RockCrawler.com

Category: Baja 500

  • BFGoodrich® Tires Looks To Continue Torrid Desert Race Run at SCORE Baja 500

    BFGoodrich® Tires Looks To Continue Torrid Desert Race Run at SCORE Baja 500

    Tire maker has claimed seven consecutive overall SCORE desert race titles

    Ensenada, Mexico, June 4, 2015  –  After sweeping the SCORE International Desert Racing series last year and helping put champion racers back on the podium, BFGoodrich® Tires is poised to continue its string of seven consecutive overall SCORE desert race wins at the Bud Light SCORE Baja 500 in Ensenada, Mexico, starting Saturday, June 6.

    The outstanding run of successes last year included overall wins at the SCORE Baja 500 and SCORE Baja 1000, and coincided with the introduction of the latest in desert race tire technology with the BFGoodrich Tires Baja T/A® KR2. The tire has been adopted by race teams in various classes and now has amassed 11 overall desert race wins.

    Storylines for the Bud Light SCORE Baja 500:

    ·        Not only has BFGoodrich taken the overall wins in the last seven SCORE Desert races, it has also collected 16 of the last 17 major North American desert races, including the Best In The Desert series.

    ·        In 2015, BFGoodrich has been the tire of choice for every overall winner for these major races – BITD MINT, BITD Parker, BITD Silver State, Bud Light SCORE Baja Sur, and Bud Light SCORE San Felipe 250.

    ·        In the Baja peninsula, BFGoodrich Tires dominates, collecting a total of 83 overall victories.
    ·        Last year, BFGoodrich Tires claimed its 30th overall SCORE Baja 500 win. Over the past three years, BFGoodrich has been on 23 of the top 30 overall finishers and claimed 23 class titles at this race.

    ·        The BFGoodrich Tires Baja T/A® KR2 race tire has 11 overall desert race wins.
    ·        Taking into account the last two years of races in Baja, BFGoodrich Tires has claimed 74 percent of the overall top finishers (52 of 70) and an astounding 64 class wins. “The Baja peninsula has been an important proving ground for our company,” said Peter Calhoun, BFGoodrich Tires motorsports manager. “Our success here in racing has also translated into us creating the best all-terrain tires for the driving public. We have our teams of the podium again this year.”

    Menzies Looks To Make History
    BFGoodrich Performance Team member Bryce Menzies captured last year’s SCORE Baja 500 after missing an opportunity to claim three in a row in 2013.  Nonetheless, Menzies, who will drive the No. 77 Red Bull Ford F-150, has claimed the overall win in three of the last four years in this race and looks to join an elite group of just five racers who have four overall SCORE Baja 500 wins.
    Other racers in this year’s field looking to join that group include Troy Herbst and fellow BFGoodrich Performance Team member Rob MacCachren.

    Vildosola Leads Collection of BFGoodrich Tires Racer In SCORE World Desert Championship Points Race
    After another dominating performance at the season opening Bud Light SCORE San Felipe 250, Gus Vildosola Jr leads the overall SCORE World Desert Championship points followed closely by Eduardo Laguna, overall winner at the Bud Light SCORE Baja Sur race.Just two races into the five-race 2015 SCORE World Desert Championship, the top five overall points leaders choose BFGoodrich Tires to affix to their race trucks. Following Vildosola and Laguna, stands Lopez Apdaly, last year’s overall champion Steven Eugenio and Rob MacCachren.

    BFGoodrich Tires Show Well at the SCORE Baja 500
    Last year, BFGoodrich Tires not only took the overall win, but its race tires ran on nine of the top 10 overall finishers and 17 of the top 20, while adding seven class wins at the SCORE Baja 500. In Class 1, four of the top five class finishers, including class 1 winner Cody Parkhouse, who finished 10th overall, ran on BFGoodrich Tires.

    It was BFGoodrich Tires 30th overall SCORE Baja 500 win. Over the past three years, BFGoodrich has been on 23 of the top 30 overall finishers and claimed 23 class titles.

    KR2 Stands Out Once Again
    Since being run as a developmental tire in 2013, the BFGoodrich Baja T/A® popularity among desert racers. It has been run on the vehicles that won 7 of nine desert races in 2014 and all four desert races in 2015 — BITD MINT, BITD Parker, BITD Silver State, SCORE Baja Sur and San Felipe.

    The KR2 tire, originally designed for the Trophy Truck class, has become so renowned that it now has been developed, with subtle adjustments, for several classes. Racers in Class 1, Class 7 and Class 10, as well as the UTV class, new this year, will be running KR2 tires and joining those in the Trophy Truck and Trophy Truck spec classes.

    This tire development has gone even beyond desert racing. The core structure of the KR2 has also been used on the
    winning entry of Randy Slawson at this year’s King of The Hammers race in California. The BFGoodrich Baja T/A KR2-S was specially designed to handle the speeds and rock crawling demands of that unique race.

    But if desert sand and rock wasn’t enough to prove its mettle, the BFGoodrich Baja T/A KR2 tire was also used as the race tire for the Red Bull Frozen Rush competition over the past two years. This event features trophy trucks racing up snow covered ski slopes, using the specially prepared tire renamed BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A FR2 for the event.

