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Tag: SCORE International Off-Road Racing

  • Apdaly Lopez First to the Finish Line, Settles for Second Place at the 2015 Baja 1000

    Apdaly Lopez First to the Finish Line, Settles for Second Place at the 2015 Baja 1000

    Lopez Wins SCORE-International Overall Points Championship in the Trophy Truck Class

    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.

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    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.

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    “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.

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    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.

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    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.

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    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.

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    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.

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    “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.

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    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.

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    #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.

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    Dougans racers #93 Chris Kemp and #39 Ron Whitton finished in 16th and 17th place.

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    #75 Mike Cook and #45 Gary Mangess both ran solid races just missed out on the top 10 with 12th and 13th place finishes.

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    #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.
     

     

     

     

  • Banning Motorsports Outruns 80% of TT-Spec Class to Finish the 2015 Baja 500 on the Podium

    Banning Motorsports Outruns 80% of TT-Spec Class to Finish the 2015 Baja 500 on the Podium

    Phoenix, Arizona (June 18, 2015)– Banning Motorsports did their homework in the form of pre-running for this years SCORE-International Baja 500. It did more than paid off for the entire team as they finished the 500+mile race with a podium finish.

    The Arizona based team headed south for the 46th annual Baja 500, but this year they would be doing it different by bringing down their new Geiser TT-Spec truck and racing Baja for the first time in the new truck. Days upon days of pre-running and planning all came down to race day where the #855 started off the line in Ensenada. (more…)

  • 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…)

  • BFGoodrich Tires Primed for Success After SCORE Imperial Valley 250 Qualifying

    BFGoodrich Tires Primed for Success After SCORE Imperial Valley 250 Qualifying

    Armin Schwarz BowerMediaGREENVILLE, SC (April 24, 2014) –  BFGoodrich® Tires are the tire of choice for well over half of the drivers at today’s inaugural SCORE Imperial Valley 250 qualifying.   Andy McMillin, driving BFGoodrich Performance Team member Rob MacCachren’s truck, will be second off the line for Saturday afternoons lap race.  Justin Matney, in the bright orange RPM Class 1 car, will be the first Class 1 followed by Paul Keller. (more…)

  • Vision X Lighting Racers Triumphant at 46th Tecate SCORE Baja 1000

    Vision X Lighting Racers Triumphant at 46th Tecate SCORE Baja 1000

    Vision X - Baja 1000November 20, 2013 – Algona, WA – Racers using Vision X Lighting outshine the rigors and darkness of the the 46th Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 to claim multiple class wins and class championships.

    The grueling yet majestic terrain in Baja California, Mexico put 251 starters to the ultimate test of man and machine as they forged through over 900 miles of mountains, deserts, deep sand washes, dry lake beds, silt beds, mud holes and cactus fields. After 18 hours of continual punishment the first finishers began cross the finish line, and after over 35 hours less than half of the starters would see the checkered flag. (more…)