to pull off the class win. The team of Cody and Brian Parkhouse in the No. 127 buggy held the lead several times until the team hit a rock and broke their steering. “We tagged a rock and damaged the power steering assist and that cost us about an hour,” said Brian Parkhouse. “Despite that, we only had one flat and managed to finish in second place.” Third-place finisher Brendan Gaughan in the No. 162 buggy also didn’t have an easy time either. “I gave the buggy to Buddy Feldkamp who experienced a power steering pump go out,” said Gaughan. “The crew at Collins Motorsports did a great job fixing it up for us, and the BFG Pits helped us out too. We gave it our best.” Gaughan also had NASCAR racer Casey Mears as a co-driver for this event. The race was perhaps the most difficult for the Wilson Motorsports team. Coming off of a SCORE Baja 400 class win in the No. 138 buggy, Kyle Quinn also had three podium finishes this season. In this race, however, he had a major crash after hitting an unexpected dip that sent the buggy flipping the car end over end. Quinn and his navigator were unhurt, but their season was over. Teammate Brad Wilson in the No. 153 buggy also had several vehicle issues that cost them lots of time to repair, preventing the team from catching up to the leaders and finishing in fourth place. Despite the crashes, course challenges, and the downpour of rain towards the end of the race, Class 1 teams fell reinvigorated after being able to push the boundaries of their vehicles to new levels. “I know there are several new Class 1 cars being built for the 2025 season and the class is whipping up the pace again,” said Cody Reid. “Our class is small but every one of us is competitive in a friendly way, but it feels great for all of us to continue pushing the boundaries to gain a little edge over each other.” ARJONA IV FLIES IN CLASS 10 Finishing first with an amazing time for a Class 10 vehicle in the SCORE Baja 1000, Matias Arjona IV in the No. 1002 buggy finished with a faster time (23 seconds), than Class 1 winner Cody Reid; after corrected times. This was Arjona’s best race this season, beating the nearest competitor by nearly 30 minutes, and taking the Overall Buggy win as well. “I’m excited to be the first Class 10 at the finish line, and the first buggy overall,” said Arjona IV. “ We honestly had a perfect race. No one had to unbuckle their seatbelts and get out of the car. The only issue we faced was the weather at the end. It started to rain and snow on us, so that slowed us down a bit. But, we had a good lead going, so we were able to take our time and not push the car too hard.” Coming in second was the No. 1016 buggy of Hiram Duran, who got stuck at Catavina for nearly 30 minutes, putting them well behind Arjona IV to catch up. In Third was Jason Shipman in the No. 1044 buggy. “ It’s a long race, so we didn’t want to go out and set the world on fire at the start,” said Shipman. “We lost a few spots in the beginning, but as the race progressed and attrition set in, we started picking up the pace.” The team then had a busted oil pan which they spent more than 45 minutes fixing. “ We might have had a better position if that didn’t happen,” said Shipman. “Overall it was a fantastic race. We enjoyed it. We love it. We will probably have to come back.” SJ