Results of the 2005 Baja 1000

November 20, 2005

38th Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000
Final round of the six-race 2005 SCORE Desert Series Nov. 16-20 • Ensenada, Baja California, México

Notes and Quotes

CARS AND TRUCKS

SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK
After four top ten finishes this season, Bob Shepard (No. 82) claimed his first ever SCORE Trophy-Truck race win. He finished in 15 hours, 48 minutes, 49 seconds, averaging 44.82 miles per hour. He entered the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 race leading the season point title by a slim two points over Tim and Ed Herbst. In fact, seven racers were all within 22 points coming into this final race, but Shepard’s win by a seven minute, 19 second margin locked up the season title. In the six races this season, there have been six different winners.
Shepard withstood challenges from several other SCORE Trophy-Trucks, most notably Chad Ragland (No. 80), who led midway through the race and trailed by just over two minutes with about 250 miles left to go.

“This thing held together, what a car,” Shepard commented. “The race went pretty good. We had a flat at the start of the day; I did that. It went pretty well to plan except I didn’t plan to do the whole race;
 

“We got the lead when I think Andy (McMillin, No. 103) blew his motor right below San Felipe,” Herbst said. “We had a nice clean race. When we turned it over we were fourth or fifth and there were no consequences. We came in last Sunday night so I could pre-run a few times and this is one of the best courses I’ve ever had to race.”

Roeseler’s overall title came by finishing 42:30 faster than the first SCORE Trophy-Truck, nearly equaling the 45:45 gap in 2002, when Dan Smith/David Ashley’s SCORE Trophy-Truck defeated Mike Julson’s Class 1 car. In the BFG pits, Bob Shepard (No. 82) led Roeseler by a mere 1:20 in the first pit but Roeseler steadily outpaced Shepard through the other pits (5:41 in the second pit, 7:53 in the third pit, 14:25 in the fourth pit, and 26 minutes in the fifth pit).

Finishing second in the class was the point leader entering the race, Mark McMillin (No. 115), who has won eight Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 races in his career, all of which were in the 1980’s. McMillin had hoped to get another SCORE victory, as he won the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 last year, for his second victory in the 21st century. Shy of getting another win, he also strove to beat the person who was a very close second in the points standings coming in, Damen Jefferies (No. 116). Midway through the race, those two cars were separated by just four seconds (adjusted time), but McMillin pulled away the second half of the race to notch a seven-minute advantage over Jefferies at the finish.
 

we planned on Larry Ragland driving. I always have higher hopes, I wanted to win the overall, but it was great to win the championship. I’ve driven every mile the whole year, “True Grit.” Next year I’m going to do better because I’m proven. This was a new car this year but now we’ve worked out all the bugs. I really work all year to get to this. It really happened. I’m really happy! It took a lot of homework, a lot of work happily paid off. I’ve got a great crew unbelievable car builders, the best of everybody. My crew was just fantastic, they were everywhere I needed them. It takes a good team to do this. I am thinking of getting a boat, I’ve just got to take a year off after this. I don’t know what I am going to do. I will probably race again. My race was very good with very few problems, hardly anything. It is the hardest course. I don’t have any breath because I drove all the way, I did not have any brakes so I think that was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I’ve solo’d a lot of the SCORE Baja 1000’s to La Paz, I have been to several of those, but this race was much more demanding and challenging. It was really a hard one.”

Alan Pflueger (No. 28) was the second SCORE Trophy-Truck to finish, and it marked just his second official finish of the year (also in Primm in September). Pfleuger was right in the mix of SCORE Trophy-Trucks in the first 200 miles, but over the next 100 miles he lost some ground. He was able to make up most of it, but ended up just over seven minutes behind the class winner.

“It’s just like a walk in a park, it was great when we got to the bridge,” Pflueger said. “Lots of energy during the race and it brought us home. We got the start, got us pushing. It is a long day; we got up front, we got behind, we didn’t get back into it until the end here. The course was tough, you don’t see it because of the amount of people that finish but it was brutal. The vehicle is great, we didn’t have any problems.”

Tim and Ed Herbst (No. 19) was third in this class, marking the third time this season he has had a podium finish but has been unable to emerge victorious. Two hundred miles into the race, Ed Herbst led all SCORE Trophy-Trucks and was the second fastest four-wheeled vehicle.

Chad Ragland (No. 80) was the fourth SCORE Trophy-Truck to cross the line. Ragland was competing for just the second time this season, having placed 10th in the Tecate SCORE Baja 500 in June. He received a big assist during this race as his father Larry, the SCORE Baja legend, drove the final part of the course.

Illustrating the parity in the featured class is the fact that in the six SCORE races this season, there have been a total of 14 different racers with podium finishes (first, second or third place). Only three drivers have had more than one podium finish in 2005, with Tim and Ed Herbst leading the way with three of those finishes. Shepard is right behind with a pair of top three placements, as is Jason Baldwin (1), who garnered a 10th this race. A total of 11 other drivers have placed in the top three this season, but were only able to manage this once. Included in that group was Pfleuger, whose second-place finish at the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 was his first placement that high this year.

