In the 50th running of the SCORE-International Baja 1000, Apdaly Lopez was first to the finish line and took home the overall win. After spending weeks pre-running in preparation for the longest, most grueling race in off-road racing, Lopez earned his first career overall Baja 1000 victory and finished with a time of 19:53:36.312, nearly an hour faster than second place finisher. (more…)
It was a storybook ending to the 2016 desert racing season for Dougans Racing Engines, whose athletes captured seven of the of the top nine spots at Best in the Desert’s Pahrump 250, including the overall win by RPM Off-Road’s #5 Apdaly Lopez. Lopez earned the top starting position after qualifying first at Thursday’s Time Trials and remained out front in the 242 mile sprint on race day. The win marks Dougans’ fifth 2016 win combined from Best in the Desert and SCORE-International, proving their drivers are the elite in the sport.
The Pahrump course was filled with all the terrain you would expect from a race in the badlands of Nevada and a strong wind on race day aided the racers behind Lopez with clean air. However Lopez, #35 Jason Voss and Dougans racer #41 Justin Lofton quickly separated themselves from the rest of the pack by RM 12. The order was the same through Pit 5 at RM 155, this time with Voss hot on Lopez’ heals. At the finish line, however, it was Apdaly finishing first just +00:00:38 ahead of second place, Jason Voss.
“I am so proud of all my team and crew who came to this race after the Baja 1000 with the same truck. New tires and an oil change was the only thing we did to the truck and to take the win is amazing,” said Lopez at the finish.
Lopez was aided by Dougans teammate Tracy Graf who gave him one of their tires at RM 155 to finish the race with a spare. Lopez says, “It couldn’t have been done without them and that helped us win. I’d like to give a special thanks to Graf Racing.”
#58 Tracy Graf stuck to his game plan heading in to the Pahrump 250 and secured a second place finish in the overall points standings for the 2016 BITD season. Graf got one flat at RM 22 that set him back a few minutes but other than that had no issues all day to take sixth place overall. “Thank you to all the team members of Graf Racing for a tremendous year and thank you to all of our sponsors and suppliers that helped us have a great 2016,” commented Graf.
#41 Justin Lofton fell back to finish fourth place overall after suffering a few flat tires. That’s all it takes in a 250 mile race but Lofton is already setting his sights on 2017, where he could potentially be the first racer in history to three-peat The Mint 400.
RPM Off-Road’s #4 Justin Matney took the final spot on the podium and finished +00:07:29 off Lopez’ winning pace. Matney climbed all the way from fourteenth position on the track after his qualifying run left him out of the top ten. Matney’s third place finish put a second RPM Off-Road truck on top the podium.
Jeff Geiser and Tony Smiley finished fifth overall in the second race in the brand new #2 Geiser-built Trick Truck. Geiser qualified sixth and finished +00:12:22 off Lopez’ winning pace.
#38 Eric Hustead and #55 Anthony Terzo of YouTheory Racing finished 8th and 9th, respectively, securing two more spots for Dougans Racing Engines in the Top 10 overall.
#95 Scott Whipple, #60 Cole Potts and #Ryan Poelman finished 13th, 14th and 16th in class, while #27 Steve Olliges finished 17th.
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Apdaly Lopez entered the 2015 SCORE-International Baja 1000 third in points behind Dougans Engine racers, Tavo Vildosola and Lalo Laguna. With an official second place finish at the Baja 1000, Lopez became the first Mexican national driver to win the SCORE Trophy Truck and SCORE Overall season points championship.
Lopez was first to the finish line in Ensenada, Baja California, but was later penalized twenty minutes for missing two of the ninety-five virtual checkpoints scattered along the 821.38 mile racecourse, dropping his finishing time to 16:14:55. The penalties pushed Lopez out of the top spot and overall victory at the legendary race but didn’t take away from his performance in one of the most grueling races in off-road.
Lopez started in ninth position behind Robby Gordon and suffered an early front flat tire but pushed on without any other problems to battle Rob MacCachren in the final miles.
“The race course was really rough and the weather conditions changed in different sections of the course. The course was technical and we had to work to take care of the truck,” commented Lopez.
