Garron Cadiente Leads G&R Racing to Top Five at the SCORE Baja 500
For Immediate Release: Garron Cadiente Leads G&R Racing to Top Five at the SCORE Baja 500 Ensenada, Mexico (June 28, 2006)– Garron Cadiente and Ron Whitton have been on a roll lately, capturing overall wins at the rugged SCORE San Felipe 250 and the Pro Desert Racing Desert Rat 250. Those two victories, combined with the Best in the Desert Trick Truck class win at the Terrible’s Town 250, set the momentum as they forged towards the world-famous SCORE Baja 500. Throughout the first half of the 2006 professional desert racing season, the 30-year-old SCORE rookie has continued to demonstrate his talents behind the wheel of the #38 G&R Racing Trophy Truck. His efforts have not gone unnoticed, as he persists towards his rookie season goal in capturing the SCORE Series point’s championship. This year’s SCORE Baja 500 featured nearly 100 miles of little used terrain challenging the best off road racers in the world. Nonetheless, their persistence demonstrated why they are a championship caliber team. Garron crossed beneath the Tecate Arch at the SCORE Baja 500 finish line in 5th position and Ron survived an early rollover to finish in 12th position. Both Geiser Brothers built Ford trucks performed very well over the unforgiving Baja terrain. Garron’s Race Report – Truck #38: Garron and the team had a very manageable race strategy… “Be competitive through the pine forest and up through Mike’s Sky Ranch before turning up the wick for the home stretch.” After starting ninth off the line, the team found “lots of dust, for a long time,” commented Garron. “We had dust all the way from the start line to the goat trail.” Despite the low visibility, the team ran well until they suffered an early flat just before the pine forest, costing them many positions. “We got a flat, and it was like a freight train went by. We must have had 10 or 11 trucks pass us while we were changing the flat,” explained Garron. The team also lost radio communication for essentially the entire race, making it difficult for chase teams to track the truck. After getting “freight trained” with the flat tire, the team raced hard, and continued to press through Mike’s Sky Ranch. By race mile 250, Garron had made up many positions and was the third truck on the road and in great shape. Garron and co-rider, Chris Godfrey, had an excellent run going. The team worked their way down to the beach, and found it to be nice and cool, but they encountered thick fog, prompting the team to remove the grill from the truck to expose the Vision X lights. Once off the beach, “It was like the sun came back out,” said Godfrey. The team experienced simultaneous rear flats in the last 60 miles and the subsequent tire change allowed Josh Baldwin and BJ Baldwin to sneak by, securing place on time. Garron and Chris finished 5th in class with an elapsed time of 10:10:54 and averaging just over 41 miles per hour. Ron’s Race Report – Truck #39: Ron Whitton was very excited to be starting second in line at the SCORE Baja 500. Ron was running very well right off the start and passed the first truck very quickly, becoming the first truck on the road shortly after taking the green flag. With the adrenaline pumping, Ron’s race nearly ended early after with a violent rollover just a couple miles from the start. “I was pretty hyped up at the start,” said Ron. “I hit the second jump real hard, and then went into that corner a little too hot.” The ensuing rollover removed most of the fiberglass from the truck, and beat up Ron and co-driver, Gerald “Smitty” King, pretty good. “It was a jarring rollover,” said the smiling Smitty. Fortunately, the truck landed on its wheels, and Ron was back in the throttle right away. The team didn’t miss a beat and remained the first truck on the road for the next 25 miles before being passed. With Ron setting the pace for the 37 Trophy Trucks hot on his heels, he ran a solid race and completed his assignment where at Valle de Trinidad, Ron turned the wheel over to Jeff Geiser. Jeff was in “survival mode” with the truck as he made his way through the remaining miles. The team had another flat tire, and a lost an alternator belt that cost them some time on the way to the finish. Ron’s truck finished in 12th position in the Trophy Truck class in just over 11 ½ hours. Overall, both Garron and Ron were pleased with the team’s performance at the SCORE Baja 500. “We learned a lot and finished respectively,” said Garron. The team learned some key lessons about pit strategy and even with a couple of mistakes, they finished very well. Look for Garron and Ron to continue racing hard, and to earn valuable season series points while competing for the coveted, “Rookie of the Year,” honors with SCORE International. Utilizing the SCORE Baja 500 as a test platform, G&R Racing worked with Ion Earth testing a new GPS tracking feature that allowed chase crews to see the position of the trucks relative to the race map, in real time. The GPS tracking feature worked very well and it turned out to be a very big plus for the team, especially since the #38 truck suffered radio communications failures. Garron and Ron extend a big “Thank You” to all of the G&R Racing Sponsors that include: Whitton Companies, Geiser Brothers, BF Goodrich, VisionX Lighting, and King Off-Road Shocks. The team would also like to thank Ion Earth for their participation in the G&R Racing program. G&R Racing’s next scheduled race is the Best in the Desert Vegas to Reno event scheduled for August 24-26 in Nevada. Look for G&R Racing to debut their new website in the very near future at www.gnrracing.com <http://www.gnrracing.com/> In the meantime visit SCORE International at www.score-international.com <http://www.score-international.com/> and Best in the Desert at www.bitd.com <http://www.bitd.com/> You can find information on all Ford products at www.fordvehicles.com <http://www.fordvehicles.com/> Team Contacts: Marketing Director: Tim Sanchez / tim@rockonmotorsports.com (714)771-6789 Office / (714)514.7450 Team Manager: Brian Godfrey / brian@gnrracing.com (602)999-6123 fax (623)215-4745 # # #