Alumicraft Racers Cody Reid & Francisco Vera Capture Back-To-Back Baja 500 Wins
Ensenada, Baja California Mexico
The SCORE-International Baja 500 is always a treacherous and brutal desert race. The 2024 version and the 56th running of the historic motorsport event was no exception. Alumicraft racers Cody Reid and Francisco Vera, in the Class 1 Unlimited and Class 10 divisions, respectively, their experience and well-prepared programs earned the competitors back-to-back Baja 500 victories
254 entries registered for the event, but only 169 racers would finish the 482.97-mile course. The race would start and finish in Ensenada, Mexico, and run clockwise around the Northern part of the Baja California peninsula. The technical, rugged race course passed through notable areas including Ojos Negros, Tres Hermanos, El Alamo, Santa Catarina, the Summit, Cohabuzo Junction, Saldana, La Ventana access, El Arrajal wash, San Matias Pass, Mike’s Sky Rancho, Simpson’s Road to Valle de Trinidad, Llano Colorado, San Vicente Wash, Erendira, Santo Tomas, Uruapan, Rancho El Mezcal, and Ojos Negros before returning to Ensenada.
Coming off a San Felipe 250 2nd place podium, Cody Reid, driver of record for the #168 AWD Alumicraft Class 1, had high hopes for the 2024 Baja 500. They had won back-to-back in the last two events for 2023 and 2022. The team put together a plan of action, including freshly prepped race cars and prerunners, a dialed and tuned Kroyer Racing engine, shock tuning with Hoffman Motorsports, and new generation BFGoodrich 37-inch KR2 tires.
The well-organized effort earned Cody Reid a third Baja 500 win in a row with a smart and fast run to complete the course in 10 hours, 18 minutes, and 31.468 seconds. Despite a very competitive Class 1 field, Reid finished 22 minutes ahead of 2nd place and good enough for 10th overall.
Cody made these remarks at the finish line, “It started out very interesting. We missed a turn getting out of town in the dust, which made us lose a position, so we decided to be patient. We got everybody back, but then we got a flat tire and fell back to fourth again. But after that, we kept moving the best we could and got everybody back again. From there, we just kept it that way and kept moving. It was a very tough technical, slow, and surprisingly brutal course.”
Francisco Vera, the ranking 2023 Class 10 champion, was also coming off of a San Felipe 250 3rd place podium finish and defending Baja 500 champion. Vera’s #1000 Alumicraft is a single-seat chassis with a Major Performance Honda engine and Fortin transmission.
Their race also consisted of a heated field of competition with 16 starters and 12 finishers. Vera made it to the finish line with a total time of 10 hours, 42 minutes, and 49.14 seconds.
“It was tight at the beginning,” commented Francisco. “There was a lot of back-and-forth racing with other cars the entire time. We tried to play it smart and relax so we didn’t get a flat tire or something else. And we made it. It’s great to win back-to-back SCORE Baja 500s.”
Alumicraft congratulates both Reid and Vera on successfully defending their Baja 500 victories. When it comes to off-road desert racing, few events hold more prestige and challenges than a SCORE-International Baja race. It comes down to conquering the rugged terrain and mystique of the Mexican wilderness. The best tool in the stable to do that is with an Alumicraft because they have proven time and time again to have what it takes to race and win. Call Alumicraft at 619-596-9841 or go to: DriveAlumicraft.com to learn more about our race products and services.