BAJA 1000: MacCachren pulls off three-peat

Las Vegas' Rob MacCachren, with an assist from co-driver Jason Voss, drove to the overall and SCORE Trophy Truck victory Saturday at the 49th annual SCORE Baja 1000. The victory gave the veteran MacCachren a three-peat in the world's toughest, roughest, longest and most prestigious continuously-held desert race.

When the results became official Sunday morning, the MacCachren/Voss duo finished the 854.50-mile race that started and finished in Ensenada in 17 hours, 12 minutes, 58 seconds while averaging 49.63mph in the No. 11 Rockstar Energy MacCachren Motorsports Ford F-150.

In winning the iconic "Granddaddy of all Desert Races" for the third straight year, they defeated a field of 270 starters in cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads. The starting grid included 31 starters in the marquee SCORE Trophy Truck division for high-tech, 850-horsepower unlimited production trucks.

In earning the overall victory of the SCORE Baja 1000, MacCachren recorded his record 14th career SCORE Trophy Truck race win and Voss picked up his second career SCORE Trophy Truck race win. MacCachren, a six-time motorsports All-America driver who now has nine SCORE Baja 1000 class wins including four overalls, started the race and drove the first 498 miles and turned over the wheel physically in the talented Voss to drive the rest of the way to the finish line.

"For the SCORE Baja 1000 you really have to be on your A-game," MacCachren said. "You have to have all of your logistics and people put together and it was great putting two teams together to get enough resources to be able to do this race and be competitive. We had to have seven chase trucks on one side just to stay with the truck because the truck is moving along faster than the chase trucks and we don't want to push them. The loops in the bowtie area were incredibly rocky and some other teams had flats and we capitalized on that."

"It makes me hungry to win another one now. As every win happens you want another and next year being the 50th anniversary, winning that one would be special. My first SCORE Baja 1000 win was in 2007 and that was the 40th anniversary. Strategy starts 365 days before the race but I can say that before this race even started I was working on my 2017 plans. We have our motel rooms done here (Ensenada) and in La Paz. I've already spoken with Jason about helping in 2017 so hopefully that happens."

Racers from Mexico and Las Vegas finished second and third overall behind USA's MacCachren/Voss duo. For the second straight year, Mexico's Carlos "Apdaly" Lopez of Tecate, who at age 21 won last year's SCORE Trophy Truck season point championship, finished second in the No. 1 RPM Racing Chevy Rally Truck while splitting driving with his father Juan C. Lopez in a time of 17:39:45 with an average speed of 48.38 mph. Third overall and in SCORE Trophy Truck in the new No. 91 Monster Energy Terrible Herbst Motorspors Ford F-150 was Las Vegas Troy Herbst and Ryan Arciero, Foothill Ranch, Calif. in 17:42:10 at 48.27 mph.

What was originally planned as a solo ride in the Pro Moto Unlimited class and became a two-rider effort on Monday, ended up with a five-team effort to help the injured rider of record Colton Udall finish the 2016 SCORE World Desert Championship undefeated with four straight victories and the overall and unlimited class win for the fourth time in the last five years. Udall suffered a severely broken left collar bone while pre-running near Borrego Tuesday evening.

Regular teammate Mark Samuels, Yucca Valley, Calif., added additional miles to his racing sections, Australia's Daymon Stokie was moved from the 3x team to the 1x and Udall recruited two addition riders who weren't planning on racing this year in Justin Jones, Murrieta, Calif. and David Kamo, Boise, Idaho. SCORE rules call for a rider of record to either start or finish a race; Udall wanted to win the race and the season point championship, so he returned to Ensenada after surgery in San Diego to start the race and ride to the first turn some 100 yards from the start to fulfill that requirement. Udall's championship-winning team rode their Honda over the rugged course to a winning time of 18:16:43 and an average speed of 46.75 mph.

Above: Rob MacCachren and Jason Voss celebrate their Baja 1000 win.

"These guys did an awesome job," Udall said. " I really see a difference in how people treat me. They say, 'What's your team going to do without you?' We are going to win. We have a great team and it's not just me. I took myself out of this race unfortunately. Mark, David, Daymon and Justin all rode an amazing race. These guys battled really hard against the 45x (Francisco Arrendondo) and unfortunately they (Arrendondo) had a mechanical issue but our guys rode really well and brought it home. That's what it takes when it comes to the SCORE Baja 1000. You have to have a bike that is good and you have to have your riders all come together."

PRO UTV OVERALL WINNER

Winning the overall Pro UTV race was Drifting champion/Hollywood stuntman/Pike's Peak Hill Climb record holder Rhys Millen of New Zealand. Racing in the Pro UTV (naturally aspirated) class, Millen split the driving with France's Stephan Verdier, a Global Rally Cross/X-Games/Drifting star racer. They recorded a winning time of 22:06:46, averaging 38.64 mph in a Polaris RZR XP1000.

The impressive duo defeated not only 16 starters in their class for naturally aspirated UTVs, but also 21 starters in the faster Pro UTV FI (forced induction) class to earn their overall Pro UTV victory as well.

QUAD WINNER

Winning the overall quad title for the third straight year was the veteran team led by Mexico's Javier Robles Jr. of Guadalupe Victoria. The Robles Jr team covered the course on a Honda TRX450R in 20:49:12, averaging 41.04 mph. Co-riders with Robles Jr on this difficult challenge were Josh Row, El Cajon, Calif./Felipe Velez, San Felipe, Mexico/Jose Meza Velez, San Felipe, Mexico on a Honda TRX450R.

TWIN WINS

In addition to his team's win in Pro Moto 50 to give him a perfect 4-0 record in 2016, Winkelman also won the Pro Moto Limited class with another capable team. Racing to victory with him in the limited class were O'Neal/Austin Miller, Austin, Texas/Grant Statley, La Jolla, Calif./Schuyler Shoonmaker, Alpine, Calif./Mark Bradford, Santa Clarita, Calif.

HALL-MARKS ALL OVER BAJA

This year's race commemorated the achievements of legendary desert racers like Rod Hall. Hall, who turns 79 on Nov. 22, won Stock Full in the Rod Hall Racing Hummer H1 Alpha. Hall now has a race record 24 class wins (including one overall win in 1972) and he is is the only racer who has competed in all 49 SCORE Baja 1000 races.

Helping Hall, of Reno, Nev. reach another milestone in his illustrious career were his son Chad Hall, Reno, Nev., who now has 10 class wins, motorsports executive Frank DeAngelo, Greenville, S.C. and Shelby Hall, Rod's granddaughter. Hall was diagnosed last December with Parkinson's disease but has confirmed that he will go for his 25th class win in next November's epic 50th SCORE Baja 1000 which will start in Ensenada and finish in La Paz.

The season finale of the four-race 2016 SCORE World Desert Championship was a loop race, starting and finishing in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, 65 miles south of the U.S. border at San Diego. The course traveled a new route from Colonet to Llano Colorado and across to Valley de Trinidad. The race course went along the highway from San Matias to Villa del Sol then crossed the highway at El Chinero, north to Coabuso Junction and then out to Borrego, up Highway 1 and up the goat trail to checkpoint 4 Nuevo Junction. From there it went on to Catarina then back to Ojos Negros and from Ojos Negros back to the finish line. Four checkpoints were located at Santo Tomas (CP 1-race-mile 88.15), El Rosario (CP 2-rm249.92), Vicente Guerrero (CP 3-rm469.15) and Nuevo Junction (CP 4-rm751.04).

For more information regarding SCORE, visit the official website of the SCORE World Desert Championship at www.SCORE-International.com. Results can be found here.