March 13, Robby Gordon unleashed the #1 Monster Energy/TOYO TIRES Chevrolet Trophy Truck upon the deserts of Baja California, Mexico and what many considered to be the toughest field of competitors ever to race in San Felipe. Two weeks earlier, Robby and his team had spent four days testing shocks and tires to optimize the performance of the race truck.

The San Felipe course is the roughest and toughest of all the SCORE series races. The ruts and washes can be five feet in depth or deeper! Robby spent those four days changing shock heights and pressures to accommodate the larger 39X13.50R17 Open Country M/T- R tires he prefers to use in this terrain. After those days of testing were done, the team felt that they had a competitive package ready for the race.

Race vehicles are sent out in thirty-second intervals off the line. The first 40 to 60 miles are a great concern for all the racers. The famed "Zoo Road" is a 20-mile stretch of non-stop enormous ruts and washes that end the race for many drivers. Competitors who run this section too fast run the risk of damaging their equipment. One must be conservative to get through Zoo Road.

At race mile 15 everything seemed to be running smoothly; Robby had already passed the truck ahead of him and was the first car on the road. He had cleared Zoo Road and was pulling away from the competitors behind him when a giant puff of smoke covered the #1 Chevrolet. The team in the helicopter thought it was an engine explosion because of the position of the where the smoke was coming from. The truck kept moving but Robby radioed that the left rear shock had broken. The top of the shock reservoir exploded sending shock oil all over the intake manifold, creating all of the smoke and showering both Robby and his co-driver Andy Grider with oil.

There was a chase vehicle following Robby as part of the initial strategy until race mile 30. That chase vehicle could have pulled in at an access road and tried to attend to the wounded truck. However, the decision was made for both trucks to continue to the next pit at race mile 40, where they would be able to change the shock with more mechanics on hand. There, the broken shock was taken off the truck and the new one was installed in just 13 minutes. It usually takes them 20 to 30 minutes at the shop to change one shock, but the team rallied to return the Chevrolet Trophy Truck back to the race course quickly and continue to battle for series points.

Several Trophy Tucks passed Robby while the shock was being changed. Lucky for him, the Baja terrain stopped many competitors in theirs track as truck after truck had equipment fail. Robby and Andy made up a lot of time on the rest of the field. Having spent three days running the course, they had navigated through the desert finding the smoothest lines available. At race mile 160, the #1 Chevrolet was only 11 minutes behind the race leader Jesse Jones and was the fifth truck on the road.

Robby had commented earlier in the week that the race would really start around race mile 195. By then equipment and driver would be worn out; the terrain would be the victor if you were not prepared physically and your equipment was not prepared mechanically. At race mile 170 the Chevrolet experienced another problem. This time, the right rear shock broke. It did not explode like the previous one but it did make steering and maneuvering of the truck though the last part of the racecourse really difficult. Even with the second shock breaking, Robby was only seven minutes behind the race leader and was the second vehicle physically through the last checkpoint.

Despite the challenges, Robby finished second in the trophy truck division and fourth overall, earning some valuable points towards a series championship.

"Our Monster Energy/ TOYO TIRES truck got off to a great start, but unfortunately we broke our left rear shock at the beginning of the race," commented Gordon. "For something like that to happen, one would think your day would be ruined, but the team made a great recovery and changed the shock fast. Later on our right rear shock went out as well, and it was hard for us to gain any ground through the bumps. During the last stretch, all we could really hope for was for other trucks to fall out. It's pretty amazing to see what this course does to these trucks, and when you think about the fact that we beat a lot of guys with broken equipment. We'll change some pressures in our shocks and be ready to repeat as winners in the Baja 500."

As for his TOYO TIRES, Robby was very happy.

"I was extremely impressed with the performance of my TOYO TIRES at this year's San Felipe 250," commented Gordon. "We ran the whole race with no flats, which was impressive considering the turbulent terrain. We did however change two rear tires at Race Mile 40...the same point that we had to fix the broken shock. We had a large stick in the rear tire and we had an opportunity to change it while we were down fixing the shock. The rest of the race was flawless with our tires. I would like to congratulate everyone at Toyo Tires for the second consecutive second place finish at the San Felipe 250. It looks like we are on track for back-to-back championship wins. We are only 26 points behind the leader and in fifth place overall!"

You can also watch the first ten-race minutes here.