The stage was set: the morning air was crisp, the Baja skies were blue and the smell of race fuel filled the air; it was finally time for the 2012 SCORE Baja 500.
Terrible Herbst Motorsports along with 55 other SCORE Trophy Truck and Class 1 Unlimited race teams took to downtown Ensenada, Mexico on June 2nd, 2012 in an attempt to conquer the 2012 SCORE Baja 500. Fielding two trucks at this year’s SCORE Baja 500, Tim and Troy Herbst along with co-drivers Larry Roeseler and Ryan Arciero battled through 450 miles of the most grueling terrain that the Baja California Peninsula has to offer.
The first Terrible Herbst Monster Energy Drink team member to leave the start line was the #49 Trophy Truck of Troy Herbst and Ryan Arciero. Ryan Arciero and Troy Herbst started in the sixth position, while Brother Tim Herbst and Larry Roeseler started just a few spots behind in the tenth position.
Troy Herbst was first to pilot the #49 Terrible Herbst Motorsports Trophy Truck through the streets of downtown Ensenada and into the hills on the outskirts of town. In just thirteen short-lived miles, Troy Herbst and Co-rider JT would find themselves parked on the side of the road with a blown torque converter in the transmission. “We’re not quite sure what caused it but I had JT (my co-rider) jump out and grab the fire extinguisher just incase there was potential for a transmission fire” Troy Herbst explained. Herbst wasted no time while parked on the side of the track, as he hiked nearly 2 miles to the end of a private ranch road in order to direct the Terrible Herbst Motorsports crew as to where Trophy Truck #49 was located. With a little finesse and a lot of encouragement from the locals, the Terrible Herbst Motorsports crew was able to pull the #49 to a nearby empty field where they immediately started to perform surgery on the transmission of Trophy Truck #49. While replacing the transmission, the team found themselves victim to nearly two hours of downtime, leaving them to be the very last vehicle on the course. “I looked around and we were literally the very last car on the road, I knew we had some work ahead of us,” Troy Herbst added.
One by one Troy Herbst started picking off cars and trucks as he passed them on course. Holding nothing back Troy pushed as hard as he could despite being handicapped by a spare transmission that is only used for qualifying sessions and shorter races. Newly equipped with the same Mike Smith suspension that the legendary “Land Shark” (the most winningest four wheel off-road vehicle in off-road history – also owned by Terrible Herbst Motorsports) was equipped with, Troy had confidence that he would be able to throw anything at the #49 Terrible Herbst Motorsports Trophy Truck and it would be able to handle anything that was thrown at it. Charging hard, Troy Herbst was able to hand the Terrible Herbst Motorsports Trophy Truck #49 over to Ryan Arciero near San Matias. Having made further track position prior to the driver change, Arciero knew he was there to do a job, and that job was to continue to make up track position and attempt to finish within the top 12 finishers in order to qualify for a top starting position at the SCORE Baja 1000.
Arciero picked up right where Troy Herbst left off, picking off cars and trucks one by one and continuing to make his way towards the front of the pack. Continuing to head north along the Pacific Coast, Arciero was able to make up for a lot of lost time. Eleven and a half hours after leaving the starting line in Ensenada Mexico, the Terrible Herbst Motorsports Trophy Truck of Troy Herbst and Ryan Arciero crossed the finish line in an astonishing 16th place in the Trophy Truck division.
Carrying on the tradition of teamwork and never giving up, Tim Herbst and Larry Roeseler also overcame adversity to take down Baja. Starting in the 10th position, Roeseler and Tim Herbst were in prime position to compete for the over-all win.
Things started off great for the Monster Energy Terrible Herbst Motorsports Trophy Truck #19. Roeseler was the first to take the wheel, in commanding form, Roeseler knew that he had to take chances where he could while staying focused on the end goal; winning the 2012 SCORE Baja 500. In order to hand over a problem-free truck to co-driver Tim Herbst, it was going to be a tough task but if there was any person up for the job the crafty veteran, Roeseler was the one you’d want to have on your side.
“The first 70 miles or so was tough, there was a lot of dust and everybody pretty much stayed in line. Not much room to pass at all.” Roeseler explained. Roeseler than went on to say “It was about K77 (kilometer 77) when I was able to get by Mike Julson and Dan McMillin. We finally had some clean air in front of us once we got past those two guys”
As the Terrible Herbst Motorsports Trophy Truck #19 made its way though the small town of Borrego, they were within minutes of the over-all leaders. Taking full advantage of the clean air, they were able to pass Juan Carlos Lopez while he was nursing his truck to the side of the road. At that moment Roeseler knew there was only one person ahead of him, and it was that of Bj Baldwin. With a visual on over-all race leader (Bj Baldwin) and in first place according to corrected time, Roeseler pushed harder and gave the #19 Trophy Truck everything it had as they battled their way to the infamous Mike’s Sky Ranch Road.
Roeseler handed over driving duties to co-driver Tim Herbst and instantly Tim fell victim to electrical gremlins. Chasing down electrical issues, the Terrible Herbst Motorsports crew worked as hard as they possibly could to find the root cause. After changing out an alternator and calling in for spare batteries to be brought in, Trophy Truck #19 found itself two hours down on time to the over-all leader.
Once getting Trophy Truck #19 up and running again, the team would push hard to the finish line. Finishing just shy of the coveted “top 12”, the duo of Roeseler and Tim Herbst finished in a very respectable 15th position in the Trophy Truck division.
As if finishing the SCORE Baja 500 wasn’t hard enough, Terrible Herbst Motorsports overcame all adversity and beat Baja with everything stacked against them; the hard way.
Terrible Herbst Motor Sports is sponsored by:
Monster Energy • BFGoodrich Tires • Jacks Links • Oakley
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