Image courtesy UTVUnderground
Whether it was trucks or UTVs, the winners of the Baja 500 all dominated their respective classes. Team Honda Racing Ridgeline crossed the finish line with the best time in Class 7 and the Matlocks continued their UTV Pro-Turbo and N/A classes again, although Wayne ended up second in Pro-Turbo based on overall time.
Matlocks Dominate Pro UTV Ranks
Wayne Matlock is considered one of the best UTV racers out there and he continued to shine during this year’s Baja 500, coming in (physically) first overall. However, once the times were corrected, Branden Sims was declared the winner in the Pro-Turbo class.
Kristen, Wayne’s wife, absolutely tore up the competition. Her time of 14:26:47 was good enough for first in the Pro Naturally-Aspirated Class and first overall, even topping the Pro Turbo ranks. This makes her the first woman to ever overall the UTV ranks. Kristen started back in the field and passed everyone but Sims and Wayne in her factory team Polaris RZR XP1000.
Kristen finished second overall to Wayne, her husband, at the San Felipe 250, so she thought that with just a little more effort on her part, she could get the Overall UTV win. She was in position to do this just over halfway into the race. However, she had a couple of scares that had her thinking she might not finish, let alone top everyone. One of these scares was when she was on a silty section and drove off the course and down a 30 foot embankment. Then her engine appeared to be overheating. Kristen’s performance was the stuff of records and legends.
Ford Tops SCORE Trophy Truck Podiums
Rob Mac Cachren of Las Vegas continued his winning ways by topping the SCORE Trophy Truck (TT) podium with a winning time of 11:21:15.188. Mexicali, Mexico native Gustavo Vildosola topped the SCORE TT Legends class with a time of 14:16:05.347. Casey Currie of Norco, Ca. took his Trophy Jeep to the top of the Hammer Truck Unlimited crown with a time of 16:49:42.033.
Justin Davis of Chino Hills, Ca. was the Class 1 winner with a time of 12:25:38.548, beating his closest class competitor by more than 40 minutes. TT Spec went to another California native, Bryce Swaim from El Cajon, in his Custom truck with a time of 13:19:15.971. Top spot in Class 10 cars went to Broc Dickerson from Brawley, Ca. in 13:21:26.294, almost exactly 31 minutes faster than his closest class competitor.
A time of 20:12:42.033 was good enough for Vincent Munoz from Yucaipa, Ca. to take the Class 8 trucks class in his Ford. Class ½ 1600 (custom bodies with Volkswagen engines) was taken by Oscar R. Alvarez from McAllen, TX with a time of 15:08:05.524 in his Romulo.
Score Lites went to the Jimco truck of Gustavo Pinuelas Jr. of Mexicali with a time of 15:50:25.226. Honda hit the podium in Class 7 trucks with driver Jeff Proctor of Glendora, Ca. crossing the finish line with a time of 14:36:46.324, more than two hours ahead of his closest class competitor. Mark McNeil of El Cajon drove his VW to a Class 5 ATV/UTV victory with a time of 16:24:06.689.
Honda Has Strong Performance in Bike Classes
Guy Laycraft of Vancouver drove his Honda Pro Moto 60 to victory with a time of 15:58:49.741. Pro Quads was resoundingly topped by Tijuana native Said Sanchez on his Honda with a time of 13:48:36.148. Another Honda rider, Oskar Espinoza Elias of Ensenada, topped the Sportsman Quads podium with a time of 13:01:25.689. Another Mexicali native, Carlos Silva, rode his Honda to the top of the Sportsman Moto class with a time of 13:20:19.020.
Pro Moto Unlimited was won by Justin Morgan of El Cajon with a time of 11:54:58.224 on a bike of unknown origin. KTM rider Jano Montoya of Lima took 14:18:18.358 to take his KTM bike to the top of Pro Moto 40. Reedley, Ca.’s Ryan Liebelt rode his Yamaha to the Pro Moto 40 win with a time of 13:59:44.910. Another Yamaha rider, Giovanni Spinali of El Cajon, took Pro Moto 50 top honors with a time of 14:36:09.992.
KTM rider Phillip Jaramillo of Tijuana took the top spot in Pro Moto Limited with a time of 13:56:15.388 and Francisco Septien of Ensenada took his KTM to the top of Pro Moto Unlimited in 14:29:23.656.