2011 Baja Mil

[BajaF250]

Had a fantastic time down in Baja. Bill Varnes of Mirage and I set up a pit for some of his clients. We were pitting for the following teams:

Jim Riley/Rick L. Johnson TT #7
Harry Helper, HHR TT #66
Brian Parkhouse, cl1 #114
Steve Appleton/Mike Joulson cl1 #106
Moss Bros Racing, cl3 #300
Haas/Custer, Protruck #1360
Brent Parkhouse, cl12 #1206

Our put was just to the west of the BFG pit at Borrego just around RM205/455. Absolutely fantastic spot. Saw the race vehicles twice each as they came down off of Laguna Salada and then after the 250 mile loop of San Felipe.

For the teams were were pitting for, this is the status as I know it...

Jim Riley/Rick L. Johnson TT #7: Around RM125 hit a rock and blew off their right front wheel, spindle, brakes, everything. The chase truck got to them late with parts. We never heard if they got it repaired, but they never came through our pit at RM205.

Harry Helper, HHR TT #66: Pulled his truck from competition the day before Tech... the team didn't get the front end (upper J-arms and lower A-arms) completed in time to build the truck. What a shame!

Brian Parkhouse, cl1 #114: Took class 1 in third, 3rd in 2011 championship cl 1 points. They did a driver's swap at Borrego, second time through. They were head to head with Justin Davis all the way through the SF loop and Cody took Justin Davis heading into San Matis. Cody was literally on JD's rear bumper with the horn blaring as they blasted past our pit at at least 125! But, most unfortunately they took a rock somewhere in the SF loop and cracked their tranny case which started leaking oil... they had to stop numerous times to re-fill the tranny case for the rest of the race... took them 5-minutes each time and that lost them the time, and the race!

Steve Appleton/Mike Joulson cl1 #106: Haven't heard anything about 106. Never came through out pits and we never heard anything from either the race car or their chase.

Moss Bros Racing, cl3 #300: 300 came blasting through our pits at 2041 solo... no other class threes around. They were right on time and looking good. We didn't expect to see them again until 0500 estimated time. They came blasting through again at 0555 still going strong! We didn't see any class 3 trucks come through the entire time they were in the SF loop which gave them a fantastic lead in class. Waiting to get the final results.

Haas/Custer, Protruck #1360: Rough going for the first 100-miles... behind in class... got really stuck in the silt beds on Laguna Salada... wrong line. They threw in the towel at about 0200. Gene Haas is now commited to swapping out his protruck for a new class 1 buggy!

Brent Parkhouse, cl12 #1206: Brent had numerous problems getting to Borrego and then they lost their co-driver (got really sick) and they DNF'd at Borrego.

We had a ton of fun in an absolutely fantastic site. We also had Tony, Vic, Chris, James (from Hawaii), Andy, Israel, Steve (ChaseTruck), Agui, Tiff (Autofabgirl), Joe, Jackie, Thor, Will Staats and his grandson Cole with us (I know I'm forgetting someone here, sorry!).

Just waiting to get the Class Three story now... we only saw two other class threes through Rm 205, but they were way behind the Moss Bros Bronco!

[BajaF250]

The results as I know it thus far:

Unofficial 2011 SCORE Baja 1000 Results

Trophy Truck

1. Andy McMillin
2. Nick Vanderwey
3. Bryce Menzies
4. Mark McMillin
5. Clyde Stacy
6. Jesse James
7. Ken Losch
8. Troy Herbst
9. Robby Gordon
10. Rob MacCachren

Class 1
1. Justin Davis
2. Ronny Wilson
3. Brian Parkhouse
4. Mark Hutchins
5. Damen Jefferies

Class 22 (Pro Bikes, 450cc or more)
1. Kendall Norman
2. Shane Esposito
3. Colton Udall

Class 25 (Pro ATVs, 450cc or more)
1. Wayne Matlock
2. Rafael Torres F.
3. Robert Ruiz

Class 21 (Pro Bikes, 450cc or less)
1. Trevor Insley
2. Chris Parker
3. David Gonzales Jr.

