Cafro wins class at San Felipe 250

The 2021 SCORE off-road racing season began April 17 with the San Felipe 250, and Fallbrook driver Mike Cafro won the Pro Stock UTV class.

The course was actually 280.20 miles, or 450.92 kilometers. Cafro finished in 6:30:55.958. The second-place Pro Stock UTV driver, Nick Bruce of Arizona, had a time of 7:13.02.855.

"Definitely stoked about a win in the class," Cafro said.

Cafro drove a 2021 Polaris RZR Turbo 5 four-seat utility task vehicle.

"Definitely one of my favorite races. I was kind of going for the overall UTV, which I kind of missed by 12 minutes," Cafro said.

The fastest UTV in the San Felipe 250 was in the Pro UTV Forced Induction Class. Brandon Schueler of Arizona won that class and finished the race in 6:17.45.785.

Although the engine of a Pro Stock UTV is stock, items such a fuel cell and a roll cage are added. "It's pretty impressive what they go through," Cafro said.

Cafro was raised in New Jersey and moved to Oceanside in 1992 before moving to Fallbrook 10 years later. He has competed in a four-wheel class at SCORE races each year since 1993. He first drove a Polaris RZR in 2015 as a privateer and picked up Polaris sponsorship the following year.

There was no San Felipe 250 in 2020. Cafro drove in the Mint 400 in Southern Nevada, the UTV World Championships near Lake Havasu, and the Best in the Desert series in Arizona and Nevada.

"Last year was kind of a cluster for sure," Cafro said. "Last year was definitely all over the map."

SCORE (which originally stood for Southern California Off-Road Enthusiasts but is no longer an acronym) had two races last year: the Baja 500 and the Baja 1000. The Baja 500 is normally contested in June, but last year it was delayed until Sept. 26. Cafro won the Pro Stock UTV class at last year's Baja 500 but did not finish the Baja 1000 race which began Nov. 20.

The 2021 San Felipe 250 course was a loop around San Felipe. "It's one of my favorite courses for sure. The rougher, the more challenging, the better for me," Cafro said.

The course for this year's race wasn't as rough as Cafro desired. "This year was a little different. "They ran a lot of washes in this race. It tended to be a little smoother," he said. "It was a little fast this year compared to a normal San Felipe 250, but still a very challenging course."

The faster than normal speeds caused some problems. "We kind of misjudged our gas mileage," Cafro said. "We had to kind of back off there to make sure we didn't run out of gas."

Engine temperature was also an item of concern. "We had to basically back off from pushing the car too hard," Cafro said.

The pit crew also had to change one flat tire. "We had some struggles during the race," Cafro said.

Adan Leggs of Ensenada was Cafro's co-driver and navigator.