23rd ANNUAL TECATE SCORE San Felipe 250 Round 2 of the five-race 2009 SCORE Desert Series March 13-15, San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico Post-race racer quotes

March 15, 2009

SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK
BRIAN COLLINS, No. 12 (First in class and first vehicle overall. This was
Collins’ sixth career SCORE Trophy-Truck victory.) – No flats, nothing. It
was just a perfect day. B.J. Baldwin (who was leading at the time) broke down
and we got past him about race mile 190, I think. The truck was absolutely
awesome. Billy (Goerke, my navigator) did a great job because if you would have
asked me earlier today if we were going to win, I would have said ‘I don’t
know, it’s going to be a long day.’ But I put a plan together, being patient,
and I told Billy that’s what we were going to do and he monitored my speed
all the time down the real rough sections so we didn’t have a flat or hurt our
shocks and we just had a great day. It’s nice when you put a plan together
and it works. You know the course is rough but you don’t know if everybody
else is going to follow the plan and have problems. Two SCORE San Felipe 250
wins in a row, that’s great. We had a hard time getting around the Herbsts at
one point but I just stuck to my game plan of being patient and everyone else
cooperated by having problems. I told people I was going to go slow off the
start and no one ever believes you. I just drove my own race today and everyone
came to me. That’s a lucky day of racing and I wish every one of them were
that way. There’s a lot of season left and a lot of races but I can’t say
enough about the Collins Motorsports team. We had one faux pas today; we didn’t
fuel the fuel truck so the guys broke it down and switched it from one
section of the course back to the other. We had to make two stops. We were just
following B.J. – we were within a minute of B.J. – and I had three and a half
minutes to get to him. They refueled the truck again, a second time, and that
was the excitement of the day. But the guys were great. It was a great day –
especially when you don’t need anything but fuel. We were within a minute of
B.J. – we had him all day – so we weren’t really worried about it. There’s
no reason to try to pass on this course – it’s too wicked. We just sat back
there in the dust and watched him and stopped and got fuel a second time and
reeled him in. It was just a perfect day. Billy (Goerke) really helped me
today. Without him today, I wouldn’t have done what I did today. Today, he gets
the credit.

ROBBY GORDON, No. 77 (Second in class and second vehicle overall.) I got a
flat tire about mile marker 40 and our jacks didn’t work. I ended up getting
back in the car and driving about a mile and a half on a flat tire to some
locals that had a floor jack and were pitting their car. I had a breaker bar and
that was our flat-tire changer. That was the only problem we had. We were 20
minutes behind (Brian Collins) at out first pit area, where we took fuel at
mile 68, and I think he beat us home by about 10 minutes, so we had a good
run. We didn’t have any mechanical problems. I don’t know why the impact gun
and the jack didn’t work but that’s the only problem we had. I almost got
crashed by (Ed) Stout, who clobbered the back of us on Zoo Road (at about race
mile 93). He didn’t make it much farther than where he hit me. We were joking
that he wasn’t going to go very far and it was about 10 more miles and I
think he had the rear suspension ripped off of it. The course was what we
expected (but) it was surprising that (Brian Collins) had the run like he had, but
he does that here all the time and I had a very strong run, too, so congrats
to those guys. We’ll be back for the SCORE Baja 500. We continue our points
lead. I like to win, but we’ll take a second if we can’t win.

MARK POST, No. 3 (Third in class and fourth vehicle overall.) We had a real
nice run going and then we lost our drive shaft about race mile 100. And then
I had about a five-minute flat but other than that, we had a solid day. But
the drive shaft really killed our day. We changed the drive shaft on the
course so that put us down pretty good. Other than that, the truck was flawless.
That was the rockiest SCORE San Felipe 250 ever, I’ll tell you that. There
was just no sand between the rocks anymore and all those washes have a zillion
rocks. It made it a lot rougher course. When I had the flat, that’s when
Robbie (Gordon) got by us.

JERRY WELCHEL, No. 40 (Fourth in class and sixth vehicle overall. Driver of
record Chet Huffman drove the first 100 miles and Welchel finished.) It was a
fun race. Chet did the first 100 and handed it over to me. There were some
big rocks out there and I’m glad I had 39-inch tires.

ADAM HOUSEHOLDER, No. 24 (Fifth in class.) We got stuck out there and two
quad guys stopped and helped push me out. If not, I’d probably still be back
there digging. I drove all the way and I had a good experience so we’ll be back
for the SCORE Baja 500 and possibly the SCORE Baja 1000. We’re very happy.
We had a good showing in Laughlin and decided to come here for the SCORE San
Felipe 250 and see what would happen. I got a flat about 50 miles from the end
and then I got stuck with 40 miles left. After getting out and changing the
tire, I was winded. And then after getting stuck I was like, ‘That’s it, I
was almost done.’ I lost about 15 minutes, so the problems were substantial.
But, hey, I’m stoked just to finish.

B.J. BALDWIN, No. 1 (Sixth in class.) I lost a (shock) bypass at (race mile)
190 but I could still go really well, but then I lost a ring gear about five
miles later. I was doing well without the bypass – it wasn’t holding me
back too bad. I couldn’t hit jumps or it would roll over and I couldn’t hit big