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SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
– The 40th annual Baja 1000. The big one.
Ensenada to Cabo San Lucas – almost 1300 miles of non-stop
punishment. This year just getting to the starting line was
fraught with obstacles. But seized motors, wildfires and
two rollovers could not stop the Desert Assault. Five Dodge
trucks made it to the starting line. KORE’s own Stock Full
class Hemi, Greer Racing’s Class 8, Canada’s HRT Cummins
diesel-powered truck and Tennessee’s two RPM Offroad diesel
trucks.
One would win, two would
finish and two would fail.
KORE’s focus of effort was
the newest truck in the stable – the Stock Full Class
vehicle powered by a 5.7 liter Hemi motor. Its first race
garnered a 2nd place finish in the 2007 Baja
500. Then electronic engine management issues ultimately
caused a full engine seizure at her next race, BITD’s
Vegas to Reno.
Between Vegas to Reno
and the Baja 1000, brush fires ravaged San Diego County,
home of the KORE race shop and all personnel. Mandatory
evacuations forced the shop to close for almost two weeks,
throwing the race program off schedule at a critical time.
KORE Hemi 100 miles into the Baja 1000
“Despite the time
constraints, we replaced the original motor with an XV
Motorsports built 5.7 Hemi that uses all-forged internals, a
trick XV aluminum manifold and Holley carburetor, so fuel
injection couldn’t mess us up again,” said Kent Kroeker,
owner of KORE. “Now we’ve got a bulletproof power plant
that does what we tell it.”
With only four days of
testing, KORE was confident they had a winning combination
under the hood. The team relocated to Baja. All was in
place for a solid race. Then while prerunning near Santo
Domingo in the famous KORE Beast, Kroeker hit a rock that
snapped every steering component in the blink of an eye.
This sent the uncontrollable truck containing Kroeker, KORE
Engineer Keg Parker and Toyo Tire rep Jeff Bootz up an
embankment and into a full barrel roll with The Beast
landing on its roof. Nobody was injured in the rollover,
but the extraction process was arduous and time consuming,
bringing an exhausted crew back to Ensenada just a day
before the race.
“It was unbelievable what
we did to get that truck out. It was destined for Dakar
next year, so we had spare parts, tools, a winch and air
compressor on board. With the help of some Mexican locals,
we used every trick in the book to right the truck, turn it
around and get it safely to town. The steering knuckle was
snapped in half. We used about 30 hose clamps to hold the
lower ball joint in place – then we drove it out! It was
amazing,” said Toyo’s Jeff Bootz.
Transmission swap at race mile 870
Recent rain made for
perfect conditions on race day. Team Desert Assault was
placed strategically down the peninsula. With Kroeker in
the right seat, legendary off roader Malcolm Smith drove a
flawless 200 mile start to KORE Pit One at Santo Domingo.
Arriving in good position, he handed a perfect truck to
Rodolfo Iribe and Keg Parker. Rodolfo “Rudy” Iribe
proceeded to pass everyone in the class, bringing the KORE
Hemi to San Ignacio in the lead 13 hours later.
Now, with the most
technical sections behind them and room to let the truck
breathe, John Zambie and “Happy” Jack Ruddy quickly put 30
miles on the Stock Full arch rivals and eventual class
winners, GM’s Team Hummer.
Then, in the lead at race
mile 870, disaster struck. The transmission that had been
working perfectly during the entire race showed a rapid and
irreversible temperature spike from 140 degrees to 250
degrees and gave up the ghost immediately. Since the spare
transmission was not readily available at KORE’s Loreto
North pit, the team pulled a transmission from one of the
chase vehicles and installed it in the race truck.
Several hours later with
the tranny swap complete, Darren Skilton and Glen Plake were
back on the gas, racing south still looking at a podium
finish. But within ten miles the replacement transmission
failed. For the next six hours the team worked frantically
to find the cause of the problem, eventually coming to the
conclusion that the interface between the computer and
fully-electronic transmission had failed, causing both
transmissions to commit suicide. At 5 AM, after 15 hours of
work, all resources exhausted, dead in the water and unable
to make the next check closure, Kroeker called the race.
Super Canadian Kevin Ostlund taking it to the limit
Near Loreto, the Canadian
team of HRT replaced a blown turbo, a recurring curse that
thwarted their 2006 Baja 1000 effort. Previously running
strong in Second Place with few problems besides a quick
lower control arm replacement at El Crucero, Kevin Ostlund,
owner of HRT was anticipating a strong finish. Then out of
nowhere the truck’s turbo imploded. Troubleshooting
revealed that the co-driver had lost track of a loose rag
that inadvertently clogged the in-cab air filter.
Fortunately the Canadians had prepared for the worst and had
a spare turbo charger on board. After only a couple of
hours of down time, they were back on the trail at 100%
power, bringing the truck across the finish line for Fourth
Place in Stock Full.
Winner: KORE/Greer Class 8 at the start
Team Tennessee remained
undaunted after rolling one of their trucks during
prerunning. Detailed preparation and solid logistics placed
their two trucks in good position as they thundered down the
peninsula. RPM’s first truck piloted by Clyde Stacey
charged southward at a steady pace finally getting across
the finish line for Fifth Place in Stock Full. Fuel
troubles early on slowed the pace of RPM Off Road’s Justin
Matney, but the team continued, running the entire race with
only 2 psi. of fuel pressure! RPM’s second truck eventually
rolled across the finish line, but not before the clock ran
out.
High flyin' RPM Offroad
Three hundred miles south
of Loreto, the KORE/Greer Class 8 truck was stuck in deep
silt. Precise driving by Thom Greer had brought the 740
horsepower Mopar monster to Chapalla in a solid second
place. Fresh tires and a new alternator were all the truck
needed. Glen Greer then proceeded to close the gap until
only an hour separated him from the lead position. Now just
hours from the finish, mired axle deep in silt, all seemed
to be lost. Nearby chase personnel soon came to the rescue
and the 540 cubic inch monster was back underway. Soon the
KORE/Greer Class 8 rolled into Los Cabos for a First Place
finish.
This was the first Mopar-powered
Baja 1000 victory in over a decade.
“It was an amazing race for
everyone,” said Kent Kroeker. “This is the most difficult
point to point race in the world and our teams performed
admirably. In retrospect we could have done a few things
differently, but all the money and preparation in the world
probably wouldn’t have flushed out the gremlin that bit us.
The motor and suspension set up were perfect, the team was
dialed and we could have won. But like my Dad used to say,
-If you had a whole bunch of should-have, would-have and
could-have in one hand and 25 cents in the other, you could
buy a doughnut.-”
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For more information
contact: KORE
P.O. Box 2628
Valley Center CA 92082
760-749-8687 |
