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Pierce & Westhoff Drive to 2nd Place finish at 38th Tecate SCORE Baja 500 # 230 "Rolling Thunder" Pro-Truck performs under rigorous conditions in the race that featured a race-record 438 starters braving the rugged 424.29 mile race course in front of a crowd of 200,000 people lining the course. Santee, California (June 5, 2006) - Standing atop the battered roof of the # 230 MasterCraft "Rolling Thunder" SCORE Pro-Truck, MasterCraft CEO Robbie Pierce faced his co-driver, the young top gun veteran, Joey Westhoff, and slapped both hands to each other signaling a tremendous team victory at the finish line of the 38th Tecate SCORE Baja 500.
It was only mid-year in 2005 that Pierce purchased his Pro-Truck, aptly named, "Rolling Thunder," and decided he was going racing. In fact, until Saturday's incredible effort on the Baja Peninsula, Pierce had never raced in Baja as a driver. In 2004, Pierce had the chance to co-drive with Tom Ridings in a Class 10 buggy at the Tecate SCORE Baja 500 and ever since he's been on the terror to pilot his own truck. The month prior to this epic race Pierce led a devoted group of race team members that instituted a strategic plan towards a run at this year's race. That effort began with the invitation to one of the nation's top young gun off road desert racers, Joey Westhoff. Westhoff has an accomplished career that began 10 years ago as a teenager racing motorcycles. Pierce chose Westhoff to co-drive with him during the first and third sections and then reached out to the cagey Baja racing veteran, Bill Varnes, owner of Mirage Prep. Varnes selected the infamous, Greg Shapiro to ride with him in the middle or second section and the team was set. The rugged 424.29 mile course featured a rarely used section that ran through the Pine Forest northeast of Ojos Negros and then south towards Valle Trinidad and onto sections veteran Baja off road racers are familiar with.
RACE DAY: Around dawn, the quiet movement of chase team members throughout the two rented San Miguel beach side villas was evident. The smell of roasting coffee and the murmurs of race day assignments grew to a bustle in the next hour as the team hustled to gather last minute supplies for the day, as well as possibly into the night. The assembled team left the beach and blended into the early morning race traffic in Ensenada, Baja California. Strategically, the chase teams had practiced running a back route out of town rolling quietly by the majority of downtown race traffic. However, as expected, the traffic on Hwy 3 heading south was stalled at KM 12 near the Pepsi Stand where the race course exited onto the ancient asphalt. Teams snaked south through a solid hour of traffic before relief allowed them to head south to assigned positions. At 10:22 a.m. PST, the race for the # 230 Rolling Thunder MasterCraft Pro Truck raged war on the elements of the Baja Peninsula had garnered for this edition of the SCORE Tecate Baja 500. Dust, mud, flooded fields, steep terrain, endless silt, big boulders, sharp piercing rocks and a pack of fearless off road racers all vying for the same result. Victory in Baja. By race mile 50, Pierce and Westhoff gained momentum and began a charge through the Pine Forest until they were sidelined with an admittedly errant move that flattened a tire. Short work of that tire change saw them pull into Pit 2 at race mile 99 in great position.
The Pit 2 - Frijolero Pit Crew completed a full pit stop in record time and sent the red MasterCraft Rolling Thunder # 230 truck into the barren Baja desert descending from the Pine Forest to the Jamua Wash and down the Goat Trail into the village of Valle Trinidad. Mirage Prep owner - Bill Varnes and his co-driver, Greg Shapiro readied for entry into the race truck, although a change of pit plans were due because of unfortunate accident that sidelined Chase 1 with a bent Dana 60 axle and three collapsed trailing arms. Chase 1 was heading down the KM54 access road when a chain reaction set of events had the driver make an instant decision to plow into the slowing truck in front of him or go off the road into Baja oblivion. He chose the latter and the end result put Chase 1 out of the race action for the remainder of the race. Another chase truck was summoned to take all the fuel, tires and spare parts off of Chase 1 and continue to chase the race truck. Once Varnes and Shapiro entered the truck they fought with a carburetor bobble through some of the most difficult terrain Baja has to offer. But the dynamic duo drove hard to El Coyote and took on additional fuel supplied by Chase 7 and the Nick Vanderway Class 8 Pit. Varnes fired up "Rolling Thunder" and forged through the deep silt and exited the challenging middle section giving Pierce and Westhoff the truck in excellent position. Rested and raring to go they headed across the Peninsula towards Erindera on the Pacific Ocean. "As soon as we got to the beach the sun was about down and the fog was rolling in making it very hard to see anything. We continued to fight the carburetor problems by continually hitting the rev limiter until we rolled into the finish line," said the smiling top young gun co-driver-Westhoff. Facing the pitch black darkness of the Baja Peninsula, Rolling Thunder charged through the night at Tres Hermanos finally crossing Hwy 3 at Ojos Negros for the final 30-miles into the finish line. You could feel the anticipation of the crowd as they rose to their feet in the stands of the Ensenada softball stadium. The roar of the motor and the illumination of the Hella Lights could be seen into the distance as the # 230 red MasterCraft truck crisscrossed through downtown Ensenada before entering the stadium from the south.
SCORE officials motioned to dim the bright racing lights and the roar of the truck slowed to an idle, as it inched forward to the wavering black and white checkered flag. SCORE CEO - Sal Fish congratulated driver, Robbie Pierce, with a commemorative finish line greeting. Pierce and Westhoff climbed out of the truck, standing on the window ledge highflying over the top of the hood, signaling a celebration for the crew of 20 standing by at the finish line. "This is a dream come true! In my first SCORE Baja race we finished second and had a near flawless run. Many thanks to everyone who made this happen," commented Robbie Pierce. The "Rolling Thunder" # 230 MasterCraft Pro Truck completed the 2006 SCORE Tecate Baja 500 in 13 hours, 12 minutes and 43 seconds finish second to the five-time winner, Rick D. Johnson, by a mere 25 minutes after 424 tough Baja racing miles. This fantastic finish puts Robbie Pierce in second place in the Ivan Stewart Pro Truck Series Points Race only 10 points out of first place heading to the next event at Pike's Peak,Colorado.
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