Christy Racing's
Andy Lagzdins SCORE San Felipe 250 Race
Report
March 14, 2009
San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico, 232.4
miles
Photos By: www.elforooffroad.net
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| SCORE
San Felipe 250
ATV Race Links |
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| Christy
Racing's Andy Lagzdins, Craig Christy, Steve
Abrego |
San Felipe, Mexico (4/2/2009)
– Maryland weather is just not ideal for racing
quads. The humid summers are bearable, and the spring
and fall are perfect, but riding in the dead of
the Northeast winter just wears on you. Screwing
ice studs in your tires, stuffing foot warmers in
your boots, stopping every 20 minutes to warm up
your double-layered gloves with your exhaust, and
especially trying to find a car wash with heated
power washers so you’re not shooting icicles
at your quad while you are trying to wash the snow
and dirt McFlurry mix off of it- let’s just
say it gets old real quick. After sloshing around
for months in the ice and snow, I was happy to head
down to Mexico for the San Felipe 250.
After starting my first full season of desert
racing with a win at the Parker 250 in January,
I was ready and eager to help Team Christy’s
defend their 2008 Score 450 Pro quad Championship.
The team’s win at last year’s Baja
1000 sealed their championship and established
them as a favorite to win the San Felipe opener.
The Parker race was a great opportunity to get
familiar with the team’s program and winning
combination of talent, experience, and teamwork
before we headed to Mexico.
Craig Christy is a master of organization and
leadership, and with a faithful and able crew
of a dozen or so chasers and pit personnel, his
team handles races with the precision and execution
of a factory effort. Our plan was to head down
to San Felipe and dissect the race track to familiarize
ourselves as much as possible with the course
and the terrain.
My prerunning consisted of roughly 100 miles
a day for 5 days, and I switched between a Raptor
700 and a CRF450X. The Duncan Racing built Raptor
was a lot faster than your average 700, so I really
had to man-up to use all the power I had on tap.
After using up 8 of my 9 lives doing unintentional
power wheelies through every type of desert plant
imaginable, and running off a few turns that I
just could not throw out the anchor fast enough
to slow down for; I used some tips I had picked
up while watching Championship bull riding on
TV and started to feel comfortable on it.
The CRF was quite a bit easier to ride fast,
and there is something to be said for having a
few extra inches of suspension travel and a hundred
or so less pounds of machinery to direct around
the course. The narrow width of the bike let me
blaze lines through the desert obstacles, but
it was then I discovered the “exploding
cactus”. As if the sharp, pointed, down
right aggressive ground cover was not enough,
there is actually a very common form of prickled
plant that upon impact propels it’s pointers
in all directions including but not limited to
your wrists, forearms, torso, and legs. And to
top it off, the needles have barbed tips that
rip your flesh even more when you try to pull
them out!
I thought pine trees and sticker bushes were
bad, but they have nothing on desert plants! During
pre-running we checked out as many of the available
lines as possible, and tried to determine the
fastest combination through the sections. Each
of the four racers on the team concentrated on
his part of the track, and tried to explore all
the options for making time on the competition.
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| David
Scott started the race to tackle the whoops
for the 1st 60 miles of the track |
Race day dawned with mild temperatures and totally
clear skies. Dave Scott, who was on the Christy’s
team for the Baja 1000, would be doing the first
60 miles, a valiant feat even for a renowned whoop-riding
master like Dave. He started 8th on the grid, and
moved through the quads ahead of him to put us in
2nd on the track. Steve Abrego would take over at
the 60, and utilize the awesome power of the Duncan
National-motored TRX450R in the super-high speed
dry lake section where the quad is going full-song
for minutes at a time on narrow washout-filled graded
roads.
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| Andy
Lagzdins Makes a pit stop for fuel during
his 70 mile |
Steve went back and forth with the lead quad for
miles, swapping the lead numerous times and using
enough expletives on the radio that we started to
think the Mexican version of the FCC might come
looking for us. Steve handed the quad over to me
at the 122 mile mark with the leaders in sight.
I used every bit of my course knowledge and riding
ability to track down and pass the lead quad, and
tried to open up a gap. My 70 mile section was 80%
Florida GNCC, 10% Arkansas OMA, 10% indescribable
rock riding, and 100% off-the-hook fun (except for
the invisible rocks that lurk underneath the ruts
in the sand washes and instantly put me in a full
extension handstand like 5 or 8 times in the Matobi
Wash).
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| Craig
Christy takes the checkered flag for class
24 Win with a time of 5:43:48, which was
over 10 minutes ahead of 2nd place team |
The 192 mile mark came up, and as I got off the
quad and Craig got on, we counted 11 minutes before
the 2nd place quad came past. Knowing Craig’s
vast knowledge of the course and his excellent
riding ability, I knew we had the win. As I drove
with the chase crew to the finish, I heard over
the radio that Craig crossed the finish in first
place. The feeling of reward for the countless
hours of work and preparation is irreplaceable,
and I was relieved that I had done my part in
securing the win.
With wins in the Best in the Desert and Score
opening rounds, the team is in the driver’s
seat for both championships, and I’m fully
focused on doing my part to keep the ball rolling.
Unfortunately, I’m back in the frozen tundra
of the Northeast, eagerly awaiting the spring
thaw, replacing some worn out studs in my tires,
and getting ready to pick up a case of hand warmers
for the coming weekend’s ride. At least
I have a nice tan!
Andy Lagzdins sponsors:
Christy's Editiorial, DirtFirst Racing, Duncan
Racing, ITP Tires, Moose Racing, Alpinestars,
Sunoco Fuels, DWT Wheels, Elka Shocks, Roll Design,
IMS, Vortex Ignitions, Quadtech, GPR, Tireballs
www.score-international.com
23961 Craftsman Rd. #A
Calabasas, CA 91302
818-225-8402
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