The main event of Trophy-Truck racing turned out to be the most exciting battle of the weekend. By lap one, the top three finishers were decided. #1 BJ Baldwin lead followed by #3 Rob MacCachren and #12 Larry Ragland. The first time through the infield entrance proved to be a tough one. The bottleneck made a mess of the whole pack in a pileup that resembled a demolition derby far more than a desert race losing two trucks to the incident. Lap three saw Baldwin and MacCachren competing neck and neck. Baldwin, in front, slipped up a bit letting MacCachren by for a split second until he took back the lead. In the fifth lap, MacCachren got a fender in on Baldwin in the Fish Hook, but Baldwin held onto the lead once again.

Behind the two front runners was an intense fight  for third place between #12 Larry Ragland, #76 Jesse Jones, and the weekend’s little-train-that-could #40 Jerry Whelchel. Jerry’s team, Chet Huffman Motorsports, spent the eighteen hours between Friday night’s semi-main and this evening’s first heat putting their truck back together after a catastrophic accident in the former only to flip the truck in the first heat on Saturday and they still made the main event, eventually taking the fourth place finish.
The last lap was the most exciting of the weekend. MacCachren made a warrior’s charge at Baldwin on the Dirt Sports straightaway taking the lead for the first time in the race. Rob could only hold onto the position until the infield entrance where #85 Tod Wyllie’s truck had been spun around and made a road block in the track. Baldwin took the opportunity to pass MacCachren and proceeded to lead the last two turns and took the checkered flag.

As exciting as the last overtaking effort of the race was, Baldwin ended up regretting taking the chance. After the race, the trucks lined up in front of the podium and their drivers exited their vehicles to make their way to the stage. The finishing interviews were interrupted by a urgent update brought down by the SCORE Officials. The last overtaking maneuver was deemed illegal as there was a local yellow flag on the track because of the out of commission #85 truck. As in this years Baja 250, when Mark post’s truck was stopped by federales seconds from the finish, the SCORE Official’s decision gave Riviera Racing the win. This decision will definitely effect the SCORE Trophy-Truck points lead as BJ Baldwin held the #1 spot followed closely by Mark Post at #2 after the Baja 500. Check back with us for updates on the SCORE points standings, here on OFF-Road.com!