<<
News & Headline Main
Team Donahoe Takes Points Lead After Baja 500
Corona, Ca - After a long day in Mexico, Team Donahoe brought the Team Donahoe/KC Hilites/Nitto Tire FJ Cruiser to a 2nd place finish in its 2nd race at the SCORE Baja 500 in Ensenada, MX.
The wait at the finish was a long one in the early hours of Sunday morning as the remaining members of Team Donahoe, that were still awake, anxiously waited for the FJ to cross the line at the Softball Stadium in Ensenada. Getting there was quiet an adventure for the team and the truck.
The race started off at about 11:40am on Saturday, when Steve Krieger and co-driver Damien Skutt took the FJ off the line for the 39th running of the SCORE Baja 500. The FJ left the line 3rd in class, but had overtaken the #301 Ford Explorer for 2nd place by the end of the 1st wash. At race mile (rm) 8, the FJ encountered the first of many obstacles on this 420 mile course. This one was a silt hill that proved to be quiet a challenge for some vehicles. Confident in the FJ’s ability, Steve made a great move through a crowd of spectators and passed #300 truck that was in 1st place. This maneuver gave the Team Donahoe #348 the lead as the rest of the field waited their turn to go up the silt hill.
Steve had built a good lead between 1st and 2nd place when at rm 40, out of the dust, he came upon long time friend Kurt Kupiec who was stuck in the silt with his Class 8. Not wanting to leave a friend stranded, he stopped and pulled the Class 8 out of the silt. While Steve was being a Good Samaritan, the #300 of Moss was able to close the gap and got around him to reclaim 1st place.
Once Steve was going again, a great race broke out between the FJ and Moss’s Ford Bronco. Steve knew of Moss’s consistent record, so his goal was no mistakes. Steve and Moss had a great run from rm 40 to rm142 at Mike’s Sky Ranch. They pushed each other as they traded 1st and 2nd the entire way. Suddenly at rm142 the FJ lost the front seal on the factory Toyota power steering pump and it slowed to a crawl at Mike’s Sky Ranch. Moss took advantage of the problem and took over 1st place. As a result of the power steering failure, the FJ became a handful while trying to maneuver through the rocks and silt. Steve kept up the pace and steadily made his way to rm150 where he found another large silt hill with two pro-trucks stuck in the middle of the course; the entire track was blocked. Un-fazed, Steve deftly worked his way through the line of waiting cars and trucks by driving up the side of a cliff. Once at the top, he met up with the stuck Protrucks. One of the Protruck drivers was Baja 1000 champion, Mike Childress, (who also raced his Class 22 motorcycle in this Baja 500). Mike asked Steve to help him out. Steve proceeded pull the 5000 lb Protruck, buried to the door handles in silt, to the top of the hill. Once out, Mike gave a grateful handshake and a wave and Steve was back up and running.
The power steering had become quite an issue. The problem forced the truck to stop at rm186 where the Team Donahoe crew was waiting. The FJ needed a new power steering pump, but the crew lacked a spare. Fortunately a chase team member for the Stock Mini FJ, David Brown, was also at rm186 and graciously gave up the pump right off of his FJ, and his ride home, to help Team Donahoe continue their quest for victory. Once the swap was complete the FJ was off and running again with full power steering.
Feeling like it was a new truck, Steve tore off down the track to make up for lost time; yet as he was reeling Moss in, another silt hill stopped him dead in his tracks. This one was at rm 210 where he and Damien found themselves last in a line of 40 cars and trucks stuck in the silt. They were sitting in a box canyon with no way out. The #300 of Moss was ahead of them. Moss managed to make it around the pile of cars and up the hill while Steve could do nothing more than wait. Steve knew he could get out of this, but couldn’t get around the 40 vehicles blocking the road. The FJ sat for more than 1½ hours simply waiting for the cars to move or be pulled up the hill. Once Steve got his turn, he was up the hill and gone as several trucks, cars, etc. sat waiting for help to arrive. Moss’s ability to get up the hill earlier gave him a generous lead and left little hope that the FJ could catch up. In addition, any lead the FJ had over the rest of the class was lost when the pile up took place, and now the entire Class 3 field was bunched up waiting to clear the hill. So time was of the essence to hold onto what was now second place.
