Unlimited Truck driver Cayden MacCachren and UTV Pro Turbo racer Bruce Binnquist posted the top qualifying times for this weekend’s inaugural California 300, besting a deep and talented field of top desert racers in Thursday qualifying. Binnquist will pace the field in Friday’s UTV racing, while MacCachren will make his first Unlimited Truck race start from the top spot in Saturday’s race.
The Pro UTV classes kicked off the time trials, with the PR-100 and Turbo classes doing battle for top overall honors. While the PR-100s dominated the top 10 with a total of seven spots, the two classes divided the top four equally, with Binnquist’s 9:31.870 giving his Turbo machine top honors. Mitch Guthrie Jr. was second and best among the PR-100s at 9:43.390, with PR-100’s Branden Sims and Turbo racer Eliott Watson in third and fourth, and Wayne Matlock completing the top five overall as the third PR-100 qualifier. In the other UTV divisions, Michael McFayden’s 10:25.718 led the Unlimited class, while Carson Wernimont bested the NA entries at 10:47.997.
In the Unlimited car and truck classes, though, it was MacCachren who would post the day’s best time of 8:44.900. Taking over the #1 Unlimited Truck from his legendary father, Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Famer Rob MacCachren, the younger MacCachren was nearly 20 seconds clear of his closest competition and the only driver to finish the nine-mile qualifying course in under nine minutes. Unlimited Truck Spec driver Troy Grabowski posted the second-fastest overall time at 9:04.652, while Johnny McCall topped the Class 1 qualifiers at 9:48.991 and Dale Ebberts was the class of the Class 10 field at 9:52.247.
“Congratulations to Cayden MacCachren and Bruce Binnquist on posting the top qualifying times for the inaugural California 300,” said California 300 CEO Matt Martelli. “Bruce has regularly been one of the fastest UTV racers on the planet for years now, and it’ll be exciting to see him lead the Pro Turbo entries into battle with the PR-100 class. Cayden is an impressive young talent, and we’re stoked to see the passing of the torch this weekend as he makes his Unlimited Truck debut alongside his dad Rob in this exciting new race. We can’t wait for the racing action to begin!”
The inaugural California 300 continues tomorrow with the first of two full days of racing, kicking off at 7AM with the UTV World Championship Short Course Race and continuing with Race 1 for all UTVs and Limited classes at 9AM. Be sure to visit TheCalifornia300.com for a full schedule and information on how to spectate, and follow @thecalifornia300 on social media for live updates throughout the event.
Thank you to all of our California 300 sponsors who’ve supported us since day 1:
Rugged Radios, King Shocks, Polaris, Rockford Fosgate, UBCO, Vision Wheel, Kawasaki, VP Racing Fuels, Maxxis Tires, Jimco Racing, Clean-Dezert, Assault Industries, Site Solar, Camburg, Belching Beaver Brewery, Surface Sunscreen, Heat Wave Visual, Catalyst Distribution, PCI Race Radios
