San Felipe: Post-race quotes

24th MasterCraftSafety Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250
Round two of 2010 SCORE Desert Series
March 13, 2010 -- San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico

Post-race quotes

PRO CARS & TRUCKS

SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK

JESSE JONES, No 76 (First in class and second overall four-wheel vehicle. Jones drove the entire race.) It was boring -- and that's the God's-honest truth. I didn't even test it (Friday); I let Bryce (Menzies) test it and I sat in it for the first time when I drove it to staging. We had a heck of a run today. The new Geiser Brothers truck was unbelievable, it ran so good and we just had a pretty clean run. We had a couple bad flats but, other than that, it was fine. We lost about 15 minutes fixing those flats. The truck arrived yesterday -- Bryce Menzies actually owns this truck. I sold it to him before it was done. I had never even sat in it before I drove it to staging today. This is a great win.

ROBBY GORDON, No. 1 (Second in class and fourth overall four-wheel vehicle. Gordon drove the entire race.) -- It was good. We broke a shock at about mile-marker 40 and the guys changed it and to finish second (SCORE Trophy-Truck) on the road, I'm happy. It was very, very rough, very technical and very tough. The shock just blew up. We were just getting ready to turn left and get in the sand wash and we heard -- BOOM -- and you can see all the oil in here. We won't know what happened until we get back to the shop and look at it but it had a big hole in the side of it. It didn't give us any warning, it just happened.

CHET HUFFMAN, No. 40 (Third in class and sixth overall four-wheel vehicle. Huffman drove to race mile 95 and Jerry Whelchel drove to the finish) -- Co-driver Jerry Whelchel said: It was a good run -- for me. (Huffman) thought he had a blown shock and then he got one flat tire and they stripped a stud on one of the wheels so we had a little bit of downtime. Besides that, I had a flawless run -- it was beautiful. It was a good race. The course was rough and rocky but these trucks handle it so well, it's unreal. It's fun to be here.

ROBBIE PIERCE, No. 30 (Fourth in class and seventh overall four-wheel vehicle. Pierce drove the entire race.) -- It turned out better than I thought it was going to. We started fourth off the line and by race mile 2 or 3 we lost the power steering belt. It's a handful with no power steering. We kept trying to get a chase truck in there but I drove it to race mile 22 or 24 and we just stopped and changed the belt ourselves. We were down 20 or 30 minutes at that point. We got it going again and we just started hooking it up. We had one flat tire. The course is absolutely brutal. We wanted to get up there (on the podium) first with our MasterCraft Safety sponsorship, but it didn't work out.

B.J. BALDWIN, No. 97 (Fifth in class and ninth overall four-wheel vehicle. Baldwin drove the entire race.) -- San Felipe is a lot of fun. It's one of my favorite race courses but, unfortunately, I've never been able to do well here. My best finish here has been a second. But we did the best we could today. I think I had a good pace. I wasn't revving the motor out too hard or being hard on the transmission. I got out on the dry lake bed early in the race and was doing a little over 130 and I lost all the fluid in the transmission. The filter actually backed off of the tranny and blew all the fluid out. That's what took me so long.

ANDY McMILLIN, No. 31 (Sixth in class. Scott McMillin started and drove to race mile 148. Andy McMillin drove from 148 to the finish.) -- It was a rough day today. My dad (Scott) started and went to mile 148 and about mile 50 he lost a driveshaft. It took us about 25 minutes to diagnose it and change it. Then we got moving again and we were having a problem with the truck pulling third gear in the sand washes so we weren't really running third in the sand washes and this race is mostly sand washes, so that hurt us a lot. My dad then had a flat about mile 140. I got in the truck and just kind of cruised it in. We also lost a shock that we had to change in the main pit and my hood broke so that's why we have no hood. All things considered, it could have been a lot worse. We're just glad to get valuable points. It's a rough, rough race out there.

ROB MacCACHREN, No. 20 (Eighth in class. MacCachren drove the entire race.) -- We had a little problem with the shock; we broke a reservoir at about mile15. But other than that, this truck ran absolutely flawless. The guys at Jimco prepped this truck and did a great job. This is two races that I've raced it and we've had very minimal problems. We'll get back here on top and do some testing and sort out some things and we'll get right back in it. It would have been good to have had that shock on there the whole race because I know we would have done really well. We got off to a great start and we were picking people off the first 15 miles and then the reservoir broke and then we were basically in babysitting mode and just taking care of the truck until we could get to the finish line and make sure we maintains some sort of points.

CLASS 1

ARMIN SCHWARZ, No. 101 (First in class and first overall four-wheel vehicle. Schwarz started and drove the first 140 miles and Martin Christensen drove from mile 140 to the finish.) -- I started the car and drove it until race mile 140 and then Martin took over. We just took it easy; no crazy speeds, just knowing how long the race will be and how rough it is and just taking our pace and it was the right one. We had a very fast driver change and everything was to the point and very good. We had no problems at all.

Co-driver Martin Christensen said: The team did an unbelievable driver change. They had fuel and tires on the car before we were belted in. We were literally there 25 seconds and then we were gone. Our team is the best -- absolutely the best. This is the roughest, toughest race and you're just driving the heck out of the car the entire time because this is a short distance and you're just hoping that it's going to last.

