Four dozen UTVs, spread across five classes, are entered for the 52nd edition of the Baja 1000, the crown jewel event of the SCORE World Desert Championship and desert racing in North America as a whole. Led by 26 entries in the Pro UTV Forced Induction class, one of the biggest classes in the event as a whole, the fourth and final round of this year’s season takes place from November 19-24 and will show us who the best of the best in UTV racing are this year.
Wes Miller’s victory in the inaugural SCORE Baja 400 earlier this fall gives him the top starting spot in Pro UTV FI, followed by Marc Burnett, Scorr Trafton, Brandon Schueler, and defending SCORE World Desert Champion Wayne Matlock. Burnett holds a six-point lead over Matlock coming into the final round of the championship, with Schueler just 15 further points back in third.
Kaden Wells also earned a victory at the Baja 400 in the Pro UTV Normally Aspirated class, and will likewise start at the front of that 13-entry field in the event. Thanks to Kristen Matlock’s DNF in the same race, Wells will likely just need to finish this year’s 1000 to clinch his second straight title. Behind them, Pro UTV Unlimited and Pro UTV Stock will also boast their largest fields of the year, while one UTV Stock entry will also compete in the Sportsman division.
Start orders for each UTV class running the BFGoodrich Tires 52nd Annual SCORE Baja 1000 are as follows:
PRO UTV FI (26)
2989 Wes Miller
2905 Marc Burnett
2910 Scott Trafton
2919 Brandon Schueler
2971 Wayne Matlock
2987 Edgar Garcia Leon
2904 Cory Sappington
2931 Craig Scanlon
2930 Sean Cook
2926 Christine Giampaoli Zonca
2978 Jose Juarez
2912 Tony Riggs
2918 Justin Lambert
2921 Brett Comiskey
2902 Jason Stewart
2927 Justin Smith
2979 Julio Garza
2998 Cameron Ornelas
2917 Jason Murray
2955 Ubaldo Reyes
2948 Matt Burroughs
2999 Curt Fackrell
2984 Kristopher McCoy
2995 Daniel Parker
2907 John Peterson-2nd RS
2997 Chris Harris-1st RS
PRO UTV NA (13)
1995 Kaden Wells
1956 Joe Bolton
1908 John Andrew Entwistle
1978 T. Bradley Millner
1996 Jim Daniels
1938 Kolton Hustead
1902 Trent Backus
1944 Christopher Boyle
1977 Bryan Cyrus-5th RS
1927 Brendan Puderbach-4th RS
1922 Zack McKinley-3rd RS
1913 Dean Acton-2nd RS
1954 Kristen Matlock-1st RS
PRO UTV UNLIMITED (5)
1850 Jesus Mendez Jr
1851 Herman Johnson
1877 Josh Herzing
1858 Jamie Galles
1857 Al McBeth
PRO UTV STOCK (3)
3979 Ryan Ennis
3930 Douglas Cornwell
3955 Mike Cafro-1st RS
SPT UTV STOCK (1)
3971 Oscar Ramirez
Last year’s Baja 1000 saw 26 total UTV finishers, led by 18 in the headline Pro UTV FI class. Matlock scored the victory, his second of the season, over Derek Murray and Rhys Millen to clinch the overall SCORE championship, making him the first driver to earn the overall SCORE title in a UTV. Tyler Backus took the Pro UTV NA class, while Kris Werth was last year’s Pro UTV Unlimited winner.
Words by: Chris Leone // UTVUnderground.com
Images by: Ernesto Araiza // UTVUnderground.com
