ENSENADA, Baja California, Mexico — In a race full of ‘SCORE Super Teams’ that turned into a true survival test, Luke McMillin and Rob MacCachren teamed to rise above the rest in a field of 276 starters early Saturday morning to win the overall and SCORE Trophy Truck title in the legendary season-ending BFGoodrich Tires 55th SCORE Baja 1000, presented by 4 Wheel Parts.
The international event was the season-finale of the four-race 2022 SCORE World Desert Championship.
Starting second physically on the road in the elapsed time race and splitting the driving in McMillin’s Big Blue M racing machine all-wheel drive 4 Wheel Parts/BFGoodrich Tires No. 83 Chevy 1500, the dynamic duo patiently worked their way to the front of the pack and finished the beautifully bodacious 828.25-mile race around the Northern Part of Mexico’s majestic Baja peninsula in a sterling penalty-free time of 16 hours, 37 minutes and 46 seconds with an average speed of 49.81 miles per hour.
THE LUKE & THE G.O.A.T.
One of several ‘Super Teams’ competing in this race primarily because of the length of the course, Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee MacCachren, 57, stabled his aging two-wheel drive thoroughbred when invited to join the Big Blue M race team again for this historic race and be McMillin’s second driver in the No. 83 McMilling Racing AWD Chevy 1500 built by Mason Motorsports.
Using McMillin’s No. 83 SCORE Trophy Truck, McMillin entered the race as the SCORE Trophy Truck overall point leader for 2022 and second in the SCORE Overall points.
A third-generation desert racer, Luke McMillin, 29, and venerable Hall of Famer ‘Rob Mac’ started second behind another ‘Super Team’ of Las Vegas’ Bryce Menzies and Luke McMillin’s cousin Andy McMillin, also of San Diego.
Stalking their prey again this year, MacCachren started and stayed the course, with L. McMillin taking over the wheel at race mile 394, they then battled Luke’s older brother Dan and Josh Daniel, passing Josh when he had a flat tire, never looking back the rest of the way to the checkered flag.
Dan McMillin and Daniel finished second to give the iconic McMillin Racing family their first one-two overall finish in a SCORE race.
DIRTTRAX
When the final checkered flag fell, a total of 276 vehicles left the starting line early Friday morning in Ensenada in the elapsed time race. When the course officially closed at 12:01:33 a.m. PT on Sunday morning there were 155 official finishers for a solid 56.16 percent finishing rate on the long, extremely challenging race course.
The legend grows. Overall, the 276 starters are the 21st-most in the 55-year race history and the 155 finishers are the 20th-most finishers out of five-plus decades of the monstrous event.
MEDALISTS
Following the Cool Hand Luke/G.O.A.T. talented tandem onto the podium where Luke’s older brother Dan McMillin and ageless warrior Larry Roeseler.
Dan McMillin, 35, also of San Diego and Josh Daniel, 47, Bonsall, Calif., split the driving in the No. 23 McMillin Racing AWD Chevy 1500 built by Mason Motorsports in 16:59:40 (48.74mph).
Completing the podium was Larry ‘Mr. Baja’ Roeseler, who drove solo for the second straight year, covering the course in 17:38:44 (46.92mph) in his No. 43 Baja Jerky Toyota Turndra, built by ID Designs. Roeseler has a SCORE-record 18 overall wins in the SCORE Baja 1000, including 14 on motorcycles, two in Class 1 cars and two in SCORE Trophy Truck. His last overall win was in 2020 when he was the second driver for Luke McMillin in SCORE Trophy Truck.
SLR M/C SAGA CONTINUES
Continuing their winning ways individually and as a team were Mark Samuels and his teammates Justin Morgan and Kendall Norman, who won on their No. 7x Slam Life Racing Honda CRF450X.
Winning their 13th consecutive SCORE race (that they entered) as a team in the SCORE World Desert Championship, the super team finished the grueling course in a winning time of 18:51:30 with an average speed of 43.92 mph.
Morgan won the SCORE Baja 1000 in 2020 with Samuels and Justin Jones.
Individually this was the seventh SCORE Baja 1000 overall victory for Samuels, sixth overall for Morgan and eighth for Norman. As a team, SLR has a combined 21 overall motorcycle wins in the SCORE Baja 1000.
Morgan started the race and rode the first 280 miles. Samuels took over from race mile 280 to rocket to race mile 475. At the point, Norman took over and rode the motorcycle to race mile 726 where Morgan jumped backed on and cruised it to the finish line and a victory margin of just under one hour.
