Charlene Goes to the 42nd Baja 1000

| November 14, 2009 | 1 Comment

Tecate SCORE Baja 1000

One of my dreams has always been to go to the Baja 1000. It is the epicenter of the off road race scene. I work to experience everything in life at least once but I am also conscientious of who and how I experience these life goals. The time is now!

I have been lucky enough to get to know the Pirate4x4.com guys and help them with some of their online coverage for off road events. The Pirate4x4.com group along with Mike Shaffer of Shaffer Offroad have put together a jeep speed that will be racing on Friday.

So our plan for the week? I don’t really know! How about that answer! It is Saturday night now and we are in the truck headed to the border. We should be crossing around 7pm and then will head to Ensenada to the hotel and tacos for the night. Tomorrow will be pre-running and we will get the full coverage started. I know we will be at Mike’s Sky Ranch on Monday, contingency will be on Thursday and the race will be Friday. We are expected to cross the border again on Sunday.

In the meantime, Jon will be able to keep you updated with my SPOT tracking points that I will be sending in. I should have Satellite while I am down there…but can’t promise coverage when tethered to a satellite as you saw with the Vegas to Reno coverage.

I will upload information to Jon on the UTV race as I can too. I know there will be quite a few UTVs out there pre-running and there are five racing. With chasing the JeepSpeed class we should be right around the UTV’s.

Only time will tell…it is going to be a fun and interesting week. Wish me luck 😉

You can follow along by checking out Charlene’s SPOT track here:
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0RBU0kFWM3AtbOuRUxLaldIF2p8TEAtzZ

Updates:

Monday November 23rd – I’m Back on US soil!

I made it to Baja and back successfully. I have so many tales and so many memories that I want to take a couple of days to decompress and then I will bring you a full recap of my experiences. Hold tight…it will be worth it! In the meantime, if you want to get started, I was covering the event “live” for a brother website Pirate4x4.com. See the day to day action as I saw it:

http://pirate4x4.com/trailreports/baja-1000-2009/

Each day has a Cover It Live page. Hold your mouse over the arrow for 3 seconds and it will launch the information for you. Lots of pictures…

~Charlene~

Thursday – Contingency

1802 Yamaha Rhino - Thomas Graves

1819 Yamaha Rhino - John Crowley

1801 - Kawasaki Teryx - ITP

DragonFire Racing - Kawasaki Teryx

DragonFire photo courtesy of Mike Lasher.

THE DRIVERS: (you can get the full list at SCORE Internationals website…)
In order off the line….

SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK (Unlimited Production Trucks)–

