Kyle Jergensen wins maiden Mint 400 in attrition-filled affair

Saturday’s 2022 BFGoodrich Tires Mint 400 Unlimited race was a test of reliability: even if one was the leader and far ahead of the field, that advantage could disappear in the blink of an eye the moment some sort of mechanical issue flared up. The race saw four different leaders, with the first three all experiencing a problem that lost them the top spot. Behind them, Kyle Jergensen methodically climbed through the order before capitalising on defending winner Rob MacCachren‘s belt breaking on the final lap to win the prestigious off-road race for the first time.

A part of the Unlimited Truck class, Jergensen and co-driver Shawn Shanks started sixth overall while three-time winner Justin Lofton was on the pole. However, Lofton’s hopes of winning a record fourth were dashed before he could even do anything as a flat left-rear tyre minutes in forced him to the side and Ryan Arciero drove by to take the lead. Arciero, seeking his first Mint, was in control for the first half before a flat tyre on lap three allowed MacCachren to decrease the margin. Although Arciero’s crew was able to change the tyre and he easily made up the lost ground with a truck that he described as being “on point all day,” his race ended on the lakebed after the vehicle lost power.

“About three-quarters of the way down the lakebed, all of a sudden, it developed a huge vibration and then I started pulling power out with the throttle and we started losing power,” Arciero told the race broadcast. “Got a little oil pressure light and then everything just turned off. I knew as soon as we had that vibration, we were losing power. I knew it was terminal. I knew it wasn’t something we were going to pull into the pits and fix.

“That was probably one of the most heartbreaking races that I’ve done, for the simple fact is the truck was just on point all day. It didn’t miss a beat.”

Arciero’s retirement shuffled the lead to MacCachren with Jergensen nearly a minute behind when he began the fourth and final lap. Both drivers briefly stopped on track due to flat tyres, which allowed Tim Herbst to shave valuable time off the leaderboard, before the belt problem halted MacCachren’s progress entirely. MacCachren, a twice winner of the Mint 400, commented on Instagram that “[t]hings we’re [sic] going great until they weren’t. But that’s racing right. We had a good run up top, but it just wasn’t our day.”

Jergensen inherited the position from MacCachren, though he had challenges of his own as his truck was running low on oil. While Jergensen’s oil pressure management gave Herbst a chance to slim the margin to a smidge over three minutes, he was unable to catch the #127 truck as Jergensen drove off to the victory with a time of six hours, forty-three minutes, and forty-nine seconds. Herbst and B.J. Baldwin, both Las Vegas natives, followed. MacCachren was able to salvage the matter to place fifth.

“We tried to keep the pressure on Rob, but he was clearly faster,” commented Jergensen on the podium. “He was gaining a little time and time on us, and then attrition played a factor and luckily it wasn’t us. We actually haven’t had good results at the Mint yet, so this is a good start.

“Shawn was doing a great job like he always does. We’re definitely clicking very well in the truck. He’s calm just like me, so it’s always about keeping your cool. Don’t push it 140 (mph) on the dry lakebed. There’s no point. Just being smart about it, keeping the equipment, this Gen 3 (truck), running strong. It’s just crazy strong. I mean, we were beating the shit out of it all day and it never missed a beat.

“The only hiccup is we had low oil pressure last lap and it was actually because we had low oil. They burn oil naturally, so we should have added oil. Luckily, it had the sensor. We had to keep cycling the ignition off and back on to kind of trick it to limp it to Pit B where they put two gallons in. It was low, very, very low. We got really lucky.”

Nick Isenhouer was the highest finishing non-Unlimited Truck as he claimed the Unlimited Truck SPEC class win in sixth overall. The top three UT SPEC drivers finished within nearly ten minutes of each other, with Isenhour beating Thor Herbst by over three minutes and Justin Blower by ten minutes and five seconds.

“I don’t know what to say other than thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything everyone does to help us drive trucks in circles in the dirt,” Isenhouer wrote on Instagram. “This win means so damn much.”

James Dean won the Class 1 pole and ultimately the race itself in his class, and the same occurred in Trophy Truck Legends for Greg Adler. Cade Garcia took the Class 10 crown with a fifty-three-second margin over pole sitter Preston Brigman. Garcia and his AGS Racing team, which primarily competes in MORE (Mojave Off-Road Racing Enthusiasts), have triumphed in their last five off-road starts while his Class 10 buggy is now two-for-two in action after winning its maiden race at the Slash X Duel In the Desert in late February.

Garcia proclaimed in an Instagram Story, “Nick (Almada, co-driver) and I got this shit done. Winners! […] It was (a) pretty gnarly day. I’m at a loss for words. I don’t know what to say. We just won the Mint. This is my first time racing the Mint, this is our second time racing our brand-new car, we got back-to-back wins, and this is the fifth win in a row for AGS Racing. Like I said before, we’re going to keep this momentum rolling. Now, we’re going to go try and win ourselves upwards of $15 grand in the Class 10 Shootout race in a couple of weeks. We’re going to celebrate tonight in Vegas.”