Class 30 (Over 30 bikes)
1. Mike Johnson
2. Rodrigo Basave
3. Octavio Valle

Class 40 (Over 40 bikes)
1. Jeff Kaplan
2. Mike Prunty
3. Ronnie Mitchell

Class 50 (Over 50 bikes)
1. Jim O’Neal
2. Jim Dizney

Class 24 (Pro ATVs, 450cc or less)
1. Brandon Brown
2. Juan Sanchez
3. Heriberto Marquez P.

SCORE Lites (Class 12)
1. Lee Banning
2. Zak Langley
3. Steven Lisa

Class 5
1. Jim Anderson
2. Cody Kellogg

Class 16
1. Luke McMillin
2. Daniel Lopez
3. Eliseo Garcia

Class 10
1. Christian Hall
2. Eduardo Mejia

[yikes]

Thanks for the report Tom! Check out the thread on car 1802 at RDC. I believe there's mention of the TT #7 making it to the finish line with the 1802 early this morning.

Moss does it again! 55th across the line. This is getting to be a "if you can't beat'm, join'm" thing. Everyone needs to dump their super C3's and build straight axles if they want a chance at a win. Haha!

[BajaF250]

Thanks for the report Tom! Check out the thread on car 1802 at RDC. I believe there's mention of the TT #7 making it to the finish line with the 1802 early this morning.

Moss does it again! 55th across the line. This is getting to be a "if you can't beat'm, join'm" thing. Everyone needs to dump their super C3's and build straight axles if they want a chance at a win. Haha!

Cool, thanks B... we never saw them or heard them on the radio!

[BDKW1]

I was sitting at Morellia next to the bad apple guys. They got the call pretty early on to pack it in. Not sure what the problem was.

[tcm glx]

Thanks for having us Tom, it was FOR SURE an awesome trip, and nothing like taking in some of baja's best in the middle of nowhere...

[SteveG]

Thanks for the report Tom! Check out the thread on car 1802 at RDC. I believe there's mention of the TT #7 making it to the finish line with the 1802 early this morning.

The 1802 team members are my new heros. They ARE Baja!

[yikes]

Thanks for the report Tom! Check out the thread on car 1802 at RDC. I believe there's mention of the TT #7 making it to the finish line with the 1802 early this morning.

The 1802 team members are my new heros. They ARE Baja!

No doubt. It was simply inspiring to watch their race play out. When they made the turn toward Valle T their character was evident. The fact that they finished despite being timed out demonstrated their heart and determination. "They ARE Baja!"

[Broncodawg]

Had a blast dumping fuel for BFG at RM 81, especially since most of Class 3 pitted with BFG
and Moss already had a lead on everybody. Don's gonna need a bigger mantle soon at this rate! haha!

[Nick]

Had a blast dumping fuel for BFG at RM 81, especially since most of Class 3 pitted with BFG
and Moss already had a lead on everybody. Don's gonna need a bigger mantle soon at this rate! haha!

You must be the one Andy was talking about, wearing the GFB shirt.

[D1cker1]

Pics?

[Broncodawg]

Yeah, the GFB world is growing,haha!
Darn camera broke before leaving for baja and was too busy fueling racers to get picks anyway.
Good times even if was so early in the race!!!

[philofab]

I was in Borrego at the Yokohama semi.

I didn't have time to come see you guys as I was busy assembling the fuel towers, constantly filling them and pitting for the Class 6 and Two TTs. We lost a third member in one of the TTs, a master cylinder in the other, and a trans in the Class 6. This caused the trucks to come in every two to 3 hours and contributed to my lack of sleep. I left around 8am to the house and passed out.

We ended up with 10th in TT, and 5th in Class 6. We won the points championship in Class 6. All three of our trucks finished with almost zero tire problems. The new Yoks are amazing. No chunking or wear with 450+ miles on them.



Here is a little video of our pit.