“Trophy Truck racing now is just so intense. It’s so close.”
– Luke McMillin

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Christopher Polvoorde sets an absolute heater in qualifying to start on the pole, then is knocked out of the race after barely a couple miles.

To quote Professor M of Tooned: “Oh, dear, it’s happened again.”

Polvoorde has proven to be a rising star in Trophy Trucks, with his biggest highlights thus far being the Toyo Tires Desert Challenge and Baja 1000 last year. Other than those, however, it seems like something goes wrong for him the moment he takes the green flag.

That’s not us being hyperbolic, either. Polvoorde’s Baja 400 weekend began with him dominating qualifying on Thursday, then the race itself on Saturday lasted a grand total of 9.5 miles before his truck lost compression and oil pressure, causing the engine to blow. The same happened at the Baja 500 three months ago too, winning the pole there and then getting taken out 80 miles in.

“We just had a catastrophic failure. No one’s fault, it was mechanical,” said Polvoorde. “I don’t know what to say. I’m just cursed at this point.”

If it’s any consolation (it really isn’t), at least he wasn’t the only truck to run into trouble so soon.

The first 100 miles of this 423.16-mile course were exceptionally fast before transforming into a more technical route the rest of the way. Heavy rain over the week also produced several water crossings and ruts in the terrain. One of the points emphasized at the driver’s meeting was to not lose the race in the first five miles.

So of course, that’s basically what happened. Chris Miller’s truck caught fire 12.6 miles in, while Mike Belitz rolled just a few miles ahead at RM 16. Locals flipped the latter’s #93L back on its wheels and pressed on, only for Erik Davis to hit a ditch and flip it himself at RM 295. Felix Murillo encountered a left lower control arm issue at RM 73 that resulted in an extended delay for repairs, though he was able to complete the race with 53 minutes to spare.

Murillo even nicked a top-five finish in Trophy Truck 2WD as the category’s fifth and final truck of 14 entries to make it home. Similarly, seven of 11 Trophy Trucks finished the race with Polvoorde and Adam Householder among the victims. Ryan Arciero and Andy McMillin, the latter using the #21 in place of the injured Tavo Vildósola, both retired with transmission failures.

Even before Saturday, the field lost a truck. The #69 of Andrew Myers withdrew because of a brake failure during his qualifying lap. Unhappy with having to start behind his classmates, he chose to sit out the race.

Despite selling his truck and shutting down his team after the Baja 500, Paul Weel returned for the 400 in the #223 TT Spec of Dan Bonnor. His race ended with a DNF too for mechanical reasons.

“Some days in Baja just don’t go to plan,” Weel commented.

Once out of the opening quarter, tire failures became the next issue. Several truck leaders had to stop because their tires went down, causing the running order to be shuffled several times. Besides the course becoming more rockier and twistier as the race progressed, Bryce Menzies attributed the tire problems to an increase in aggressive driving.

“It seems like we’re running qualifying pace for the whole race. It’s mind blowing,” Menzies opined. He briefly took the lead because of the flats before his left rear tire went down, then was further hampered by dust hanging in the air as he neared Rancho Nelson.

Menzies traded the lead with defending winner Alan Ampudia and Luke McMillin throughout the day. In what he called a “cat and mouse game all day”, McMillin fell behind after taking a bad line and suffering a flat, then reclaimed the top spot after Menzies suffered the same fate. The final 100 miles was especially difficult for McMillin when brake issues struck.

“My pedal was going to the floor so I was stinking it up through the oil pan, I’m sure Bryce and Alan are frustrated about that,” McMillin quipped. “Last 30, I was just, ‘You know what? I’m not letting the Baja win slip away.’”

While his #83 had its share of troubles, McMillin held off Menzies to win by three minutes. Ampudia hung with the two all day before rolling onto his side in the closing stretch, relegating him to fourth.

McMillin has now claimed the overall at all three SCORE races to date in 2026, and will go for the sweep at November’s Baja 1000. He also remains undefeated since the birth of his son Jett, who was born a month before the opener in San Felipe.

“Three for three, he hasn’t lost a race yet,” added McMillin. He and his wife Jennifer also have a daughter Celine, with both kids joining their father at the finish. “I love racing but it’s a lot of pressure. One thing I’ve said is, ‘I’m going to keep racing as long as we’re winning, and as my kids grow up if they love it, then I want to do it for them.’

