CARS GLOBALMAG December 2016 | Page 72

A D ay in the D esert Methodically mastering a radically rugged course and a highly competitive field of challengers, Las Vegas’ Rob MacCachren put on a show with an assist from co-driver Jason Voss, driving to the overall and SCORE Trophy Truck victory at the 49th annual SCORE Baja 1000. The victory in the Granddaddy of all Desert Races gave the veteran MacCachren a three-peat in one of the world’s toughest, roughest and longest desert races. The daring duo finished the mentally-draining, physically grueling, vehicle-destroying 854 mile race that started and finished in Ensenada in 17 hours, 12 minutes and 58 seconds while averaging a solid 49.63 miles per hour in the No. 11 Rockstar Energy MacCachren Mo- The No. 11 Rockstar Energy MacCachren Motorsports Ford F-150 team celebrates the victory at the 49th SCORE Baja 1000 torsports Ford F-150. In winning the iconic desert race for the third straight year, they defeated a field of 270 starters in cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads (31 of which in the marquee SCORE Trophy Truck division for high-tech, 850-horsepower unlimited production trucks). In earning the overall victory of the SCORE Baja 1000, Rob MacCachren recorded his record 14th career SCORE Trophy Truck race win and Voss picked up his second career SCORE Trophy Truck race win. MacCachren started his tri-fecta run in the SCORE Baja 1000 in 2014 with Andy McMillin and Jason Voss as additional drivers and last year won his second straight with McMillin. MacCachren, a six-time motorsports All-America driver who now has nine SCORE Baja 1000 class wins including four overalls, started the race and drove the first 498 miles, turning over the wheel to the talented Voss to drive the rest of the way to the finish line. Racers from Mexico and Las Vegas finished second and third overall: for the second straight year, Mexico’s Carlos ‘Apdaly’ Lopez of Tecate, who won last year’s SCORE Trophy Truck season point championship, finished second in the No. 1 RPM Racing Chevy Rally Truck splitting driving with his father Juan C. Lopez in a time of 17:39:45 with an average speed of 48.38 mph. Third overall in the new No. 91 Monster Energy Terrible Herbst Motorspors Ford F-150 were Troy Herbst and Ryan Arciero, in 17:42:10 at 48.27 mph.