Brothers Luke and Dan McMillin had plenty to celebrate when the 2022 SCORE International season came to a close as they finished 1–2 in the final Trophy Truck standings. The former was one of twenty-nine drivers and riders who won a class championship in 2022, with other categories seeing points battles as narrow as two points.
Luke McMillin, who helped Rob MacCachren win the 2021 Baja 1000 and Trophy Truck title, was a top contender in the class from the start with a victory in the San Felipe 250. MacCachren, winner of the Baja 500, returned the favour by joining his #83 truck for the season-ending Baja 1000 to help McMillin win the event for the third straight year. Although Bryce Menzies presented the biggest challenge to McMillin by finishing runner-up in San Felipe and winning the Baja 400, a pair of retirements at the Baja 500 and 1000 dropped him to a distant fifteenth. Dan McMillin finished second at the 1000 to seal runner-up.
Juan Carlos Salvatierra completed his dominant 2022 with the Pro Moto Unlimited title. He was the best Moto rider overall in the first three races, and his team rebounded from a fuel pump failure at the 1000 for a podium to ice the championship.
The closest margin came in Class 7 and Pro Moto Ironman, the former of which saw Dan Chamlee ride 500 and 400 wins to edge out Scott Brady by only two points. In Pro Moto Ironman, Brandon Wright and Aaron Richardson traded blows, and although the latter finished second at the 1000 and one spot ahead, Wright held on with 465 points to 463. All but one of the UTV categories also enjoyed title battles with single-digit differences.
Unless one was only racing that event, winning the Baja 1000 usually also ensures a class championship albeit not always. Jorge Sampietro was fourteenth in Trophy Truck Spec at the 1000 while Elijah Kiger won, but the former’s 500 victory and latter’s poor showing in San Felipe enabled Sampietro to win the season-long title by sixteen points. Likewise, Hiram Duran won the 1000 in Class 10 but was ninth as he was hamstrung by a pair of retirements in San Felipe and the 400. Austin Weiland was the victim of a more extreme case as he won three of four in Pro UTV Forced Induction, but not finishing San Felipe relegated him to fourth.
On the other hand, 1000 success can also enable those trailing to leapfrog the leader for the title. Besides simply starting and finishing, points are awarded based on not only finishing position but the number of entrants in a given category; for example, winning a class with twenty drivers nets thirty points while winning one with fifteen yields twenty-five. As the Baja 1000 is the largest and final race of the year, it is typical for the entry list to be significantly larger than the other rounds, providing prime opportunities for those contending for championships.
Chamlee, Armando Duron (Class 7SX), Ryan Liebelt (Pro Moto 40), Edward Muncey (Baja Challenge), Giovanni Spinali (Pro Moto 50), and Kaden Wells (Pro UTV Normally Aspirated) repeat from 2021. Salvatierra and Mike Cafro (Pro UTV Open) also won titles last year, albeit in Pro Moto Ironman and Pro UTV Stock, respectively.
In order to be eligible for a class championship, one must run all four races. Consequently, eight categories did not have enough entries to crown a champion: Class 8, Heavy Metal, Hammer Truck Unlimited, Stock Mid-Size, TrophyLite, and all three Sportsman Four-Wheel divisions (Buggy, Truck, UTV Open). Brad Lovell‘s Ford Ranger Raptor was the lone entry in Stock Mid-Size and exclusively ran the Baja 1000.
The 2023 season, the fiftieth for SCORE, begins in San Felipe on 29 March.
2022 SCORE class champions
The full points standings are available at the SCORE International website.
Four-Wheelers
Class | Number | Driver of Record | Total Points | Runner-Up | Margin |
Baja Challenge | BC4 | Edward Muncey | 446 | Frank DeAngelo | 299 |
Class 1 | 138 | Kyle Quinn | 452 | Damen Jefferies | 11 |
Class 1/2-1600 | 1626 | Martin Rangel | 443 | Eli Yee | 35 |
Class 10 | 1009 | Jose David Ruvalcaba Adame | 479 | Ivan Tagle | 9 |
Class 11 | 1145 | Hector Sarabia | 355 | Alex Gonzales | 114 |
Class 3 | 319 | Cesar Gutierrez | 295 | N/A | N/A |
Class 5 | 507 | Ramon Fernandez | 456 | Martin Anguiano | 171 |
Class 5-1600 | 553 | Cesar Omar Iñiguez Cortez | 383 | Luis Herrera | 268 |
Class 7 | 700 | Dan Chamlee | 441 | Scott Brady | 2 |
Class 7F | 702F | Gerardo Novelo | 235 | Brandon Walsh | 5 |
Class 7SX | 740 | Armando Duron | 389 | Dario Serrano | 110 |
Pro Stock UTV | 3919 | Anibol Lopez Dominic | 396 | Douglas Cornwell | 20 |
Pro UTV Forced Induction | 2948 | Matt Burroughs | 485 | Edgar Garcia Leon | 8 |
Pro UTV Normally Aspirated | 1995 | Kaden Wells | 447 | Joe Bolton | 5 |
Pro UTV Open | 1876 | Mike Cafro | 443 | Craig Scanlon | 5 |
SCORE Lites | 1205 | Miguel Cortez | 441 | Oscar Alvarez | 151 |
Trophy Truck | 83 | Luke McMillin | 534 | Dan McMillin | 46 |
Trophy Truck Legends | 21L | Gus Vildósola | 467 | Clay Lawrence | 32 |
Trophy Truck Spec | 297 | Jorge Sampietro | 509 | Elijah Kiger | 16 |
Motos/Quads
Class | Number | Rider of Record | Total Points | Runner-Up | Margin |
Pro Moto 30 | 325X | Jano Montoya | 434 | David Smith | 132 |
Pro Moto 40 | 400X | Ryan Liebelt | 460 | Alirio Amado | 34 |
Pro Moto 50 | 500X | Giovanni Spinali | 359 | Vance Kennedy | 56 |
Pro Moto Ironman | 750X | Brandon Wright | 465 | Aaron Richardson | 2 |
Pro Moto Limited | 180X | Fernando Beltran | 462 | Giovanni Aviles | 41 |
Pro Moto Unlimited | 10X | Juan Carlos Salvatierra | 461 | Jason Alosi | 32 |
Pro Quad | 7A | Luis Ernesto Villafana | 451 | Hector Chavez | 24 |
Pro Quad Ironman | 83A | Faelly Lopez | 365 | Daniel Pirrie | 315 |
Sportsman
Class | Number | Rider of Record | Total Points | Runner-Up | Margin |
Sportsman Moto | 217X | Dustin Davis | 423 | David Navarro | 63 |
Sportsman Quad | 111A | Fidel Gonzalez | 454 | Dario Rabago Morales | 98 |