Truck No. 866 Soldiers OnKent Kroeker and Robin Stover took the bruised but not beaten No. 866 truck from Worthington, Kevin Kelly, and Chris Williams at mile 340. Upon exiting the truck, Kevin said, "I feel like I've been beaten up by gangsters, but that truck runs like a monster."
Barely making the checkpoint closures set up by race officials and incrementally upping the speed average was the name of the game for the next 22 hours.
"The frame cracked twice, and twice we welded it up. This slowed us a bit, but pulling multiple stuck vehicles out of the mud, water, and silt took the most time. I couldn't believe the silt beds south of Loreto. They were so deep that twice they swallowed the entire passenger side of the truck. I couldn't see anything. That was definitely the gnarliest wheeling I've ever done," Robin said.
At 2 a.m. in Ciudad Insurgentes, Landon Worthington took over driving. Robin got out because he was experiencing severe stomach pain (that would later turn out to be a hernia he had gotten before the race), and Kent assumed the co-driver and navigation duties.
"It was like a graveyard out there," Landon said. "Race cars were everywhere stuck in the silt. Drivers stood nearby with long faces and tow straps in hand. We just couldn't help everyone. There were so many-so close to the finish, too. It was heartbreaking."
Crossing The Finish LineConservative, precise driving by Landon brought truck No. 866 down the road to the finish line in the city of La Paz at the southern tip of the Baja peninsula. As the sun rose over the Sea of Cortez 40 hours and 17 minutes after the start of the race in Ensenada, it was over. KORE/Worthington Racing had made it to the podium with a Third Place finish in its class. It was Landon's first desert race ever, and No. 866 was the first off-road race truck to ever cross the Baja 1000 finish line using biodiesel fuel.
"This was a great Baja 1000" Kent said afterward. "Off-road racing can be a war of attrition. Using a team-oriented race strategy enabled us to be competitive, despite running three unproven race trucks that were piloted by people totally new to the sport. The Canadians and the team from Tennessee had never even seen a desert before, and they chose to race the Mount Everest of motorsports in a professional class! Their dedication and commitment to the mission was unbelievable. Our chase and pit crews performed admirably, and everyone on the KORE team returned safely to the U.S. We had a little bad luck, but overall, it would be hard to ask for more from an adventure like this."