BlackRhinoRacing
Member
SC Off-Road
SCORE Baja 1000
November 25, 2013
PRESS RELEASESCORE Baja 1000
November 25, 2013
November 25, 2013
Escalon CA.
On Tuesday 11/12/13 the SC Off-Road UTV team departed for the great race, aka The SCORE Baja 1000. The team left Modesto after weeks of preparation and planning to embark on the journey / adventure of a lifetime. After an all-night drive they met up with co-driver Brian Bush who flew into San Diego to meet up with the team. The team crossed into Mexico and was off to beautiful Ensenada. Once in town, the team met up with their host Dan Loya. First stop was lunch at the local fish taco stand near their new home of La Jolla Beach. The team settled into their compound and began making last minute tweaks to the race car before tech.
On Thursday morning the crew loaded up and was at tech by 0500 hrs. The line was already 30 deep. The team put the Polaris Rzr in line and the long wait started. It would seem that 0500 would be way early to be in line considering tech did not even open until 10 am, but that was not the case. The race fans were out in full force as early as the earliest cars were in tech. Steeekers was the word of the day!
As the day progressed so did our slow movement up through tech road. Tech was an incredible experience, the fans were great. Everyone seemed to know SPEED Energy and when they rolled our Rzr onto the stage the crowd went nuts. We tossed out cans of SPEED to the eager fans along with lots of SPEED racing stickers and it was very surreal. The team pushed the car through to the end where final tech was performed and the tracker was installed. We were done. The last item on the agenda was the driver’s meeting which took place later that evening. Being in the driver’s meeting was simply awesome; it was just an accomplishment for our team to be present amongst some of the biggest names in the industry; Ivan Stewart, Robby Gordon, BJ Baldwin and the list goes on. After taking all this in it was time to get into race mode; we loaded up the car and headed back to La Jolla Beach for final prep.
Race Day! The team did not sleep well with all the excitement of what we were about to embark on. We loaded the Rzr up and headed to the starting line. Sean Cook and Dave Schneider would be handling the first 270 mile leg of the race. They were strapped in and headed for the green flag. The start of the race happened fast; before we knew it Roger Norman was at the window shaking our hands and wishing us good luck. Next thing Sean knew it was 3, 2, 1 and the green flag rose signaling the start of their race. Sean and Dave drove the car through the streets of Ensenada and then they made the right hand turn dropping them into the canal, the race had begun. It took a few miles for Sean to settle in and find his rhythm. The course was lined with fans cheering them on. There were a few times they experienced fans throwing beer bottles and other things at them as they drove by, but they knew what to expect. Sean started first off the line in the UTV class and was very aware of what was coming up from behind, 18 of the best UTV drivers in the world would soon be knocking on the back bumper. As expected, a few of those drivers found their way to the front and made a clean pass to take over the front spot. Sean stated he wanted to run a very conservative first half of the race, he knew it was too early to race anyone. After Sean passed through Ojos Negros the butterflies had finally settled down and he had found the rhythm of the race. Co-pilot Dave Schneider had noticed a vehicle sitting about 10 car lengths back for quite some time until just after Ojos when the #1908 of Cognito Motorsports finally found their way around them. The pass was clean as were all the passes made by the competition.