The silt hill at rm 210 left an enormous gap in the race field. The crew at Valle de Trinidad had been waiting hours for the FJ to come through. Moss had been through long before. The crew was growing increasingly anxious, as what was supposed to be a quick pit in the afternoon turned into a long wait in the night. No information was coming from the race truck. Reports started to trickle in that there was a log jam at rm 212. Soon after, there were no race vehicles on the road. All the pit crews were left to wait. It had been an hour since anything had come through when suddenly there were lights on the horizon. Everyone perked up and then as if out of a Mad Max Movie, race cars and trucks roared through night loud, mean and on a mission to make up for lost time. The Team Donahoe pit crew grew anxious as to the fate of their truck. The radio started to light up as all teams were calling out into the night hoping for a reply. The minutes grew longer with no response, but more and more race cars were coming through the pit which provided hope. Then the radio crackled and Team Donahoe was revived as they heard Steve’s voice come over the radio. Upon hearing a race car moving, other racers jumped on the radio desperate for information. The lack of available information had all chase teams anxious and desperate to find out anything. There was little information to give, there were so many cars stuck in the dark. Team Donahoe felt relieved as Steve’s voice grew stronger in the night. He radioed he was coming in. The truck had survived the colossal pile up in the middle of the race. After a nearly 2 hour stint at rm 210, Steve elected to stop at rm 230 to have the pit crew check a lower ball joint and get a splash of gas and some food. The lower ball joint bolt had backed out and was only hand tight on the truck by the time they arrived at Valle de Trinidad. While the tire was removed and bolts tightened on the right side, driver and co-driver were given food and drink. Once they were fed and the ball joint fixed, and the food and sight of friends revived the two drivers, they were off to rm 252.
At race mile 252 Steve and Damien got out and Dylan Evans and Adrian Aldama got in. Dylan had seen Moss go past a couple hours before, so he knew it was a race for second place. He and Adrian had a trouble free run for the second half of the course. Dylan, knowing that Moss had a substantial lead, was doing his best to make up for 3 hours of down time by skillfully piloting the FJ towards the pacific ocean through Erendira up to Santo Tomas. Having made up time he arrived at Urupan, where the twisty, windy new section of the Baja 500 course began. The silt was also back for an encore performance as vehicles were once again stuck all over the course. Dylan carefully drove his way through the silt and came upon Kupiec stuck once again. Knowing that there was a large gap between 1st and 2nd and that no one had seen the 3rd place truck in the class, he stopped to pull Kurt out of the silt and then made his way towards the finish line.
The Team Donahoe chase team sat patiently at the finish line anticipating Dylan’s arrival. It was now 1:30am. The throngs of people that had been there earlier in the day were long gone and only chase crews remained to see their vehicles in. Sleep called some and eluded others. About an hour after arriving at the softball stadium, Team Donahoe watched the #300 of Moss claim the checkered and the win in class 3 around 2:30 am. The crew stood by after that waiting. There was no news. Other chase team members arrived with news that the FJ was looking good and heading for the finish but there was no word from Dylan. About 3:30 am a familiar crackle came over the radio. It was Dylan’s voice. He was talking to Steve. Steve had waited at Ojos Negros for Dylan to hit the highway to take it into the finish. The two drivers talked until Dylan dropped off the highway into the dirt on his way to the finish line. A tired Steve signed off and turned it over to the chase crew who were waiting for Dylan to take the checkered for a well deserved 2nd place. As Dylan crossed the finish line under the Tecate Arch, the cheers rang out and the camera bulbs flashed. With a finishing time of 17 hrs and 15 min, the FJ crossed the finish line in the softball stadium at 4:47am Sunday morning, a long way from the 11:40 am start on Saturday morning. It was a strong second place for the FJ and Team Donahoe was thrilled with the FJ’s performance its second race.
The FJ had no flats and finished the SCORE Baja 500 with the same off-the-shelf Nitto Terra Grapplers it started with. This finish propelled the FJ and Team Donahoe into 1st place in the SCORE Class 3 Championship points race. The KC Hilites lit up the night and provided the team with ample light to see the course and its obstacles without fail.
The Team Donahoe/KC Hilites/Nitto Tire Toyota FJ Cruiser is also sponsored by Banks Power, Norwalk Toyota Off-Road Superstore, MasterCraft Seats, KMC Wheels, Total Chaos, Currie Enterprises, Precision Gear, Light Racing, Anaheim Hills Auto Body, ADS wiring and Kartek Off-Road.
Team Donahoe is looking forward to the rest of the season with the new Class 3 Toyota FJ Cruiser. Look for a full line of FJ Cruiser suspension products, as well as fenders and hoods from Donahoe Racing Enterprises. For more information on Team Donahoe, please contact Team Donahoe at 951.279.8000.
###
