SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/618747
In the meantime, the Wallentine Motorsports crew had come together in Mexico and in the first hours everything looked good. They were on schedule. Brian Wallentine shared driving duties with Off- Road Motorsports Hall Of Fame Inductee Jerry Penhall and King Of The Hammer's racer Jason Shear. Teammates JT Taylor and Greg Cotrell also shared driving and co-driving duties. Others in this large team included Doug Nagy, Doug Jackson, Phil and Brian Etnyre, Blade Gillissen, Adam Espley, Cari Penhall, David Demoise and Nathan Retchless. HALF WAY TO HISTORY Near the half-way mark at the 48th Bud Light SCORE Baja 1000, the three remaining Class 11 teams continued to race at a steady pace. "There was never a moment where we were going to quit," said Wallentine. "It was too big of an event. It's almost an unwritten rule. If the car is still moving, you keep going until the car can't go any further." The three teams continued to race into the night. In the early hours of Saturday morning, the realization that none of them would finish in under 33 hours had sunk in for everyone. It was a serious blow to their morale. The Class 11 finishers would not officially be recognized by SCORE. Yet, they did not quit. Instead, the remaining Class 11 teams and vehicles pushed through the obstacles even though they were already more than 24 hours into the race. Determined to finish, Nauleau's Team CBCFS was running away from the rest of the other teams with the lead. They had cleared one check -int officially, and things seemed to be getting easier. With 320 miles remaining, teammates Crook and O'Neill got into the vehicle and drove to mile marker 665. "We were feeling the pressure of Hollenbeck who was about 20 miles behind us and gaining fast," said Nauleau. At mile marker 677 another driver change occurred with Nauleau getting in the passenger seat and Nate Tennis now behind the wheel. Soon after, they lost control of car and barrel rolled twice before 073 SCORE JOURNAL TEAM CBCFS AND TEAM RLM DE MEXICO AT THE FINISH LINE 4:30 A.M. ON SATURDAY