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Round 2, 2005 SCORE Desert Series
19th Annual Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250
RACE NOTES AND QUOTES - Saturday, February 26, 2005
4-WHEEL VEHICLES
SCORE TROPHY TRUCK
Jason Baldwin, Laguna Beach, CA (1) took the checkered flag, finishing
first physically and about five minutes (time-adjusted) in front of the next
SCORE
Trophy Truck. Baldwin was the 2004 SCORE Desert Series point champion, yet
did it without winning a race by being one of just two SCORE Trophy Trucks
to finish
each of the five races. Baldwin also was the 1992 points champion in Class
1, also winning the points title without winning a race. Reflecting the deep
and
talented field in this division, Baldwin became the fifth different SCORE Trophy
Truck winner in the last five years of this race. In fact, since this class
was added in 1994, there have been different people who have won each time
with the
exception of the three-year reign of Tim/Ed Herbst. “This is the way racing
is supposed to be,” an ecstatic Baldwin said following jumping on the hood
of his car. “Our radio wasn’t working too good today, and we had
a lot of problems. Curt (LeDuc/Mark Post, 3) was on it – he was running
really hard. He caught me a couple of times and passed me. He was making time
on us. We lost our power steering about 100 miles in, but we knew what we could
do from pre-running this a few times. Our suspension wasn’t our issue today,
it was our tranny. It’s my first win – I got second last year but
it was pretty tight.” Baldwin’s co-rider, Gary Houston, in the aftermath
was nearly oblivious to small amounts of blood coming from a wound to his right
ear. “We never got out of the car,” Houston said. “We had
events all day long. Jason hit a tree and ripped the GPS off the truck. He
drove halfway
without power steering. We ran the motor on 20-30 pounds pressure for 120 minutes.
We were with Tim and Eddie (Herbst, 19) there at the beginning. We chased him
for 20 minutes and finally got to a spot and got around him, maybe around mile
68. From there we just put on more time. We went around quite a few quads and
motorcycles, but most of them were really good about letting us know they were
there.”
 Tim Herbst/Ed Herbst (19), the brother tandem from Las Vegas, placed second
in the featured class, denying them the chance to become four-time winners
in this
class in San Felipe, as the duo was victorious in 1999, 2000 and 2001. In 1995,
they also won the Class 1 title here. “We did all right, we were the second
car on the road,” Ed stated. “Every time we got going good we’d
have a flat. We had four flats, and that’s pretty unusual. We have won
this race four times so we know how to win it. Finishing second is okay, but
we’d prefer to win. You just can’t win if you get flats. We were
pretty conservative this year.”
CLASS 1
Andy McMillin/Scott McMillin (120), the father-son duo from Poway,
CA, got both the class win as well as the overall victory by finishing with
a course-record
63.22 mph speed. Scott started the race, then handed over the keys to his son
Andy at Puertecitos, around mile 130. In 1993, Scott won this race with his
dad, and 22 years Andy repeated the feat. Winning the overall title ended a
streak
of six straight years in which a SCORE Trophy Truck was the fastest vehicle.
In this race, eight of the top 10 finishers were from Class 1, while last year
the top 10 was evenly split between SCORE Trophy Truck and Class 1 vehicles.
Taking it one step further, 12 of the top 14 overall finishers were from Class
1. “We had no problems,” Andy happily exclaimed. “When I
got the car we were the fifth car, and the leaders had three to five minutes
on us
physically. We passed Hovey (Chuck, 103), he was the last car, with about 60
miles left in the race. As soon as I got in I just took it easy, I didn’t
want to break. Last year I lost by one second to my uncle, so it was nice to
get that win this year. My family has taught me so much about racing. My younger
cousin Daniel (16) is racing now, and my grandfather will retire soon but he
is still going strong.”
 Chuck Hovey, Escondido, CA (103) completed the course as a solo driver
and placed second in his class and fourth overall, just 21 seconds ahead of
Troy
Herbst (117). “We had Troy by 50 seconds at the airport,” Hovey said. “I
knew in the sand washes that I was in trouble. I was real conservative in the
washes because I know how that can go. I tried to get here first before I tried
to win it. I got the monkey off my back because usually right now I am sitting
in a wash somewhere with my helmet off.”
Troy Herbst, Las Vegas (117) took fifth overall and third in Class 1. After
a disappointing “DNF” last year as well as in the series-opener this
year in Laughlin, Herbst was hoping to notch a win, as he did three times in
2004. “It was a great course,” Herbst told Sal Fish, the SCORE International
President and CEO. “We had two flats – it was a long day. I am
happy for the McMillin family. They are a great family and great competition.
We have
got to get faster and stronger.”
