MasterCraft Trophy Truck #35 debuts with impressive finish at 39th SCORE Baja 1000.

In a punishing 1050 mile off road race where only half the entrants even finish, MasterCraft's owner and CEO Robbie Pierce debuted the MasterCraft Trophy Truck before hundreds of thousands of spectators, finishing 12th out of 36 Trophy Trucks entered in the legendary off road race. Adventurers from 38 U.S. states and 11 countries raced the Baja 1000 - the granddaddy of all desert races. Starting in Ensenada, this year's course weaved throughout the rugged Baja peninsula, testing man and machine to exhaustion. The overall wining truck of Andy McMillin and NASCAR driver Robby Gordon finished in just under 20 hours.

This year's grueling 1050 mile course featured both high speed sections where #35 ran well in excess of 100 miles per hour, and extremely rocky, technical portions that brought all vehicles to a crawl to get through or around obstacles.

Pierce's co-driver Brent Gustin called the turns and dangers from the right seat, working the GPS hard to keep up with Pierce's pace and also with changing tires on a couple of occasions.

"What an awesome dream-come true", said Pierce. "It's fantastic just to finish and it's great to have been competitive and hang with the big teams. Sincere thanks to Sal Fish and his SCORE team, Bill Varnes, Brent Gustin and Kelly Falls, our Chase Captain Madeline Bullman, my chase crews, sponsors and Baja Pits. Together, we beat the Baja", commented Pierce.

The second driving team of veteran off road champion Bill Varnes and Kelly Falls took over driving chores deep in to the eerie Baja night at San Juanico, about the half way point of the race. They drove for hours at night in the most brutal mid-section of the course, which was recently overwhelmed by a hurricane along the east side of the peninsula. Varnes and Falls soldiered on after getting the vehicle up righted from a roll in the cliffs west of Loreto. MasterCraft's chase crew cavalry of Jaime Medina and Jason Redfield hustled to the vehicle to help get it back on all four wheels.

Fighting a steering box gremlin nearly all the way, Pierce and Varnes adapted and dealt with the wandering vehicle at high and low speeds to finish ahead of 24 other Trophy truck entrants, including last year's winner, Bob Shepard, race favorite Alan Pflueger and long-time racer Jerry Whelchel.

Varnes turned the truck back over to Robbie in the early morning around 855 miles in to the race, where Robbie drove solo for a short period while Gustin waited down course a bit to jump back in to #35. The crazed steering box took the opportunity to finally lock up while Pierce was alone in the truck, leaving him stranded in the wicked Baja desert outside of Insurgentes. MasterCraft's chase crews, shadowing the vehicle throughout the race, inserted Bob Howle and his son Barret to the rescue; removing the troublesome steering box and replacing it with the spare box that rides with the race car.

Under brilliant blue skies, the bright red MasterCraft truck growled to the finish La Paz in just over 27 hours of non-stop racing.

MasterCraft's sponsors include Mirage Racing, KC Hilites, Goodyear Tire, Walker Evans Wheels, Hypercoil, Edelbrock, MSD Ignition and Jim Conner Racing.

Founded in 1970, MasterCraft is a market leading manufacturer of Rubicon T, 3GT, Pro and Original off-road, racing, performance, recreational seats and mounting hardware. MasterCraft also produces SFI approved restraint systems, window safety nets, suspension limit straps, safety equipment and utility tie-down products. MasterCraft has long been the choice of top off-road racers and sportsmen. The company markets its products internationally through its network of distributors.