ALUMI CRAFT RACER CHASE WARREN CAPTURES OVERALL BUGGY & CLASS 10 WIN AT THE BAJA 1000

Ensenada, Baja California Mexico

The SCORE Baja 1000 is the world’s most iconic desert race, and the 2019 version of the 52nd annual event featured a challenging single loop of 1288.24 Kilometers, starting and finishing in Ensenada, Mexico. To make matters even more complicated, 4 inches of rain over a short three day period, wreaked havoc making portions of the 800.5 rugged race course impassable. After a 24 hour delay (just the third time in history) to the scheduled green flag start, 275 entries from 39 U.S. States, & 22 countries began the epic 800.50 mile motorsports journey around the majestic northern territory of Baja California with only 145 finishers completing the course on time. Among those racers, Chase Warren, in the #1088 Alumi Craft, took the Class 10 victory beating out 14 in his division and claimed the top buggy finish for 16th overall.

Chase Warren commented at the finish line, “Well, we just won the Baja 1000! Mechanical failures, mud, water, dust, and darkness, couldn’t stop Adam Pfankuch, Ricky Kern, Chris Warren, and myself from taking the top spot in Class 10 as well as Overall Buggy! I literally couldn’t have done it without the amazing team we had covered over the 800 miles of Baja’s toughest terrain. I have dreamed of racing the Baja 1000 since I was little. To get the win my first time out is unbelievable, to say the least.”

Warren’s race strategy, beforehand, included teaming up with an experienced team, and tricking out the high performing Alumi Craft Race Car with a new look. “We have been logging miles and putting in the work. I am super excited to have teamed up with Adam Pfankuch for the Baja1000. Magik Kustom Graphics killed it on the new design and the #1088 Alumi Craft has never looked better. I am ready to get on it, but SCORE is holding off for 24 hours.“

Chase explained about the rain delay. “It is the third day of nonstop rain. The course is flooded out and destroyed. We are waiting to hear what changes will be made but ready on our end for the flag to drop. I spent a lot of time prerunning, but the rain changed everything. Three solid days of pouring rain changed the course in major ways. There is standing water and mud everywhere, massive rain ruts and at one point, I thought they might even cancel the race. Thankfully, instead, there is just a 24-hour delay and two very minor course changes.”

The #1088 Alumi craft would start 4th in class off the line and finished the 800.50-mile course 1st by a large margin. Official finishing time recorded was 19 Hours 50 Minutes and 1 Second for an average of 40.36 MPH, including a 30-minute penalty. SCORE Race Officials determined the #1088 Class 10 missed a Visual Check Point.

Warren reported, “Adam Pfankuch and his co-driver Ricky Kern started the race and took it Race Mile 340. They had the hardest-hit section of the course as well as the most technically difficult. They started 4th off the line and passed everyone to be 1st on the road by about mile 40. At Race Mile 55, they lost a brand new power steering servo. Luckily, we had a spare and after nearly 45 minutes of downtime, the entire class and several other classes passing, they got it fixed and got going again.

Chase continued, “After a few more minor issues and battling tons of traffic; they still managed to hand the car back over physically in 4th position on the road. We took it from there and put the hammer down. My co-driver; Marty Richardson and I got in and we knew San Felipe would be our chance at making up time. We were down just under an hour at this point. By the time we got to our next tire change at mile 580, we had passed everyone and had a couple of minute physical lead.”

“The Alumi Craft was flawless after that. We made up the deficit and then some, so we put it on cruise control for the last 200 miles and still ended up passing all of the Class 1 cars and finished over an hour ahead of the next Class 10. We took the Class 10 win, as well as the Overall Buggy finish. We nearly took a Top 10 finish before penalties. We missed a Visual Check Point by just a couple feet after being lost in the dust. We lost more time since we went back for them and still docked the time penalty. It was a wild race for our first Baja 1000. The #1088 had the killer setup with Alumi Craft Race Cars, BFGoodrich Tires, Baja Designs Lighting, Raceline Wheels, and FOX Shocks. Our team was on point and never gave up when we had to work through the difficulties.”

Warren’s Alumi Craft was the fastest buggy to the finish line, beating all the Class 1 cars, 1st place in the Class 10 division, and 16th overall amongst the four-wheeled vehicles. Only five motorcycles had finished ahead of #1088 for 21st overall the race competitors.

The world’s most iconic, oldest, prestigious and longest continuously held desert race, is challenging to conquer. The SCORE Baja 1000 is a real gem amongst the legends of motorsports racing. It is incredibly uncommon for a first time competitor to finish the race, let alone win this historical event the first time out. Racing behind the wheel of an Alumi Craft Race Car is one smart move on the way to achieving greatness. With Alumi Craft meticulously crafted off road cars, the advantage is clear. They offer many types of cars for competition or pleasure and a long list of services and support. If you demand the best, give Alumi Craft a call at 619-596-9841 or go to: http://alumicraft.info to find out more about our race products and services.