2012 SCORE Tecate BAJA
500 ATV Race Report
SCORE
BAJA 500 - Ensenada, Baja, Mexico - June 1-3,
2012
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BAJA 500
ATV & SxS Race Links |
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Mexico (6/8/2012) – The
2012 SCORE BAJA 500 proved to be a challenging endurance
race, but in the end, it was the Yamaha 5A team
of Greg Row, Dustin Nelson and Josh Row, along with
DJ Noerr and Travis Dillon, claiming victory in
the Pro ATV Class 25.
The 44th Tecate SCORE BAJA 500 saw typical conditions
for this year’s race with many rough sections
and many open high speed areas, but it was really
hot for this year’s race with temps in the
upper 90’s, which took its toll on the racers.
There were over 275 entries for this year’s
race and the course was set in a 450 mile loop
that started and ended in Ensenada, in front of
the Pacifico Cultural Center. The motorcycle and
ATV classes began bright and early at 6am and
were released at 30 second intervals.
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| Yamaha's
Greg
Row, Dustin Nelson, Josh Row, DJ Noerr &
Travis Dillon
took the Class 25 Pro ATV Win |
This was the first time for the number 5A Yamaha
racers of Dustin Nelson, Josh Row, Travis Dillon
and DJ Noerr to team up with BAJA veteran, Greg
Row, as the racer of record, but they had fantastic
results. “I was a little skeptical going
into the race. We had the quad set up great for
WORCS races, but we were a little unsure about
putting it through the rigors of the BAJA 500,”
said Dustin Nelson.
The team got off to a good start and was soon
catching up to the leaders. At the 200 mile marker,
the 5A team was only 3 minutes behind and then
Dustin Nelson took over for his second turn of
the race. “We were about 3 minutes behind
Brandon Brown’s team and I took over. It
was one of the toughest sections of the course.
At the start of it, there were about 25 miles
of deep three-foot whoops. About five miles in,
I was really feeling it, so I just gave it everything
I had and by the time we got to the 235 mile mark,
we were in the lead by about a minute,”
said Nelson.
At the end of the race, the team took the Pro
ATV class 25 win with a time of 10:52:07. “Everyone
did such a great job, Josh, DJ and Travis all
had good runs and we never had any issues. It
was a great time and now I’m looking forward
to the BAJA 1000,” said Nelson.
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| 3A
Pro ATV team of Brandon Brown, Jorie Williams,
Jamie Kirkpatrick, & Richie Brown placed
second in Class 25 Pro ATV on their Honda
450R ATV |
The number 3A Pro ATV team of Brandon Brown, Jorie
Williams, Jamie Kirkpatrick, and Richie Brown were
looking strong as they left the starting line. The
team was the first to leave the starting line and
held the lead for the first half of the race before
falling back to second around the 220 mile mark.
The team crossed the finish line in second in their
class, and 25th overall, with a time of 10:55:47.
BAJA veteran, 1A Wayne Matlock teamed up with
Josh Caster, Wes Miller and Adolfo Arellano for
this year’s race. Matlock has won championships
in the past and was hoping to repeat his success
for 2012, but the team faced several challenges
during the race, which didn’t allow them
to contend for the win, and the craziest of them
all was Wayne Matlock colliding with a car that
was going the wrong direction on the course, but
luckily Wayne or his quad weren’t seriously
damaged. Despite having issues, the 1A team finished
in the third spot with a time of 11:06:24.
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1A
Wayne Matlock teamed up with Josh Caster,
Wes Miller and Adolfo Arellano took the
final spot on the Class 25 Pro ATV Podium
in third despite colliding with a car! |
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