DANIEL McMILLIN, No. 106 (Second in class and third overall four-wheel vehicle. McMillin drove the entire race.) -- I only had one flat, around mile 40 or 45. Just one flat and that was it. It happened right before our pit, so that was nice. It was a fun race. The course was rough but it was actually smoother than I was expecting. The 1600 car is way harder -- you actually have to try.

RANDY WILSON, No. 100 (Third in class and fifth overall four-wheel vehicle. John Herder drove the first half of the race and Randy Wilson drove the second half.) -- It went well. We just had a few little gremlins get us. We lost a belt off the transmission and broke a limit strap. But, all in all, third is OK. When you race against these guys, you can't have anything go wrong. It's got to go perfect and we were close today, we just weren't there. The course was different than other years and it was rough, but it was a good rough. This car works really well on rough courses.

DAN MARTIN, No. 104 (Fourth in class and eighth overall four-wheel vehicle. Justin Smith drove the first half of the race and Dan Martin drove the second half.) -- The transmission started coming apart and it kept popping out of third gear so I had to drive (the final 38 miles) shifting from second to fifth. Luckily, the thing has a lot of horsepower -- and a torque converter. It was a struggle.

CODY PARKHOUSE, No. 111 (Sixth in class. Brian Parkhouse started and drove to race mile 107 and Cody Parkhouse drove to the finish.) -- We had a limit strap problem early, about race mile 20, so we just took them off. Other than that, we didn't really have any problems. We lost the alternator about 15 miles from the finish, but that was fine. We made it in. We're top (six), and that's a great start for my first time in the car. I'm real happy with it.

CLASS 1-2/1600

CODY ROBINSON, No. 1610 (First in class. Roberto Romo started and drove to race mile 80 and Robinson drove from race mile 80 to the finish.) -- Roberto lost an alternator belt and had a flat. I got in at mile 80 and had three flats, I lost second gear at mile 90 and I ran the last 40 miles without power steering. Besides all of that, everything was good. The course was really rough and real rocky. I have a different tire on every wheel now. It's a lot sandier and softer than it was during pre-running. This is my first win in SCORE and it feels good. We had a few problems at the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge and got ninth (place), but the win here will really help us with points.

LUKE McMILLIN, No. 1602 (Second in class. McMillin drove the entire race.) -- Our oil dipstick broke off, so we were losing oil and pressure and had to stop a couple of times. We also had one flat ... but it was a good race. The course was soft and rough -- as expected. I'm real happy with a podium finish -- it's good for the points. We're going to be set really good for the points so we're happy with it.

HIRAM DURAN, No. 1600 (Third in class. Evan Duran started and drove to race mile 78 and Hiram Duran drove from 78 to the finish.) -- I had four flats and at one time I didn't have a spare so I had to drive for five miles with a flat. We started last and passed a lot of cars. I'm happy because we were trying for a top-three (finish).

CLASS 6

DAVE CASPINO, No. 603 (First in class. Caspino drove the entire race.) -- We broke a shock about mile 30 so we had to take it kind of easy all the way in. I let a bunch of the crazier guys get ahead of me and I just took it easy. I knew that I would find them and they would break little by little. If you go out too fast and too hard here, you're not going to finish. The smartest driver finishes first here.

CLASS 8

JUAN C. LOPEZ, No. 801 (First in class. Lopez drove the entire race.) -- It was a very hard race but we made it to the finish line. We had no flats, no problems. We just drove it all the way home. We got third place here in San Felipe last year but this is my first win in San Felipe in SCORE.

CLASS 10

ALEX CROSTHWAITE, No. 1007 (First in class. Jose Gonzalez started and drove to race mile 150 and Crosthwaite drove from 150 to the finish.) -- It was a very good race. It was very hard and very challenging. There were too many rocks and too many jumps -- very, very, very hard. We broke the second gear 100 miles before the finish but we made it.

SCORE LITE

CODY FREEMAN, No. 1292 (First in class. Kenny Freeman started and drove to race mile 107 and Cody Freeman drove from mile 107 to the finish.) -- The track was a lot different from when we pre-ran. It was silty and whooped out. This race was probably the toughest race I've ever raced. We had a pretty good game plan; we just wanted to come out here and pace ourselves for the first 100 miles and then go from there. Our game plan worked out perfectly. People started dropping out, we saved the car and then these last 40 miles, that's where we let it rip. My brother (Bryan) won in his very first race in Mexico and now we have two family members who have won their first race in Mexico.

CLASS 4

EDWARD ZIMMERMAN, No. 401 (First in class. Zimmerman drove the entire race.) -- It was very rough out there today. We got hit from behind and it cracked a valve cover, but we fixed it and it was fine. That's racing.