Many drivers throughout the field were haunted by mechanical gremlins. Lofton ultimately settled for twenty-first overall and tenth of the Unlimited Trucks. Hailie Deegan, who was one of the top stories entering the race as the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular was making her Mint 400 début, suffered problems on the opening lap that sidelined her for an extended period; though the issue was resolved in time to rejoin the race, she could only complete two laps and was classified thirty-ninth. Carey Chrisman, who sat on the pole for Unlimited Truck SPEC, had to bow out as did Akira Miura. Both Class 7 drivers, Jeff Proctor (the fastest driver in his qualifying group who did not pilot a UT SPEC) and Ikuo Hanawa, retired as well. Miura and Hanawa, who respectively have Dakar Rally and Pikes Peak International Hill Climb experience, represented Japan as part of Toyota Auto Body. Only twenty-nine of the sixty-four entries finished the race; by comparison, the 2021 edition saw forty-one of seventy go the distance.

In the Moto race, Pro Open rider Dalton Shirey and Mint 400 rival-turned-team-mate David Kamo dominated as they won by fifty-one seconds over Jesse Canepa of the Sportsman Open class. Shirey previously beat Kamo for the 2020 overall victory. Eighty-four riders across eighteen classes took part, with only the top six completing all six laps.

Among the youth divisions that raced on a separate course, Taylor Bedoya improved from a runner-up finish in the 570 class in 2021 to win by nearly a minute over Chase Mankin; 2021 winner Jedi Jack Mamelli finished ninth of twelve and a lap down. Declan Shields and Tatum Foerster duelled in Youth 170 with the former claiming it by nine seconds, while Landen De Sousa Dias took the Youth 1000 after Mamelli received a seven-minute time penalty for cutting through the track.

Overall results (top 20)

Unlimited

Finish	Number	Driver	Class	Time
1	127	Kyle Jergensen	Unlimited Truck	6:43:49.934
2	19	Tim Herbst	Unlimited Truck	6:47:09.740
3	97	B.J. Baldwin	Unlimited Truck	6:51:09.755
4	27	Steve Olliges	Unlimited Truck	7:00:20.476
5	1	Rob MacCachren	Unlimited Truck	7:15:30.979
6	205	Nick Isenhouer	Unlimited Truck SPEC	7:19:27.515
7	264	Thor Herbst	Unlimited Truck SPEC	7:22:54.260
8	219	Justin Blower	Unlimited Truck SPEC	7:29;32.509
9	175	James Dean	Class 1	7:31:29.309
10	255	Kirk Harkey	Unlimited Truck SPEC	7:35:14.163
11	8	Todd Wyllie	Unlimited Truck	7:39:12.813
12	215	Bear Nunley	Unlimited Truck SPEC	7:39:54.308
13	L65	Greg Adler	Unlimited Truck Legends	7:45:04.336
14	275	Brent Fox	Unlimited Truck SPEC	7:53:10.792
15	153	Ronny Wilson	Class 1	7:55:20.968
16	69	Bernard Steimann	Unlimited Truck	8:01:42.926
17	37	Tracy Poole	Unlimited Truck	8:03:53.553
18	1004	Cade Garcia	Class 10	8:05:48.942
19	167	Loren Healy	Class 1	8:12:51.306
20	77	Chris Hersch	Unlimited Truck	8:16:59.673

Moto

Finish	Number	Driver	Rider	Time
1	P46	Dalton Shirey	Pro Open	8:00:21.166
2	S55	Jesse Canepa	Sportsman Open	8:51:47.532
3	P222	Brock Weisheim	Pro 201–300cc	8:55:41.402
4	S39	Chad Goodsell	Sportsman Open	9:07:01.864
5	S99	David Escalante	Sportsman Open	9:09:10.101
6	S66	Max Shapiro	Sportsman Open	9:46:46.574
7	314	Jason Mount	Sportsman Over 30	7:59:08.519
8	I10	Slater Skirvin	Sportsman Open Ironman	8:05:13.440
9	509	Craig Janett	Sportsman Over 50	8:15:21.326
10	S3	Shannon Sawyer	Sportsman Open	8:28:40.126 (DNF)
11	I39	Aaron Richardson	Sportsman Open Ironman	8:29:38.846
12	W1	Krista Conway	Pro Ladies	8:30:14.159
13	S2	Trevor Tippetts	Sportsman Open	8:33:32.300
14	I32	Steven Krug	Sportsman Open Ironman	8:47:38.770
15	I26	Jeff Pickton	Sportsman Open Ironman	8:49:18.563
16	P256	Coleton Jaffa	Sportsman 201–300cc	9:07:37.396
17	525	Marcus McManus	Sportsman Over 50	9:10:11.516
18	502	Thomas Keating	Sportsman Over 50	9:16:13.760
19	389	Robbie Silvernail	Sportsman Over 30	9:21:56.778
20	S24	Tommy Anderson	Sportsman Open	9:27:11.738

