POST-RACE QUOTES
Inaugural Tecate SCORE Challenge of Champions
Round four of the 2011 SCORE Desert Series
Sept. 9-11, 2011 – San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico
PRO CARS & TRUCKS
SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK:
ROB MacCACHREN, No. 20 (First in class and first overall. MacCachren drove the entire race.) – The pace this morning was really quick and the truck was working great at the start. It just felt so good – we were just really going. When we got up to San Matias, (Gus Vildosola Jr.) was getting close and when we pulled in and got gas, he went by us. At about mile 198, we were probably about a minute or so behind him and his left rear (wheel) came off and once that happened, we got to the other side and started getting reports of where we were and then we just backed down and made sure that we got it in here (to the finish line). Once I got the lead, we just cruised – slower than pre-running. (How is your injured shoulder?) It’s OK. It was getting a little tired about halfway around but it’s OK. (What’s the biggest difference in your truck?) The shocks are the biggest thing; we just keep working on the shocks and making it better and better. The track here in San Felipe gets rougher the more we go over it so it’s all about shocks. The temperature out there wasn’t too bad at all. These SCORE Trophy-Trucks, you’ve really got to do a good job of prepping them and dot all your i’s and cross your t’s and we’re getting that figured out, I guess. Jimco preps this truck for Robbie Pierce, for MasterCraft, and the whole time I’ve been driving it, there really have not been any major failures with the assembly of the truck. (The points race) is not over until it’s over and I’ve learned that many times before. It’s going to be close going into the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 and that’s great.
GARY WEYHRICH, No. 98 (Second in class and second overall. Weyhrich drove the entire race.) – We were behind Bryce (Menzies) and Cameron Steele and we were in dust for a long time. I followed those guys all the way to Matomi and then got by Cameron in Matomi and cruised on in from there. We left the starting line and it was kind of windy and then we got out there a little ways and there was no wind, so there was a lot of dust. Our motor was laying down in third gear – we don’t know why. It was fine in testing but that’s what hurt us today. I’m happy with the finish considering the engine started laying down about mile 25. We just said, ‘let’s keep going until it blows up’ but it never did. The top three in points got first second and third; the next race (the Tecate Score Baja 1000) is everything. It’s the big one, for sure – in many ways.
BRYCE MENZIES, No. 70 (Third in class and third overall. Menzies drove the entire race.) – It was going good until we pitted at (race mile) 105 and it was in the sand and once we put fuel in it and took off, we got stuck so we had to get one of the chase trucks to come pull us out and I think four trucks got by us there. We just kind of sat in the dust the rest of the day and made it here (to the finish line). It was rough – real rough. Nothing else happened but we got stuck and that set us back a ways. We knew we had to charge hard at the beginning and that’s what we did and then we got stuck. We just wanted to finish. All the lines are the same (as they were here in March) but the holes got three times bigger. It’s probably the roughest race I’ve ever done. I think just being consistent and keeping the truck together was a huge key for this race. (On the points race) It’s definitely going to be a little closer with Rob. I think we’ll go in still leading, but not where we wanted to be.
CLYDE STACY, No. 18 (Fourth in class and fifth overall. Juan Carlos Lopez started and drove to race mile 240 and Stacy drove to the finish.) – We didn’t really have a lot of trouble. Juan, the co-driver, he drove the majority of the race. He drove from the start for me and had a flat and a broken brake line but, overall, it was a pretty good run. We’ve got (seven) cars out on the course and I’m trying to get back and forth to them. Juan did a great job. He got us up pretty well but then he had a couple flat tires and the busted brake line but he still came back again and got us a good finish. I’m really happy – this is probably our best place finish all year so we’re really pleased with it.
