Jagged X Pushes To The Front of 47th Annual Baja 500
Jagged X Racing took to the Mexican desert last weekend to compete in the 47th annual SCORE Bud-Light Baja 500. The race started in beautiful Ensenada, Mexico with a full day of contingency fanfare beforehand. The team was feeling confident going into the weekend with fully prepped cars and the knowledge gained from pre-running at least the first section of course, something that’s not always feasible for Baja races.
Jagged X left the line in 17th position with Keith Redstrom behind the wheel and Jason Spiess in the co-driver’s seat. They made good time right off the bat, working their way through the field into 4th position overall by race mile 115, right around the fabled La Rumorosa, one of the toughest and rockiest hills on any off road race course in the world. Luckily #1932 and it’s occupants made it without incident and they were even flirting with first on corrected time.
After the initial charge the team settled into a good pace and started ticking off the miles, the Baja T/A KR2 tire from BFGoodrich and Jackson Motorsports Group holding up great and allowing the guys to push hard even through the treacherous sections. Eventually an intermittent electrical gremlin would show up and plague them for much of the day. The symptoms were hard to trace, and the team was still unable to diagnose the issue by the driver change at Race Mile 225.
With Brandon Schueler and Chad Hummer in the car, the #1932 hurtled through the desert once more, in third place physically just over halfway through the race. Somewhere around RM280 the electrical issues were becoming too much to ignore and Brandon had to pull off and look for the problem. He was eventually able to diagnose a frayed wire in the wiring harness, fix it and get back on the move only one position down, now 4th place physically.
The Jagged X team pushed hard and ran clean for the rest of the race, working their way past two more competitors to move into 2nd place by the time they crossed the finish line. Unfortunately a miscommunication led to the car missing a low speed zone and the associated penalties moved the #1932 into 4th position in the official results. Though not exactly the preferred outcome, the team is proud of their finish and maintains the points lead. The UTV class on the whole had a great showing as the second largest class at this years Baja 500, with first place finishing well inside the top 50 overall.
Jagged X will take to the desert once again for the BITD Vegas to Reno race August 13-15, make sure to keep up with the guys on social media for more details as the date approaches. Team Jagged X would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all of the friends and family who support them as well as all of the wonderful sponsors that allow them to compete at this level. Thank you: Polaris RZR, BFGoodrich Tires, Jackson Motorsports Group, Varta Powersports Batteries, Muzzy’s Performance, Vision X Off Road Lighting, Factory UTV, Polaris Lubricants, OMF Performance, CR Designs, Cutting Edge Manufacturing and UTVUnderground!