Baja 1000: Tuesday evening summary

TROPHY TRUCK BATTLE HIGHLIGHTS EARLY PART OF 40th SCORE BAJA 1000
Cadiente Leads Trophy Truck Class and Overall 4-Wheel Division; Bell Tops Overall in Motorcycles

Ensenada, B.C., Mexico (Nov. 13, 2007) -- Garron Cadiente of Mesa, Ariz., had the early lead Tuesday evening in a wild duel in the trophy-truck class at the start of the 40th annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000.

Defending race winner Robby Gordon of Orange, Calif., fell behind shortly after the trophy-truck class left Ensenada Tuesday morning in northern Baja California. Six hours into the race, Cadiente held the lead in the No. 38 Ford F-150, followed closely by Rob MacCachren of Las Vegas in the No. 3 Mark Post Ford F-150 and B.J. Baldwin of Las Vegas in the No. 1 Chevrolet Silverado.

Gordon, the NASCAR Nextel Cup regular, and his No. 71 Chevy CK1500 had dropped out of the top five in the early portion of the world's most famous off-road race. Gordon is co-driving with Dale Ebberts.

Post of San Juan Capistrano, Calif., and MacCachren's co-driver, leads the SCORE International Off-Road Racing Trophy Truck championship heading into the season-ending race. Baldwin came into the race one point behind Post, with Cadiente 20 points off the lead.

The first of 22 class winners is expected to arrive at the finish line early Wednesday in Cabo San Lucas, the southern point of Baja California. Among the early class leaders Tuesday was another NASCAR driver, Brendan Gaughan of Las Vegas, in Class 1, Matt Cullen of Long Beach, Calif., in Class 10, and Stan Potter of San Marcos, Calif., in SCORE Lites. Robby Bell of Sun City, Calif., the SCORE points leader, is leading Class 22, the motorcycle division that includes 250cc engines or larger. Bell, riding a Honda motorcycle, teamed with Johnny Campbell of San Clemente, Calif., who's going for his 10th overall victory.

The 40th running of the annual desert classic, which covers 1,296.39 miles from the northern part of the Baja peninsula to the southern tip, drew 438 entries.

-credit: score