King of Hammers has earned the title of the hardest single race day in the world. What could top that you ask? How about a desert to rock back to desert clash course in San Felipe Mexico? Ultra4 has placed one of the toughest courses south of the boarder this season where over 100 teams are competing for the podium to be crowned, King of Baja. Daystar Products International team geared up and loaded down for our chance to claim the crown.
Prerun:
We traveled south to convoy across the border. Meeting up with Shawn Rants, our 4600 team John Snell, Carbon racing, and many others to make our way down the coast of Baja. Prerunning this course with Mike Kim from Fox and the Savvy Racing team we marked our GPS and course map for dangers, high-speed sections, and faster routes. The course was a 22 mile loop including long rock canyons, zoo road, and rugged desert terrain. We got caught in a rocky area and whipped out a front brake line. Being one of the first to be prerun, there was no cut course line made so we made our own. Thanks to the Campbells who preran the canyon with us we were back on course to finish the lap.
Qualifying:
While we ran car after car to qualify, we watched for the fastest lines around the course. After watching Crossland barrel roll at the table top we knew we didn’t want to end our weekend with a sour qualifying run. Running our course, we landed 6th for qualifying for our class. The car felt great after a fresh motor rebuild between the Tennessee race and this one. Klein Racing Motors set up all the right things to give us the power and refreshed feel with the drivetrain to keep us in front.
Race Day:
Starting the day pitting for our 4600 class car kicked off our race day. Our Stock class car pulled off a 4th place finish, which in return they were our pit support for our race starting at noon. The green flag dropped and Josh Chapman, AKA “The Banker”, was off to set distance from the pack and catch up with our competition in front. Our first lap we chose to take the bypass on the rocks. We had 2 laps we could bypass, and 2 laps we had to hit the rock canyon. Getting caught in traffic through some of the narrow canyons and course we fought our way around lap 1 to splash fuel and check the car with a once over. Lap two we were settled in. The car felt good and we had the course mapped in our mind on what was needed. Thanks to Dirty Life Racing Wheels and BFGoodrich tires, we cruised through all 4 laps with not a single flat! We crossed the finish line after our 4th final lap battling the rocks and larger canyons filled with lap traffic and broken cars.
Results:
With a 4th place finish, we are incredibly excited to place top 5 for the first ever King of Baja. Setting a strong pace for this season, we are on the box in 3rd for national championship points. Huge thanks to Daystar Products for this seasons support and being a part of our program. Fox Shocks and Rock Krawler Suspension for letting our car dance in the desert and take the abuse round after round. We are ecstatic to continue this season with a high. Looking forward we are happy to announce that Yetibuilt will be joining us at Cross Bar Ranch Oklahoma next month as we battle it out east. Follow us to the podium!
