Saturday, May 31, 2008

BAJA 500 RACEDAY - THE START

The 40th Annual Tecate/SCORE Baja 500 started for Team HUMMER when Josh Hall took the green flag at 10:23:30 this morning at the wheel of the #861 Team HUMMER H2 SUT with Chief mechanic, Sam Cothrun in the Navigator's seat. Along for the ride, in the third (media) seat is Mike Levine from pickuptrucks.com. Josh started first in the Stock-Full Class (stock,full sized trucks) followed 15 seconds later by his younger brother Chad, driving the #862 Team Hummer H3 Alpha, the current Stock-Full points leader. Riding with Chad until BFG Pit (RM 95) is Jonathon Ramsey of Autoblog. 


Taking the start in the Stock-Mini Class at 10:25 AM is Team Owner, Rod Hall driving the #760 Team HUMMER H3 SUV. Rod has been Stock-Mini Class champion for the past two years and is way out in front in the race for his third consecutive class points championship, having won the first two races on the SCORE racing schedule. Veteran navigator, John Chapman is riding in the second seat with Rod.


The competition is tough for all three Team HUMMER vehicles at this year's Baja 500. In Stock-Full, John Griffin and Jeremy Spirkoff are only a few points behind Chad Hall in the H3 Alpha with their #860 Ford F-350 Pickup. Another truck to watch is Kent Kroeker in the #864 Dodge Ram Pickup. The Dodge is very fast but has suffered some problems in the recent past, however that can change at  any time because Kroeker runs a quality racing effort. Gavin Skilton is back with his newly constructed #779 Honda Ridgeline in the Stock-Mini Class and the truck looks like it could be a contender. Steve Kovach, in the #761 Ford Ranger has been around for a long time and is always a tough competitor.


That's how it shapes up for Team HUMMER at the start. As the team reports back to me in Ensenada, I'll bring you updates as they become available... 



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