Baja 500 09

[OutlawBill]

Class 25 (Pro ATV)

1. Wayne Matlock 700xx

[scuzz]

Thanks for the update!

[OutlawBill]

? now did he keep it or was he penalized. The official results are coming out RG in TT went from 1st to 7th place.

[scuzz]

RG? TT? Wah?

[scuzz]

http://www.score-international.com/2..._Baja_500.aspx

[OutlawBill]

CLASS 25 ATV:
OFFICIAL UNOFFICIAL DRIVER VEH TIME PENALTIES IN MINUTES (XX)
1st 3rd NICK NELSON 5a 10:26:24 NO DATA HWY (10) = TOTAL (10)
2nd 1st WAYNE MATLOCK 1a 11:06:23 COURSE DEVIATION (90) = TOTAL (90)
3rd 5th TRAVIS DILLON 7a 13:08:39 HWY SPEED (30) = TOTAL (30)
4th 4th ADOLFO ARELLANO 3a 14:11:10 HWY SPEED (180) = TOTAL (180)
5th 2nd SANTOS PEREZ 2a DNF HWY SPEED (799) = TOTAL (799)
6th 6th FELIPE VELEZ T. 6a DNF DNF - DNF - DNF - DNF - DNF
NOTE: COURSE DEVIATION PENALTY - SAN VICENTE (FULL).

[greenman]

Looks Like Mattlock will be mailing some trophys back LOL!

[scuzz]

Ruh roh!

FROM Josh Caster

"I believe that many of the other racers feel as I do about this subject and I am tired of hearing about all the "cheaters". There are alot of racers out there like us, that consider ourselves to be professionals and work very hard to win races in a professional way. I work very hard to win races and receive the best possible finish I can and don't appreciate being called a cheater.

I am going to bring up a well known area that many of the races run through. It is called Tres Hermanos. As you enter this area you make a left turn around a little hill and then the course enters a large wash. Just after entering the wash SCORE had a course marker pointing strait ahead. Just a 1/4 mile into this wash there were multiple lines going left, strait and right. Every line had well worn tracks going up every line. The line to the left split up another little wash before coming back to the right and joining up with the others before the course went up the rocky vally. It was obvious this line had been used before because it was filled with huge whoops. There was no ribbon from SCORE in this area, only others. There were no other SCORE markers on this line, wrong way, right way or any other. The line that went up the middle also split up into more multiple lines well outside of 50' from either side of the center of the wash. All these lines ended up in the same spot at the end of the valley. It was obvious again that the whole wash and every line in that area had been used before because again there are huge whoops and visable signs of an old course there. There were multiple lines in this area with ribbon but none from SCORE. There was also no other SCORE markers, either wrong way, right way or any other. The line that went to the right crossed out of the wash and up onto the hard pack ground. It moved over to the right side of the valley and crossed some small dry creeks before meeting up with the others at the end of the valley. Again it was obvious this line had been used before because of the whoops and ruts on this line. There was no ribbon from SCORE on this line. There was also no other SCORE markers, either wrong way, right way or any other. As you can see, all the lines in this area have been used before and none of them had any markers other than at the beginning before the lines split. Now let's just say you are racing in this area and you are told that you can not stray from 50' of the course. Which line would you pick? How do you know the line you pick is the correct one? There are many areas on the course like this and San Vincente was one of them. Now maybe you can see where the confusion is coming from. I, like many others don't have a problem with SCORE enforcing the rules. I say bring it on! The more level the playing field the better. However I believe SCORE needs to clarify a few things before penalizing those of us who were playing by the rules. They warned us about the speed limit and our team didn't speed. Why not a warning for the 50' rule so we could clarify all the questionable areas such as the one I discribed above, before the race so we don't find out we are penalized a week after the race? You also said it is your guess that the rules have not changed. Why should we have to guess about the rules? They should be black and white so we know exactly what we can or can not do and what we will and will not be penalized for. If you can find anywhere in SCOREs rulebook or website about how they are penalizing racers for course deviations I would sure like to see it. So far I have not found anything. Why are we being penalized with unwritten rules?"

[OzLinc]

I am glad SCORE have finally decided to follow through with their threats to apply penalties and follow the letter of the rules.

They have done a pretty ham fisted job of it though. Every class from Trophy Trucks to Sportsman quads has had the full force of the rules applied to them this year. Tha fact that more people got penalised than not means there is some thing very wrong with SCORE and Baja racing.

It should be good for the future. Racers want consistancy, who cares what the rules are as long as its the same for everyone.

The word "cheater" is chucked around a bit too easily. Like "hater"...............hate is a very strong word; so is cheat.

For many years racing Baja meant playing the game. Baja is not a normal race it's a kind of warp speed free-for-all. To win you had to play the game. To know the game you had to play it. To succeed you had to play the game better than anyone else.

Except for a very few I don't see any penalties applied this year being for cheating...........They played the game and SCORE moved the goal posts.

Linc

[scuzz]

It's my impression that the area wasn't marked off. No?

(read: no definable course)