Matlock Racing
ATV Race Team Wins Tecate SCORE Baja 1000
Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 - Ensenada,
Baja Mexico - November 18, 2011
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Matlock Racing's
Wayne Matlock & his team of Josh Caster,
& Wes Miller took first overall in
the ATV Pro class at the SCORE Baja 1000
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El Centro, CA (11/29/2011) - On
November 18th, over 275 entries would start the
2011 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 in Ensenada, Baja California,
Mexico with the expectations to finish the race
and be the first to cross the finish line. The #1A
Matlock Racing Team of Wayne Matlock, Wes Miller
and Josh Caster were the first ATV to cross the
finish line after an extremely rough 705 miles through
the Baja lanscape.
With a rough start earlier in the year at the
Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 and Tecate SCORE Baja
500, the Matlock Racing team was looking forward
to a trouble free race. The team spent months
preparing for the upcoming race and their goal
was to take the overall win once again and seal
the point lead for the championship and the #1A
plate.
The whole team headed south across the border
a week before the race to begin prerunning each
of their sections. Matlock and Miller would head
to Ensenada as a base for prerunning their sections
and Caster would head to San Felipe. Weather was
harsh early in the week of prerunning with heavy
rains leaving huge mud puddles and washouts along
most of the couse. All of the team would have
to prerun in the extreme weather to get the course
completely covered.
All of the riders ended up having issues during
the prerun at one point or another leaving them
stuck out in the middle of Bajawaiting for another
team member to come rescue them. Even with all
the prerunning issues the team felt confident
on each of their sections. One thing that each
rider commented on was how rough the race course
was. This course was as rough or even more so
than any other race the riders could remember
and with only three riders it would be difficult.
The team's goal was to set a fast but safe pace
through San Felipe before they would re-evaluate
where they were position wise before stepping
up the pace if needed. On race morning, Matlock
would start 4th and work his way out of Ensenada
towards the famous Ojos Negros highway crossing
before handing the qud off to Caster at race mile
70. The start was comprised of mud filled washes
and streams from the earlier weeks rainy weather.
Early in the race Matlock was able to work his
way up to second place but after reaching the
tight and twisty new section adde by SCORE up
in the hills before Ojos Negros, Matlock found
he was not comfortable pushing the big 700xx through
the tight trails and he lost a few positions before
reachig Ojos Negros at race mile 45.
Frustrated, along with silt and mud covered goggles,
Matlock decided it would be better if Caster would
take the quad from him at race mile 45 and continue
on to his planned sectin. Caster would jump aboard
the quad and continue on to race mile 91 for his
planned rider change with Miller at the JCR Honda
pit2. Keeping with the fast but safe pace Matlock
set early in the race, Caster continued to pass
quads working the #1A quad back to the front of
the pack. As Caster reached the JCR Honda pit
2 at race mile 91, he slid into the pit just behind
the second place quad.
Miller would jump aboard and with a quick fuel
up, he was off and now in the second overall position,
on his way towards the rough and rocky summit
section of the course. Miller would battle for
the second place position all the way down the
summit before pulling away along the Laguna Salada
dry akebed. During Miller's push to gain the lead,
he also passed the #7A quad who had been the lead
quad most of the morning, but was experiencing
motor issues. Before Miller reached JCR Honda
pit 5 at race mile 208, he had gained a 2 minute
lead over the second place quad and was able to
hand the quad off to Caster in the lead.
Caster would take the quad from Miller at the
JCR Honda pit 5 and continue on to the JCR Honda
pit 8 at race mile 330. Once aboard the quad,
Caster continued the pace set earlier in the race
before reaching Diablo dry lakebed however due
to mixed radio communication, Caster believed
he had over a 10 minute lead at this point and
slowed the pace to the JCR Honda pit 6 at race
mile 256. As Caster was fueling at the JCR Honda
pit 6, the second place quad came into view causing
Caster to quickly leave the pit and pick up the
pace for the remainder of his secion. As Caster
reached the JCR Honda pit 8 at race mile 330,
he had gained 8 minutes on the second place quad.
