Sunday, June 1, 2008 | 7:07 p.m.
ENSENADA, Mexico -- In what will likely go down in history as one of the most classic battles in desert racing history, B.J. Baldwin of Las Vegas drove solo for 441.15 miles and captured the Overall 4-Wheel victory Saturday by a mere seven seconds over the veteran team of Mark Post and Rob MacCachren at the 40th Tecate SCORE Baja 500 in Ensenada, Mexico.
Driving the No. 97 Baldwin Motorsports Chevy Silverado SCORE Trophy Truck, Baldwin covered the grueling desert race course in 9 hours, 10 minutes, 47 seconds and averaged 48.06 miles per hour to win the closest overall 4-wheel vehicle finish in the 40-year history of the second-oldest desert race in the world.
Post, of Laguna Beach, Calif., and Las Vegas’ MacCachren, the reigning SCORE Trophy-Truck points champions, finished first in the elapsed-time race but the adjusted time revealed their second-place finish. Baldwin started 60 seconds behind Post/MacCachren No. 1 Riviera Racing Ford F-150 SCORE Trophy Truck, but came to the finish line just 53 seconds after MacCachren had crossed it.
Round 3 of the five-race 2008 SCORE Desert Series featured 289 starters, competing in 27 Pro and 6 Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs. There were a total of 195 finishers, the third most in the event’s 40-year history.
“This win is massive. It is very important to me,” said Baldwin, the 2006 SCORE Trophy Truck season points champion. “I have a handful of trophies, but what I don’t have is that Montezuma thing, the first overall in a SCORE Baja race. That’s what I always wanted.”
For Baldwin, it was his third career SCORE Trophy-Truck win and his first in the Tecate SCORE Baja 500. With a second- and seventh-place finish this season prior to this victory, Baldwin will increase his season points lead in the marquee Trophy-Truck division for 800-horsepower, high-tech, unlimited production trucks.
Las Vegas’ Brian Collins finished third overall and in SCORE Trophy Truck with teammate Chuck Hovey of Escondido, Calif.. They crossed the line 15 minutes behind Baldwin in a time of 9:25:47 in the No. 12 Collins Motorsports Mopar Dodge Ram 1500.
Earning a third consecutive overall motorcycle victory was the team of Robby Bell and Kendall Norman on the No. 1x Johnny Campbell Racing Honda CRF450X.
Riding the fastest ATV in the race for his second win of the season and first in this race was the team led by Wayne Matlock, Marc Spaeth and Wes Miller on a new Honda TRX700XX. Matlock and his team finished in 10:10:40, beating the team led by Javier Robles by just 21 seconds.
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