With a win at the Baja 500 earlier this year and his dominating performance at the Baja 1000, Lopez’ overall points championship proves that the #5 Trophy Truck, powered by Dougan’s Racing Engines, is one of the top trucks on the course. At just the age of 20, Lopez joins a list of elite racers that have ever claimed the #1 plate in SCORE-International.
Dougans racers took six of the top ten spots in the Trophy Truck class. #17 Lalo Laguna earned the final spot on the podium with a time of 16:17:03. Lalo shared driving duties with Josh Daniel, who said that the team drove about 800 miles with no communication. The team raced as fast as they could without an intercom, driving strictly off the GPS and hand signals. “What a day! The 2015 Baja 1000 was one of the toughest races I have ever raced. Fog, silt, rocks, dust all were factors that make this years race so difficult but we made to the finish,” said Laguna. Laguna’s third place finish should lock up the runner up spot in the overall points championship.
Tavo Vildosola was the second fastest qualifier at SCORE’s SEMA qualifying event, which meant mostly clean air to start the race. Tavo started behind Dougans teammate #5 Justin Matney and ahead of a stacked field of racers ready to hunt him down. According to Tavo, the truck ran flawless all day but two early flats forked over key position on the race course. Around race mile 295, Vildosola got stuck in the silt beds that plagued many racers, including #9 Gary Weyhrich of TSCO Racing and #1 Steven Eugenio of Galindo Motorsports.
Gary Weyhrich started 12th and moved up to 9th on corrected time by race mile 134 as the race course ran along the coast. At the teams first fuel stop at race mile 200, Weyhrich was fifteen minutes behind the lead time.
However, the #9 got stuck at race mile 295 as they approached an already stuck Tavo Vildosola. Co-rider Jason Duncan dug for about 30 minutes, then Tavo’s crew pulled them out and the two continued on.
Vildosola battled back and cruised to a solid sixth place finish. Gary passed the truck on to brother Mark Weyhrich and Ryan Williams at race mile 350. TSCO was down on time by nearly two hours at that point and Mark rocketed out of the pits but a front flat around race mile 400 was the nail in the coffin for the team. Williams fixed the flat, then hopped behind the wheel to race mile 465 where Gary got back in and headed to the finish line in 9th place.
Current SCORE points champion, Steven Eugenio, also spent some time digging out of the silt at race mile 295. The bottle neck that quickly jammed the race course began to grow bigger and at that point it was a waiting game for everything to clear.
“We got held up and lost some time there. We lost about 10 or 15 minutes but in a race like this losing 10 or 15 minutes can happen anywhere. With a little bit of luck, I think we could have won one of the races this year and with some luck maybe that changes next year,” said co-driver, Armin Schwarz. Eugenio and Schwarz finished behind Tavo in 7th place in the Trophy Truck class.
Earlier this year, Cameron Steele made a strategic move to sit out this year’s Baja 500 to spend some time testing the Dougans Racing Engines 474 8 stack power plant (up from the 454 injected). Steele logged over 1,000 miles before the Baja 1000. According to Steele, the gamble and plan paid off and worked perfectly.
Steele quickly moved up two positions and at race mile 133, Steele’s crew and others near by had him leading on time. At their driver change at race mile 283, the #16 was second on corrected time behind race leader, Bryce Menzies. Through Puertecitos, the teams timing had them third and it looked like a podium was within reach as the lead pack started to separate itself. However, at 90 mph, the steering went out just past VCP 71 at mile 634. Steele spent nearly two hours diagnosing the truck but got it started and charged in to Ensenada with a time of 18:23:00 and finishing in 10th place.
#14 Heidi Steele shared driving duties with Cody and Brian Parkhouse. The team ran in to mechanical issues that cost them a couple hours but managed a 15th place finish amongst the 32+ Trophy Trucks that started the race.
Dougans racers #93 Chris Kemp and #39 Ron Whitton finished in 16th and 17th place.
#75 Mike Cook and #45 Gary Mangess both ran solid races just missed out on the top 10 with 12th and 13th place finishes.
