Rob MacCachren secures third consecutive overall win
BFGoodrich Performance Team member Rob MacCachren fought the grueling conditions of the 854-mile course to make history in claiming his third consecutive SCORE Baja 1000 overall win. MacCachren joined forces with Jason Voss, who also partnered with MacCachren for the 2014 SCORE Baja 100 win, to bolster a team that took the win by nearly 27 minutes. The win culminates a year of recognition of 40 years of SCORE Baja racing for BFGoodrich Tires and marks the company’s 28th overall Baja 1000 win and 87th win on the Baja peninsula.
BFGoodrich placed seven of the top 10 overall finishers at this iconic off-road race and secured 14 class titles. As the final race of the SCORE season, the Baja 1000 determined many classes’ season championships, including the overall Desert World Championship crown. Additionally, nine different iterations of BFGoodrich Tires claimed class wins at the race.
A very tight battle in the Trophy Truck class had MacCachren chasing down leaders Mark Post/Kyle LeDuc, Justin Matney/Ricky Johnson and Robby Gordon. Once MacCachren hunted those trucks down he handed the truck to co-driver Voss at mile 498, who extended the lead and was never challenged on the race course.
MacCachren becomes just the second driver (Larry Ragland) to win three consecutive SCORE Baja 1000 overall titles. He is also the all-time winningest racer in the SCORE International Trophy Truck class with 14 class wins.
In Class 1, the Wilson team of Ronnie, Brian and Randy, ran away from the field midway through the race and took his Jimco-Chevy across the finish line 12 minutes ahead of the next finisher and helped BFGoodrich to a class podium sweep. The Wilson entry was one of many that declared zero flat tires on their run and were running on the BFGoodrich All-Terrain KDR2, the tire of choice for many entries in the upcoming 2017 Dakar Rally. Once again, BFGoodrich demonstrated its commitment to using Baja desert racing as a proving ground for its tires.
“This was a special year for BFGoodrich Tires as we recognized four decades of desert racing in Baja and the development of the radial all-terrain tire that changed the industry,” said Chris Baker, motorsports director, Michelin North America and BFGoodrich. “We are proud to celebrate continued success with our 28th overall Baja 1000 win and are thrilled to be a part of the greatness that Rob MacCachren and his team have achieved. We congratulate them for their third consecutive win at this race.
“We haven’t rested on our success. Another SCORE Baja race season has driven additional innovation in our race tires. We’ve continued testing and proving that our desert race tires are unmatched and our partner racers are among the most talented in the industry, creating a performance team second to none.
After several years of remarkable success with our Baja T/A®KR2 race tire (24 overall race wins in the desert) we’ve continued to challenge ourselves to provide ongoing tire performance improvements for our racers. We are very pleased with the performance of the latest version of our desert race tire, the Baja T/A®KR3 in this race. And several may have noticed that we also debuted our next generation mud-terrain tire here in prototype form as we continue to refine the design for its upcoming commercial launch both of which continued a tradition with our brand, sustaining the brutal demands of proving itself in the Baja peninsula, added Baker.
BFGoodrich’s Performance Team, featuring championship-caliber racers, overcame a few vehicle issues and a virus that ran rampant through the entire team and demonstrated their persistence and guts to capture their second consecutive Baja 1000 Baja Challenge (BC) class win in just over 28 hours.
With two teams entered, BFGoodrich teams finished first and second in the class. The team led by captain Bill Weber relied on seasoned drivers Lance Clifford, Mike Johnson, Larry McRae, Rich Minga and joined by BFGoodrich engineer Jay Jakupca.
The second team came in roughly an hour later and was filled by past Baja 1000 champions including Bob Bower, Brad Lovell, Andrew Comrie-Picard, Kyle Tucker, Brian Finch and John Williams.
Key storylines for BFGoodrich Tires from the SCORE Baja 1000 include:
• BFGoodrich has taken the overall win in 12 of the last 14 SCORE International desert races.
• On the Baja peninsula, BFGoodrich Tires dominates, collecting a total of 87 SCORE overall victories since 1976.
• More than 100 race teams registered for the BFGoodrich Tires pit support for this race which includes mapping, tire and fuel work and communications assistance
• The 14 class wins for BFGoodrich Tires ranks as the most class wins of any tire manufacturer, now tallying 37 class wins in the last three SCORE Baja 1000 races.
• Nine different iterations of BFGoodrich Tires claimed class wins at the SCORE Baja 1000
• BFGoodrich drivers swept the podium in Trophy Truck, Class 1 and Class 10 as well as the Baja Challenge class.
• Nearly 60 percent of the field was running on BFGoodrich Tires.
• Rod Hall and his team completed the SCORE Baja 1000 and marked the 49th consecutive Baja 1000 race completion for Hall. The win marks his 23rd class win. The team included Chad and Shelby Hall and long-time BFGoodrich motorsports advocate Frank DeAngelo.
• The win in the Pro Moto Unlimited class for Colton Udall and Mark Samuels was accomplished on MICHELIN Desert Race tires in a time that was in the top 10 overall just over 18 hours. Additionally the 3X team of Ray Dal Soglio, Ian Young and Nic Garvin finished in 18 hours, 52 minutes to claim the class title also on MICHELIN Desert Race tires.
