Clearing all the check points and making it across the finish line by 5:30am the next day is what the challenge of racing Baja is all about. Camburg Racing started the 2006 SCORE Baja 500 at 9:48am Saturday morning and crossed the finish line at 5:15am the following day! With bottle necks throughout the race course, helping other race teams getting unstuck and being guided into a ditch by a fellow racer, all contributed to why it took the Camburg EDGE 19hr 33m 24s to complete the course.

 The game plan was simple .... enter the Camburg EDGE in the worlds fastest off-road truck class; TROPHY TRUCK. This class is made up of over 40+ trucks with up to 800hp and 30+ inches of wheel travel. The Camburg Ford Ranger EDGE has 250hp and weighs in at 4,200 lbs race-ready for Baja. The truck runs the stock Ford 4.0L SOHC V6 with JBA Headers and an air intake by AEM Brute Force. The front suspension is Camburg Engineering's race series long travel kit with billet hubs and 2.5" snouts utilizing Bilstein 9100 coilovers and bypass shocks. The rear suspension is Camburg Engineering’s race series 3-link system with their full floater rear end that uses heat-treated 35 spline axles and Yukon gears. Bilstein 9100 coilovers and 9300 series Blackhawk bypass shocks control the 24+ inches of rear wheel travel. The goal was to have this lightweight nimble vehicle finish ahead of 1/2 the field of Trophy Trucks.

 The race started with Jason Campbell behind the wheel with Bill West as his navigator. They were able to get ahead of 4 trucks by race mile 20 and held a steady pace. When the pair came to race mile 40 they came to halt at a bottle neck of class 1 cars and a Trophy Truck that were stuck and in the way with no way to pass. After sitting for 20+ minutes they took matters into there own hands and helped forge a new path around the mess. Once around, they came upon a class 1 car that was high centered on the side of the race course and about to go over the edge. Jason and Bill spent 15-20 minutes trying to help out only to end up watching the car roll over the edge and into a ditch. Now back on course, Jason was able to get ahead of another 10 trucks by race mile 48. This put our Ford Ranger ahead of about half the class by race mile 60! Jason and Bill were in the 23rd physical position when they came into pit 2 at race mile 172 along the highway. The truck got re-fueled and checked over and then headed out towards the "Mike's Loop" Making great time the two were able to make up even more time on the competition only to once again come up to a bottle neck of cars and trucks in front of them in an uphill silt section. Once again Jason and Bill spent race time helping fellow racers get unstuck and back on there way. They headed to race mile 248 to the third pit stop for fuel with a driver change. Jerry Zaiden driving and Scott Zindroski navigating got back under way at 6:52pm still in the top 25 trophy trucks headed to the finish line. Just before check point 4, they pitted in Nitto Tires new Race Support semi truck at race mile 284 for a strategic stop to try and make it to the finish line with no other fuel stops. The two made it to check point 4 in great time. Approaching the stretch of race course along the beach on the pacific side was planned out to be a fast section. But in BAJA nothing goes to plan! The coast was covered with a blanket of "June Gloom" fog. This made it very difficult to navigate with the visibility at near zero. At speeds of 10-15 mph and following the trail on the PCI Lowrance GPS to stay on course, was a challenge in itself. Around 10:30pm Jerry and Scott completed the coast section and were on their way to race mile 390 for the next pit stop for one last visual inspection and to then head to the finish line. Passing race mile 360 they came upon a 1600 car rolled over in the middle of the race course with no way to pass. Scott helped the driver, co-driver along with the co-driver from a Class 3 Bronco waiting to get by, flip the 1600 back over and onto all fours. Scott jumped back into the Camburg Edge and they were under way. Heading down the race course and coming into a tight uphill section, with a Pro-Truck off to the right of the course, the driver of the Pro-Truck comes running out pointing a new line to take to the left. This is where disaster struck as they were lead into a huge rain rut that Jerry and Scott did not see. The left front wheel and tire were all the way in the 4+ foot ditch with the frame of the truck flat on the ground. It took almost 2 hours to get the EDGE unstuck and back underway using multiple jacks, a shovel and a ton of manual labor.

 A steady pace took Jerry and Scott into Ojos Negros where they pitted the EDGE 30 miles from the finish line. The crew noticed a problem with the driver side lower 1.5” uni-ball. The uni-ball bearing came completely out of its race while still in the cup. This caused the joint to bind during articulation and caused the arm to try and tear apart. The fix and inspection took almost an hour’s time and then they were back on track.

 Now 4:30am Sunday morning, clearing check point 5 and on the way to the finish Jerry and Scott encountered more fog and worse ... more silt! Getting stuck took up even more of their time but luckily they were able to get unstuck in only a few minutes. Its crunch time, 5:00am and on their way to the finish line racing against the clock before it officially closes at 5:30am. Thinking to get an official finish to the SCORE Baja 500 they needed to get to the finish line before that time. Jerry and Scott crossed the finish line in the Camburg EDGE at 5:15:24 am. Team Camburg finished in 19-1/2 hours, did not give up and helped fellow racers along the way. That in itself is all they were after. Now for the sad news .... There was a class time limit of 18 hours for this race. On paper SCORE classifies the finish as DNF even though all check points were passed and the truck crossed the finish line prior to it officially closing. Regardless, the Camburg EDGE was the 22nd trophy truck to complete the course, cross the finish line and see the checkered flag at this years SCORE BAJA 500.

 Team Camburg was more than happy with the performance of the EDGE. With zero mechanical failures and a great handling truck, they feel their time will come very soon! Special thanks goes out to all their sponsors: Ironclad Performance Wear, Nitto Tires, American Racing ATX, BILSTEIN Shocks, Beard Seats, Monster Energy Drink, Yukon Gear, PDC Motorsports, Glassworks Unlimited, AEM Brute Force Intakes, LUCAS oil, JBA Headers, Hella Lights, BLUE C, Board Ford, Mothers Car Care Products and SPY Optics.

 New products Camburg Racing used for the Baja 500 included Nitto's new Dune Grappler Desert Terrain race tires which lead to zero flats, AEM's new Air Filters which was not changed or cleaned once and Ironclads new line of high performance driving/utility gloves.