With a quick fuel stop, Matlock was now back
on the quad and headed up the whooped out sandy
washes towards San Felipe. With no radio communication
in this remote area, Matlock was unsure of the
lead Caster had gained, so he set a fast pace
to gain as much time as possible. When Matlock
reached the JCR Honda pit 9 at race mile 374,
he had gain more time and was able to do a quick
tire change and mount the Baja Designs lights
on the quad. Off once again, Matlock worked his
way back up the final wash towards the town of
San Felipe. As Matlock reached race mile 404,
he had gained over another 8 minutes to the lead,
leaving Caster a comfortable 16 plus minute lead
as he headed north out of San Felipe.
With a comfortable lead now in place, Caster
was able to back the pace back down a bit on his
way back towards Borrego and the JCR Honda pit
11 at race mile 459. As Caster was nearing the
JCR Honda pit, Matlock contacted him on the radio
to notify him that he was held up by traffic at
a military check point and would not be at he
pit in time for the rider change. Caster would
have to continue on until Matlock could get ahead
enough to get back on the quad. Matlock would
race ahead in the chase truck and be ready at
the San Matias road crossing at race mile 466.
Matlock would jump on the quad once again at the
San Matias road crossing and continue on to the
famous Mike's Sky ranch loop bfore heading back
towards Valle De Trinidad. Matlock continued to
push the lead while running up through the thick
fog and high winds before handing the quad off
to Millerat race mile 504 with a 30 minute lead.
Miller was off into the dark for his second ride
of the day, heading towards the coast in the thick
fog. As Miller reached the Pacific coast, he got
caught in a thick patch of silt causing the quad
to stall. With a quick check of the air filter,
Miller was off once again heading up the coast
before reaching Santo Tomas where the crew would
change the air filter as a preaution from the
earlier silt sections. Once the filter was changed,
Miller set a safe fast pace back towards Ojos
Negros at race mile 657 where he would hand the
quad off to Matlock once again.
Once Miller reached the field near Ojos Negros
at race mile 657, Matlock would mount the quad
for his final ride back into the town of Ensenada.
In the early morning hours, Matlock worked his
way back into Ensenada thru the streams and mud
covered washes before crossing the finish line
as the firstoverall quad.
The #1A Matlock Racing team not only finished
2 hours, 18 minutes ahead of the next class 25
quad but they also covered the course as the fastest
Overall ATV in 18:43:21 hours with an average
or 37.66 mph over the extremely rough course.
The class 25 and Overall ATV win was good enough
to seal the season championship once again. This
year marks Matlock Racing's 4th season championship
in a row and the #1A plate setting them into the
record books with a tie for the most season championships
in class 25 in SCORE's history.
Wayne, Josh and Wes would like to personally
thank all of the chase crew, which is made up
of wives , girlfriends, mothers and fathers along
with friends and family. We would also like to
thank all of our sponsors for their continual
support enabling us to win races and championships
like ths. We realize without all of these people
behind us, none of this would be possible and
the team is truly appreciative of all the support!
Matlock Racing would
like to thank all their sponsors:
Rocky Mountain ATV, Maxxis, Kicker, PRM-ATV.com,
JCR, American Honda, Rich Morel Race Motors, Scott
Goggles, Renthal, Elka, Big Gun Exhaust, KZ Trailers,
Precision Concepts, Houser, Vey's Powersports,
Fly Racing, Vortex Ignitions, IMS-Roll, IMS, DWT,
OMF, Tire Balls, Quad Tech, Streamline, Precision
Racing Products, Baja Designs, Motion Pro, UNI,
DID, Aerco Systems, Inc., Hammer Nutrition, Premier
Nutrition, H-Bomb Media
For more information on Matlock Racing please
visit – www.matlockracing-honda.com
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