    • The historic desert tires–The BFGoodrich® like many off road tires, used the Baja peninsula as a proving ground for its toughness and performance. Radial All-Terrain T/A® Launched nearly 40 years ago, this tire claimed its first victory in 1977 at the Baja 500. Several years later on the next iteration of the tire it claimed it’s first of many overall Baja 1000 wins in 1986 in an entry driven by Mark McMillin and Ralph Paxton. That started a run that witnessed the BFGoodrich Tires company claiming 20 consecutive overall Baja 1000 titles.From there the BFGoodrich Baja TA KR tire became the tire of choice for more race teams in Baja than any other tire. Starting in the early 1990s, the KR tire helped evolving, faster and heavier Trophy Trucks to victory. The BFGoodrich Baja KR and KRT tire has taken home more overall Baja 1000 wins than any other tire combined. And with the new iteration of that tire, the KR2, the success story continues.

    2014 Was The Year of BFG; 2015 Sizing up to be the same
    BFGoodrich Tires saw considerable success last year and continues to do so this season. With overall victories in races supported by both major desert racing bodies – SCORE International and Best In the Desert, BFGoodrich Tires is leading the way for success in the desert. Overall BFGoodrich Race wins in the last two years.

    2014

    BITD Parker 425 Jason Voss

    SCORE San Felipe 250 Gus Vildosola Jr

    BITD Mint 400 Andy McMillin

    SCORE Imperial Valley 250 Andy McMillin

    BITD Silver State 300 Jason Voss

    SCORE Baja 500 Bryce Menzies

    BITD Vegas To Reno Jason Voss

    SCORE Desert Challenge Steven Eugenio

    BITD Henderson 250 Jason Voss

    SCORE Baja 1000 Rob MacCachren/Andy McMillin/Jason Voss

    2015

    BITD Parker 425 Gary Weyhrich

    SCORE San Felipe 250 Gus Vildosola Jr

    BITD Mint 400 Justin Lofton

    SCORE Baja Sur Eduardo Laguna

    BITD Silver State 300 Jason Voss

    In addition to supplying tires to a number of Bud Light SCORE Baja 500 competitors, BFGoodrich Tires will continue to lend unparalleled pit and communications support to teams through its fleet of off-road motorsports vehicles, and will provide accommodations and supplies at the media center. This immense undertaking involves nearly 100 off-road enthusiasts and volunteers who donate their time in order to help make the race an overwhelming success.Follow along with this year’s SCORE Baja 500 with race stories, images and videos as well as images at www.bfgoodrichracing.com.

    About BFGoodrich
    Using motorsports as a proving ground for more than 40 years, BFGoodrich® sports car, drag, desert, dirt, short course and extreme rock crawling. BFGoodrich Tires combines technological expertise with vast motorsports experience, delivering a high-performance tire for every type of vehicle. Visit BFGoodrich Motorsports site at
    http://www.bfgoodrichracing.com/or BFGoodrich Tires on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/BFGoodrichTires or on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/BFGoodrichTires.

  • Team BaDoink Falls to Baja at the 2014 SCORE Baja 500

    Team BaDoink Falls to Baja at the 2014 SCORE Baja 500

    Badoink Baja 500 1BAJA , JULY 9, 2014     With an experience of a lifetime under their belt before the green flag even dropped, Trophy Spec #869 driver of record Tim Whale and business partner Mark Hoashi successfully started the 46th running of the 2014 SCORE Baja 500. The Trophy Spec truck started 10th in class and moved up to second in class within the first 100 miles!  The outcome ended with the Baja superseding their podium finish at race mile 147 where a silt rut swapped out the rear end, slowly rolling the truck over consequently bending the rear tracking bar.  “This is a huge defeat for me, I think we are officially out at the moment,” said Tim Whale.  “The Driven Experience group has given us the opportunities to learn and it was up to us to finish.  They have done everything they could to get the truck running again, but as it sits right now, we are going to have to call the race and head back to Ensenada.” (more…)

  • Driven Experiences Inaugural Baja 500 Successful

    Driven Experiences Inaugural Baja 500 Successful

    Driven Exp Baja 500 Bower Media 2GATEWAY, CO   JUNE 17, 2014:  Driven Experiences first run at the SCORE Baja races proves their Arrive and Drive Trophy Truck Spec program has the gears to become a long-term program. Driven Experiences gave two clients with a dream to race Baja an intensive two week drivers training between Driven Experiences training facility at Gateway Canyons Resort in Colorado, the deserts of Barstow California and a full week in Baja pre-running.   The team felt confidence that the clients had all the tools to be successful at the wave of the green flag.

    “It’s been a good experience.  I’m excited that we got them to this point and now we just need to get them starting the race in the morning.  It has been a journey for sure, but I think it’s a testament to our crew getting the job done.  We have a solid truck and a solid crew chasing, so now I am excited to get the race going,” said Andrew Hendricks, Driven Experiences’ President. (more…)