Brock Heger’s Polaris took a beating in Mint 400 Limited Race almost from the get-go. That didn’t seem to slow him down much, if at all.

After being the fastest qualifier on Thursday, Heger’s Friday began inauspiciously when the spare tire came loose and fall off in the infield. This left him with no backup until he got to the first pit, but he was able to reach it without further incident.

As he got a new tire and strap added, a process that he noted was a “little time consuming”, Corbin Leaverton of rival Can-Am erased the gap and passed him. Heger rejoined the race and briefly regained the lead before losing it again when the right rear axle broke just as he pitted to end Lap 1.

Cody Bradbury became the new leader on corrected time, though he was taken out by a mechanical issue later on Lap 2. While not ideal, RZR boss Travis Clarke had zero reason to worry for his star driver.

“Brock just wanted to do some parts testing out here while racing, so he decided to see how long an axle would live. Unfortunately, he found the limit,” Clarke quipped. “Brock’s doing Brock things, and I’m not at all concerned about where he can finish the race.”

Heger and co-driver Justin Wilson were unfazed as well. If anything, they were doubly motivated. After making their way back into first, the #T96 dominated the rest of the way.

Besides winning the Limited Race for the second year in a row, Heger did so in such convincing fashion that he was the only driver to set a time under seven hours at 6:57:56.354. The win makes him three-for-four on the year after claiming the Dakar Rally and Toyo Tires Desert Challenge but finishing third in the Can-Am UTV Hammers Championship. It might not be the perfect start of 2025, but it’s certainly still more than impressive.

Runner-up and Polaris colleague Mitch Guthrie finished nine minutes back with a time of 7:06:10.348, uniquely securing a 1–2 for drivers who also raced Dakar in January.

“We just kind of put our heads down and got back out front. We ran our race,” said Heger. “The lappers and the other Limited class stuff was pretty insane, so I kept us busy all day, kept it very exciting all day. Overall, just happy to be here with my Polaris RZR.”

Heger and Guthrie weren’t the only Dakarians competing on Friday either. With two weeks before they had to be in Portugal for the next W2RC race, Sara Price and her boyfriend Ricky Brabec competed in UTVs. Price won in UTV Pro Stock Modified while Brabec, who was debuting Raceco’s new Honda Talon factory program, was knocked out by a transmission failure on the opening lap. Kyle Chaney, who made his Dakar debut in January and finished right behind Heger in SSV, qualified second but had his maiden Mint end with a mechanical.

Eliott Watson and Brody Aikins broke up the UTV party by finishing fifth and sixth overall in their Class 10 buggies. Cade Martin was ninth to give the category a triumvirate in the top ten. American Canadian Tour legends Brian Hoar and Jean-Paul Cyr were 17th outright and seventh in Class 10.

Chaney and Brabec were among a myriad of UTVs eliminated by vehicle problems. Besides Bradbury, Leaverton’s drivetrain broke on Lap 1 which left Heger as the only race leader to actually see the finish. Many would-be contenders like Joe Terrana and Branden Sims also only made it one lap. Cody Miller’s left front axle came off on the final lap.

Levi Maddox didn’t even make it out of town after his Maverick’s rear end rebounded too quick as he cleared the junction jump, which caused him to land on his nose and frontflip multiple times. Justin Von Metal’s Can-Am was the last car on track, trying to make it home under the stars but ultimately crashed.

Amid the attrition, Polarises locked out the top four at one point with Heger leading Guthrie, Cayden MacCachren, and Brayden Baker. Baker’s driveshaft then broke, forcing him to run the fourth and final lap in 2WD. Despite the issue, he fought his way to an eighth overall and sixth in class. Polaris could’ve swept the overall podium too had it not been for Phil Blurton of Can-Am beating Ethan Groom by a minute and 13 seconds for third.

While the Limited Race overall is usually dominated by UTVs and Class 10s, the beauty of it compared to the truck- and Class 1-centric Unlimited Race is that it allows plenty of unusual vehicles to take part in other categories. The Cybertruck showed up and completed a lap before retiring. It was one of two EV Production entries alongside the Chevrolet Silverado EV ZR2 piloted by Gray Leadbetter, who successfully completed the two laps required for electric vehicles.