CAMERON STEELE, No. 16 (Fifth in class and seventh overall. Steele shared driving duties with Rick Geiser.) – It was our first race on the 40-inch tire. For us, we’re back in the points because we had a really bad Tecate SCORE Baja 500, so we kind of used this race as a little bit of a tire test. It went really good. We’re really getting ready for the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. I think this is a good test because this (course) is going to be a third of the Baja 1000. Having the bigger tire allows us to race in the same line everybody else does instead of having to slow down for all the ruts. Rick Geiser drove the first half of the race and having the guy that created the modern-day SCORE Trophy-Truck driving it is a pretty unfair advantage, I think. It’s cool to be here in the top (five). I think with some of the stuff that we did management-wise, it put us in a hard position to win but now we have good information, good data, good temperatures, so it’s good. We always want to win but this time there was a concentrated effort on making sure that we did a good job getting ready for the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000.
NICK VANDERWEY, No. 84 (Sixth in class and eighth overall. Nick Vanderwey started and drove the first half of the race and Curt LeDuc drove to the finish.) – Co-driver Curt LeDuc said: We had suspension problems – we’re on these new 42-inch tires – and they’re a little different. In the sand wash, at about 100, I rolled the car over. But, in typical LeDuc style, I got it to land on its wheels. We tried something on the suspension and it did what it’s supposed to but it didn’t help us in the bumps so we were fighting it all day. We also had power-steering leak, so we stopped a couple of times to put power-steering fluid in and that just put us behind. All in all, it was a good day for the (No. 84) team. We didn’t give up.
ADAM HOUSEHOLDER, No. 24 (Seventh in class and tenth overall. Householder drove the entire race.) – It was a typical San Felipe race. We overheated the shocks and had to change them. We had two flat tires and that was it. The heat wasn’t bad – it was actually fairly cool. Today was the best day (weather-wise) all week. One of these days I’ll win this race.
CLASS 1 UNLIMITED:
DANIEL McMILLIN, No. 110 (First in class and fourth overall. Chuck Hovey started and drove the first 100 miles and McMillin drove to the finish.) – We had no problems today – it wasn’t even that hot. Chuck Hovey started and did a fantastic job. He had no problems and the car never got hot, really, and we made it here (to the finish). It looks like we got first and (fourth) overall looks pretty good. It’s a good day. The only three cars ahead of me when I got in the car were (Randy) Wilson, (Steve) Appleton and then (Harley) Letner (in the No. 100 car). Wilson broke early when I got around him, Appleton was in the wash, broken, and then Letner was parked. I got the lead at about race mile 205 or 210. Letner was parked and then he got going again and was about a minute behind me and I put like two minutes on him the last 10 miles. It was a good race. It was fun. I cruised the whole race. The last 20 miles, when I knew Letner was there, I pushed it. But I really, honestly, cruised because I wanted to keep the car cool. I think I passed a lot of cars that were overheating.
KORY HALOPOFF, No. 100 (Second in class and sixth overall. Halopoff started and drove to race mile 108 and Harley Letner drove to the finish.) – Co-driver Harley Letner said: Kory was running third and hit a big silt hole and stalled it right in (Jesse) Ashcraft’s pit. They towed us about a mile and that’s when we decided (a screwdriver) to start the car. We got it fired up and it ran problem-free the whole time. We knew (Daniel) McMillin was hunting us down from behind and at about mile 217, I stuffed it in a hole and stalled it. I had to get out my screwdriver again and (McMillin) went by. We drove the last 30 miles with no power steering but I just wanted to finish and we made it. It was so rough and rocky but it’s always an amazing course – I loved it. It has a little bit of everything: Silt, rock, sand and humongous holes. I missed this year’s San Felipe 250, so I’m really stoked to come back and do this one.
BRIAN PARKHOUSE, No. 109 (Third in class and ninth overall. Brian Parkhouse started and drove to race mile 122 and Cody Parkhouse drove to the finish.) – Co-driver Cody Parkhouse said: We had three flats and that killed us. Other than that, we ran clean. The flats kind of took us out of it – especially when you get one right in the start of Matomi and you have to cruise through Matomi to make sure you don’t get another one. I don’t think my dad (Brian Parkhouse) had any flats – I had all the problems.
