LA PAZ, Baja California Sur, Mexico

“With an astounding number of entries in this year’s challenging race down the peninsula, we are proud to have Vildosola Racing capture the overall win and help them make history as well as become part of ours with BFGoodrich Tires’ 70th overall win,” said Tom Jupena, marketing communications manager, BFGoodrich Tires. “We wish all of the BFGoodrich Tires’ teams that embarked in this year’s race a hearty congratulations and a thank you for helping us celebrate our 35th year in Baja.  It is your dedication to Baja racing and the BFGoodrich Tires brand that allows us to continue to develop history-making products for you to race on.”

The Vildosola team was second off the start line in Ensenada, but once they took the lead from the #8 BFGoodrich Tires-shod Trophy-Truck driven by Roger Norman that left first, there was no looking back.  Vildosola Racing’s Ford F-150 Trophy-Truck, outfitted with BFGoodrich Baja T/AKR tires, averaged 55.87 mph during the race, which landed the team 20 minutes faster than the first motorcycle across the line. This is the first time since 1973 that a four-wheel vehicle beat a motorcycle’s time in a peninsula run in La Paz and only the 7th time in the history of the race.  Norman, 2008 SCORE Baja 1000 overall winner, iron-manned the race and aggressively stayed in the front of the pack for a third place finish. 

As soon as he emerged from his Trophy-Truck, Vildosola, Jr. began a long celebration.  “This race means a lot to me and my family,” he said.  “Every time we go out and race, I say we have the privilege of representing Mexico because we’re the only Mexican SCORE Trophy-Truck team. It’s obviously an honor to finally be able to win a race for them and for all of our fans who have been supporting us for all these years. And it is especially great for my dad, as well. He bought this SCORE Trophy-Truck eight years ago with the dream to win a Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 overall and today we were able to fulfill that dream.”
 
In honor of BFGoodrich Tires’ 35th anniversary with SCORE International in Baja, Chad Gilsinger, Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) National Runoffs Touring 3 Class Champion, piloted a BFGoodrich tires-equipped Wide Open Excursions Baja Challenge race car, along with TeamBFG members Bud Brutsman, Jason Scherer, Casey Currie, Lars Wolfe and Kyle Tucker, who had engaged in a contest that rewarded them with coveted seats in the SCORE Baja 1000 Baja Challenge (BC) Class.  The BFGoodrich Tires/Wide Open Excursions “Baja Challenge” (BC05) team fell to fourth place where an unforgiving silt bed slowed the team down near RM625 before battling back to place second in the class.

Other impressive BFGoodrich Tires class winners included Class 1 winners Steve and Chris Appleton, who finished sixth overall among four-wheel vehicles in addition to winning Class 1 for the second time this year after his win in June at the SCORE Baja 500. Their finishing time on Friday was 20.32:18. Dan and Tom Chamlee won Class 7 for the fourth time in the last five years in this race, also scoring their fourth class win of 2010, including June’s SCORE Baja 500. With his win in this race in Class 6, David Caspino, with driving partner Jason Ruane, pulled off a rare SCORE Desert racing feat by going undefeated in all five SCORE races this season.

2010 SCORE Baja 1000 Race Information
This year’s course marks 36th time in the first 43 years of the storied race that it has started in Ensenada and the 18th time it has finished in La Paz. With 10 mandatory checkpoints and 20 visual checkpoints spread down the peninsula, the course started on the Pacific Ocean side of Baja California in Ensenada and headed southeast to San Felipe on the Sea of Cortez before heading south through Coco’s Corner, Bahia de Los Angeles, San Ignacio, back to the Pacific at San Juanico, then back to the Sea of Cortez at Loreto, back to the Pacific at Ciudad Insurgentes heading down along the Pacific through Santa Rita before turning back east and down into La Paz for the finish. The finishing percentage this year was 67.5 percent, impressive considering the extremely dusty, bone-crushingly rocky and sometimes foggy conditions and the unique ruggedness of the course.

The following is a complete list of BFGoodrich Tires 2010 SCORE Baja 1000 class winners:

• SCORE Trophy Truck – #21 Gus Vildosola Jr. / Gus Vildosola Sr.
• Class 1 – #101 Steve Appleton / Chris Appleton
• Class 3 – #300 Donald Moss / Dave Grudsman / Ken Moss
• Class 5 – #500 Kevin Carr / Noe Valdez
• Class 6 – #619 David Caspino / Jason Ruane
• Class 7 – #700 Dan Chamlee / Tom Chamlee
• Class 7SX – #743 Elias Hanna / Abelardo Ruanoua
• Class 8 – #800 Clyde Stacy / Justin Matney
• Class 10 – #1004Sergio Salgado / Gustavo Pinuelas / Cesar Castillo
• SCORE Lite – #1201 Justin Davis / Daniel Folts / Francisco Villagomez
• Class 11 – #1102 Matt Cullen/Mike Lombardi / Jason Liebl
• Stock Full – #879 Joe Bacal
• Stock Mini – #760 Gavin Skilton
• Class 17 – #1701 Eric Filar/Scott Haltman / Jeff Lessley / Ralf Kveller / Ron Stobaugh
• Baja Challenge – #BC02 John McInnis III / Rick Skelton / Todd Clement
• Class 4 – #405 Jason LaFortune / Jeff Proctor
• Sportsman Spt Car – #1400 Peter Lang / Peter Irving / Dan German / Brian Jellison

BFGoodrich Tires drivers earned seven of the top 10 overall four-wheel spots:

1. SCORE Trophy-Truck – #21 Gus Vildosola Jr. / Gus Vildosola Sr.
3. SCORE Trophy-Truck – #8 Roger Norman / Lance Clifford
5. SCORE Trophy-Truck – #9 Gary Weyhrich / Mark Weyhrich
6. Class 1 – #101 Steve Appleton / Chris Appleton
7. SCORE Trophy-Truck – #49 Troy Herbst / Brian Collins
8. SCORE Trophy-Truck – #20 Rob MacCachren / Will Staats
9. SCORE Trophy-Truck – #84 Nick Vanderwey / Curt LeDuc / Larry Vanderwey

Using motorsports as a proving ground for more than 40 years, BFGoodrich® Tires is involved in every type of racing, including oval, sports car, drifting, drag, desert, dirt, rally and extreme rock crawling.  BFGoodrich Tires combines technological expertise with vast motorsports experience, delivering a high-performance tire for every type of vehicle.  Visit BFGoodrich Tires at http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/.