SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1542694
FIRST EVER Sam Baldi Wins The First SCORE TT 2WD Championship By Stuart Bourdon Photos By Get Some Photo The 58th SCORE Baja 1000 secured Sam Baldi of Baldi Racing the first-ever SCORE Trophy Truck 2WD Championship, in what has turned out to be a very competitive class. In the days soon after his remarkable achievement, Baldi said, “Knowing that if we held it together we could end up with a championship, weighed heavily on our minds as we approached the start line.” In a moment of self-assurance Baldi told his co-driver Robert Llewellyn, “We are not only going to win the points championship today, but we’re also going to win the race.” The ever-careful Llewellyn replied, “Let’s not screw this up. We’ve worked really hard to get here.” One of the most interesting things about Baldi’s success in the two-wheel-drive SCORE Trophy Truck class is that the race truck was designed and built in his own shop. “We had been racing in Class 1 but had no experience with SCORE Trophy Trucks,” he said. “We knew what we didn’t want, and so we started doing research into frame and suspension geometry, figuring out what we wanted in this truck. In the end, it turned out to be just amazing. The truck is so much more forgiving than the Class 1 car. I thought I could win every race in the first lap, and it took me a while to learn to settle down. The engine we’re running in it now is a Dougan’s Racing Engine. I think we might have the smallest engine in Trophy Truck racing today. It’s a small block, but we’re running a five-speed Xtrac transmission behind it, and that really helps the smaller displacement engine give us the performance we need.” At the start of the season, Baldi took the truck to a fifth place finish at the 38th SCORE San Felipe 250. The team’s efforts improved at the 57th SCORE Baja 500, finishing fourth in class. Another fourth place finish happened at the 6th SCORE Baja 400, and it led to a phenomenal performance with a first place finish at the 58th SCORE Baja 1000. The Class Championship in this division was close in points, between Baldi, Dave Zeigler in the No. 15T Truck, and veteran Cameron Steele in the 16T truck. In the end only 14 points separated Zeigler and Baldi. When asked about his plans for next year, Baldi remarked, “Now I have a number one plate to defend, so we will be running the full SCORE schedule again. The long-term plan is to build our own all-wheel drive truck. That’s our ultimate goal, but I think we still have a lot to learn in this truck, so we’re going to race with it next year, and work on designing what we’re going to build next.”SJ