Bryce Menzies Wins the 2014 Tecate SCORE Baja 500

Bryce Menzies is proving his recent success south of the border is no fluke, as he continues to be a force to be reckoned with in SCORE races south of the border. After qualifying second among Trophy Trucks in Ojos Negros just a few days ago, Menzies used his great starting position to kickstart a great race that earned him his fourth SCORE Trophy Truck win on the 446.9-mile track that started and ended in Ensenada.

One thing’s for sure - the format of the 500 seems to suit Menzies’ style.

“I think the reason I like the SCORE Baja 500 so much is because it is an endurance race but it is also a sprint race,” Menzies said after the win. “You have the longevity but you've got to go fast as well. You get every type of terrain. You get roads, mountains, silt, rocks and that's what draws me to the 500. You go from the coast all the way over to the mountain and back.”

Jason Voss finished second in in the #35 Trophy Truck behind Menzies. Voss also had a great qualifying position where he was third fastest behind Menzies. He stayed in contention for much of the race but was unable to reel in the #7 Trophy Truck of Menzies.

“Bryce got the jump on me after one of our pit stops and I just couldn’t catch him after that,” Voss said.

Third in Trophy Truck went to Jesse Jones in the #76 truck. He had to battle through a tougher starting spot back in the pack. Although the team hoped for a win, they were happy to finish within striking distance after some mechanical issues plagued them toward the end of the race.

“We started 16th and had to fight our way through and halfway through the race we started looking like we were in the lead,” Jones said. “At mile 400 we started losing power steering belts and we had to stop and put them back on. We did it five times and it took us 10 minutes. We felt good about the possibility of a win.”

In Class 1, it was fastest qualifier Cody Parkhouse who took the class win. Cody and Brian Parkhouse split up driving duties en route to victory, with Cody tackeling the fist 310 miles and Brian finishing up the final leg to the finish. Finishing in second place was Brian Wilson, who qualified in sixth prior to the race. The Wilsons make it a family affair on race, as Brian shared driving duties with Rick and Randy Wilson. The team ran into a few problems that prevented them from overtaking Parkhouse.

“We had a power steering pump go out and we had to change that,” Randy Wilson said. “It put us down a while and made us drive into the night more than we wanted to do. We just really didn't have our lights set up the way we should have to drive at night.”

Third place in Class 1 went to Sheldy Reid, who shared driving duties with Darren Ebberts, who had his share of trouble on the Baja 500 course.

“Darren got stuck for a little bit and that put us down about 15 minutes,” Reid said after the race. “Other than that we had a great driver change and I just kept on motoring. When it got dark I struggled a little bit because, in the dust, the bumper lights were pointed up and it made it worse.”

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