The victory also earned Honda motorcycles its race-record 32nd overall motorcycle victory in the SCORE Baja 1000.
SCORE TT LEGEND
Mexico’s veteran SCORE champion Gustavo Vildosola Sr. finished an undefeated season in SCORE TT Legend (drivers over 50 years old) following his four 2022 victories, one in San Felipe and three in Ensenada. Vildosola Sr., won the SCORE TT Legend season point championship in 2018 with Scott Bailey as a second driver.
He won all four races this year with help from legendary racer Ricky Johnson, who drove the first half of each race in the Vildosola Racing No. 21L AWD Ford Raptor built by Mason Motorsports. The third driver for this year’s race was Mike Coleman of San Diego.
The Vildosola Racing team completed the SCORE Baja 1000course in a penalty-free 18:08:10 (45.67mph) in the Mexicana Logistics No. 21L AWD Ford Rapture, built by Mason Motorsports. Vildosola finished seventh overall in additional to winning his class, the highest overall placement for his class since it was introduced in 2017.
Vildosola Sr also has three career SCORE Trophy Truck race wins in his illustrious career in SCORE desert racing.
SEVEN OF TOP 11 OVERALL SCORE TROPHY TRUCKS
Besides podium finishers L. McMillin/MacCachren, D. McMillin/J. Daniels and Roeseler along with fifth place Vildosola Sr/Johnson/Coleman, seven of the top 11 overall four-wheel vehicle finishers were all SCORE Trophy Trucks. The other four were from the Trophy Truck Spec class.
LOS TERRIBLES TRIO
Three of the top 11 overall four-wheel vehicle finishers were all part of Las Vegas’ iconic Terrible Herbst Motorsports team.
All driving Herbst/Smith-built race trucks, Pierce Herbst, son of veteran SCORE champion Tim Herbst, finished third in the Trophy Truck Spec class while finishing eighth overall. Tim Herbst finished sixth in SCORE Trophy Truck and 10th overall and Ed Herbst’s son E.J. Herbst finished fourth in Trophy Truck Spec and 11th overall.
Pierce Herbst split the driving with his cousin Riley Herbst (Troy Herbst’s son and regular in the NASCAR Xfinity Series) and James Dean, whose father Pat Dean shared driving duties with Tim Herbst.
E.J. Herbst split the driving in his Trophy Truck Spec class with New Zealand’s Ryan Millen.
REMAINING TOP 11
The other two SCORE Trophy Trucks among the top 11 overall finishers were Dave Taylor, fourth in SCORE Trophy Truck and fifth overall, along with the team of Mickey Lawrence and Dustin Grabowski, fifth in SCORE Trophy Truck and ninth overall.
Elijah Kiger won the Trophy Truck Spec class and was an amazing fourth overall with a penalty-free race. Green Army Racing brothers Justin and Jeremy Davis finished second in Trophy Truck Spec and sixth overall.
CLASS 1 SUPERLATIVE
In his first season as the driver of record after over a decade as the team’s second driver, Kyle Quinn led a Wilson Motorsports team to victory in the unlimited Class 1. Quinn was the primary driver for the No. 138 Wilson Motorsports Chevy-powered Jimco open-wheel desert race car.
Quinn earned his second Class 1 win of the 2022 SCORE World Desert Championship with driving teammates Ronny Wilson and Sammy Ehrenberg.
The trio drove to a winning time in Baja California of 20:09:57, averaging 41.07 miles per hour over the extremely demanding race course.
OVERALL UTV, ETC.
Defeating 54 starters in five different UTV classes in the race, Branden Sims emerged as the Overall UTV and Pro UTV Open class winner in this year’s race. Sims drove his No. 1869 Polaris RZR Pro R to the fastest time among the UTVs, covering the course in 20:37:09 (40.16mph).
Austin Weiland captured the checkered flag over the largest UTV field in this year’s race, Pro UTV FI (Forced Induction) which had 27 starters, running the distance in 21:15:57 in his No. 2954 Can-Am X3.
Winning the Pro UTV Stock class which had 11 starters was Antonio Mendez in his No. 3959 Polaris RZR XP4 Turbo in 26:20:36.
Kaden Wells claimed his second 2022 SCORE victory in the Pro UTV NA (Naturally Aspirated) class with a time of 23:01:57 in his No. 1995 Polaris RZR XP1000.