SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1542108
GETTING TO THE FINISH Class 1 And 10 Racers Struggle To Complete The Course By Dan Sanchez, Isaac Flores, Ariana Medrano, Adilene Ponce, Paul Hanson, and Jamie Lopez Amador Photos by Get Some Photo The silt, rain, and then mud on the course were major obstacles for both the Class 1 and Class 10 buggies during the BFGoodrich Tires 58th SCORE Baja 1000 race. Class 1 had Brendan Gaughan in the No. 162 car, Brad Wilson in the No. 138 car, and 2024 Champion Cody Reid in the No. 168 car, all challenging for the win. Mid race, Gaughan took the lead running at their own pace, making their scheduled driver changes along the way. The Wilson team had only entered one vehicle this race, switching between DOR Brad Wilson, Ronny Wilson, and Kyle Quinn driving along the course. Cody Reid and his team were charging on the course, but near San Felipe, they had transmission problems that pulled them aside to fix, losing lots of time on Wilson and Gaughan. At the same time, the Gaughan team had a substantial lead over the rest of the competition, which allowed them to drive at a conservative pace to make it to the finish line to gain the class win with a time of 19:34:19. The Wilson team also had vehicle issues and came in with a time of 27: 04:11 for second place. After a major effort to replace the transmission, Reid came in for the third-place finish with a time of 30:18:08. “We got another Class 1 win for the No. 162,” said Gaughan at the finish. “Buddy [Feldkamp] has a lot of wins to catch up to his father. I already got my dad beat with one. Now I have two, and Buddy is closer to his dad’s record. The silt was awesome down there. I wish they had more, but I had no problem with it and drove right through it. Daylight was great. I think Buddy had one flat. We knew all the other Class 1s had mechanical problems, so at that point, we didn’t want to be stupid and get it home. I absolutely love this!” Potter Wins Class 10 Class 10 racers didn’t have it much easier, with more than half the field having vehicle issues along the course. By the time they were heading back up the Baja Peninsula, the rain had started, which kept the racers at an agonizingly slower pace. Nevertheless, Stan Potter in the No. 1006 car finished first in 19:52:28. “ We had a very clean race. I had two sections, Cataviña and from San Matias to the finish line. In my first section, I crashed,” said co-driver Matias Arjona IV. “ We got first place, so we’re very happy. For us, it’s the second time we’ve won in a row. We won last year, and we won this year, so we’re very happy to be here. No problem with the car until half a mile before reaching the finish line, when the car turns off completely. First of all, I panicked. I turned to see all the switches, everything, and I realized that we only had one of the two batteries. I put it in both, I turned it on, and made it to the finish line, but got a good scare.” Finishing behind the Potter team was the No. 1033 car of Eliott Watson, followed by Hiram Duran in the No. 1016 car. SJ