Youth 170

Finish	Number	Driver	Class
1	O112	Wyatt Cotter	Youth 170 Open
2	Y119	Cole Warner	Youth 170 Production
3	Y20	Cash Martinez	Youth 170 Production
4	Y175	Connor Power	Youth 170 Production
5	O114	Brixton Wirt	Youth 170 Open
6	Y150	Kaleb Montes	Youth 170 Production
7	Y25	Ella Warner	Youth 170 Production
8	Y62	Ryland Gaughan	Youth 170 Production
9	Y99	Mason Watkins	Youth 170 Production
10	Y054	Clayton Matlock	Youth 170 Production
11	Y44	Brody Berhorst	Youth 170 Production
12	Y171	Brooks Hopkins	Youth 170 Production
13	Y14	Korbin Grinolds	Youth 170 Production
14	Y13	Nora Pendergast	Youth 170 Production
15	O115	Samuel Gibbs	Youth 170 Open
16	Y45	Dexter Warren	Youth 170 Production
17	O110	Mason Cotter	Youth 170 Open
18	Y190	Brenna Goerke	Youth 170 Production
19	Y125	Jennifer Owens	Youth 170 Production
20	O158	Declan Shields	Youth 170 Open
21	O195	Tatum Ferster	Youth 170 Open

Youth 570

Finish	Number	Driver	Class
1	Y594	Taylor Bedoya	Youth 570
2	Y507	Chase Mankin	Youth 570 Open
3	Y517	Vincent Riccitelli	Youth 570
4	Y577	Reid Aikins	Youth 570
5	Y599	Lake Adler	Youth 570 Open
6	Y544	Brody Berhorst	Youth 570 Open
7	Y511	Hugh Tarrant	Youth 570
8	Y508	Harper Hughes	Youth 570
9	Y500	Jedi Jack Mamelli	Youth 570
10	Y555	Caden Hall	Youth 570
11	Y519	Cole Warner	Youth 570
12	Y845	Kaylee Kyle	Youth 570

Youth 1000

Finish	Number	Driver
1	Y1906	Landen De Sousas Dias
2	Y1014	Ryan Bedoya
3	Y1077	Brody Aikins
4	Y1007	Chase Mankin
5	Y1669	Chaden Zane Minder
6	Y1295	Michael Burnstein
7	Y1971	Wyatt Matlock
8	Y1001	Jedi Jack Mamelli
9	Y1050	Kaleb Montes
10	Y1973	Caden Hall
11	Y1615	Ryder Hall
12	Y1898	Laryssa Ornelas
13	Y1019	Hunter Martinez
14	Y1147	Braden Krah
15	Y1810	R.J. Tremblay
16	Y1097	Jessie Owens
17	Y1090	Hannah McClain

Class winners

Unlimited

Class	Overall Finish	Number	Driver	Time
Class 1	9	175	James Dean	7:31:29.309
Class 7	33	709	Jeff Proctor	5:53:41.416 (DNF)
Class 10	18	1004	Cade Garcia	8:05:48.942
Unlimited Truck	1	127	Kyle Jergensen	6:43:49.934
Unlimited Truck Legends	13	L65	Greg Adler	7:45:04.336
Unlimited Truck SPEC	6	205	Nick Isenhouer	7:19:27.515

Moto

Class	Overall Finish	Number	Driver	Time
Pro 0–200cc	67	P346	Charles Cromwell	7:56:00.978
Pro 201–300cc	3	P222	Brock Weisheim	8:55:41.402
Pro Ladies	12	W1	Krista Conway	8:30:14.159
Pro Open	1	P46	Dalton Shirey	8:00:21.166
Sportsman 0–200cc	24	S383	Piper Wells	7:42:24.739
Sportsman 201–300cc	16	P256	Coleton Jaffa	9:07:37.396
Sportsman 1974 and Down	78	V001	Mark Unice	DNF
Sportsman 1975–1982	53	V110	Taylor Barker	3:58:40.878
Sportsman 1983–1995	57	V279	Bradley Turnade	4:43:28.854
Sportsman Adventure Bike	66	A113	Devon Fitzsimmons	7:54:43.082
Sportsman Hooligan	54	H959	Tyler Valentik	5:04:52.136
Sportsman Ladies	63	W200	Rhiannon Kamo	7:47:03.030
Sportsman Open	2	S55	Jesse Canepa	8:51:47.532
Sportsman Open Ironman	8	I10	Slater Skirvin	8:05:13.440
Sportsman Over 30	7	314	Jason Mount	7:59:08.519
Sportsman Over 40	25	452	Eric Streich	7:43:56.319
Sportsman Over 50	9	509	Craig Janett	8:15:21.326
Sportsman Scrambler	51	SC100	Mikey Hill	3:43:54.122

Full results are available on the Mint 400 website.