PRO MOTORCYCLES

CLASS 22

COLTON UDALL, No. 3x (First in class and first motorcycle to finish. Udall started and rode to race mile 30, Jeff Kargola rode from mile 30 to 146 and Udall rode from mile 146 to the finish.) -- Hopefully, I can get a lot more (wins). I'm really excited right now. It's been a long time coming and I'm really happy. We just rode a good race today and our competitors made mistakes and had mechanical issues and we just rode a great race. I have to thank JCR Honda the most. There isn't a better team coordinator, team owner than Johnny Campbell -- period. It was rough out there. For the most part, everything went flawless. I nailed all my lines, got everything perfect and avoided the huge rocks. Ox (Jeff Kargola) rode great, too, and the bike was perfect.

ROBBY BELL, No. 2x (Second in class, second overall motorcycle. Bell started and rode to mile 30. Steve Hengeveld rode from mile 30 to 150 and Bell rode from mile 150 to the finish.) -- It started off pretty well. We made it through the first 30 without any problems -- not even any close calls. Then I gave the bike to Steve (Hengeveld) at mile 30 and about two miles in, he got a flat tire and had to ride it about the next 46 miles with a flat, so that set us way back. Without that, it could have been a close race. It was pretty rough out there. On Monday, (the course) was lovely...but today, it was very rough from all the pre-running.

CLASS 20

JASON TRUBEY, No. 153x (First in class and eighth overall motorcycle. Carl Maasberg rode the first 30 miles, Trubey rode from mile 30 to 80, Maasberg rode from mile 80 to 175 and Trubey rode from mile 175 to the finish.) -- I got lost coming in and had to turn around. I got lost a few times -- no pre-running doesn't work down here. But other than that, the bike ran great and handled decent. Overall, it was a good day and I thank Carl (Maasberg) for coming down with me and I thank SCORE for putting on the race. We had no major problems and the bike ran good. Carl did the dirty work out there -- I think he passed about 15 bikes on his second ride and I just charged as hard as I could.

CLASS 30

FRANCISCO SEPTIEN, No. 306x (First in class and fourth overall motorcycle. Shane Esposito started and rode it to race mile 30. Septien rode from mile 30 to 94. Gerardo Rojas rode from mile 94 to 150, Esposito rode from 150 to 213 and Septien rode from 213 to the finish.) -- It was real good. We managed to keep second behind (Jim) O'Neal for the last 200 miles and I just caught him around mile 220 and got to the finish first. But we struggled with those guys; they're good riders. This is a motocross bike, so in the fast section, I couldn't go that fast so I just keep it steady. But it worked real well in the washes. Finally! The last two San Felipe races, we didn't finish. We were winning for the first 200 miles and then blew up the bike. So, thank God for this win.

CLASS 40

LOUIE FRANCO, No. 402x (First in class and seventh overall motorcycle. Franco shared riding duties with Brett Helm, Jeff Kaplan and Ricky Johnson.) -- Co-rider Ricky Johnson said: The race was great. I love the fact that we were in a race (with the No. 406x). These (Class) 40 guys are no slouches -- they really haul it. This track is a beater -- it's a rider's track. You can try to do your setup but you have whoops, you have sand, you have unbelievable rock whoops, a sand wash with rocks in it, you have hardpack ... you have everything. Honestly, this is probably the one race I never wanted to race but I couldn't be happier for my team. I'm stoked.

CLASS 50

JIM O'NEAL, No. 500x (First in class. O'Neal rode the last 20 miles and shared riding duties with Doug Heil, Andy Kirker, Tim Withers and Jeff Kaplan. O'Neal also rode on the winning Class 60 team and the second-place Class 30 team.) -- It was a great course, really rough, really challenging. I rode all 23 of (the previous MasterCraft Safety Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 races) and I think this is the roughest. This (win) is pretty good but we messed up on the 30 class. We had it and then we had a crash and I lost a couple of minutes and then another guy crashed. It's a tough race -- really, really tough. I rode on the 500x, the (302x in Class) 30 and the (608x in Class) 60 so I've kind of been getting around a bit today. I'm just real disappointed in the (Class) 30 because that's the premiere team and that's the one I didn't ride the best and we had problems.

CLASS 60

DONALD LEWIS, No. 608x (First in class. Lewis shared riding duties with Sam Dempsey, Bob Gates, Mike Harper and Jim O'Neal.) -- We had a problem -- it's too long to talk about -- but it cost us about a half an hour. It was a wonderful ride, but we really blew it. It was really fast and I enjoyed every bit of it. I hope we won and if we did, I'll take first place any way I can get it.

PRO ATVs

CLASS 25

WAYNE MATLOCK, No. 1a (First in class and first overall ATV. Matlock shared riding duties with Josh Caster and Wes Miller.) -- We had a good ride today and everything went great. Josh (Caster) and Wes (Miller), they did a terrific job and everyone turned the bike over in first place every time and we just rode it in. It was a good time; it's a very good course and very challenging. Josh Caster started the race and rode to Zoo Road crossing (race mile 10). I got on and rode to about mile 24 and then Wes Miller got on and rode it to mile 95. Josh got on there and rode it back to checkpoint three (race mile 172.9) and I got on there and rode it to the finish. We tried breaking it up a bunch just because it's so rough out there and you've got to stay fresh. We changed two tires and that was it. Everything else worked great -- you couldn't ask for anything better.

-source: score