CONAN BARKER, No. 105 (Fourth in class. Barker started and drove to race mile 172 and Scott Zeppenfeldt drove to the finish.) – Co-driver Scott Zeppenfeldt said: I took a little shortcut that didn’t really work out all that well. There is a dry lake bed out there and there was some mud. There was some dust out there so we thought we had the right angle and ended up going through a big mud puddle. We didn’t get stuck, though. We had a great day – not one flat and we didn’t change tires. We had some electrical issues but other than that, we did fine. The engine died on us a couple of times but luckily it fired back up. All in all, it was a great day.
DAVID GREENHILL, No. 108 (Fifth in class. David Greenhill started and drove the first 120 miles and Mike Boone drove to the finish.) – Co-driver Mike Boone said: The only problem we had was a water pump that started leaking when we left our hotel. We noticed that at the start line so we kept stopping at every pit and topping it off and kept going. Other than that, no problems; the car never really got hot.
CLASS 1-2/1600:
ARTURO VELAZCO, No. 1648 (First in class. Arturo Velazco started and drove to race mile 91, Esteban Cruz drove from mile 91 to mile 167 and Abel Velazco drove from mile 167 to the finish.) – Co-driver Esteban Cruz said: The car was in perfect shape, it could not have been better. We had no problems at all. I got in the car and Arturo said, ‘the car’s running clean; just go.’ I did all my section with no issues at all. I just maintained the car, basically. At that point, we were running in second but we were maintaining the distance behind (Rick) Boyer until right before I gave the car to Abel. This is our first San Felipe win. We all grew up together in Ensenada and we’re like brothers. This is our first San Felipe win and we’re really proud of it. Co-driver Abel Velazco said: It was just one of those flawless days: No dust, no flats, no nothing. I saw Boyer in the pits and I knew he was broken and then it was just maintaining that little gap we had. It was a clean race; it couldn’t have been better.
BRIAN WILSON, No. 1604 (Second in class. Wilson started and drove to race mile 168 and Kyle Quinn drove from mile 168 to the finish.) – Co-driver Kyle Quinn said: We had a good time. It was a little slow when it was silty but, other than that, it was good.
JESUS VELEZ, No. 1648 (Third in class. Velez split driving duties with Rodrigo Ferta.) – It was a very fun race. We had no problems; it was a clean race. My pit support was perfect and I received a lot of help from other teams. The course is tough – very, very tough – but it’s fun on the washes and there are a lot of people to help you out on the course.
CLASS 5:
KEVIN CARR, No. 500 (First in class. Carr was ill and drove only about the first mile of the race and Luis Barragan Jr. got in and finished the race.) – I started out driving but I got out real quick. I had real bad food poisoning so I only drove just a short distance and then Luis Barragan Jr. got in and basically drove the whole race. There was another co-driver who was going to go with me and he didn’t get in the car, either, because he was sick, too. Luis helped me out on the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 last year and he is good. At first, my co-driver was just going to drive the first half and I was going to do the second half but it worked out that he was willing to do the whole thing so I lucked out.
CLASS 6:
HEIDI STEELE, No. 618 (First in class. Steele shared driving duties with Rene Brugger.) – It was pretty rough and definitely hot out there but, all in all, we had a good run. We had one flat tire at race mile 30 but other than that, we had a pretty clean day. It worked out good for us. We didn’t used to be big fans of the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 but given that this is our second win at San Felipe this year, we’re pretty stoked. Hopefully by next year we’ll have a new truck at some point, so we’re looking forward to that.