CLASS 1

Troy Herbst wanted to win the 38th Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. So much so that he withdrew his vehicle (No. 118) this week in order to get a better starting position (No. 105) with teammate with Larry Roeseler, forgoing any chance he had for the season point championship, as he was fifth in a tight contest entering the race. Last year the duo won this race with the second-highest average speed in race history (62.167 mph), while this year they were again the fastest four-wheeled vehicle.
“This year he gave me the car fourth physically,” Roeseler said about his teammate, which was quite a feat considering that their vehicle was the fifth Class 1 car to start and followed the 30 SCORE Trophy-Trucks to leave the line. “I just tried to stay consistent, no mistakes. If we have to go, we can go, that’s what makes us such a great team. This is a fantastic race. I’m really proud to be a part of BFG Tires and the legacy of the race. This is the hardest race in the world and to win back-to-back is just incredible. It was very, very difficult: it was a true test of man and machine. This car here is amazing, I think its eight years old now. We went the whole race with no flat tires, competing with great racers. This is basically a SCORE Trophy-Truck without fenders. This car has won more races than any car, it’s incredible!”

Roeseler’s win marked his 14th class victory and 12th overall title. Roeseler and is second only to all-time leader, Rod Hall (18 SCORE Baja 1000 titles). Not since 1989-90 has a vehicle other than a SCORE Trophy-Truck won consecutive overall titles at the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, when Robby Gordon accomplished it. Herbst claimed his fourth Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 victory, as he also won in 1999 and 2000 before winning last year. It was also Herbst’s 17th Class 1 win since 1997.
 

“We are beating Damen, all we had to do was stay close to him,” co-driver Brian Ewalt said. “I liked this course. It reminds me of the old traditional course when I started racing in 1986. We have been racing for years. Sometimes the race gets a little dusty and sometimes it gets a little bit technical, a little bit of everything. No problems at all, we just stayed in the same race stuff.”

Damen Jefferies (No.116) has placed second and fourth this season in other SCORE races, and this race he filled in the gap with a third-place showing. His time of 16:05:01 was also the sixth fastest amongst all four-wheeled vehicles.

“It was tough, it was a long way,” Jefferies said. “I drove the whole way. My brother Casey (Jefferies) rode with me for most of it. Our vehicle was good, I think the fuel filters are plugged, we couldn’t speed up for the last 300 miles. It was a real rough course, I am surprised how many people made it. I didn’t see many cars parked out. I thought we went too hard all day, I’m dying. I had problems driving the whole way, I was not supposed to. It was a lot of race course, I would have rather gone to La Paz any day.”

CLASS 1/2-1600

Caleb Gaddis (1603), with third and second-place finishes to his credit already this season, clocked the fastest time in the class to gain the victory. His win denied Rob MacCachren (No. 1614) his quest to defend last year’s title. Gaddis trailed both MacCachren and L.J. Kennedy (No. 1601) in points coming in, and posted a 1:10, three-placement class win against Kennedy in the race, while MacCachren was unable to finish.

CLASS 3

Brothers Donald Moss/Kenneth Moss (No. 300) won their class for the fourth straight Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 race. The Moss brothers continue to dominate this class, as no one else has won a SCORE title since the SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300 in September 2003, when Randy Sorenson took the checkered flag. Since that time, the Moss brothers have won nine of the ten SCORE races (there were no official Class 3 finishers in the 2005 Tecate SCORE Baja 500). Donald started and finished, Ken drove from mile 200 to mile 530.

Donald Moss: “It was ROUGH! Rocks, rough roads, a lot of traffic and a lot of dust the entire race. Lost one front spring at race mile 60 and another at mile 210, it set us back for about an hour. Overall, it’s always good to win the SCORE Baja 1000. It’s always worth every bit of everything you go through. This year was no exception.”

CLASS 5

Chris Bowman (No. 501) took the checkered flag almost 15 minutes ahead of his nearest class competitor, Luivan Voelker (No. 517). He overcame a 10-minute deficit after 200 miles against four-time Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 winner George Seeley (No. 500). With his win, he solidified his season point championship with his second SCORE victory of the year. Bowman also won the season-opening event in Laughlin, Nevada in January.

“It was rough, it was off-road racing,” Bowman stated. “Jarry Longo did the first 400 miles. I did the last 300 miles. My section was pretty rough, especially coming out of Mike’s. Up near the Simpson’s Falls area there was a bottle neck. The most surprising and interesting part was us winning. I just felt ecstatic coming across the line because it wraps up a championship for us.”

CLASS 5/1600

Marcos Nunez (No. 574) was the class point leader despite not having a win, but he changed that with an hour-plus win this race. Nunez placed third in the season opener in Laughlin, Nevada, but was just two minutes, seven seconds behind the class winner. In this race, however, he left no doubt to the outcome, starting out strong.
“We had some little electrical and mechanical problems,” Nunez said. “It was a good day though. The course had some flood problems. We did not have any flats.”

CLASS 7

Doug Siewert (No. 708) won for the second time this year in Ensenada, having previously won the Tecate SCORE Baja 500. Siewert had also been in the winner’s circle in the 2001 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 when he competed in Class 7S. The win this year also gave Siewert another two-win season, which he accomplished in 2002 in Class 7S.
“It was one of the toughest courses I’ve seen in a long time,” Siewert said. “Every year it seems like it gets rougher and rougher out there. We broke a rocker arm in the motor at mile 85, put us down for about two and half hours. That put us behind everybody. At the time we were running in fourth place, we picked our way through after that. At San Felipe there were a lot of broken cars, that’s where we kind of got by everybody. These were the same tires I ran at the SCORE Baja 500.”

CLASS 7S

No official finishers in a class dominated this year by John Holmes (No. 739), who had four wins this season.

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