Mark McMillin, El Cajon, CA (115) started the race, then lost the transmission
about 100 miles into the race. It was at that time he gave Cameron Parrish
his wedding present – the right to drive. “I usually just ride,
but this was my first time
driving. When we lost the tranny we were down for about three hours, and I
drove from there. I would love to do it again if he’ll let me.”
CLASS 1-2/1600
Rob MacCachren, Las Vegas (1604) had luck once again on his side and finished
first in Class 1-2/1600, giving him his fifth San Felipe victory. MacCachren
finished but was quick to give the credit to Bryan Freeman and Danny Anderson
both of Las Vegas. Anderson drove the first 126 miles, Freeman drove the rest,
while MacCachren stepped in just for a few miles before the finish line. “I
had a few motor problems but it was great,” said Freeman. “It was
rough but so fun and hope to race more this year with these guys.” MacCachren
was in a tight battle all of last year and the start of this season with Brian
Jeffrey, Acton, CA/Adam Pfankuch, Carlsbad, CA (1647). Pfankuch has been
on the winning side the last two years in San Felipe, and MacCachren led after
the first day in Laughlin to begin the season, but was edged out by Pfankuch
for that class win.
Caleb Gaddis, El Centro, CA, (1622) was grateful to finish second in his
class. A very excited Gaddis stated this was a great way to finish his second
SCORE race (his first race was this year’s SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge). “At
race mile 140, I hit a trap and went off the cliff but soon recovered,” Gaddis
said.
CLASS 3
 Class 3 saw another family victory in the 2005 Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250,
as brothers Donald Moss, Sacramento, Calif. and Kenneth Moss, Marysville, CA,
rolled to their fourth straight class win here. Donald started and Ken took
over
at mile 130. “We had one flat tire all day,” Ken explained. “It
feels pretty good to win four years in a row, and it is our ninth straight
SCORE win in a row. This course is pretty familiar to us. We always want to
make sure
we finish. We let Raffo (Chris, 348) get ahead of us in the beginning, but
he pulled over about mile 35 as he had some kind of problem.”
CLASS 5
Tom Brown, Phoenix (518) drove the entire way to the finish line and finish
first in Class 5. “I had one flat tire and drove off into a ditch but drove it
out and was only down a minute and a half,” Brown said. “I was in
a battle with Chris Bowman the entire time and just raced to the finish. I’ve
won this race twice and hope to next year.” Brown also won last year
in San Felipe.
CLASS 5/1600
Ernesto Arambula, Ensenada, Mexico (573) drove the entire race and declared
that he had zero problems!
CLASS 7
Craig Turner, Yorba Linda, CA (702) finished the race solo in first place. “The
race went very good with no problems,” a confident Turner said. “I
drove slow for the first 50 miles but then I picked up the pace. I’m waiting
for my new truck that will be finished for the Tecate SCORE Baja 500.” This
marks the third straight Tecate San Felipe 250 that Turner has won, and gives
him 14 class titles since the turn of the century.
CLASS 7S
John Holmes, Olivenhain, CA/Scot Jones, San Clemente, CA (737) claimed
a class victory. “In 1982, the first off-road race I ever entered was in
San Felipe in Class 5/1600, and I won with Scot,” Holmes recalled. “I
haven’t raced San Felipe that often, but it’s fun. Scot drove the
first 130 miles, and when he gave it to me we had about a 43-minute lead. I
was very conservative. I knew I had a really big lead. My co-driver kept slowing
me down. I think it is just a terribly rough course. We had to stop once when
we had a fuel delivery problem.”
CLASS 7SX
Rich Severson, Mesa, Ariz./Pat Neveau, Phoenix (740) won for the second straight
year. Two of the five starters finished, and Severson won by a nearly 30-minute
margin.
CLASS 8
Todd Wyllie, New River, Ariz./Mark Julius, Glendale, Ariz. (800) won for the
fourth straight SCORE event. All three entrants finished, and the battle for
second place was close, with just 28 seconds separating the two contestants
over the 240-mile course.
CLASS 9
Eric Fisher/Hector Sarabia, Ensenada, Mexico (900) got a class win for the
second straight time this season. “We had no problems,” Sarabia stated. “We
don’t just try and finish, we try to win! We started in the back of the
pack but pretty much passed everyone in a stretch in the middle of the race.” Fisher
has won in San Felipe for the fifth time in the last seven years.
CLASS 10
Bekki Wik/Adam Wik (1018), the husband and wife team from Las Vegas
took first in Class 10. Bekki started and had a flawless race. At the halfway
point Adam
drove to the finish. Bekki notched her first win since the Tecate SCORE Baja
2000, a year in which she won her second SCORE points championship, competing
in class 1-2/1600. “I ran out of gas and put in about five gallons at
mile 218,” Adam said. “It only took about 30 seconds and it saved
us or we would have never finished. We had no flats and thanks to the Wilsons
for their
pit support. I took it easy over the rocks so I wouldn’t get any flats
and then just drove the heck out of it. My ’96 Jimco and King Shocks
were awesome.” As Bekki hurried with excitement to greet her husband,
she was relieved when timing and scoring told her she was first and proudly
displayed
her BFGoodrich winner hat.
