Weel and Price finally get to Baja finish line

Paul Weel and Toby Price, paired up with Baja legend Larry Roeseler, put a year of Mexican demons behind them to take seventh in class at the Baja 1000, finally reaching a chequered flag on the Mexican Californian Peninsula.

The pair endured a luckless SCORE International season in the Team Australia Quad Lock Trophy Truck, and things looked to be going south again in the opening stint.

The trio lost an hour due to tyre issues on the opening day, but they recovered to finish in ninth outright in the gruelling event, and seventh in class, with all three drivers feeling like just making the finish line was a victory in itself.

It’s been a year and a half of trying, but Weel and Price finally made it to a Baja finish line in the Team Australia Trophy Truck

Price took the final drive to steer the #43 truck home, and although they wanted a higher finish, making the finish line was redemption considering the issues with the tyres that kept arising.

“My section went OK, but I had a couple of flats and unfortunately, we just couldn’t keep our spare tires in the rack today, they kept coming out,” Price said.

“We got through and we’re happy to be at the finish line. Larry did an amazing job holding it together and got us back up within the field. 

“We’ll be happy with a top-ten finish. This is our first finish in a year and a half. We wanted to be a bit further up, but we’re happy to be here.”

Tyre issues threatened to derail the teams Baja 1000 effort, but nothing would stop the trio from finishing on this occasion

Adding some further joy to the scene, was the fact that Price finally had his parents at a race to savour the moment, with the legendary veteran Aussie off-roader saying it was a special bonus.

“My parents don’t get to see many races nowadays as the last 10+ years they are all overseas. So to see both my mum and dad at the finish line of the Baja 1000 was something pretty special. Getting the truck to the finish line to see them was a massive goal.”

Price got to enjoy a rare moment with his parents at the Baja 1000 finish line

After Weel took the first 482 kilometres across the unforgiving terrain, the American veteran Roeseler, a recent and great addition to the squad, drove a fantastic middle stint over 788 km’s to help keep them in the frame.

“Just making it to Ensenada feels like a win to me. Considering how our day started and all the issues we had, a top-ten finish is very good,” Roeseler explained. 

“We’re just really pleased to be here. It’s respectable and the competition was amazing. Today, even if you had a clean race, it was going to be head-to-head. 

“The course was super gruelling and then you throw in the rain. This SCORE Baja 1000 is certainly right up there with the toughest. Paul had some issues with a flat right at the start and we have on-board jacks that come down, but it had problems and got hung up. 

“It took us an hour to unbolt them and get going. We started in a good spot, but unfortunately the issues we had put us well behind.”

For Price, that’s more-or-less a huge year of racing behind him, with the two-time Dakar winner falling agonisingly short of a second World title for KTM in the Moto World Rally Raid Championship.

His next big assignment is a return to Dakar on the KTM 450 Rally bike, with some feeling that it may be his last effort on two-wheels at the famous event, with his stated desire to tackle the 12 day event on four wheels heading into the future.

The ultimate winners of the Baja 1000 was the Trophy Truck of Bryce Menzies, who had Baja legend Andy McMillan (the Big Blue-M family fame, and who Paul Weel purchased his current Trophy Truck from) and Tavo Vildosola JR as co-drivers, whilst is was another of the McMillan family to take second, with Luke McMillian overcoming Mike Walser in the #89 truck.

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