Four Decades of Heritage in Baja
BFGoodrich engineers traveled to Baja California, Mexico, in 1975 to test a new concept ― a radial light-truck tire for off- and on-road use. They learned quickly that they could use the Baja peninsula as a real-life laboratory to develop tires. If the tires could withstand the grueling terrain of Baja, they could survive almost anywhere else.
A year later, BFGoodrich launched its first radial all-terrain tire, the BFGoodrich Radial All-Terrain T/A®, testing the new tire’s durability in the SCORE Baja 1000 desert race. Mounted on an Oldsmobile Starfire, perhaps the most unlikely desert-racing vehicle, the team didn’t win, but it did succeed. The experiment strengthened the brand’s resolve to build and race unmatched light truck tires. Returning the next year, BFGoodrich claimed the first off-road win for a radial all-terrain tire, as Frank “Scoop” Vessels raced his Ford F-100 to class 8 wins at the Baja 500 and Baja 1000 that year.
These keystone moments marked the beginning of what has become a story of unrivaled desert-racing success for a tire company — 87 overall wins in SCORE Baja racing over the next 40 years, more than all other tire manufacturers combined. Those early racing successes also launched a revolutionary new tire category that contributed to the growth of the entire light-truck and four-wheel-drive industry.
Throughout the four decades of racing on the peninsula, BFGoodrich has been committed to supporting the widest range of race classes and thus has had a broad group of tires demonstrate success in desert racing. In fact, more than 20 BFGoodrich Tire designs have won a class in the SCORE Baja 1000 and five different tires, from the original all-terrain tires to purpose-built race tires have won the overall title at the SCORE Baja 1000.
SCORE Baja 1000 Overall Top Finishers (all running on BFGoodrich Tires)
1. Rob MacCachren, Las Vegas/Jason Voss, Cupertino, Calif., Ford F-150, 17:12:57 (SCORE Trophy Truck)
2. Carlos Lopez, Tecate, Mexico/Juac C. Lopez, Tecate, Mexico, Geiser Trophy Truck, 17:39:45, (SCORE Trophy Truck)
3. Troy Herbst, Las Vegas/Ryan Arciero, Foothill Ranch, Calif., Ford F-150, 17:42:10, (SCORE Trophy Truck)
4. Gus Vildosola Jr, Mexicali, Mexico, Ford Raptor, 18:02:30 (SCORE Trophy Truck)
5. Mark Post, Las Vegas/Ed Herbst, Las Vegas/Kyle LeDuc, Temecula, Calif., 18:09:42 Ford F-150 (SCORE Trophy Truck)
6. Luke McMillin, San Diego/Justin Smith, Las Vegas, 18:11:33 Ford F-150 (SCORE Trophy Truck)
7. Andy McMillin, San Diego/Larry Roeseler, Martinez, Calif., Ford F-150, 18:16:54 (SCORE Trophy Truck)
8. Steven Eugenio, Carlsbad, Calif./Larry Connor, Miamisburg, Ohio, Chevy Silverado, 18:22:24 (SCORE Trophy Truck)
9. Billy Wilson, Corpus Christi, Texas, Chevy Silverado, 18:39:14 (SCORE Trophy Truck)
10. Eduardo ‘Lalo’ Laguna, Mexicali, Mexico/Damian Duran, Ensenada, Mexico, Chevy Silverado, 19:02:26 (SCORE Trophy Truck)
BFGoodrich Tires Class Wins
SCORE Trophy Truck — Rob MacCachren/Jason Voss; BFGoodrich Baja T/A KR3
Class 1 — Ronnie Wilson/Randy Wilson/Brian Wilson; BFGoodrich Baja T/A KDR2-S
Class 10 — Justin Davis; BFGoodrich Baja T/A; BFGoodrich Baja T/A KR2
Trophy Truck Spec — Rod Lewis/Clint LaRue/Eric Jacobs/Justin Hermann; BFGoodrich Baja T/A KR2
SCORE Lites — Rich Roberts/Kirk Kontilis/Rob Martensen; BFGoodrich Baja T/A KR2
Class 5 — Victor Cesena/Gerardo Iribe/Martin Collins; BFGoodrich Baja T/A KR2
Class 3 — Donald Moss/Ken Moss; BFGoodrich Baja DOT
Heavy Metal — Ivan Rivera/Marco Rivera/Javier Pacheco/Jorge Rivas Jr; BFGoodrich Baja T/A KR2
Stock Full — Rod Hall/Chad Hall/Frank DeAngelo/Shelby Hall; BFGoodrich Baja T/A KR
Baja Challenge — Bill Weber/Jay Jakupca/Rich Minga/Mike Johnson/Larry McRae/Lance Clifford; BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain Next Generation
Class 11 — Noe Gutierrez/Sergio Fabela/Oscar Beltran/Jorge Maldonado; BFGoodrich Long Trail T/A Tour
Trophy Lite — Ryan Lewis/Brad Pace/Casey Adkisson/Eric Sheetz; BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain KM2
Sportsman Unlimited –Jim Bunn/Raymon Fernandez/Thomas Fernandez; BFGoodrich Baja T/A KR2
Class 8 — Rick Sanchez/Enrique Lara, Chevy Silverado; BFGoodrich Baja T/A KR2