Darren Hardesty, Ramona, CA (1049) finished second in his class. Hardesty
drove the entire race. “It was rough but so much fun,” Hardesty said.
I had a flat at the top of Matomi wash but changed it myself. I was driving like
a mad man the last 40 miles but my car was awesome!” Hardesty has started
off the year well, as he also finished second at the SCORE Laughlin Desert
Challenge in January.
SCORE LITE
Stan Potter, San Marcos, CA/Dan Worley, Encintas, CA (1220) claimed the
win in SCORE LITE. “I was leading for over an hour but busted the lower
control arm,” an excited Potter stated. “I had problems trying to
weld it while the car was overheating but the pit crew did awesome. I was down
an hour and a half at mile 202. Still had two flats but the course was very fun
with lots of whoops!” Potter vastly improved on his 2005 SCORE Desert Series
opener in Laughlin, in which he did not finish. Potter drove the first 130 miles
of the race, and was fourth physically and third on time when Worley took over. “Everything
worked good,” Worley said. “In the rocky section I just took my time.
We had no flats and the motor was flawless. Stan had a pretty good ride. He took
it pretty easy as we wanted a pretty conservative race. I won two championships
on a bike, this is my first in a car. We lost the power steering last year and
we kind of scaled it back this year and it worked for us. We didn’t stop
except to do the driver switch. We passed one or two in the pits – we
got in and out a lot quicker.”
CLASS 11
No finishers in this one-entry class.
STOCK FULL
Billy Bunch, La Quinta, CA/Dave Turner, Hemet, CA (877) chalked up a
seven-minute victory in this class, ending John Griffin’s four-year reign.
PRO TRUCK
Gustavo Vildosola, Jr., Mexicali, Mexico (204) proudly finished first
for the first time in his Toyota Tundra. “I lost the front shock so I
decided to take it easy,” Vildosola, Jr. stated. “I’m getting
used to the truck and with more confidence, I am doing better. No more rollovers!
I had
four pits but didn’t have to use them. If anything happens, it is my
fault because Walt does a great job. I’m looking forward to this year
and the Tecate SCORE Baja 500 - I will probably drive solo... I’m young!”
SPORTSMAN CAR
Tony Robles/Alfredo Bueno, San Diego (1405) won the overall Sportsman Car division. “Everything
was okay,” Robles said at the finish line. “Alfredo drove until
mile 130, and he was second at the time. I passed 1403 (George Jackson) at
about mile
182.”
SPORTSMAN TRUCK
Bobby Quarnstrom/Carl Niemelschele, La Verne, CA (1501) won not only the
overall Sportsman Truck class, but also were named to the 2005 Tecate SCORE
San Felipe all-name team. Quarnstrom drove the first 130 miles, while Niemelschele
finished the race. “This is my second race. In Laughlin we took first
Saturday, then did not finish on
Sunday. This is my first time down here (in Mexico) besides Tijuana. I love
it, the people are so friendly. I’ve never seen as much sand as I did out on
that course. We’d like to race in all the races this year.”
MOTORCYCLES AND ATVS
CLASS 22
For the first time since 1997, the class winner in this race was someone other
than Johnny Campbell or Steve Hengeveld, as the team of Chris Blais, Apple
Valley, CA/ Andy Grider, Los Olivos, CA/ Quinn Cody, Buellton, CA (9x)
took
the checkered flag, winning by 12-plus minutes. “I’m really excited – I’ve
been trying for several years,” Blais said afterwards. “Andy pulled
it off, he wanted it bad. I just got on for the last couple miles. I saw a bike
coming and it happened to be ours – it was a great feeling.” “When
I gave it to Chris at mile 30, we were even with 5x (Robby Bell) and about 30
seconds up on 1x,” Grider said. “We were about one and half minutes
behind at mile marker 196, but I could see him when the straight-aways got
long. The course was so rough that if you make a little mistake we could lose
it, so
I still did not feel confident. Two miles past the last checkpoint by the airport,
I physically passed him.”
Steve Hengeveld, Oak Hills, CA/Johnny Campbell, San Clemente, CA (1x)
had to settle for second place, ending a streak of 10 straight wins in SCORE
races, dating back to 2001. “This is the toughest race I’ve ever
done and I’ve been riding this since 1990,” Cambell said. “We
had a nearly a clean ride until just after the last checkpoint, when we had a
stupid mechanical problem. I’m not going to elaborate on it, but let’s
just say it was a stupid problem. Just before the airport we were in sight of
each other (with 9x). Early on we stretched out a big lead last year, but this
year these guys pushed us the whole way. I pushed as hard as I could up until
we had a mechanical thing. I had to fix my bike and all I could do is wave to
Andy as he went by. I can’t be upset, it (ending the winning streak)
was bound to happen sooner or later.”
