SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/519117
INAUGURAL BUD LIGHT SCORE BAJA SUR 500 RECAP the RPM Off-Road teammates pitted again at race mile 310. At the pit, Laguna's rear tires were very worn but he took a chance only taking on fuel and beat Lopez out of the pit to take first place on the course. "I should have taken new tires because the truck was really hard to control with the tires so worn," said Laguna. "After the pit, we cruised to the finish. We lost a tire on one of the jumps in the Loreto wash about a half mile from the finish. We went off the jump and the rear tires were so worn out when we landed one of them exploded. We just ran on the wheel to the finish because we did not know where Eugenio was." "Winning the first Bud Light Baja Sur 500 means a lot, especially being Mexican and winning a race in Mexico," said Laguna. "It's also the first Unlimited Trophy Truck win for RPM Off-Road so there are a lot of emotions going through my mind. It means a lot because that win will stay there forever and become a piece of off-road racing history for me as my first win." Second place finisher in the Unlimited Trophy Truck class was Steven Eugenio who split the driving with his teammate Armin Schwarz. Schwarz started the race and drove to race mile 154 for the driver change. Both drivers had high expectations for this race as it featured a lot of high-speed rally type roads that played to the strengths of both drivers. Eugenio and Schwarz had no radio for the entire race which left the team blind while trying to chase down Laguna in the final miles. "Armin did a great job, he brought the truck to me with zero problems," said Eugenio. "I pushed right off the bat. At mile 160 we were five and half minutes behind MacCachren and by mile 252 we were only 20 seconds back," Steven said after the race. "I was stuck behind Rob (MacCachren) for 150 miles. I tried taking some chances but not could make a pass. He was running a slower pace than us but fast enough to make a pass really difficult. I figure I lost about 5 minutes behind Rob." Eugenio eventually got around MacCachren when he had a flat tire but with only 40 miles left on the course, and 20 of those miles within a speed zone, Eugenio was not able to catch the leader. After a speeding penalty, Eugenio finished three minutes and 49 seconds behind Laguna. "We had fun," said Eugenio. "Zeus (Eugenio's Trophy-Truck) was breaking necks and cashing checks, laying it down on aisle three and bagging them up like groceries." Rob MacCachren rounded out the Trophy Truck podium finishing 7 minutes and 45 seconds behind Eugenio. "The race was awesome," said MacCachren. "Racing from Cabo San Lucas to Loreto and seeing the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California is incredible. When do you get to finish with a picture like we have here with the ocean being 100 feet away? It was not an easy race and the pace was very fast. The SCORE Unlimited Trophy Truck competition is so tough, and everybody is pushing hard to try and win. Five of the top 10 trophy truck guys were here running the race and the pace was as if none of them were missing." WINNING THE SPORTSMAN QUAD ATV CLASS WAS FABIO DAVIS FROM LORETO, BAJA CALIFORNIA. 018 SCORE JOURNAL