For desert racers, few things can compare with the thrills and challenges of the SCORE Baja 1000. The legendary race is so tough, that for most involved just finishing is considered a success. Luckily for Honda, Wayne Matlock is unlike most desert racers when it comes to talent or expectations. Matlock's barometer for success is simple: Baja wins. Anything else is frustratingly unacceptable. By the Matlock scale, 2008 was not only a resounding success but an opportunity for vindication and a fresh start. To Honda's delight, the symbolic monkey that's associated with losses at Baja has been removed from Matlock's back. After dominating the SCORE series throughout the 2008 season with teammate Harold Goodman, the duo joined up with Wes Miller and Marc Spaeth for an exciting down-to-the-wire Baja 1000 win (the second of Matlock's career).
Matlock's attraction to Baja might very well be genetic, as his father Cliff suffered from the very same affliction. "My first trip to the desert was at two weeks old. That being said, I never really knew anything else. Looking back, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Even though my family was very supportive of my decision to race, I was never pushed into racing, I was always the one pushing to race." An accomplished racer himself, Cliff's Baja career peaked in the late '90s with two Baja wins of his own. "He won [Baja] in 1997 with legendary motocross racer Rick Johnson and again in '98," Wayne says of his father's Baja career. Cliff's Baja efforts subsided shortly after the second win, but racing has stayed in his blood. "He has fun picking and choosing a few races each year to race. He actually raced three BITD [Best in the Desert] races this year with the owner of Alba Action Sports aboard a Honda TRX450." Surprisingly father and son have yet to team up together; "I've never had a chance to team with him myself, but he did team up with my wife at the Best in the Desert Silver State 300 this year and won the Expert Quad class." That's not a typo, Kristen Matlock (Wayne's wife, who he's been married to for nearly five years) is not only the team's manager, but an accomplished desert racer herself. "She plays a huge role in my racing efforts, that's why she hasn't been able to race [herself] with other teams. She is my race team manager, she calculates all the logistics for the race bike and pit trucks, drives a chase truck during prerunning and on race day, books accommodations, sends out race reports, etc., etc."
Team selection for 2008 was anything but easy as Matlock's longtime partner Chad Prull switched to Temecula Motorsports, leaving Wayne with a somewhat empty slate. "It's always a hard decision. There are many fast racers out there, but going fast isn't always the key; they have to ride smart as well." Harold Goodman (another factory Honda racer) was an easy choice for the team as his speed is matched by experience and prowess, Marc Spaeth was solid as well, but Wes Miller's Baja track record had many second-guessing Wayne's decision to include him on the '08 roster.