CLASS 8:
JUSTIN MATNEY, No. 801 (First in class. Rudy Iribe started and drove the first 240 miles and Matney drove to the finish.) – Really, all the credit has got to go to Rudy. I’ve got a pulled disk in my back so I wasn’t able to drive far. I’m just taking it easy and getting ready for the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 – that’s really going to be a big push for us. We just wanted to get through this race and get ready for the Baja 1000. My back doesn’t feel bad right now but I’m sure I’ll be sore tomorrow. Co-driver Rudy Iribe said: At race mile 150, we lost the fuel pumps and we went to a mechanical pump and we limped it in from race mile 150. At race mile 8, we hit a really big whoop and my co-pilot was hurt and we had to stop and take about a five-minute breather. Everything else did really well. We had no flat tires.
CLASS 10:
MATT CULLEN, No. 1003 (First in class. Cullen started and drove to mile 108 and Chuck Sacks drove from mile 108 to the finish.) – Co-driver Chuck Sacks said: Matt had two flat tires but got us the car in really good shape at mile 108 and we basically brought her around. It was pretty straight-forward. We ran clean when we got the car and had no problems. The car did great. This is our first finish since we changed the power in this car to a Honda. We’re really happy it went the distance. The bugs are out and we’re back. We still have some little things to work out but we’re happy.
SCORE LITE:
ZAK LANGLEY, No. 1210 (First in class. Bernie Carr started and drove to mile 121 and Langley drove from mile 121 to the finish.) – Bernie brought me the car with an eight-minute lead but when we got it in the pit, I was sitting in the car and I noticed the front lower chassis tube was cracked in half and (Rafael) Navarro passed us in our pit. We must have been in that pit for 10 minutes because we wanted to make sure we welded it up right. I don’t know what happened to Navarro but we were having a good little race with them for a while and then we saw him pulled over with their chase team. It was the stereotypical off-road story: no flats. The only real thing we had was the weld we had to take care of.
RAFAEL NAVARRO IV, No. 1201 (Second in class. Navarro started and drove to mile 108 and Vic Bruckmann drove from mile 108 to the finish.) Co-driver Vic Bruckmann said: It was a tough day. We had three flat tires and the clutch was slipping pretty much as soon as I got in the car so I couldn’t drive more than half-throttle all the way to the finish so we just kind of limped it along. Other than that, the car was solid. We pulled the starter out and sprayed a fire extinguisher in there, so we wasted a fire extinguisher on the clutch so it would quit slipping but it worked! It helped for quite a while, probably 30 miles, but the last few miles it started slipping pretty good again.
STEVEN LISA, No. 1204 (Third in class. Steven Lisa shared driving duties with Anthony Lisa.) Co-driver Anthony Lisa said: It was a pretty brutal course. When we stopped for fuel, we went ahead and put a new tire on it just to be safe – they weren’t sure if it was going down or not. It was smooth sailing after that. It was a relatively trouble-free race.
PROTRUCK:
JESSICA McMILLIN, No. 1331 (First in class. Scott McMillin started and drove to race mile 94, Andy McMillin drove from mile 94 to mile 168 and Jessica McMillin drove from mile 168 to the finish.) It was a good day. We had no flat tires. The power-steering was pretty dicey toward the end but I made it last. It was tough to drive at the end. The course was rough; we got some dirt over the hood a couple of times because there were some really big whoops out there. But it was super fun; I had a blast. Driving with my dad and Andy helps me a lot. I’m still learning from them so anytime that they offer to drive with me or I get to ride with them is a huge advantage for me. Yes, I would like to drive by myself but as long as I have my dad and my brother to learn from, I might as well take advantage of it.
CLASS 7-2:
REID RUTHERFORD, No. 720 (First in class. Rutherford drove the entire race.) – It was a great race but we lost the power steering in the last 70 miles and second place was right behind us. We had an 18-minute lead on them with 70 miles to go and we lost the power steering and it was down to five minutes at one point. But we finished and that’s what matters.
SCORE MEDIA CONTACT: Dominic Clark, dominiccnv@aol.com