San Felipe 250 2013 Wrap - Vildosola Racing Opts-Out of the Official Race Tracking

UPDATED! January 5, 2020

Bryce Menzies sez, "Hopefully this is not what the future of score is going to look like" 

San Felipe 250 Wrap

Gary Newsome is Back!

Bryce Menzies Won Yesterdays San Felipe 250, the "BAJA 250" (an interesting marketing move to go away from the twenty-seven year old race name) and defeated the 'opted-out' Vildosola Racing, by 27 seconds.

Interesting. How did SCORE figure THAT one out so fast? Bryce Menzies responds to the SCORE F-Ups, "what a joke".

Literally, in a matter of minutes, SCORE figured out the 'Official' race results, a separation between racers of a mere 27-seconds?

In the midst of the four-wheel finishers crossing the Finish Line, SCORE was able to nail down the EXACT 27 seconds, at the 27th Annual Desert Off-Road Race, the San Felipe 250, 2013. 

All covered LIVE! by BajaRacingNews.com On top of that figuring, the 'second place' racer, Vildosola Racing, had NO TRACKING on the race truck? Where is THAT in the SCORE rulebook? Was this a result of the BAJA 1000 2012 Race Decision Disaster? This image capture from the 2012 Baja 1000 of Vildosola Racing Cutting the race course

Discuss among yourselves, we'll explore this and more, this week. 

*Luke McMillin chimed in today!

 "Wow huge bummer. I think it is completely unproffesional and not right to throw a wrench in the rules and change what we've known as the rules 3 days before the race, that is ridiculous and exactly what happened. For the last fews years it has always been hit the VCP's within 100 ft. Now 3 days before the race, AFTER everyone had already pre ran everyone starts hearing a rumor that you must stay within 500 feet of the course?! Since when has that rule applied? Why then even place VCP's? Why not just give us a course map and and say "stay within 500 feet" then there would be no point to place VCP's... Then the night before the race at the driver's meeting, AFTER the course director says one thing, Roger says "washes AND silt beds are open to running". Not only is that unfair and a spit in the face for wasting my time and money pre running the last week, but it is UNSAFE to do something like that AFTER I had pre run and marked my lines. NEWS FLASH: THE ENTIRE SF COURSE IS A WASH AND A SILT BED!!!!!!

Another issue, the GPS and offical course markers, in multiple sections did NOT match, and were more than 500 feet apart! Uhhh..

Myself, Brad Wilson and MULTIPLE people got penalized for using a "silt bed" as a shorter line through a UNNAMED wash! WOW, talk about a GREY AREA!!!!!! Not to mention this is a line that I have taken for 3 years, with no problems.

TT win belongs to Menzies and class 10 win belongs to Brad Wilson. THEY WERE THE ONES WHO GOT CHEATED! Sorry guys.

It's embarasssing for our sport when multiple top drivers including myself have to tell Sven Quandt "we don't know our own rules and if what we are doing is legal or not". I'm sure he would love to put a vehicle in the race next year..... NOT.

Now to improve upon this problem:

1.) NAME, LABEL, and DEFINE all of your so called "washes" and "silt beds" Put in the course notes ALL washes and silt beds; where they start and where they end. Place a VCP and label it start of "so and so wash" and END of "so and so wash". When was the last time we labeled a "silt bed" the 99% of the course besides the washes were a silt bed if you ask me....

2.) Place MORE VCP's strategically!!!! If you don't want me to use a silt bed to cut a corner in a wash then place a VCP in that corner of the wash! As far as I am concerned The line myself and Wilson used was nthing but a wash and a "silt bed" the line was extremley sandy and silty. We hit all the VCP's, seems legit to me!

I am all for enforcing the rules, but BEFORE we pre run and BEFORE the week of the race, give us the rules and VCP's, black and white and stick to them! It's not right for a driver at the finsih line to be UNSURE if they are going to get penalized or not. If they blatantly cheated, that is one thing, but for the racers to be UNSURE, well that's not right."

Mark Weyhrich, comments on the proceedings:

"I too was pissed about throwing out a rule change just a few days before the race. We spent a ton of money to go down there and a multitude of lines we found during that time were wiped out. I generally agree with the rule, just not the timing.

Some of you also may not know that when prerunning opened there were 39 VCP's. By the time the race came, there were 61. Again, that is okay except for the timing. Had Jesse and Bryce not told me, I never would have known.

The course and rules should be set in stone once prerunning has opened. Period.

As for the video of Bryce...That is a legal line. At least the spot where he is shown in the video. We ran the entire course through a GPS program to tell us where our lines deviated more than 500' from the course. The line he is on is legal, right there. A little later, it splits left again and that line is not legal. I have no idea if he took that other line or not, but I can tell you that we all had multiple opportunities to take lines and if Bryce got caught going over 500' it was pure honest mistake.

Hell, Gary and I had the same GPS file and did all our prerunning together. He got off line a few times in the dust and it happened to be in areas where it was not feasible for him to get back to the course. The lines he took were all slower, but some deviated more than 500' so he got dinged; total bummer. AT LEAST THIS IS WHAT WE ASSUME, AS WE HAVE NOT HEARD ANYTHING FROM SCORE. Gary's was one of the trucks whose tracker was not working all day.

