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By: Robert Janis
Preparation,
Experience Help Afraidium Racing Win SCORE
Points Championship for 2008
Preparation and experience were pivotal
reasons why Afraidium Racing won the SCORE
Points Championship for 2008 in the UTV
category.
The team includes Mark Lindsay, Phil Holdsworth
,and John Crowley. Lindsay and Holdsworth raced
the Baja 500 and 1000 on a Polaris RZR UTV
Side-By-Side. Crowley raced the 1000 on a
dirtbike. Jason Spiess and Derek Tungmala were
co-drivers and our chase posse consisted of Todd
Douglas, Rob Martin, Jess Maier, Torsten Palm,
and Brian Slaughter.
The group started racing the SCORE Series events
three years ago. “When we decided to do Baja
racing, we started off racing a quad,” said
Lindsay. Slowly Lindsay and Holdsworth moved
into a UTV--the Polaris RZR. “It is a first
generation RZR,” said Lindsay. “I purchased one
of the first ones offered in June, 2007.”
They moved into UTV racing because of age and
safety. “I’m 41,” said Lindsay. “So I was
looking for a safer ride that would assure that
I didn’t get beat up like I do riding a quad.
You could say I am following the old adage of
Ivan Stewart, ‘With age comes the cage.’”
He hired Mag Seven to provide him with fuel and
other pit services. “They’ve been fantastic,” he
said. “Not only do they have fuel, they also
have parts, tools, and guys to help out. I am
confident that every 55 miles there is the Mag
crew.” The rest of the crew was filled in by
friends who volunteer to help.
Uses Pre-Run to Strategize
Lindsay and Holdsworth have a lot of experience
racing in the desert. They have not only
participated in the SCORE Baja Series events for
the last three years, they also race in Best of
the Desert events including Vegas to Reno. As a
result, Lindsay knows how to read the terrain
and determine what areas could offer problems.
Also, it helps him determine the best locations
for the pit crew and what parts to carry for
possible repairs.
According to Lindsay they first strategize using
a map of the course, but the map doesn’t really
provide enough information. They make
preliminary decisions, and then they rely
heavily on the pre-run to finalize things.
“You could look at the map and see that there is
a road that is accessible for a chase crew to
run down. And the map is right, it is
accessible, but you need to look at that road at
the pre-run to determine its condition. It could
be sandy and whooped out. It could be a real
nasty road, and you can see that it is not a
good place to swap out drivers and depend on a
pit crew to travel through. So the pre-run gives
us the chance to select the best accessible
roads for the chase crew and for swapping out.”
The pre-run can also help to prepare a whole lot
more. “You can see the condition of the course
and think about the potential weaknesses of the
vehicle,” continued Lindsay. “The conditions
could make it a high possibility that you could,
say, break an axle at a particular section of
the race. You would want a chase crew with an
axle close to that area. You have limited
resources. You can’t bring every part with you.
So you are going to have to manage things. You
do that by observing and using your experience.”
Many racing teams have three or four
participants who share in the driving. In this
case, only Lindsay and Holdsworth do the
driving. Of course, some may think that a racing
team consisting of only two drivers could be at
a disadvantage to a team with three or more
drivers. But Lindsay says that there is no
disadvantage. “It is an individual thing,” he
said. “It is about what you can mentally handle.
The important thing is to keep your wits about
you, make good calls and good judgments. If
you’re at a point where you are fatigued, then
that is a good time to switch out; that’s an
individual thing.”
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