The SPEED Energy Stadium Super Trucks traveled to Mexico last weekend for the inaugural Mike’s Peak Hill Climb Challenge at Mike’s Sky Rancho in Baja California. Formally named the Baja Bob’s Mike’s Peak Ultimate Race to the Top in memory of Robby Gordon’s late father, racing took place over two days on Friday and Saturday.
Gordon swept the rounds as he recorded the fastest times in both races, including a top speed of 131 mph (210.824 km/h) on Friday. Joining him on the podium for both events were points leader Sheldon Creed and Juan Carlos Lopez. Apdaly Lopez, making his first SST start since X Games Austin 2015, finished 4th in both runs. Matt Brabham, Todd Romano and Steve Bechard failed to finish Friday’s event while all drivers finished Saturday’s run. The Sunday race was canceled for unannounced reasons, marking the first time an event has been called off since the second Detroit race earlier in June.
Of the 16 drivers who competed in the SST class, all but six (Gordon, Creed, Apdaly Lopez, Robbie Pierce, Matt Brabham and Todd Romano) are series newcomers. Juan Carlos Lopez, father of Apdaly, is a SCORE Trophy Truck veteran who also drives with SPEED Energy sponsorship. J. T. Taylor is the general manager of Torchmate Racing and a rally raider. Gerardo Iribe work as a King Shocks tuning specialist in addition to racing in SCORE International. Danny Stinson, a competitor of the Baja 500, races motorcycles. Nick Tonelli and his father Lyle both operate the Tonelli Racing team. Eyam Joyner was the youngest driver in the SST field at only 11 years of age. Bechard, a microchip developer at TriQuint Semiconductor, comes from a family revolving around off-road racing, driving Side-By-Sides (SXS) and utility task vehicles (UTV). Myles Wyatt and Melanie Diaz are also racers.
Prior to Friday’s racing, Red Bull off-road truck driver Bryce Menzies, who was injured at the time and couldn’t compete in the event, challenged the SST to beat his truck’s time of 14 minutes and 20 seconds around the 19-mile course. None of the SST drivers were able to surpass Menzies’s time, with a 2:31 margin between his time and Gordon’s Saturday time of 16:51, the fastest run of the weekend.
The series returns to Australia from October 21–23, competing at the Gold Coast 600 weekend. Won by Matt Mingay and Creed in 2015, Gold Coast will be the third Australian race weekend of 2016.
Race #1 Results (Friday)
- Robby Gordon – 17:08
- Sheldon Creed – 17:29
- Juan Carlos Lopez – 17:59
- Apdaly Lopez – 18:02
- J. T. Taylor – 18:40
- Robbie Pierce – 18:57
- Gerardo Iribe – 19:08
- Danny Stinson – 21:07
- Nick Tonelli – 21:10
- Myles Wyatt – 21:31
- Melanie Diaz – 23:50
- Eyam Joyner – 27:01
- Lyle Tonelli – 28:18
- Matt Brabham – DNF
- Todd Romano – DNF
- Steve Bechard – DNF
Race #2 Results (Saturday)
- Robby Gordon – 16:51
- Sheldon Creed – 17:13
- Juan Carlos Lopez – 17:49
- Apdaly Lopez – 17:51
- Matt Brabham – 18:27
- Robbie Pierce – 18:50
- Todd Romano – 19:54
- Gerardo Iribe – 20:07
- Nick Tonelli – 21:11
- Myles Wyatt – 21:15
- Steve Bechard – 21:27
- Danny Stinson – 21:47
- Melanie Diaz – 23:32
- Eyam Joyner – 24:41
- J. T. Taylor – 45:35
Featured image courtesy of Stadium Super Trucks
