While Australian soil was catching a beating at the hands of Open Country shod trucks and buggies last weekend, Team Toyo USA was also busy attacking the dirt.
While the Finke and Sea Lake events kept Aussie off-roaders busy, last weekend in Mexico the Baja California Peninsula was host to the third round of the SCORE World Championship Series, the infamous Baja 500. The party in the sand featured Team Toyo’s own racing legends Robby Gordon and BJ Baldwin.
Baja Beatdown
Seven-time SCORE champion Gordon qualified first with a savage prologue lap, attaining a nice lead and the clean air advantage crucial to long distance off-road racing.
The trophy truck class saw 37 teams start and only 24 finish as the notorious Baja track claimed victim after victim during the race. Gordon was one of many to suffer technical difficulties, recording a DNF attributed to driveshaft trouble, souring a flawless qualifying time.
In his truck (very loosely) based on a Chevrolet Silverado, team mate BJ Baldwin claimed fourth place overall with a 9:04:55 after racking up a speeding penalty that pushed him out of third.
Trucks Over Austin
A quiet Sunday in Austin, Texas, was turned upside down with the X-Games debut of Stadium Super Trucks (SST), seeing drivers put unfathomable distance between their trophy trucks and the earth.
Unsatisfied with only dominating one race last weekend, Gordon and Baldwin came directly from the brutal Baja 500 to Austin, to swap paint and get sideways around a tight stadium track.
Following a successful 2013 season, SST is rapidly growing in popularity. Taking trophy trucks from their usual outdoor, enduro environment and placing them on a rallycross-style course that sees the angry trucks flying six metres in the air and almost constantly crossed up around tight bends.
Shaking off a tough run in Baja, Gordon pulled third place in the final round, with Sheldon Creed taking second and Adaly Lopez claiming the win in a round that few escaped without losing a panel or six.
With X-Games fans online rating the SST competition leg as their favourite part of the day, we look forward to seeing Team Toyo continue to dominate on the tight hybrid circuits.
