The team had a planned early pit stop within the first 50 miles of the course as a quick spot check of everything, and a BF Goodrich supported pit stop at Mile 130 for fuel and a driver/rider change. However, an unplanned stop had to be made near the end of the course to replace a mangled rim and cut tire. This is the first flat the team has had in 16 races and 4 years of SCORE Off Road racing. Don Moss reports that tires will NOT take a sideways hit at speed into a rock pile. For that matter, neither will the rim. “I was having too much fun having just got out of a rocky section and wanting to make up time,” explained Ken Moss. The team also discovered a downside to not having flat tires……having a frozen jack from lack of use ! When Ken pulled over to change the tire and discovered the jack issue, some locals parked nearby came on over and helped us change that tire out in less than 5 minutes ! Despite all this, the #300 bronco finished the race in 6 hours and 52 minutes, over an hour ahead of their next competitor.

On a lighter note, Ken added this quip from his navigator, Dave Grundman, “On the one really offensive rough section before checkpoint three, Dave took it upon himself to inform me that there were two hundred and something whoops in that one mile of fence line. He had counted every one.”

Don reports that the worst surprise of the weekend, aside from discovering the team’s lodging reservations had been lost, was finding out the team’s fuel was not delivered to the BFG pit. A big thanks goes out to team 702 (Craig Turner) and 708 (Doug Siewert), who we borrowed fuel from.

The team had only minor maintenance issues to address after the last race in Laughlin in January. “The biggest issue we had was an oil leak that was traced to the front axle hitting the oil pan and distorting the area around the dipstick tube,” reported Don. The Deaver supplied rear springs were also swapped as part of the team’s maintenance schedule.

In their quest for a fourth Class 3 champion’s title, the Cinnamon Ranch racing team sets their sights next on the SCORE Baja 500 the first weekend of June.

The team is also eagerly awaiting the release of a new movie – DUST TO GLORY. From the creators of STEP INTO LIQUID, DUST TO GLORY is an all out action adventure movie documenting the most notorious and dangerous race in the world, the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. See it in theatres April 1, 2005.