Matlock Racing
SCORE San Felipe 250 ATV Race Report
Matlock ATV Race Team Places Second in the SCORE
Open Pro Quad Class
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Matlock Racing
SCORE San Felipe 250 ATV Race Team (left
to right)
Wayne Matlock, Wes Miller,
& Josh Caster
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El Centro, CA (3/18/2012) - Matlock
Racing's Wayne Matlock, Wes Miller and Josh Caster
entered one of SCORE's most grueling races on March
10, 2012 to finish 2nd spot of the Open Pro Quad
class.
The entire Matlock Racing team prides itself
on being a well prepared Championship winning
team. This has been proven with 4 consecutive
SCORE Championships in class 25, SCORE's Open
Pro Quad class. As the 2012 season was starting
there were some major changes in store for the
Matlock team. The biggest change was the help
of American Honda once again. This change would
require the team leave the TRX700XX behind and
move to Honda's new TRX450ER for the 2012 season.
This change in quads would also require changes
with other Sponsors and new testing of products.
Just weeks before the first race, Matlock Racing
received the new TRX450ERs at JCR Honda. With
little time to test, the team went to work on
the quads trying to get them ready in time to
get testing in before heading south to Baja. Just
one week before the team headed to Baja, Wayne's
prerunner was complete and this allowed the team
to test suspension and new products. Due to the
last minute changes, most of the Sponsor provided
products did not appear in the Matlock shop until
just one day before the team was scheduled to
head to Baja.
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With little time to test after
receiving all of the sponsor provided products
the Matlock Racing Team headed to Baja to
do some last minute testing |
With late nights to get the race quad and prerunners
put together, the team was anxious to test the
race quad and get to Baja. Last minute testing
proved everything was working as planned so the
team finished loading all the remaining supplies
and heade south to Baja to begin prerunning.
The last time any of the riders from Matlock
Racing had ridden a straight axle quad was over
4 years ago, so everyone was excited to start
getting some riding time in on the new TRX450ERs.
It was going to be a learning curve riding one
of Baja's roughest areas with only one or two
days of riding the new quads. After the first
day of prerunning, each of the riders were excited
about the new quads. They all felt the quads were
working good and they were looking forward to
a great race.
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Matlock Racing
teamed up with American Honda once again
for the San Felipe 250, but instead of
the usual Honda 700XX the team raced on
a Honda 450R Sport ATV
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Matlock and Miller would remain in Baja the week
before the race to prerun each of their sections
and to continue testing the nw quads. Caster would
head back to the States for a couple of days mid
week for work and to pick up parts that hadn't
shown up before the team headed across the border.
Mid week Caster would return and continue prerunning
his sections.
By the end of the week, each of the riders were
confident with their sections and all were happy
with the new quads performance. The holes and
whoops seemed to be getting deeper and deeper
each day so the team made some small adjustments
to the suspension for the last day of testing
and prerunning. Happy with the changes that were
made, the team was excited for race day.
On race morning, Matlock would start the race
and ride to race mile 7 at the infamous Zoo Road.
In the early morning dust he would fight his way
up the course trying to avoid the booby traps
set by the locals just as the curse entered the
rough, whooped out section. Matlock was able to
get through with no issues and pass the quad off
to Caster.
Caster would take the quad at race mile 7 and
continue on to race mile 24. Starting later in
the pack, the team would have to deal with the
extra dust of the lead quads and Caster was unable
to see with the blinding dust. Deciding to keep
a safe pace and trying not to wreak the quad,
Caster wasn't able to push as hard as possible
and in turn lost some time in this section before
handing the quad off to Mille at race mile 24.
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Matlock Racing's
ATV Race Team had an average speed of
40.1 mph aboard their Honda 450R ATV
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With the quads beginning to space themselves out,
Miller was able to push hard and start making some
passes towards the front of the pack. Miller would
run one of the new sections of the course through
some tight, twisty and sandy washes before the course
once again joined the long whooped out pole line
road previous courses have run. The quad continued
to work good and Miller was able to make some more
passes in the deep pole line whoops before heading
South across the lake bed towards Morelia Jct at
race mile 94. Battling his way into the 4th place
position, Miller would come into the pits hot on
the other quads to pass the quad off to Caster once
again.
While Caster was jumping back on the quad, it
stalled and with the extreme heat had a difficult
time starting. During this time a quad Miller
had just passed miles back, raced pass them in
the pits. Once the quad was started, Caster was
off trying to reel these quads back in. By race
mile 120, Caster had passed all but the lead quad
and was in hot pursuit. Caster was able to make
it thru the remote Matomi Wash and was nearing
race mile 160 when he was surprised by another
quad makng a pass on him. Caster continued to
chase this quad into race mile 169 where he would
pass the quad off to Matlock.
Matlock was back on the quad at race mile 169
and would ride from there to the finish. With
another quad between him and the leader, Matlock
was off like a madman trying to close the gap.
He soon made the pass and rode hard to close the
gap between him and the lead quad. Soon another
quad joined the mix and Matlock would battle with
him nearly to the finish before finally pulling
some time on him. Fighting locals driving backwards
on the course and more booby traps, Matlock made
his way into town and across the finish line.
The Matlock Racing Team would cross the finish
line just 10 minutes down of the leaders and had
an average speed of 40.1 mph over the extremely
rough course. With a new quad and little test
time, the entire Matlock Team was excited with
their performance and they are all looking forward
to the Baja 500.
Matlock Racing would like to thank all the Sponsors
who teamed with Matlock Racing for the 2012 season!
Matlock Racing Sponsors:
American Honda, JCR, Maxxis, Elka, Vey's Powersports,
Scott Goggles, Rich Morel Race Motors, Precision
Concepts, Roll Design, Honda Oil and Chemicals,
KZ Trailers, Fly Racing, Renthal, UNI, DWT, FMF,
OMF, Tire Balls, Quad Tech, DID, Hinson, Precision
Racing Products, Baja Designs, Motion Pro, UPP,
Pro Armor, Go Pro, Alpinestars, Galfer, Lonestar,
Web Cam, Works Connection, IMS, Rocky Mountain
ATV, Kicker, Hammer Nutrition, H-Bomb Media For
more information on Matlock Racing please visit
– www.matlockracing-honda.com
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