Fox, Jones lead tight battles at NORRA Mexican 1000
With three long days of racing in the record books and three more to go, the 15th running of the rebirthed NORRA Mexican 1000 features a (...)
With three long days of racing in the record books and three more to go, the 15th running of the rebirthed NORRA Mexican 1000 features a diverse roster of racers from different classes engaged in tight battle for the overall rally victory. With eight completed special stages held over 529.30 miles of highly varied Baja terrain, four-wheel competitors reached the official halfway point of this year’s event in the picturesque oasis town of San Ignacio.
Surrounded by lush palm trees and wet marshlands that springs out of an otherwise arid portion of the Baja desert, San Ignacio was a welcome respite for all. The NORRA Mexican 1000 will complete its 1,133.40-mile journey on Thursday in the historic beach resort town of San Jose del Cabo.
Leading the field for Tuesday’s fourth day of racing will be the No.282 Evolution 6100 class truck of Brent Fox. His Toyo tire-shod Ford built by 1 Nine Industries reached San Ignacio in total time of 9h04m40s. Fox, who hails from Highland, Utah, holds a slim five minute, 11 second lead in the overall standings to Dave Mason Jr. The talented Californian is piloting a strong V8-powered Evolution Unlimited Buggy on Yokohama tires. In third lies rally veteran Greg Distefano in a more vintage Jimco Evolution Unlimited Buggy.
Based overall speed, however, the first vehicle to depart for today’s fun to Loreto is the iconic No.3 Ford ‘Black Diamond’ Historic Truck of Las Vegas resident Mark Post. Now holding fourth place overall after a first day time penalty, Post (on BFGoodrich tires) has recruited an all-star group of legendary drivers including Larry Ragland, Rob MacCachren and Robby Gordon – who originally built the truck – is scheduled to share driving duties today.
The current leader in a tightly contested race for a large pack of UTVs is NORRA veteran PJ Jones of Phoenix. The son of American (and Baja) racing legend Parnelli Jones, PJ has kept an incredibly competitive pace to move his PJ’s Performance-prepped Unlimited Production Turbo UTV category Can-Am Mavrick R to a promising eighth place in the overall standings.
Watch live NORRA Mexican 1000 coverage here.
