BJ Baldwin bounces back at the King Shocks HDRA 250

UTV Weekly | April 24, 2013

Ridgecrest, CA

It’s been said that how successful you become depends on how high you bounce after hitting bottom. If you are using that as criteria then the King Shocks HDRA 250 was a success for BJ Baldwin. The results will show him finishing fifth but that doesn’t tell the whole story. After putting in some time on the Ridgecrest course on Thursday, BJ went out on Friday morning and made a statement in his Monster Energy Toyo Tires Rigid Industries Trophy Truck. His qualifying time was almost ten seconds quicker than the next fastest truck of Tim Herbst. His number one qualifying position would get him out in clean air on lap one, a huge advantage on race day.

At the drop of the green flag on Saturday, BJ set out to put as much time on the field as possible to build an insurmountable lead. The course was sure to get dusty in the later stages of the race. With boulders on both sides of the course and sometimes right in the middle, opportunities to open the truck up would get scarcer with each passing lap. All was going to plan until the rear axle started making noises. As they continued, the noise increased until they pulled into the pits at mile 49. The crew quickly pulled the scorching hot third member out of the truck and replaced it with a fresh piece. BJ was back on course in only 45 minutes but the setback cost them precious time and track position.

As predicted, the course got dustier and the traffic got worse as the laps went by. As others suffered flat tires, BJ’s Toyo Tires held strong. He stayed in the groove, avoided the rocks, charged through the dust and made up time. On laps 2 and 3, he made up 10 minutes on the leader. In the
worst conditions of the day, on lap 4, he ran even faster and made up an additional 8 minutes on the race leader. Had there been another lap, he might have made the podium but it was not to be. BJ, Johnny and the crew never gave up.
They didn’t win the day but they banked more critical points towards the HDRA Trophy Truck title and the World Championship of Desert Racing crown. The team will get the truck squared away and head back to Baja next for the 45th Tecate SCORE Baja 500 May31- June 2, a race BJ has won numerous times in the past.