UTVs sweep 2025 SCORE overall podium, Kaden Wells claims title

UTVs have been enjoying a renaissance as of late as participation increases each year. While they still haven’t won a SCORE race outright, UTV drivers placed 1–2–3 in the end-of-season overall standings across all classes.

Kaden Wells led the way, racking up 530 total points across the four races. He won Pro UTV Forced Induction twice at the Baja 500 and Baja 400 while placing second at the San Felipe 250 and season-ending Baja 1000. Behind him were Pro UTV Stock champion Francisco Beltran and Pro UTV Open champ Brock Heger, the latter scoring his third straight title in the category.

The overall SCORE World Desert Championship is often won by trucks, such as the 2024 crown being claimed by Trophy Truck Spec driver Thor Herbst. This year, however, Herbst was a distant 17th in the overall and fifth in class. Justin Davis won TT Spec but was fourth overall.

Well is the third UTV driver to win the outright championship after Wayne Matlock in 2018 and Phil Blurton in 2021. Coincidentally, Wells took the Pro UTV Normally Aspirated title the same year Matlock achieved his feat.

Alan Ampudia nearly completed a sweep of the overall season when he won the first three races, but came up short at the Baja 1000. He still secured the Trophy Truck title easily and placed ninth overall.

Also winning three of four, Heger led a RZR Factory Racing podium sweep in Pro UTV Open ahead of Max Eddy Jr. and Cayden MacCachren. With the SCORE season out of the way, Heger and Eddy will now try to defend their Dakar Rally SSV belt.

Compared to their Four-Wheeler counterparts, Moto and Quad were fairly barren. Pro Moto Ironman champ Larry Serna claimed the overall for his side with 483 points.

Class championships are only awarded if there is at least one competitor who attempted all four races. Even if someone won their class at a given race, they would not be eligible if they didn’t enter another round. As a result, the following categories did not have a 2025 title winner:

  • Four-Wheelers
    • Baja Challenge: Brandon Sturgis was the only entrant and solely raced the Baja 1000.
    • Class 2: Grant Inggram entered just the Baja 400.
    • Class 3: Ikuo Hanawa, Dave Sykes, and RJ Zanon did the 1000.
    • Class 5-1600: Peter Everitt and Christian Somano both did the 1000 only.
    • Class 8: Josh Klenske (400) and Spencer Morgan (1000) each ran just one race.
    • Hammer Truck: Sergio Pinillos (1000) and Andrew McLaughin (San Felipe) each did only one round.
    • Heavy Metal Limited: Rob White retired from the first two races.
    • Sportsman Truck: Dan Gregory (San Felipe) along with David Pryor and William Wolford (1000) only had one start apiece.
    • Sportsman UTV: Pedro Robles (San Felipe); Randy Bedeaux, Jasper Drengler, and Bradley Salazar (400); and Carl Runge (1000) all raced only once.
    • Stock Full-Size: Brad Lovell, Tomonori Noto, John Williams (1000) and John Marshall (Baja 500) each did one race.
    • Stock Mid-Size: Vaughn Gittin Jr. and Romain Dumas each solely ran the Baja 1000. Gittin did the 500 in TT.
  • Moto/Quad
    • Pro Moto Adventure: Merrill Campbell (Baja 400) only raced once, as did Wade Beatty and Travis Turner (Baja 1000).
    • Pro Quad: Abraham Raggio was the only rider to attempt multiple races when he retired from San Felipe and the 500. Sebastian Castro, Louis Miramontes, and winner Estevan Ramirez Jr. each did just San Felipe, while Faelly Lopez was the lone 1000 entrant.
    • Pro Quad Ironman: Timothy Leavitt ran the last two rounds while Aaron Kosins only appeared at the 1000.

Wells and his fellow champs will be honored at SCORE’s Awards Gala on January 17, 2026, at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.

Top 20 overall

RankDriverClassPointsMargin
1Kaden WellsPro UTV Forced Induction530Leader
2Francisco BeltranPro UTV Stock511– 19
3Brock HegerPro UTV Open506– 24
4Justin DavisTrophy Truck Spec502– 28
5Jorge CanoPro UTV Forced Induction489– 41
6Jack OlligesTrophy Truck Spec487– 43
7Edgar GarciaPro UTV Forced Induction482– 48
8Eli YeeClass 5480– 50
9Alan AmpudiaTrophy Truck478– 52
10Dan ChamleeClass 7475– 55
11Max Eddy Jr.Pro UTV Open472– 58
12Sam BaldiTrophy Truck 2WD468– 62
13Gus VildósolaTrophy Truck467– 63
T-14Michael MarsalTrophy Truck Spec466– 64
T-14Zach LumsdenPro UTV Forced Induction466– 64
16José David RuvalcabaTrophy Truck Spec464– 66
17Thor HerbstTrophy Truck Spec463– 67
18Charles DorranceTrophy Truck Spec454– 76
19Yoshua MorquechoPro UTV Stock453– 77
20Toby PriceTrophy Truck452– 78

Class champions

Four-Wheelers

ClassChampionPointsRunner-UpPointsMargin
Class 1/2-1600Daniel Goodrich392Paulino Maldonado371– 21
Class 1 UnlimitedJustin Davis502Jack Olliges487– 15
Class 5 UnlimitedEli Yee480N/AN/AN/A
Class 7Dan Chamlee475N/AN/AN/A
Class 10Stan Potter434Francisco Vera314– 120
Class 11Rafael Castillo325Eric Solorzano170– 155
Pro Stock UTVFrancisco Beltran511Yoshua Morquecho453– 58
Pro UTV Forced InductionKaden Wells530Jorge Cano489– 41
Pro UTV Normally AspiratedRicardo Torres450Eva Star Malabanan380– 70
Pro UTV OpenBrock Heger506Max Eddy Jr.472– 34
Sportsman Unlimited BuggyCesar Quirerte300N/AN/AN/A
Trophy TruckAlan Ampudia478Toby Price452– 26
Trophy Truck 2WDSam Baldi468Dave Ziegler444– 24
Trophy Truck LegendsGus Vildósola467David Payne439– 28
Trophy Truck SpecCody Reid433Brad Wilson385– 48

Moto/Quad

ClassChampionPointsRunner-UpPointsMargin
Pro Moto 30Jason Alosi460N/AN/AN/A
Pro Moto 40Shane Esposito461N/AN/AN/A
Pro Moto 50Mike Prunty454N/AN/AN/A
Pro Moto 60Harold Harris460N/AN/AN/A
Pro Moto IronmanLarry Serna483Erick Estrada448– 35
Pro Moto LimitedBhaskar Ramani465Ana Rivas383– 82
Pro Moto UnlimitedTyler Lynn460Arturo Salas Jr.436– 24
Sportsman MotoFilberto Garcia448Devin Olson364– 84
Sportsman QuadMario Joaquin Navarrete446Gabriel Vazquez433– 13

Featured image credit: Bink Designs

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