2 Pete Sohren, Glendale, Ariz., Ford F-150

71 Rick D. Johnson/Brian Sallee, Barstow, Calif., Ford F-150

96 Bobby Baldwin/Sandy Stewart/Danny Anderson, Las Vegas, Chevy Silverado

7 Scott Steinberger, Cypress, Calif./Dave Sykes, Del Mar, Calif./Jimmy Knuckles, Brawley, Calif., Ford F-150

12 Brian Collins, Las Vegas/Chuck Hovey, Escondido, Calif., Dodge Ram 1500

84 Nick Vanderwey, Phoenix/Curt LeDuc, Cherry Valley, Calif./Michael Vanderwey, Phoenix, Chevy Silverado

1 B.J. Baldwin, Las Vegas, Chevy Silverado

77 Robby Gordon, Charlotte, N.C., Chevy CK1500

19 Tim Herbst/Troy Herbst, Las Vegas, Ford F-150

8 Roger Norman, Reno, Nev./Larry Roeseler, Boulevard, Calif., Ford F-150

24 Adam Householder/Terry Householder, Orange, Calif., Chevy Silverado

3 Mark Post, Laguna Beach, Calif./Rob MacCachren, Las Vegas, Ford F-150

9 Mark Weyhrich/Gary Weyhrich, Troutdale, Ore., Ford F-150

16 Cameron Steele, San Clemente, Calif./Rick Geiser, Phoenix, GMC Sierra

23 Mark McMillin, El Cajon, Calif./Brian Ewalt, Bonita, Calif., Ford F-150

4 Gus Vildosola Jr. /Gus Vildosola Sr., Mexicali, Mexico, Ford F-150

59 Craig Potts/Curt Potts, Scottsdale, Ariz., Chevy C1500

28 Alan Pflueger, Honolulu/Mike Johnson, Santa Monica, Calif., Chevy Silverado

31 Andy McMillin/Scott McMillin, National City, Calif., Chevy Silverado

74 Rob Bruce, Sublimity, Ore./Mark Witte, Silverton, Ore., Chevy Silverado

78 Jesse Ashcraft, San Marcos, Calif./Danny Ashcraft, Vista, Calif./Doug Siewert, Valley, Center, Calif., Ford F-150

51 Kory Scheeler, Las Vegas, Chevy Silverado

13 Ed Stout, Irvine, Calif., Chevy C1500

22 Damen Jefferies, Apple Valley, Calif., Chevy Silverado

47 James Bult/Jacob Bult, Monee, Ill., Dodge Ram2500

30 Robbie Pierce/Mike Julson, Santee, Calif., Chevy Silverado

20 Rob MacCachren, Las Vegas/Mike Julson, Santee, Calif., Chevy Silverado

58 Ronnie Wilson, Glendale, Calif., Chevy Silverado

35 Jason Voss/Rich Voss, Cupertino, Calif., Ford F-150

39 Ron Whitton/Chas Danna, Mesa, Ariz./Todd LeDuc, Cherry Valley, Calif., Ford F-150

10 Greg Nunley, Tulare, Calif./Tom Carr, Visalia, Calif., Chevy Silverado

79 Mike Mastro, Scottsdale, Ariz,/Kevin James, Lemon Grove, Calif., Ford F-150

69 Francisco Cervantes/Ramon Castro, Ensenada, Mexico, Chevy El Camino

75 Jerry Zaiden/Jason Campbell/Steve Meyers, Newport Beach, Calif.

CLASS 17 (Class 3, Modified Jeeps)–

1701 Eric Filar, Lake Elsinore, Calif., Jeep Cherokee

1702 Mike Shaffer, Dayton, Nev./Lance Clifford, Georgetown, Calif., Jeep Cherokee

1749 Justin Cook, Albion, Calif./Cliff Cook, Shingle Spring, Calif., Jeep Cherokee

The RACE…..TOTAL MILEAGE: 672.85 miles (6 checkpoints plus the finish line). Starts and finishes on Blvd. Costero, adjacent to the Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center in Ensenada.

From the start in Ensenada the course will go east to Ojos Negros for almost 40 miles which will be raced in both directions during the race. From Ojos Negros, the course will travel in a clockwise direction. From Ojos Negros, the course turns South to El Alamo and then east up through the Summit and makes a South turn at Cohabuzo Junction and on to the the infamous Laguna Salada, paralleling Mexican Highway 5. Next is San Felipe loop where the course will cover some of the rugged Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 course including the magnificent Matomi Wash.

After the San Felipe loop, which travels in a counterclockwise direction from and back to Borrego, the course will head north and northwest, joining Highway 3 for a short distance to the Mike’s Sky Ranch turnoff. Then the course heads behind Mike’s and around Rancho Las Truchas and Rancho El Coyote and down the challenging Simpson’s hill. From this point the course is very similar to the Tecate SCORE Baja 500 heading north along the Pacific Ocean below San Vicente and past Erendira, back inland up through Santo Tomas then turning northeast just past Uruapan winding its way back to Ojos Negros for the final charge back to Ensenada. In the Erendira area, the course avoids the rocky section along the Pacific, taking instead a high plateau east of that area.

This year’s race course will feature 6 outlying checkpoints where each vehicle is required to quickly stop before continuing on. The checkpoints will be located as follows: Checkpoint No. 1—No. of Santa Catarina (race mile 90.03), No. 2—West of Borrego (rm 213.27), No. 3—South of San Felipe (rm 309.80), No. 4—West of Borrego (rm 401.94), No. 5—San Vicente Vineyards (rm 535.32), No. 6—South of Ojos Negros (rm 631.25)

The front of the line and the crowds:

Here is the list of UTVs that are signed up to race…

SPT UTV

(660cc, 4-wheel utility vehicle)

1801 Dave Roberts, 61, Weddington, N.C./Robert Flau Sr., 50, Lake Elomo, Minn./John McCarthy, 53, Hudson, Wisc., Dragon Fire, ITP, Dragon Fire

1802 Thomas Graves, 49, El Cajon, Calif./Joseph Graves, 51/Soledad Martinez, 27/Daniel Graves, 58, San Diego, Yamaha Rhino, TAG Engineering, Gravestone Communications, Alba Action Sports, Motoworks, ORW, VisionX Lights, PWR Performance, RacerX, Fox Shox, Tire Balls, Dragon Fire, Weitzel Motorsports

1803 Reid Nordin, 47, Lake Elsinore, Calif./Hans Waage, 47, Scottsdale, Ariz./Todd Romano, 39, Park City, Utah, Kawasaki Teryx, Dragon Fire Racing, Kawasaki Team Green, ITP, Lowrance, Fox Shox, Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey

1818 Peter Hajas, 49, Wayzata, Minn./Steven Hajas, 44, Delano, Minn./Scott Heber, 43, Telluride, Colo./Scott Hoyt, Plymouth, Minn., TomCar

1819 John Cowley, 35/Torsten Palm, 33/Jesse Maier, 31, Flagstaff, Ariz.

Wednesday – Back in Ensenada

ITP Team Headed to Registration

ITP will be racing a DragonFire Racing Kawasaki Teryx.

Pictures from our Wednesday trailing adventures: Lots of rough, rutted, terrain.

And a video of Torchmate, watch until the end:

Tuesday – Mike’s Sky Ranch

Monday – Mike’s Sky Ranch
View Larger Map

Sunday Pre-Run

Pirate4x4.com Mobile Satellite

Charlene should be able to upload photos via satellite when we get to race day. This is the Pirate4x4.com satellite that is temporarily installed on Lance’s truck.