“I was a huge fan of my dad (Mark) growing up, it’s all I ever wanted in the early 2000s and late ’90s. My dad told me he won a lot of races in the ’80s. Late ’90s, he thought about taking a break and he told my mom, ‘I can’t because Luke loves this too much,’ and I was five years old. I hope that fire burns in these kids because if it does, then I’m all in.”

GL27 Racing enjoyed a solid race day. Team owner Gérard López scored his best run to date of second in Trophy Truck Legends, while Rob MacCachren’s maiden race for the team ended in sixth.

The UTV side wasn’t pretty for the juggernaut RZR Factory Racing. Brock Heger initially won before receiving a four-hour penalty for taking a forbidden line, dropping him to eighth in Pro UTV Open. Wayne Matlock assumed the UTV overall win and claimed $50,000 for beating the team.

To add insult to injury for RFR, Cayden MacCachren was disqualified for reckless driving on the highway. While on the road, non-race traffic began to build up including a semi-trailer truck. MacCachren tried to pass the semi but consequently missed the right-hand turn leading back onto the race course. He frantically made a U turn, slowing down the semi in the process, before heading back in the right direction.

MacCachren apologized for his action on Sunday:

I made a little bit of a silly move on the highway. Near the end of the race, traffic was pretty stacked up leaving one of the speed zones. I decided to jump out to the left of the traffic, thought I was going to be able to get around it. Ended up missing the corner and getting in front of a semi and really screwing up his day.

I need to apologize to everybody, not just in that line, but all of SCORE, all the racers. It’s definitely not the reputation me or my family has in Baja and it’s not going to start now. Completely stupid move on my part.

SCORE let us know this morning we were disqualified and there was no argument for me. I fully understand it. It’s unfortunate, but I have no argument towards it. It was just silly, silly on my part. Last-minute decision making, not being patient.

I want to apologize to SCORE, all the locals in Baja, everybody’s at the race, watching the race. Without the locals and without our fans, we would have no sport. Really bummed with myself making a move like that. I really have no words other than I’m sorry.

Will definitely take some steps to never have that happen again.

As has been the case all season, the Moto battle was between the #1X and #3X. This time, the Ducati had no answer for Honda as Tyler Lynn’s bike was the only one to set a time below nine hours. Ciaran Naran settled for second, 26 minutes back.

It isn’t reflected in the final result, but the closest battle came among the Ironmen. Kyle Ramirez initially beat Kyle Phenix by 39 seconds, the two physically finishing just seconds apart, before both of them received penalties. Ramirez got 36:39 for speeding and missing a Virtual Checkpoint, while Phenix got ten minutes for the latter. Jesus Gonzalez was slapped with ten minutes for speeding but got 5:52 shaved off for helping another rider, which amde the different as he was promoted to the class win by just 5:12 on Phenix.

The #333X—a crew consisting of Lance Filley, Cahl Sandler, Keith Anfenson, and Eric Barkan—arrived in Ensenada with hardly a shred of race experience, a 2021 Kawasaki KX450F that had been sitting untouched in a garage, a year of planning, two sets of borrowed 19-inch tires (they couldn’t afford 18″), two spare filters, two chase trucks, and some help from the #500X team. Barkan accidentally broke the GPS when his face slammed into it at RM 412, while another broke his thumb five miles before trading off. Still, what they lacked in familiarity was made up for in pace as they won Pro Moto 30.

“Some of us never raced. Rest had little to no race experience,” Filley explained. “We just love to ride and finally able to rub a few pennies together to make it happen!”

Neither of the Pro Quad entries were classified. Julio Alvarado was disqualified for being late to the physical checkpoint, while Trevor Barr narrowly exceeded the 16-hour time limit by two minutes and 16 seconds. Barr would’ve made it home if he didn’t get a 20-minute penalty for missing a Virtual Checkpoint.

Conversely, Sportsman Quad saw one official finisher in Luis Villagomez. Jose Sanchez and Daniel Millanes both ran past the time limit, the former by 54 minutes and the latter by five hours. While certainly disappointing to be excluded from the final results, Millanes’ #150A team hopes to try again at the Baja 250 next year.

