Christopher Polvoorde’s 2024 ended on a sour note when he was knocked out of the Baja 1000 by a steering failure, costing teammate Bryce Menzies a chance at second straight SCORE title. Three months later, he began 2025 with a vengeance as he led all five laps to win the Toyo Tires Desert Challenge’s Unlimited race.

Polvoorde crushed Unlimited qualifying prior to the weekend by being eight seconds quicker than second-placed Adam Lunn. He then continued his momentum Sunday with a flag-to-flag victory.

Kyle Jergensen quickly worked his way up from fourth to second by the end of the first lap, then closed the gap a bit after Polvoorde had a miscue while pitting. Still, Polvoorde kept his advantage and only pulled away to win by six minutes.

“It wasn’t an easy day by any means,” Polvoorde commented. “Bouncing back from Baja, we wanted to make sure we were ready for any scenario. The OPTIMA Batteries Ford Performance truck was running beautifully today and in qualifying. Thankfully, we just got to keep our heads down and push for the finish.”

JP Gomez, King of the Hammers’ reigning King of Kings, rounded out the overall top three. A new-liveried Terrible Herbst Motorsports had double class podiums courtesy of Thor Herbst’s third outright and Pierce Herbst’s third among Limited Motor trucks (equivalent to a Class 6100 or Spec truck) behind Polvoorde and Jason Coleman.

Saturday saw the Desert Challenge’s Limited classes like UTVs hit Johnson Valley. Brock Heger continued his dream start to the year by leading each of the four laps and a contingent of Polarises; it is his second straight victory in the event.

Heger was also only a few weeks removed from winning the Dakar Rally’s SSV class on debut with RZR Factory Racing colleague Max Eddy Jr. as navigator. Eddy placed fourth while their other teammate Dylan Schmoke finished tenth.

“We qualified well, which allowed us to get to the front early and run our own race,” explained Heger. “Dakar is about preservation over two weeks, whereas this event is an all-out sprint. Regardless of the strategy, my RZR Pro R Factory always delivers. The vehicle’s incredible power made today’s victory possible.”

Polarises nearly swept both the UTV and overall top tens as nine drivers in the former and eight in the latter drove a RZR. Justin Buckley and Michael McFayden prevented a total lockout with the former finishing seventh in his Desert Limited Buggy (Class 10) car while McFayden’s Can-Am Maverick R was fifth. Otherwise, they were surrounded by the likes of Doug Mittag (second overall), Dallas Gonzalez (third), Wayne (sixth) and Kristen Matlock (eighth), Mikey Kelly (ninth), and Schmoke.

The RZRs of CJ Greaves and Mike Cafro missed the Limited top ten. Like Mittag, Greaves was among a handful of short course aces who tackled the desert and had impressed with a fifth-place qualifying effort. Jeb Bootle, a recent Yamaha-to-Polaris convert, served as Greaves’ co-driver. The two ran top three for much of the day before a damaged lower front A-arm and flat right-rear tire slowed them down.

“Not bad for a couple of rookies from short course racing,” Bootle quipped.

The Stock OEM class rekindled an old manufacturer rivalry as Ford’s factory driver Brad Lovell competed against the Chevrolet factory effort of Chad Hall. Lovell’s Ford Ranger Raptor won out ahead of Hall’s Silverado ZR2, continuing an impressive run for the former that included winning the Finke Desert Race and Baja 1000 in 2024. Rob Tygart was third in class in his 1967 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ45.

The Desert Challenge also doubled as the 2025 season opener for Best In The Desert, meaning participating drivers would earn points in the BITD equivalent for their class. While not every BITD regular took part, they could drop KOH from their results in the end as a throwaway round.

Class winners

Limited

Class	Overall Finish	Number	Driver	Laps	Total Time
1400 / 1450 Rush	76	1494	Vince Munoz	1	1:13:45.459
Desert Limited Buggy	7	1064	Justin Buckley	4	4:41:07.679
Desert Stock (Class 7F)	DNF	N/A	No Finishers	N/A	N/A
Desert Stock (OEM)	47	766	Brad Lovell	3	5:00:42.505
Desert Vintage Buggy (Class 12)	50	1266	Ricky Cook	3	5:04:00.674
Desert Vintage Buggy (Class 16)	41	1632	Cole Brandt	3	4:44:48.981
Jeepspeed	40	4744	Brett Maister	3	4:41:05.116
TrophyLite	95	4890	Mike Nappi	1	3:15:56.059
UTV Open	1	1896	Brock Heger	4	4:19:43.153
UTV Pro Modified	13	955	Nate Morgan	4	4:56:39.581
UTV Pro Stock Turbo	26	1991	Conner Maxwell	4	5:37:13.153
UTV Stock Naturally Aspirated	30	1910	Mason Cotter	3	4:13:10.172

Unlimited

Class	Overall Finish	Number	Driver	Laps	Total Time
Desert Limited Motor / Unlimited Suspension	2	6172	Kyle Jergensen	4	5:06:41.989
Unlimited Buggy (Class 1)	8	172	Jack Grabowski	5	5:25:50.896
Unlimited Buggy (Class 44)	DNF	N/A	No Finishers	N/A	N/A
Unlimited Truck	1	94	Christopher Polvoorde	5	5:00:30.458

Featured image credit: OPTIMA Batteries