McNeil, Menzies lead 2023 SCORE World Desert Champions

Like in 2022, Luke McMillin and Bryce Menzies battled for the SCORE International World Desert Championship throughout the four-race 2023 campaign. This time, Menzies came out on top.

McMillin, the reigning champion, drew first blood by beating Menzies for the San Felipe 250 before Menzies rattled off three consecutive wins at the Baja 500, Baja 400, and Baja 1000. The two entered the 1000 with just nine points separating them, and Menzies—with help from McMillin’s cousin Andy and Tavo Vildósola—beat him again by just forty-six seconds for his maiden victory at the legendary race.

“Whenever Luke’s racing, you always know he’s going to be up there so we could battle it out all year long from San Felipe to the 500 to the 400 to the 1000. If it’s not him, it’s me,” said Menzies. “It’s pretty cool to have that rivalry going on and we’re also really good friends.”

Although Menzies enjoyed his first SCORE world title, he did not win the outright championship for all Four-Wheelers. Instead, Trophy Truck Spec driver Jason McNeil claimed that crown as he recorded 551 total points, more than anyone else among such categories, to Menzies’ 538. Despite struggling through rain and electrical issues at the 1000 which relegated him to an eighteenth in class, McNeil never finished worse than second across the first three rounds.

A year after winning the Championship Off-Road Pro Stock SxS title, short course star Brock Heger adds his first SCORE championship in Pro UTV Open; he won twice at the Baja 500 and 400 in the début season for Polaris Factory Racing. On the other hand, Jason Murray of rival Can-Am was the top UTV as a whole en route to the Pro UTV FI title.

The closest points battle came in Pro Stock UTV, where Jorge Cano narrowly escaped with a three-point edge over Antonio Mendez. While Mendez won the Baja 400 and Cano went winless, Cano defeated Mendez by one position at the 1000 with a second to his third. The same margin occurred twice among Bikes with Fabricio Fuentes beating Kurt Steever in Pro Moto Ironman and in the premier Pro Moto Unlimited with Juan Carlos Salvatierra over Ciaran Naran.

Salvatierra’s title defence began on a sour note with an electrical failure in San Felipe while Naran, in his first season as the lead rider, claimed the win. Naran built a bigger cushion with a better finish at the 500 before the tide turned with a penalty at the 400 which took away Naran’s victory and gave it to Salvatierra. The latter then completed the pass at the top of the standings by winning the 1000.

The Pro Moto 30 of Jano Montoya recorded the most points among Bikes with 464, winning all four rounds in his category. He was one of four class champions to sweep the season alongside Kevin Ward (Pro Moto 60), Oliver Flemate (Class 11), and Nicolas Velez (Pro Quad).

Drivers must run all four races to qualify for the championship. As a result, eleven classes like Pro UTV Unlimited and Heavy Unlimited did not hand out awards for 2023 as they either only appeared at certain rounds like the Baja 1000 or did not have entries for the full calendar.

2023 was the fiftieth season for SCORE International.

2023 SCORE International World Desert Champions

Four-Wheelers

Class	Number	Driver of Record	Points	Runner-Up	Points	Margin
Baja Challenge	BC4	Edward Muncey	379	Kyle Tucker*	145	– 234
Class 1	168	Cody Reid	449	Al Torres	423	– 26
Class 1/2-1600	1625	Eric Pavolka	455	Pablo Jauregui	368	– 87
Class 5	511	Eli Yee	365	Mike Sullivan*	198	– 167
Class 7	700	Dan Chamlee	384	Gaspar Espindola	373	– 11
Class 7F	714F	Justin Park	389	Aaron Celiceo	244	– 145
Class 7SX	740	Armando Durón	324	Rodrigo Martinez*	150	– 174
Class 8	852	Spencer Morgan	170	Boy Jassen*	50	– 120
Class 10	1091	Francisco Vera	481	Jose Ruvalcaba	454	– 27
Class 11	1105	Oliver Flemate	466	Eric Brandt	370	– 96
Pro Stock UTV	3936	Jorge Cano	447	Antonio Mendez	444	– 3
Pro UTV Forced Induction	2917	Jason Murray	485	Rickey Arslanian	466	– 19
Pro UTV Normally Aspirated	1957	Joe Bolton	442	Lawrence Janesky	432	– 10
Pro UTV Open	1896	Brock Heger	478	Justin Lambert	458	– 20
SCORE Lites	1211	Oscar Alvarez	446	Oliver Flemate*	159	– 287
Trophy Truck	7	Bryce Menzies	538	Luke McMillin	523	– 15
Trophy Truck Legends	1L	Gus Vildósola	470	Clay Lawrence	380	– 90
Trophy Truck Spec	234	Jason McNeil	551	EJ Herbst	513	– 38

* – Did not run every race

Bikes

Class	Number	Rider of Record	Points	Runner-Up	Points	Margin
Pro Moto 30	300X	Jano Montoya	464	David Smith	432	– 32
Pro Moto 40	441X	Alirio Amado	450	Ryan Liebelt*	139	– 311
Pro Moto 50	501X	Robert Creemers	454	Giovanni Spinali*	145	– 309
Pro Moto 60	644X	Kevin Ward	460	Scott McIntosh*	248	– 212
Pro Moto Ironman	785X	Fabricio Fuentes	442	Kurt Steever	439	– 3
Pro Moto Limited	100X	Fernando Beltran	460	Ely Ramirez	450	– 10
Pro Moto Unlimited	1X	Juan Carlos Salvatierra	442	Ciaran Naran	439	– 3
Pro Quad	1A	Nicolas Velez	460	Jose Castro	428	– 32
Pro Quad Ironman	83A	Faelly Lopez	365	Jose Enriquez*	145	– 220
Sportsman Moto	249X	Armando Ortiz	471	Luis Angel Rivera Sarabia*	339	– 132
Sportsman Quad	139A	Sergio Jimenez	472	Francisco Valle	451	– 21