“Two years ago, I came camping with my wife and kids for the first time and I said, ‘You know what? I want to do it.’ We kinda wholly relied on the GPS. It’s a lifesaver,” Millanes’ co-rider Jose Salazar stated. He also apologized to his friends and family because “I stole money from their wallets pretty often to build this bike. I kind of maxed out my mom’s credit card.”

Sportsman Moto featured two bikes whose riders made transoceanic trips to Mexico, then finished next to each other in fourth and fifth. Cecilie Jonassen, who has been documenting her journey from the Danish capital of Copenhagen to Baja, is the leader of the all-woman #217X alongside with Stephanie Pietz, Tori Mortensen, and Emma Dunn.

While she and her team were celebratory at first, Pietz feels they got hosed by SCORE afterward. The #217X initially finished third in class before being demoted due to a penalty.

“After a bogus one-hour penalty for missing a checkpoint was issued, we went to the officials and fought it,” she started in her debrief on Tuesday. “We showed them all our proof and evidence and they even agreed that we did in fact go through the checkpoint. They then stated we did not ‘stop’ at said checkpoint. They did not reverse the one-hour penalty. They did not treat us with any respect nor did they care. Our efforts were completely ignored. Our one-hour penalty should have been changed to a 15-minute penalty, which would have still put us on the podium. We feel absolutely robbed.”

The penalty moved the #246X of Herman Gomez up to third for Sportsman Moto. Miguel Monroy’s #269X claimed the class win ahead of Julio Castillejos’ #208X.

Coming across the Pacific from Japan was the #256X duo of Hironori “Hiro” Nishimura and Masaru Miura. Besides finishing fifth in Sportsman Moto, they rounded out the top 20 overall for bikes. The Sodegaura natives are no strangers to Baja and hope to run the 2027 Baja 1000.

“I joined the 500 last time. The 400 is much more tough and hot. The water, everything is compacted, I think,” said Nishimura, who handled the tougher section while Miura had what he called the “fun ride” for his stint.

“Completely different from a Japanese race. It’s much shorter and much more technical stuff. This is much high speed, technical, dust, everything mixed. Quite difficult for me.”

Class winners

Four-Wheel

Class	Overall	Number	Driver of Record	Total Time
Class 1	19	138	Brad Wilson	10:19:28.807*
Class 1/2-1600	72	1600	Daniel Goodrich	14:16:04.279*
Class 3	80	301	RJ Zanon	15:35:26.075*
Class 5 Unlimited	DNF	N/A	No Finishers	DNF
Class 7	51	700	Dan Chamlee	12:42:28.256*
Class 10	30	1009	Matt Willert	10:49:10.782*
Class 11	DNF	N/A	No Finishers	DNF
Pro Stock UTV	35	3938	Phil Blurton	11:23:20.186
Pro UTV Forced Induction	23	2935	Kaden Wells	10:29:46.564*
Pro UTV Normally Aspirated	73	1957	Joe Bolton	14:26:52.019
Pro UTV Open	16	1871	Wayne Matlock	9:54:28.193*
Sportsman UTV #	63	1818	Travis Oakes	13:32:04.589*
Trophy Truck	1	83	Luke McMillin	8:40:50.386
Trophy Truck 2WD	15	42T	Mavrick Gaunt	9:52:19.317
Trophy Truck Legends	5	1L	Gus Vildósola	9:15:48.898*
Trophy Truck Spec	6	273	Apdaly Lopez	9:20:22.025*

Moto

Class	Overall	Number	Rider of Record	Total Time
Pro Moto 30	15	333X	Eric Barkan	12:46:50.236*
Pro Moto 40	10	400X	Jason Miller	11:51:03.635*
Pro Moto 50	18	500X	Mike Prunty	13:43:51.164*
Pro Moto 60	19	600X	Harold Harris	13:50:11.706*
Pro Moto Ironman	7	707X	Jesus Gonzalez	11:41:31.563*
Pro Moto Limited	6	110X	Mauri Herrera	11:29:36.626*
Pro Moto Unlimited	1	1X	Tyler Lynn	8:53:51.105*
Pro Quad	DNF	N/A	No Finishers	DNF
Pro Quad Ironman	DNF	N/A	No Finishers	DNF
Sportsman Moto #	5	269X	Miguel Monroy	10:22:47.320*
Sportsman Quad #	11	123A	Luis Villagomez	11:57:25.200*

Featured image credit: __ph.edits