#59 Craig Potts, #4 Justin Matney and the lone Class 1 car of #185 Justin Davis were the only three Dougans Racing Engine racers to not finish the 2015 SCORE-International Baja 1000.
Dougans Racing Engines will finish out the 2015 off-road racing season at the Best in the Desert Henderson 250 December 4th-6th.
About Dougans Racing Engines
Dougans Racing Engines (www.dougansracing.com) specializes in high performance engines for the top off-road competitions including the Best In the Desert and SCORE racing series. With over thirty-five years in the industry, Dougans offers high quality engine packages for trophy trucks, Class 1 trucks, and prerunners. We build complete engine packages that have gained a reputation in the racing world as consistent, powerful, dependable winners. Along with our engine packages, we provide dyno testing and personal track support to ensure that our customer’s needs are met all the way to the finish line. At Dougans Racing, customer satisfaction is our top priority and we strive to keep you running hard and winning races mile after mile.
About Mad Media:
Mad Media (www.madmedia.com) is a San Diego based marketing and creative agency, with in-house film and television production. We craft authentic, culturally engaging brand messages, and deliver them across print, web, photography, and film platforms. Mad Media has been leading the online content revolution since 1995 producing major commercial, television, online content and viral film projects such as The Gymkhana Series and XP1K Series.
June 10, 2015 – Garden Grove, CA – King Shocks takes the overall win in the 47th SCORE Baja 500 with Apdaly Lopez. The win earns King Shocks its third straight overall victory in the SCORE International Off-Road Racing Series. The SCORE season kicked off with Tavo Vildosola taking the overall win at the San Felipe 250. The Baja Sur 500 saw Apdaly’s RPM Racing and King Shocks teammate Lalo Laguna as the fastest overall driver on the 500-mile course. At the Bud Light SCORE Baja 500, it was Apdaly’s turn to outrun the field in a 500-mile Baja torture test. You might have seen the young Lopez taking a gold medal at the X-games behind the wheel of his Formula Off-Road Stadium Super Truck in 2014. His X-games gold medal performance made him the youngest driver in X Games history to win a gold medal in a car or truck. He also became the first Mexican National to earn an X Games gold medal. Now he has a prestigious Baja 500 victory to add to his credentials.
Lopez overcame brake issues at mile 100 that cost him ten minutes of down time in the early going. Once that was sorted out, he made up the lost time and continued on to victory. “Winning this Baja 500 wasn’t just luck, it was preparation and hard work,” Said Lopez, “My King Shocks helped me to push the #5 to the limit. The truck was working perfect on the most demanding trails in Baja. In the whoops, my King shocks gave me excellent control, stability and speed. They allowed me to run mistake free and cut significant time after we had to fix some brake issues. Hands down, King Shocks are the best shocks in the desert.”
With numerous SCORE and BITD wins and Championships in several classes to their credit, the bright orange trucks and cars of RPM are making a huge impact on the sport of off-road racing. The Bristol, Tennessee based team has developed many talented new drivers in the sport including both Apdaly Lopez and Lalo Laguna.
With so many different vehicles competing under the RPM banner, they rely on the precise adjustability, race winning performance and personalized technical support provided by King Shocks. You can get the same damping technology on your vehicle. Regardless if you are competing or just having fun, whatever your application; King Shocks has the shock you need with the same performance and reliability that Apdaly Lopez and the RPM racing team enjoy.
The benefit of running King Shocks was clearly established at the SCORE Baja 500. “King Shocks congratulates Apdaly Lopez on his magnificent Baja 500 victory,” said Ramses Perez, director of marketing, King Shock Technology Inc. “With the 47th SCORE Baja 500 triumph and three consecutive overall victories in the SCORE series in 2015, I am pleased to say King Shocks is the shock choice of Off-Road champions.”
About King Shocks
King Shocks makes world-class desert racing shocks for trucks, buggies and UTV’s. King manufactures and hand assembles all of their shocks in Southern California. King Shocks has been the industry leader for over a decade and continues to leave the competition in the dust by providing the level of quality, performance and customer service that champions demand.