Incredibly deep silt and sand made visibility a challenge for drivers from the start of the race. Just outside of La Paz was the first challenge — silt which led to a rocky step up — that created a bottleneck for many cars vying for the smoothest path. Many racers’ dreams of taking the checkered flag were obliterated during that point in the race. 

Further down the line, there were wide, hard-packed sections which abruptly ended with deep silt again. Whoops and holes were hidden within which added another layer of difficulty and resulted in lots of air filter replacements at the pits.

The sharp rocks and stones made a bigger presence in the more northern parts of the peninsula, putting tires to the ultimate test. Drivers tried to move at speeds fast enough to beat the competition but smooth enough to avoid getting a flat.

The rain kicked up on Friday in several parts of Baja California — not to be confused with Baja Sur. It lowered the temperatures and turned sand pits into grimy, paste-like traps. In the harder-packed areas, the moisture kept the dust down and the visibility up (when the rain stopped). Conditions were ideal… for the time being.

Then, the leg through Catavina saw rain on and off. Water gathered into puddles, and most of the cars became coated in mud.

“When I got out of the car, we were down by about 30 minutes on time,” MacCachren said. “Justin put the hammer down, made up a bunch of time, and Rhys handled business at the end. We didn’t have any flats with our BFGoodrich Tires, and that was a big help to us. It was a great day at the end. It was a long race, and we’re happy to be here.”

Millen added that they stuck to their game plan. 

“Cayden, an experienced driver, and Justin, who was doing his first race in a four-wheel [vehicle], did an amazing job,” Millen said. “They gave me a perfect car and we were just two minutes behind. We just cleared everyone in like 20 minutes. I couldn’t have done it if they hadn’t handed me such a great car.”

In the UTV overall runner-up spot, Lambert scored his best finish of the year and ended with an adjusted time of 27:32:24.692.

“We ran in first place for most of the race but had a couple of issues including a last-minute rear axle change that set us back into the second spot,” Lambert said. “Everyone is safe, and we’re extremely grateful to have such a solid outcome at such a legendary race.”

A young gun like MacCachren, 23-year-old Heger of El Centro, California, rounded out the UTV overall podium finish. Although unable to capture the event win, he still managed to secure the 2023 Pro UTV Open class championship with his total adjusted time of 27:47:34.706.

Heger put down a strong pace to start but then encountered an issue that lost the team 40 precious minutes. 

“From there, we just put our heads down and tried to get back in the fight,” Heger said. “We came in leading the points, and in the back of our minds, we had this idea that we wanted to win the race. But we also wanted to play it smart.” 

Taking over at mile 530, co-driver Ronnie Anderson put in a flawless run and worked his way into fourth before passing it off to J.D. Marsh at race mile 900. 

“I got to make some time and go up to second place, but then got a flat tire and got back a little bit,” Marsh said. “I had to push hard again and ended up putting a car on its side for the first time. It was really slick, and I got it out of control. But we managed to flip it and bring it to the finish line.”

Drivers, while maybe not energetically but enthusiastically, crossed the finish line in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, anywhere from just under 27.5 hours to upwards of 49 hours later. 

Turning to the remaining UTV classes, Pro UTV Forced Induction driver Jason Murray (2917) claimed his class win, as did Pro UTV Naturally-Aspirated driver Lawrence Janesky (1914). Capturing gold in Pro UTV Stock was Lucy Block (394K), wife of the late Ken Block.  

With the 2023 season wrapped up, some teams are celebrating while others are frustrated and yearning for improved outcomes going into next year. No matter what results were delivered this year, all of the teams must remain focused on building out stellar machines, maintaining sponsors to support their programs and putting the best drivers behind the wheel come March of 2024.  

The 2024 SCORE International SCORE World Desert Championship schedule will once again feature four events:

• 37th SCORE San Felipe 250: March 20-24, 2024
• 56th SCORE Baja 500: May 29-June 2, 2024
• 5th SCORE Baja 400: September 11-15, 2024
• 57th SCORE Baja 1000: November 12-17, 2024