|
2009 SCORE BAJA
1000 ATV / UTV Race Report
November 19-21
- Ensenada, Mexico, 672.85 miles
|
H-Bomb Films’ Wes Miller took over at the
490 mile mark for the 125 mile long run up the coast
back to Ojos Negros where he handed the 700XX back
over to Wayne Matlock for the final 40 mile run
to the finish line back in Ensenda, Mexico.
| |
|
| After
waiting several hours after dark for Wes
Miller to compete his 125 mile leg along
the coast he finally arrived in Ojos Negros
for the final swap with Wayne Matlock, so
we raced to the finish line to meet Wayne |
 |
| at
11:53PM Wayne Matlock crossed the finish
line to claim the Overall ATV Win &
the Championship |
The 1a of Wayne Matlock crossed the finish line
at 11:53PM for the Overall ATV win with a time of
16:54:52. Over one hour later, the 4a of Travis
Dillon crossed the finish line at 1:07AM, and the
6a Nick Nelson finished just over 2 hours later
in third place.
In the Pro ATV Class 24, the 104a Team of Tom
Wright were able to overcome their blown rear
shock and tire issues to salvage the class win
with a time of 20:57:44, which was 4th Overall
among all the ATV teams. The defending champions,
100A of Christy Racing finished in third after
stator issue sidelined the team for several hours,
which resulted in a 3rd place finish behind the
110a of Francisco Espinoza.
In the Sport ATV class, it was Mexico’s
62a of Fernando Amador taking home the win after
making the pass on the 59a of Manuel Jimenez .
 |
| 218a
Mike Penland |
The 218a of Mike Penland held the early lead in the
Utility Class,but by the halfway point of the race,
a clutch bolt broke on Penland’s Can-Am, which
sidelined the team for several hours while they
drove several hundred miles roundtrip for a new
bolt. In the end, Arctic Cat's FINES DOUBLE
would go on to take the win with a time of 30:19:53.
Mike Penland’s team did complete the entire
race, but not within the allowed amount of time
to be scored, but they were still excited to finish.
Kawasaki’s Reid Nordin claimed the UTV
Class Win with the Kawasaki Teryx 750 with an
impressive time of 24:32:37.
After my first trip to Mexico for the BAJA 1000,
I will say that I am hooked, and this will not
be my last trip down to this historic racing event.
The adrenaline rush and excitement of the race
is truly addicting, and I can fully understand
why families like the Matlock’s have raced
the BAJA 1000 over the past 20 years and keep
coming back year after year.
This year I experimented with doing live updates
through out the race, and I feel it worked out
fairly well, but it could be even better if anyone
else would be willing to help with text updates
from the race next year, so if anyone is interested
in helping please contact the webmaster @ atvriders.com
because your help would truly be appreciated by
those at home waiting on updates.
|
