48 UTVs Entered For BFGoodrich Tires 52nd Annual SCORE Baja 1000

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

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