Let's talk about that for minute. Why do so many trackers not work? Are they too full of data because IRC does not purge them all properly? It is completely unacceptable that we are paying a lot of money for a system that is ultimately judge and jury, but does not work. This race cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars to run and it was as if the 98 didn't exist out there. Crap, crap, crap.

As far as I know there were not any protests in TT or Class 1. SCORE was checking all trackers for deviations; the new sheriff was laying down the law.

Admittedly, I had my pissed off moments down there. ...they really missed on was the timing of implementation, and that was a big miss."


BajaRacingNews.com Reporter (SB):

 "The IRC passive tracker (mandatory on bikes and quads) nor it's Otter case are looked at at Score tech. It is the racer's responsibility to check-in at the IRC trailer (located outside of Costa Azul Hotel in SF this race), confirm they have previously registered and paid for the tracker rental, and wait for the IRC dudes to install the tracker at race start the next morning. That hasn't changed in the past few years since IRC has had the contract. IRC tracker requirements are NOT part of the Score tech process. Repeat, IRC tracker requirements are NOT looked at at Score tech.

Score added to the confusion by stating that a $80 "transponder fee" would be added to registration fees - that is the thin "blue" scoring transponder that racers buy permanently, which Score was unable to produce at registration and passed out "temporary" blue transponders instead. And expected you to find the necessary bolts and nuts to screw onto your front fender. They asked that these temporary units be returned at the finish line, and a new, permanent transponder would be given to the racer. None of the finish line "officials" knew about this, but our team finally got someone to accept it.

Making it even more confusing is the "optional" live IRC tracking device, which sends a bike position at regular intervals, can be viewd on the internet, and has Help and 911 buttons. This device was supposed to be mandatory at last year's Baja 1000 - but that didn't happen.

So Score screwed the pooch by referring to 3 different devices: their blue scoring "transponder," and IRC's passive tracker (which both were mandatory); and an optional live IRC tracking device. And Score made matters worse by never clearly defining what these 3 devices were.

As far as Score officials saying that the IRC passive tracker was optional just shows a lack of communication between Score staff. They weren't aware of their own rules. I'm sure they will have knowledgeable, informed staff at the Baja 500."



RACE BULLETIN! Sunday, March 10

Race Results Announced with BIG Changes

Bryce Menzies sez, 
 "Well we won the race but got penalized 5 and a half minutes for going a 1000 ft off the course. I was in dust and missed the race line and took a line that paralleled the race line and was a slower line but was a 1000 ft out. All I got to say is what a joke that is. Hopefully this is not what the future of score is going to look like. Super bummed for my whole team" 
 

Only until more than a week after the race, do results get released!

Jim Moulton Comments:

"The longer it takes the more amateuristic it looks."

Pistol Pete Sohren Comments:

""I" was penalized at the recent SAN FELIPE 250.....we NEVER took any creative lines or got "off course" to my recollection.......but it seems like 90% got penalized.......could be FLAW in THEIR system....I will be interested to know EXACTLY why I was penalized..."

Brad Wilson (Crane) Commented Today:

"After waiting a week to find out that we were 10 out of 12 class 10 cars were penalized (Me being one of them) and losing my win because of it, it is very depressing. The reasoning for our penalty was due to a grey area in the drivers meeting resulting in a line choice that we have used for years and so did 30 other teams during the race. The drivers meeting stated that a 500' penalty boundary was set from the center of the race course. This was followed by "This does not apply to sand washes or silt sections." Naturally I took my lines that were legal throughout the race based on what was said at the meeting but later found out that one line that I took jumped out of the wash, saving barely any time. This was just a good line in my opinion and our team has taken it for years at San Felipe. This week has been hectic dealing with various people at SCORE and trying to get our point across for the valid use of that line. It seems that they did not want to hear our opinion and decided to give the penalty anyway. In the future I hope to see that SCORE comes out with a better definition of the rules because I know I am not one to take illegal lines in a race, but I do my homework and make sure we are ready when it comes to race day. Having my first Mexico win taken away for what appeared to be a grey area with Roger and SCORE is sad for me but more for the entire team that worked so hard to get the car to the finish line. Every racer is out there prerunning and trying to run their best race, and when so many people get penalized that shows me that there may be some problems with the communication of the rules. I hope these problems get resolved by the 500 because waiting a week to see where you finish and find out you lost your win is pretty sad."

Dan McMillin comments again:

"Crane Motorsports (Brad Wilson) still awarded you the win in our record books.

When over 80% of the finishers are penalized, it's not the racers' fault, it's the result of a poorly marked course and poorly timed "new rule" enforcement.

Kick some facking a-ss at the 500 and make them eat their penalty!"

 Mike McClintock comments:

"When over 80% of the finishers are penalized, it's not the racers' fault, it's the result of a poorly marked course and poorly timed "new rule" enforcement.

I think Dan is onto something here." 

UPDATED! 
Hey Google, RUST NEVER SLEEPS,
too bad for Roger!
SURPRISE! 
Pistol Pete Sohren Rises From The Grave! 

Gary Newsome, Editor
Baja Racing News.com