SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1547140
NOTHING TO LOSE Brad Wilson Went All Out And Got The Class 1 Win By Dan Sanchez Photos by Get Some Photo After a DNF at the SCORE Baja 500, Brad Wilson and co-driver Kyle Quinn had nothing to lose at this year’s 7th SCORE Baja 400 race and decided to go “all out.” They drove their No. 138 Jimco Hammerhead Buggy as hard as they could and came up with the Class 1 win. “We typically drive conservatively, but we took the gloves off in this race and decided to see what would happen if we pushed our buggy as hard as we could,” said Wilson. The race began with Brendan Gaughan starting first after qualifying in that position and began adding some distance with the lead. He was followed by Cody Parkhouse in the No. 127 Buggy, so the Wilson team had a lot of ground to cover to get out in front. With recent rains during pre-running, the Wilson team was worried about some flooded areas, the silt and rocks that had been dug up. “The course and race overall, ended up being good for us,” said Wilson. “When I got to Valley Trinidad and Mike’s Sky Ranch, the course was silty, soft and rocky for about 40 miles and we picked our way through that” Wilson managed to pass Parkhouse near Mike’s Sky Ranch and continued to push hard until race mile 242 when Quinn took the driver’s seat. “Kyle got into the buggy and got through the deep silt and although we were ahead on time, he passed Brenden Gaughan around race mile 380 or 390,” said Wilson. Parkhouse had also passed Gaughan on the course and rushed to the finish line not far behind the Wilson team. After crossing the finish line, the tracker, mounted to the buggy to ensure they properly passed through each checkpoint, initially showed the Wilson team had missed a checkpoint which put them in second place behind Parkhouse. “We went back to the hotel thinking we finished second, which also happened to us at this year’s SCORE San Felipe 250,” said Wilson. “But after SCORE had checked everything, the Parkhouse team had also missed a checkpoint leaving the Wilson team with a better time to finish in first place.” Wilson finished with an official time of 10:19:28, with Parkhouse finishing close in second place with a time of 10:218:43. Brendan Gaughan finished the race in third with a time of 10:36:03. “It all worked out for us in the end and were happy with the win,” said Wilson. The Wilson team is still running its Jimco 2WD Hammerhead buggy and are looking forward to their AWD Jimco buggy getting finished next season. “This Hammerhead 2WD buggy is an amazing car and it’s been great,” said Wilson. “The SCORE courses are becoming tighter, more twisted and difficult, which the AWD will benefit us in the near future. Our new car will be ready next year, but we’ll also have to work through any gremlins, but we have a great mechanical team and prep guys to get it ready and reliable later next season.” Looking Forward To Cabo With the 59th SCORE Baja 1000 race that will start in San Jose del Cabo in Baja Sur November 9-14th, the Wilson team is already preparing for the race and are excited to participate. “We’re going to go all out again at this race,” said Wilson. It will be an exciting one, and we expect to see lots of Class 1 vehicles, maybe 15 or more, compete. We’d like to get the Class 1 Championship once again, but there are a lot of obstacles, some we don’t have control over, that are away from Gaughan this season. But we’re not going anywhere, and we will take each race one at a time.” SJ