CLASS 21
Tim Morton/Jason Truby, Escondido, CA/Salvador Hernandez, Ensenada, Mexico
(107x) logged a class win, splitting up the riding duties between three people. “I
don’t know why people ride San Felipe for fun,” Morton said afterwards. “I’m
not exactly sure I’ll come back next year. It’s the first time in
seven years that I’ve been here and I’m wondering why I came back.
The course is just so rough. We knew it was going to be a challenge. We were
on the slowest bike in the race, but it’s heavier and it handled real
well. Sal rode three times, all short, so that he could hit it really hard.“
CLASS 30
Gerardo Rojas, Ensenada, Mexico (300x) continues his streak of five straight
SCORE events as a class champion.
“
It went good, not too many problems,” Rojas said. “We had one problem
at mile 50 – a flat tire, and we rode on the rim for 40 miles.”
CLASS 40
Jim O’Neal, Chatsworth, CA (400x) won the San Felipe event for the
fifth consecutive year (only one racer, Class 11’s Eric Solorzano, has
more consecutive class wins here). Jim shared riding responsibilities with Jeff
Kaplan, Tim Withers, and Randy Morales. “We had no problems,” said
co-rider Jeff Kaplan. “We had to adjust the clutch, but it was pretty flawless.
We collected some bushes along the way. It was a little rougher than last year – the
sand is softer. There was a lot of traffic, which is scary. We were third overall
(among motorcycles and ATVs), and passed about 30 cars. I love coming to San
Felipe with my family and have been for 30 years.”
Jon Ortner, Santa Barbara, CA (404x) completed the course 3rd as a solo
rider. Ortner was previously on the race team with O’Neal, and has experienced
wins here in San Felipe. “I thought I could do well,” Ortner said. “I
had problems preparing – I got some parts just on Wednesday. At mile 136
I went off. I got completely lost – at first I was mad then I became worried.
I’m a motorcross guy – I hate getting off the bike. I did the Baja
500 solo, but it was shakey. I have a CR450 and I need a XR650.”
CLASS 50
Jim O’Neal, Chatsworth, CA (501x) also logged a win in Class 50. O’Neal’s
victory put him into a tie for third place with six wins in San Felipe. He
became the first individual to win two different classes in San Felipe since
1992, when
Davis Ashley and Dan Smith won races in two different classes.
CLASS 25
Josh Frederick, Moapa, NV/Cyle Chislock, Murrieta, CA/Levi Marana, Hemet,
CA (13a) won an extremely tight race, as the top three quads in this class
all finished within 16 seconds of each other. Josh started and went until the
Honda Pit #2, when Levi took it to Honda Pit #4, then Cyle finished the race. “When
Levi dropped it off to me, we were third” Chislock said after getting a
win in his first race in Mexico. “That’s rough out there. Our belly
pan fell off and my thumb started getting tired. I was going slow – I wasn’t
going to take any chances, especially around mile marker 190 – it was really
rocky. It was my first race, and Levi’s too – Josh has done one
or two. I was hoping to get in the top three so I definitely did that.”
Mike Cafro, Carlsbad, CA/Danny Prather, Ramona, CA (4a) were slated to
be the third ATV to start, but arriving late cost them. Per SCORE rules, their
start time officially began when they were scheduled to begin the race, but
were not allowed to physically start until all other ATVs in their class had
started.
They managed to by-pass all other ATVs and finished first physically, despite
starting behind the whole pack. “Somebody dumped about a quart of water
in my gas,” Cafro, who won this race in 2002, informed us. “Yesterday
it ran bitchin’ when I took it out. Then I think someone came in to our
camp when we were gone because this morning it wouldn’t start so I knew
something was wrong. I checked a bunch of things and then thought it might be
the gas, and there was all this water in there. I was pumping it out and filling
up at this Pemex right at the start, but couldn’t get here in time for
my start.”
SPORTSMAN MOTORCYCLE
Robert Laughlin, Solvang, CA (260x) was the fastest of the eight starters
in Sportsman Motorcycle. Three people finished the race, with Laughlin posting
the best time.
SPORTSMAN ATV
Gil Castro, Chula Vista, CA/Steve Willenberg, Lakeside, CA (99a), earned
the billing as the fastest Sportsman ATV.
For information contact:
SCORE International at its Los Angeles headquarters
(818) 225-8402 or visit
the official 2005 SCORE Desert Series website at:
www.score-international.com
For
Sponsorship Information, contact:
Mark Handley
(760) 750-1905
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