Shelbyville, TN (6/16/2014) - The UXC/Driven Powersports/Factory Polaris Racing team headed south of the border for round 3 of the SCORE World Championship Desert Series for the 46th running of the Score Baja 500.
Don Higbee’s 140A Polaris Scrambler 1000 team would consist of riders Michael Burrows & Chris Robinson and chase team members Chris Ralph, Jesse Jackson, & Rodrigo Santana. The team arrived on Thursday and pre-ran the first 38 miles of the course to Ojos Negros. “The pre-run showed us that it was going to be a very dusty race for the first part of the course and visibility was going to be an issue,” said Higbee.
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Team UXC Racing finished third at the 2014 SCORE BAJA 500 on their Polaris Scrambler XP 1000
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With all of the preparation done, it was race time on Saturday morning. Don Higbee would start the race in the third position at 6:00 a.m. Higbee handed off the bike to Chris Robinson at Race Marker (RM) 38 in 4th place. Robinson pushed through the dust and raced the Scrambler into 3rd place by RM 168 in Camalu. It was then time for Michael Burrows to take over and run the rough stuff up through the famous Mike’s Sky Ranch area. Burrows held onto 3rd place until a damaged steering component at RM 240 struck the team.
“The really rough terrain by Mike’s Sky Ranch caused an unfortunate steering issue with the bike,” said Higbee. “We simply had to put our heads down and wrestle the bike to the finish line.”
Burrows passed the bike off to Higbee at RM 310. Higbee then attacked the rough and rocky section known in Baja as “The Goat Trail.”
“This is always a tough and fun section and really tests the rider’s ability to ride a clean line and stay out of trouble,” said Higbee. Higbee and Robinson proceeded to swap riding duties until the finish line to preserve physical energy and have the best chance of getting the bike to the finish line in a strong position. The strategy worked out and the UXC Racing / Driven Powersports / Polaris Factory Racing made it across the line in 13:31 for a 3rd place podium position.
The team is very happy with our solid podium finish, we are the only team running a Utility Quad against the Sport/Race Quads.” The finish moves the 140A team into 2nd in the SCORE World Championship Desert Series Championship points chase. Team UXC Racing would like to thank all of its sponsors for their continued support as well as a Big “Thanks” to the chase crew that got us to the finish line safely.
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Team UXC Racing is sponsored by:
Polaris, UXC, Driven Powersports, Maxxis, Evans, Rox, Leatt, Fly, Spider, SSI, Fasst, DP, Ricochet, Americas Motorsports, Moto Pro Training, Thermo Tec, Outerwears, Fourworx, Axis, Hiper, Dirtworks Motorsports, WPS, Tucker Rocky, Santor Design, Tireballs and ATVriders.com
