Jones Motorsports
Jones Motorsports SCORE Baja 1000
Jones Motorsports poised for overall victory at the 45thTecate, SCORE Baja 1000 but downtime drops them to eighth at the finish line.
Jones Motorsports looked to be a safe bet for the overall win at the 45th running of the Tecate, SCORE, Baja 1000. They were teamed up with Menzies Motorsports again for the 1,121.55-mile peninsula run starting on the Pacific Ocean in Ensenada, Baja Mexico and finishing on the Sea of Cortez in La Paz.
The team had been looking forward to a great race at the 1000. They were still buzzing from the excellent results they achieved at the Baja 500 where they combined both crews to support each driver in their own truck. Bryce Menzies got his second consecutive Baja 500 victory, First overall and Jesse Jones, who started 34th, was close behind, finishing on the podium in third. For the 1000, drivers Jesse Jones and Bryce Menzies would share the same truck.
Bryce Menzies and navigator Peter Mortensen would take the first stint behind the wheel starting seventh behind BJ Baldwin and the two were in a tight back and forth battle right from the start. It must have provided great footage for new sponsor GoPro as they quickly moved to the lead. GoPro had several of their cameras mounted to the truck, each with a unique angle. By the time they reached San Felipe, BJ was out front with Bryce on his bumper in second.
After two routine pit stops in San Felipe and Bahia de Los Angeles, they were running fast and making great time. As they reached El Crucero, darkness had fallen on the course. North of San Ignacio, they started to smell burning oil. Every racer hopes to ride with Lady Luck but sometimes you get her sister, Miss Fortune. Such was the case for the team. A ten dollar AN fitting had developed a crack causing engine oil to seep onto the engine. It may have been hit by a flying rock or just succumbed to the constant vibrations developed when you are running flat out across the desert, nobody knows. It had the potential to start a fire or completely fail, starving the engine of oil, so it had to be fixed. They made it to the pit at Vizcaino and the crew changed it out but precious time had passed by the time they returned to racing. Bryce and Peter continued to San Ignacio where Jesse and his co-rider Alberto Rodelo took over.
There aren't too many drivers you would rather have late in the race than Jesse Jones. He knows how to charge without tearing up a truck. He pushed the truck as hard as he could but the competition was doing the same. As the night wore on, the dreaded fog began to emerge making it near impossible to see and with each minute that passed, the challenge grew more daunting. In the end, the time deficit could not be overcome, they would have to take what Baja dealt them, an eight place overall finish.