After abruptly retiring from the Baja 500, Bryce Menzies was able to turn around his SCORE International fortunes at the Baja 400 when he took the overall four-wheeler lead from Luke McMillin and never looked back. It is Menzies’ second straight 400 win and places him on the pole for the Baja 1000 in November.
McMillin beat Menzies in qualifying, but a flat tyre allowed Menzies to overtake him. Both drivers’ Trophy Trucks lost four-wheel drive during their runs, forcing them to re-adjust, while Menzies would also have a tyre go down though co-driver Oren Anderson quickly rectified the matter in just fifty seconds.
“It’ll take me fifty seconds just to get out and in (of the truck),” quipped Menzies.
“This race is so much fun. It’s very technical, very tight, but we had an awesome time. We only had one tyre go down all day. I had to go from learning to drive a four-wheel-drive to a two-wheel-drive so it made me have some fun today.”
The 500 marked a reversal of the San Felipe 250, where Menzies won the pole but finished second to McMillin; the duo also finished 1–2 at the 2021 400. McMillin’s older brother Dan joined him on the overall podium.
“I wish we could have pulled off the win,” began McMillin, “but we’re here, we’re on the podium, and we got a great starting spot for the Baja 1000, that’s what this race is all about.”
“We had some gremlins. We lost front drive early and that changes your driving style quite a bit because it goes from the front end pulling around the turns to the front end pushing through the turn. It is what it is. We had a flat tyre early and Bryce got by us, and then from there, we just drove it in and had a good day.”
Credit: Juan Carlos Salvatierra
Despite the bike failing to start early on and costing them thirty minutes to repair, Juan Carlos Salvatierra and the #10X Pro Moto Unlimited team continued their dominance over the two-wheelers with their sixth straight class and overall win. Salvatierra began the race before passing off to Arturo Salas, Clayton Roberts, and Shane Logan who saw it to the finish.
Forrest Minchinton was the early leader while Salvatierra addressed his bike problems, but he ran out of fuel shortly before reaching the first checkpoint. This allowed Ivan Delgadillo‘s #38X team to pull ahead before his bike lost its brakes.
While the race was mostly clean compared to the carnage of the 500, there were a handful of incidents with varying results. Pro Moto Unlimited winner Fernando Beltran hit a dog that suddenly jumped in front of him to cross the road which caused the rider to cartwheel off his bike before being helped up and returning. A passing-by SUV also attempted to beat Luke McMillin through a crossroad, with McMillin narrowly avoiding contact. The #98 Trophy Truck of Jose Mendez received a one-hour time penalty for a chase helicopter flying too low to the surface.
Among the non-regulars, the best finisher was Team Australia‘s Toby Price and Paul Weel as they were fifth overall in the second race of their American desert programme. SCORE newcomer Ken Stanick and his Canadian TT Spec team retired after 326 miles due to a mud puddle that caused the truck to overheat. Dennis Romero and the VatosLokos Racing UTV suffered a brake failure and rolled twenty-seven miles in.
Team Border ATV, making their début in the Sportsman Quad class with Gabriel Vazquez, was one of seven entries disqualified for missing the ninetieth Virtual Checkpoint and instead using a banned road.
Class winners
Full results, including overall classification, are available on the SCORE International website.
| Class | Overall Finish | Number | Driver/Rider of Record | Time |
| Baja Challenge | 128 | BC4 | Edward Muncey | 18:13:54.966* |
| Class 1 | 35 | 100 | Brian Parkhouse | 9:26:15.837* |
| Class 1/2-1600 | 70 | 1616 | Eli Yee | 10:43:18.285* |
| Class 2 | 107 | 2085 | Jeremy Davis | 12:46:12.965* |
| Class 3 | 129 | 319 | Cesar Gutierrez | 18:47:38.956* |
| Class 5 | 98 | 507 | Ramon Fernandez | 12:16:05.900* |
| Class 5-1600 | DNF | 553 | Cesar Omar Iniguez | N/A |
| Class 7 | 81 | 700 | Dan Chamlee | 11:05:38.367* |
| Class 7F | 120 | 702F | Gerrardo Novelo | 16:29:42.085* |
| Class 7SX | DNF | 740 | Armondo Duron | N/A |
| Class 10 | 22 | 1009 | Jose David Ruvalcabra | 9:01:58.676 |
| Class 11 | 114 | 1145 | Hector Sarabia | 13:58:51.640 |
| Pro Moto 30 | 15 | 325X | Jano Montoya | 8:398:55.698 |
| Pro Moto 40 | 29 | 400X | Ryan Liebelt | 9:14:46.080* |
| Pro Moto 50 | 33 | 500X | Giovanni Spinali | 9;26:26.468* |
| Pro Moto Ironman | 42 | 730X | Francisco Septien | 9:40:47.953* |
| Pro Moto Limited | 25 | 180X | Fernando Beltran | 9:12:03.418* |
| Pro Moto Unlimited | 13 | 10X | Juan Carlos Salvatierra | 8:27:47.291 |
| Pro Quad | 19 | 7A | Luis Ernesto Villafana | 8:51:35.811 |
| Pro Quad Ironman | 106 | 83A | Faelly Lopez | 12:40:37.898* |
| Pro Stock UTV | 113 | 3933 | Randy Emberton | 13:40:18.042 |
| Pro UTV Forced Induction | 36 | 2954 | Austin Weiland | 9:30:18.495* |
| Pro UTV Naturally Aspirated | 55 | 1995 | Kaden Wells | 10:04:39.542 |
| Pro UTV Open | 63 | 1876 | Mike Cafro | 10:30:47.552* |
| SCORE Lites | 108 | 1205 | Miguel Cortez | 12:48:25.478* |
| Trophy Truck | 1 | 7 | Bryce Menzies | 7:59:26.916 |
| Trophy Truck Legends | 21 | 21L | Gus Vildósola | 8:58:53.550* |
| Trophy Truck Spec | 10 | 204 | Christopher Polvoorde | 8:26:05.419 |
Sportsman
| Class | Overall Finish | Number | Driver/Rider of Record | Time |
| Sportsman Moto | 2 | 297X | Juan Tamayo | 9:56:18.739* |
| Sportsman Quad | 1 | 103A | Rabago Dario | 9:45:04.078* |