The #1930 made its way over the summit without any troubles but shortly after hitting the lake bed they shredded a clutch belt. Sean and Dave made the quick change and were back on course. The first scheduled pit stop came and went without incident; fuel was dumped, the car was checked out and the crew sent the drivers back out. Crew Chief Jeff Correia noticed during the stop a very promising issue; usually when the car came in he would check the CV joints and axles for wear and the usual torn boot but this time Jeff noticed not only were the boots and axles in great shape but they were also cool to the touch! This was due to the new service performed by CryoHeat of El Cajon. “We are soldâ€, stated Jeff, “from here on out everything will be treated.â€
After the pit stop, Sean and Dave started into the whoop section, but this was like none Sean had ever seen. The whoops were about 2-3’ tall and about 10’apart but they went for miles and miles. Darkness had fallen on the Mexican desert but the whoops continued. Finally the #1930 came in for its next scheduled pit and drivers change. Sean and Dave jumped out and Sean’s youngest son Brendan and fellow teammate Kyle Speed Martin took over. The car was serviced and sent off into the darkness. Brendan knew he needed to drive smart, fast and calculating. Brendan and Kyle were heading off into the infamous Silt beds. The #1908 was just ahead of Brendan and the #1901 Arctic Cat of Doug Mcready was hot on his tail. Brendan drove the just the way he was taught. Brendan brought the car through Coco’s corner and received a splash of gas and was gone again. The chase crew made their way to the next check point and awaited the #1930 to emerge from the silt. Hours had passed and the Rzr was now overdue. Sean talked to a driver who had come into the pits and was told there were a couple of UTVs stuck back in the silt beds, it did not look good. Sean tried to reach the car on the radio but like everyone else they were having sketchy radio contact. Sean reported to the rest of the chase team that things were not looking good; the #1930 might be stuck out in the darkness in the silt beds. As Sean broke the news to everyone the radio came to life and it was Kyle calling out a mile marker (mm) for the #1930. Sean asked how they were doing and Kyle replied, “We made that silt our bitchâ€. Shortly thereafter the #1930 rolled into the pits, Brendan and Kyle jumped out of the silt infested car and it was time for Sean’s oldest son Colton and co-pilot Brian Bush to take over. The side panels of the car had to be removed and the silt needed to be shoveled out of the cockpit. There was so much silt packed in that the throttle could not be pushed down.
Colton and Brian left the pit and drove into the sunrise. Meanwhile, the leader board had changed; the #1908 was now behind them making repairs as well as the #1901. Soon after Colton left the #1908 and #1901 were on course. This back and forth became the norm for the rest of the race. The team loaded up and headed north for the next check point. The team had good communication with Colton and Brian through mm 510. Brian radioed all systems were good but the silt was once again pretty bad. It is worth noting that leading up to race day most racers did not believe the UTVs would make it through the silt beds but the UTV teams showed everyone they could do it and do it well!!
Colton and Brian had a tough road leading to the pits. At mm 650 Brian radioed in the trail was nonexistent in some places but the team continued on. The next scheduled service was at check 5, mm 650. The team serviced the vehicle, dumped fuel, checked everything over and sent them on their way. After check 5 Colton was in his element, the rocks. Colton stated he followed behind the Rod Hall Hummer up to Mike’s Sky Ranch but had to make numerous stops to wait for the Hummer to get unstuck. Finally Colton found an opening and showed everyone how to walk a UTV up and over the rocks. Colton did this without a skid plate, it appeared that Colton had caught the edge of the skid plate and tore it off.
As the race was winding down it was time for Sean and Brendan to get back in the car and bring the #1930 to the finish. Coming into check 6 the #1930 was sitting solid in 4th place behind the leaders. The #1908 and #1901 were back but still coming. Colton and Brian came roaring into Valle De Trinidad checkpoint 6. They turned off the car and jumped out, Sean and Brendan jumped in, strapped in, fuel was topped off and they were given the OK from Jeff to take it to the finish. Sean brought the Rzr to life but when he attempted to leave, the Rzr had lost its power. The team jumped right in to diagnose the problem but after a considerable amount of work it was concluded that they had lost a cylinder, the race was over. The #1908 and a few others were now starting to catch up and pass. The team was very discouraged at the outcome, but no one felt like they had lost. This team is made up of a very diverse set of people from all walks of life but they all came together to participate in this thing known as Baja.
The team would like to thank all who made this possible:
Polaris Industries, SPEED Energy Drinks, King Off Road Shocks, Blue Torch Fabrication, Rigid Industries, Muzzy Performance, Torco Oils, Twisted Stitch Seats, Factory UTV, 4130 Clothing, OMF Performance, GBC Motorsports, Ram Mounts, Optima Batteries, Black Rhino / Racer X, Cryo Heat, MJ Motorsports, Rugged Radios, ALBA Racing, SDR, Wasteland Performance, Cal Hot Coating, Red House BBQ, UTV Underground, D & D Graphx, Cowest, Hytek.com, Trent Fab, a special thanks to Mike Petz (Fuel), Jeff Brown (our new resident pilot)
The #1930 race crew:
Jeff Correia-Crew Chief, Gina Buzzini-Cook-Pit Chief, Todd Latronica-Logistics, Jimmy Latronica-Crew, Dan Loya-Mexico Liason/Housing, Sean Cook-Driver, Colton Cook-Driver, Brendan Cook-Driver, Dave Schneider-Co-Driver, Brian Bush-Co-Driver
Kyle Speed Martin-Co-Driver, Brian Philips-Crew.
