SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1531575
A MONUMENTAL FIRST Alan Ampudia Wins The 2024 SCORE Trophy Truck Championship Story by Stuart Bourdon Photos by Get Some Photo A lan Ampudia of Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, is the 2024 SCORE Trophy Truck World Desert Champion. The battle for the title was won by a razor’s edge margin, beating fellow Trophy Truck class competitor Gustavo Vildósola Jr. of Mexicali, Baja California, by a single point over the entire four-race season. Ampudia attributed his hard-fought victory to consistency. “That’s what gets you the championship,” he said. “I’m the driver, but it takes a whole team for this to happen, from the guys having the truck in perfect shape for every race to my crew members and all the volunteers that come out to help in the pits. It’s what went on behind the scenes that helped make this happen. I’m stoked for all of us.” Ampudia didn’t win every SCORE race in 2024, but with the help of crew members, he did whatever it took to finish every race in a concerted effort to rack up points in the SCORE Trophy Truck class. Ampudia drove his #10 Papas Y Beer/Monster Energy/Toyo Tires AWD Mason Motorsports Ford Raptor to a first-place finish in the incredibly rough SCORE San Felipe 250. They had some steering system issues that led to a 10th-place finish in the 56th SCORE Baja 500. A nearly perfect race led to a second-place finish in the SCORE Baja 400. Those same steering issues popped up again, but it didn’t keep Ampudia off the podium with a third-place finish in the SCORE Baja 1000. This was Ampudia’s seventh season competing in the SCORE Trophy Truck class. When asked what the 2024 Trophy Truck Championship meant to him, Ampudia told us, “It means a lot to me because only one other Mexican driver (Apdaly Lopez) has been a SCORE Trophy Truck champ, but he was under the RPM umbrella team, so it was a Mexican driver, but an American team. This is the first time a Mexican team has won. My family and the entire team were all proud of the fact that we were able to get that first one. We’re still fairly new compared to many other teams and drivers competing for much longer in this class. Winning the 2024 SCORE Trophy Truck Championship was the cherry on top of a great year, and we plan on going after it again next year.” SJ