Rob MacCachren earned his third straight Baja 1000 victory this year, but he didn’t do it alone. After partnering with Jason Voss and Andy McMillin two years ago for the victory, last year MacCachren won the race with just McMillin. This year, McMillin fielded his own team and Voss again joined forces with MacCachren, and the two were able to secure a third consecutive victory for MacCachren on the 854.50-mile race, finishing in a time of 17 hours, 12 minutes and 58 seconds in the No. 11 Rockstar Energy MacCachren Motorsports Ford F-150.
“It is a good feeling,” MacCachren said after the race. “My first overall SCORE Baja 1000 win was in 2007 to Cabo and the feeling I got winning that race was second to none. We had a flawless day with 854.50 miles of the most brutal desert in Baja. We had over 80 people down here helping us with this race. We had 11 chase trucks and four fuel stops and lots of people at home rooting us on. It was a really good day.”
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MacCachren said he and Voss split time in the truck, as he tackled the first section of the race after coming fifth off the line. He handed the truck over to Voss at mile 498, and he simply had to wait to see if the truck could stay together for the final stretch back into Ensenada.
“The competition is so tough that you've got to push the truck and cross your fingers that it is going to make it,” MacCachren said. “Larry Ragland won the overall in SCORE three races in a row and he was always somebody I looked up to and respected. I saw him this morning and I shook his hand and said, ‘I’ve been thinking about you all day because of three-peat and I hope I can do that.’ I've wanted to do that for a long time and we got it done.”
Jason Voss was excited to earn another Baja 1000 victory, and especially win it for his teammate and driver of record MacCachren.
“It is three wins in a row for Rob and it was awesome when Rob, Andy (McMillin) and I did it in 2014 because it was my first SCORE Baja 1000 overall win, but to sit back and watch Rob and Andy win together again last year I was happy for them,” Voss said. “When Rob called me and asked me to race again this year I thought it would be awesome to try and get him a third one in a row.”
Finishing in second place behind MacCachren was Carlos Lopez, who finished the race in 17 hours, 39 minutes and 45 seconds.
“The race was very hard with a lot of rugged sections. We passed ten trucks by race mile 100,” Lopez said. “After that we took care of the truck so we could make it to the finish.”
Rounding out the Trophy Truck podium was the team of Troy Herbst and Ryan Arciero, who crossed the finish line in Ensenada in 17 hours, 42 minutes and 10 seconds.
“You've got to bring your A-game to Baja when you're driving against the best of the best,” Herbst said. “We are moving forward and very happy with what is going on. Running from Mike's Loop all the way down Borrego and back up to San Matias the truck is just a rocket ship and ran great. We are excited about building these trucks for the public and it is a switch from what we've done in the past but we've got to help and grow the sport as much as we can.”
The Wilson family of Ronny, Brian and Randy took the win in Class 1, and the key to the victory was having no major issues during the race.
“We didn't touch the car all day but to put a quart of oil in it,” Ronny Wilson said. “It was a great day. The middle sections from about race mile 390 to 420 was just brutal. The dust was hanging in the valleys. You would think you were catching somebody and there wasn't anybody there.
The Wilson team is very happy to secure a 1000 victory, and Ronny was happy he was finally in the driver’s seat for the win.
“We've won every big race except this one,” he said. “As a team we've won it but I've never been in the driver's seat.”
In ever-popular Class 10, Justin Davis earned the win with what he described as a “clean day.”
“The whole game plan was to just keep the car moving and let the race come to us,” he said. “I think we tightened a skid plate and that was about it.”
In the Pro UTV FI class, Branden Sims earned the win with teammate Jacob Carver.
“This machine just killed it today,” Sims said of his Polaris RZR XP4 Turbo. “We didn't get out of the car once and just did scheduled maintenance. The car kept going and never skipped a beat. “
In Pro UTV, Rhys Millen earned the victory aboard his Polaris RZR XP1000.
“We came here dotting the I’s and crossing the T's to really make sure that we had a meticulous effort not only for prep on the car but a strategy for driver changes,” Millen said. “Every member of the crew was on point and it has proven itself in the result.”
After crashing just prior to the race, ride of record on the 1x bike Colton Udall wasn’t able to compete in this year’s 1000, as he suffered a broken collarbone during the crash. The Ox Motorsports Honda team picked up the slack, however, and the team of Justin Jones, David Kamo, Mark Samuels and Daymon Stokie earned the win for Udall.
“These guys did an awesome job,” Udall said after the race. “I really see a difference in how people treat me. They say, ‘What's your team going to do without you?’ We are going to win.”
Earning the win in the Pro Quads class is Javier Robles Jr., who shared riding time with teammates Josh Row, Felipe Velez and Jose Meza Velez.
For a complete list of results, click here.
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