Baja 1000: Riviera Racing summary

Riviera Racing CAPS Winningest Trophy Truck Season in History with Flawless Race at 40th Anniversary SCORE Baja 1000 Finishing on the Sands of Cabo San Lucas, Baja Mexico

Laguna Hills, CALIFORNIA -- Breathe It. Race It. Live It. Riviera Racing's mystical 2007 SCORE Tecate Baja 1000 victory. Celebrating fifteen years of off road racing, the 2007 SCORE Baja 1000 victory launched a wild celebration in Cabo San Lucas.

The 40th SCORE Tecate Baja 1000 unfolded as if it was a script developed for television as Riviera Racing's Mark Post raced the #3 trophy truck across the checkered flag ending on the shores of the Pacific Ocean in Cabo San Lucas. The 25 hours and 21 minute odyssey stretched 1296-miles from Ensenada to Cabo San Lucas, Baja California and ended with a champagne celebration that marked the end of a historic SCORE desert racing season for the #3 Riviera Racing trophy truck team.

Veteran off road racer, Mark Post, who was joined by Rob MacCachren and Carl Renezeder in early sections of the race, climbed from behind the wheel after charging the final leg of the 1296-mile race and thrust his hands into the air, signaling the team's first SCORE Baja 1000 in its 15-year off road racing history. Navigator/Mechanic - Kelly Courie, Driver - Rob MacCachren and his Navigator/Mechanic - Alex Zachary, joined Team Owner/Driver - Mark Post on the roof of the winning SCORE Trophy Truck for the grand celebration that launched a raging 72-hour Riviera Racing non-stop fiesta throughout Cabo San Lucas.

Riviera Racing's win sent yet another thundering exclamation point throughout the world of motor sports upon claiming this dominant victory at the 40th Anniversary of the SCORE Tecate Baja 1000.

This season's SCORE Baja 1000 triumph also clinched the victory in the tight race for the season championship point's race between last year's champion, B.J. Baldwin and Mark Post/Rob MacCachren. In winning the last race of the 2007 SCORE Desert Series, Riviera Racing claimed the SCORE 4Wheel Overall Point's Championship. This is the first time in history of the SCORE Series that the overall point's championship was won by a trophy truck team. The conquest also marks the first overall win in the elite four-wheel classes for both Mark Post and Rob MacCachren in the SCORE Desert Series.

Elated and celebrating on top of the #3 race truck at the finish line, Mark Post said, "Our team strategy came together and the race plan was executed precisely. Everyone stepped up and got the job done, from the pits to prep to chase and logistics. It was a near perfect race. BFGoodrich Tires performed to the extreme, while handling everything the rugged Baja terrain dished out. We didn't have a single flat throughout the entire race. There was a lot riding on this one single race. After an entire season of off road racing, the season championship came down to toughest and longest race of the season. We went into this year's Baja 1000 with a detailed strategic plan and we stuck to it each and every minute of the adventure. That, along with the attention to detail by the entire crew is, what put us on top. The truck was prepped to perfection and the crew along with the Baja Fool's never stopped working until we hit the finish line. It doesn't get any better than this ...Riviera Racing's number one!"

Prepped by Jim Blackmore and the dedicated Riviera Racing crew, the #3 Trophy Truck was the class of the field among the elite ranks of the world's top off road racers. After overcoming an early alternator issue they never looked back.

The 2007 SCORE Baja 1000 victory marks an exciting end to a history-making season that saw Mark Post and Rob MacCachren lead the team to a record five Trophy Truck wins over the entire season. Facing the toughest 1296-miles of the season, the #3 race truck faced the ultimate in diversity over what has long been regarded as the toughest race in the world.

Racing from fan-packed streets of Ensenada, Baja California, champion off road racer Rob MacCachren, charged from the third position into the wilds of the Northern Baja Peninsula. Only 24 hours before the race, Mother Nature doused the first 400-miles with significant rainfall allowing for racers hold the pedal down to the floor and not let up due to heavy dust and silt normally associated with desert racing.

Riviera Racing's race strategy played out to perfection as the Baja 1000 winning team operated under the radar until the final 100-miles of the race.

Riviera Racing's Driver-Rob MacCachren explained, "We really were running about 70% throughout the entire race. We knew the attrition was going to be high because teams weren't saving their equipment. We never heated up the motor and transmission and just kept the pressure on running our race. We knew where we were among the field of trophy trucks based on split times throughout the entire race,

so it was just a nice easy run down the peninsula. I can't thank the team enough. Thanks to Jim Blackmore, Oren Anderson, Warren Mitchell, Alex Zachary, Kelly Courie, Earl Vest, Byron Waddell, Ariel Romero, Dave Farruggia, Tim Sanchez and of course Mark Post for the opportunity to race with Riviera Racing."

Leading the five-truck Riviera Racing chase team down the Baja Peninsula was Riviera Racing's Jim Blackmore who stacked his team with decades of Baja racing experience over the past few years. In the weeks leading up to the race, Blackmore scheduled the team mechanics/navigators for prerunning while he and a select crew of two stayed behind completing the final prep on the race truck. The strategy paid off well as each mechanic/navigator was able to become intimately knowledgeable with their sections of the race course.

Crew Chief Jim Blackmore commented, "Each stage of the race was calculated out and everyone on the team hit their marks to perfection. The Baja Fools provided our stationery pit services. The majority of this race occurred under the cover of darkness and that mystic added another element forcing teams to deal with the perils of racing on the treacherous Baja Peninsula. We could not have been victorious in this race without the assistance of the Baja Fool's and the dedication of each and every volunteer and crew member."

Completing the 1296-miles while averaging 51.125 miles per hour was no fluke as each team that piloted the #3 race truck put in all the time they could in prerunning this year's SCORE Baja 1000. Rob MacCachren/Alex Zachary spent countless days and nights on the race course preparing them for the incredible run. Carl Renezeder worked his middle race section for hours on end leading directly up to race day while Mark Post/Kelly Courie set up shop in Cabo San Lucas in order to memorize the final leg of the race in this year's adventure.

Riviera Racing's veteran mechanic/navigator Kelly Courie explained his perspective, "It was a bit strange that Mark and I got in the truck very early the next morning, but we ended up having an epic run in the final southern section of the race course. The truck left the line the morning prior and getting in the truck so much later was different than normal. When we did our driver change and got going down the race course the GPS containing my notes failed so we were running on what we had learned during prerunning in the weeks prior. Rob and Alex gave us the truck in perfect condition so it was up to us to keep up the same pace they had established and run for the checkers without any problems. We were mistake-free in the final section and crossing the finish line with the overall win tops a great season of accomplishments. Ending the race on the beach in Cabo San Lucas was pretty wild. The town came alive and as race fans and locals alike congratulated us day after day."

The 2007 Riviera Racing season marks the winningest Trophy/Trick Truck season in history. Victorious in five prestigious races in both SCORE and BITD, all the while clinching the SCORE Desert Series championship in the final SCORE race of the season marks a record that will long be sought after by the world's top off road racers for years to come.

Capping the historic season with the SCORE Baja 1000 win simply adds to the magical mystic of the slick black Riviera Racing trophy truck.

-credit: rr