Leadbetter and Chaney were among a contingent of Championship Off-Road regulars who traded in their short course rides for desert machines. Although a last-minute addition, Chris Van Den Elzen navigated Cole Brandt to a second in Class 1/2-1600.

Class 1/2-1600 had two disqualifications as Ezra Ebberts and Julie Boyer were respectively busted for a non-regulation air restrictor and illegal fuel sample. P.J. Jones had already retired after one lap, but was disqualified for receiving outside assistance on the course.

In Vintage Military, Flyer 22 continued its winning ways after rival Beefy encountered vehicle trouble that caused it to finish with twice the time. Vintage Open’s two-car battle was a bit closer as Rick Madison’s 1984 Volkswagen buggy beat 2024 winner John Griffin’s 1986 Ford F-150 (Michael Logan was also entered in a 1970 Volkswagen but didn’t start).

The Scout Race Terra, running its first Mint and the only Vintage team, bowed out after the transfer case blew while leaving a pit. Although a replacement was installed, a cog gear then broke into “many pieces” and made repair impossible.

“That’s the problem with using 50-year-old parts,” Sean Barber said. “This had like three or four races on it so it’s not like it’s super inferior, but that’s going to be it for us.

“Made one lap, we made it like 120 miles. Very, very difficult race. For only doing 120 miles, it is the roughest stuff I’ve ever experienced in a race context.”

Class winners

Class	Overall	Number	Driver of Record	Total Time	Laps
Class 1/2-1600	42	1652	Kyle Zirkus	8:53:06.105	4
Class 5 Unlimited	35	533	Tevon Murachanian	8:32:09.605	4
Class 5-1600	56	568	Guy Savedra	9:34:29.959	4
Class 7F	156	716F	Chris Forsberg	6:44:20.208	2
Class 7S	115	7141	James Burman	9:25:56.213	3
Class 9 Challenger	160	924	Karissa Veenstra	10:20:33.320	2
Class 10	5	1030	Eliott Watson	7:17:11.297	4
Class 11	114	1116	Rene Sanchez	9:21:56.982	3
Class 12	26	1238	Brad Wilson	8:09:07.898	4
Class 1450	27	1417	Justin Miller	8:12:03.163	4
Class 2000	118	2099	Cy Villegas	10:05:38.188	3
EV Open Production	159	EV230	Gray Leadbetter	8:34:16.484	2
Gambler 500 / Hooptie X Modified	163	G21	Kyler Millershaski	12:08:07.261	2
Hybrid Production	121	H111	Skylar Watson	10:29:07.190	3
Jeepspeed Challenge	172	1733	Mike Bosley	7:42:41.326	1
Jeepspeed Cup	161	2759	Phillip Batchelor	12:00:28.760	2
Open Sportsman	100	8169	David Lawler	6:52:28.322	3
Rock 500: Modified	DNF	N/A	No Finishers	DNF	N/A
Rock 600: Stock Class	104	4635	Bailey Campbell	7:27:43.156	3
Rock 900: Pro Open UTV	67	O4984	Mitchell Otterson	10:18:17.299	4
Stock Production Mini / Mid	152	7330	Chad Hall	5:22:26.350	2
Stock Production Truck Full	148	888	Brad Lovell	4:50:03.918	2
UTV Pro	1	T96	Brock Heger	6:57:56.354	4
UTV Pro Normally Aspirated	45	R112	Wyatt Cotter	9:04:03.729	4
UTV Pro Stock	43	S888	Antonio de Loera	8:57:01.493	4
UTV Pro Stock Modified	32	Z78	Sara Price	8:23:41.115	4
UTV Pro Turbo	33	B911	Gage Tuohy	8:25:11.611	4
UTV Sportsman	107	US83	Analysa Mitchell	8:03:01.070	3
UTV Stock	106	U921	Haylee Wagstaff	7:57:01.915	3
UTV Stock Modified	99	UM975	Cody Piscitelli	6:49:39.810	3
Vintage	DNF	N/A	No Finishers	DNF	N/A
Vintage Military	154	M122	Robert Blanton	6:22:44.184	2
Vintage Open	147	V204	Rick Madison	4:38:05.198	2

Featured image credit: RZR Factory Racing