Baja 1000: Baldwin Motorsports summary

BJ Baldwin finishes 2nd at SCORE Baja 1000, winning the 2008 SCORE points championship!

The SCORE Baja 1000 is the most notorious off-road race in the world., the final race in the five-race SCORE desert series. SCORE is considered the world's foremost desert racing series. The Baja 1000 featured over 300 entries, competing in 27 Pro and 6 Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs. The race, which spans from one side of the Baja peninsula to the other, consists of a 631 mile loop with extremely challenging terrain. This year's course featured the super technical "La Rumarosa" section of narrow mountain roads with massive sheer cliffs, as well as the brutally rough and rocky San Felipe loop. Hundreds of thousands of racers and fans from all over the world come to Baja to compete and watch the battle for bragging rights. This year's race will be shown televised in 22 countries on ESPN International. "This is the one off-road race that counts. Everything else is just a warm up. We are looking for the points championship and a win if it comes. It's not going to be easy, the course is extremely rough and technical, and there are a lot of great drivers here," stated the confident BJ Baldwin, prior to the start of the race.

BJ Baldwin, in the number 97 Baldwin Motorsports trophy truck, rocketed off the start of the SCORE Baja 1000, through the streets of Ensenada, Mexico and out into the punishing terrain of the first section of the course. BJ started physically in fourth position, but immediately began chasing down the trophy trucks in front of him. Without warning, BJ was challenged with a flat tire and was passed by several competitors while changing it near race mile 85. With the flat tire fixed, BJ was able to get back on the course and pass back several of his competitors. The racing was heated back and forth, battling for position all day and into the night. BJ managed to move back up to the forth position by Borrego just before dark. Keeping the pressure on, BJ moved up to second. This is where he stayed, unable to advance due to the combination of dust and fog. BJ finished 2nd overall, with a time of 12:45:26 (49.49 average mph). The finish gained him the 2008 SCORE points championship, his second SCORE points championship.

BJ had this to say about the race, "We went out focused on the points championship win. It was a tough, technical race. With nowhere to rest, we had to stay sharp the whole race. We had a flat early on and had to play catch up after that. We had some brake peddle issues early on that slowed us a bit, but we still managed to have a great race, we had some great passes! The dust was really bad, there was no wind at all. When it got dark we had cold, moist air and fog combined with dust, we couldn't see at all. We had to pass a lot of bikes and quads, which was difficult and slow on this course. I have to give it up to Norman and Roeseler, they drove a great strategic race, they deserved the win. I want to thank my sponsors, crew and my father for all their hard work and support this year!"

-credit: baldwin motorsports