#WayneMatlock

Can-Am Maverick 1000R X rs racers Steve Beilman and Wayne Matlock finished 1-2 at the UTV Open class at round one of the 2013 Lucas Oil Off Road Series (LOORS) at Glen Helen Raceway in Southern California. In Texas, Louis Powersports / Can-Am DS 450 Pro Cody Miller won both the Open Expert (Pro) and Pro-Am classes at round one of the Dockside Marine Texhoma Quad Racing Association (TQRA) series.

“It’s great to have off-road racing veterans like Wayne Matlock and Steve Beilman behind the wheel of the new Maverick 1000R X rs and even better to have them put it on the LOORS podium. These guys basically had stock vehicles, sans the cage and doors, yet still dominated the UTV Open class at round one,” says Jimmie O’Dell, race manager, Can-Am. “Their genuine excitement about the Maverick, along with their recent racing success is not only contagious, but it also reinforces that fact that our all-new high-performance side-by-side vehicle is purpose-built to win races.”

Despite limited practice time, Matlock qualified first in the UTV Open class, while Beilman secured the third spot on the line. At the start of the main event, a modified competitive vehicle edged Matlock for the holeshot, but both he and Beilman locked in behind the leader and, by lap two, were already pressuring him for the lead. Matlock was on rear bumper waiting for a time to pass, but was hampered when the leader slowed over a jump. Beilman took advantage of the leader’s pause and pinned it over a tabletop jump and literally leapt to the front, passing both the leader and Matlock. From there, Beilman maintained a steady pace and tried to extend his lead.

Matlock made his move and made a timely pass after the finish line jump at the start of the fourth lap. Matlock’s pass put the Maverick pilots in first and second with several laps remaining. However, a mandatory caution allowed Matlock to reel in Beilman and during the final six laps the two racers put on a show, as they were bumper-to-bumper to the finish line. At the checkers, Beilman held off his fellow Can-Am racer by one second to take the first-ever LOORS win with the Maverick 1000R.

Race morning started off really well with confident riders feeling good about their sections. The #1A Matlock Racing/Team Honda quad was the third quad to leave the start line. Wayne Matlock was off to a good start on the first 21 miles that is infamous for being full of booby traps and extreme dust and this year would be no exception. At one point, Matlock commented how surprised he was at how close he was to the quad in front of him without knowing it because the dust was too thick to see until he was right on the other quads rear bumper. At race mile 21, all the quads were coming through in the same order as they started.

Matlock handed the #1A Honda off to new team member Dofo Arellano. The rider change was very quick and it was a good thing because with the thick dust the quads were stacked up pretty tight. With Arellano off and running, Matlock jumped in the chase truck and head down to the Ojos Negros road crossing at race mile 39 to see Arellano come through. It did not take long for the lead quad team, #3A, to come through. Hot on their heels was the #2A Can-Am team, followed by the #5A Yamaha team. At that point, Arellano was missing and the team suspected that something must be wrong. After waiting for awhile a few more quads passed by and finally Arellano pulled in. He had come into an off-camber turn a little too fast, went off the road, and flipped the quad pinning himself under it. He first yelled for help from the nearby spectators then he realized that they could not hear him nor see him. He managed to get out from under the quad. Once it was right side up he was able to get it fired up after about 20 kicks. The quad was flooded from being upside down. Now with the quad running and back on course he had some time to make up. He had fallen back to sixth place. Arellano rode smooth and fast for the rest of his ride to race mile 100 and managed to push through the dust to fourth overall quad. He handed the quad off to Josh Caster at Honda pit 2 a little over eight minutes down from the #2A Can-Am team.

On Nov. 18, more than 275 entries would start the 2011 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico with the expectations to finish the race and be the first to cross the finish line. The #1A Matlock Racing Team of Wayne Matlock, Wes Miller and Josh Caster was the first ATV team to cross the finish line after an extremely rough 705 miles through the Baja landscape.

With a rough start earlier in the year at the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 and Tecate SCORE Baja 500, the Matlock Racing team was looking forward to a trouble free race. The team spent months preparing for the upcoming race and their goal was to take the overall win once again and seal the points lead for the championship and the #1A plate.

The whole team headed south across the border a week before the race to begin pre-running each of their sections. Matlock and Miller would head to Ensenada as a base for pre-running their sections and Caster would head to San Felipe. Weather was harsh early in the week of pre-running with heavy rains leaving huge mud puddles and washouts along most of the course. All of the team would have to pre-run in the extreme weather to get the course completely covered.