SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1544512
SURVIVING SAN FELIPE Polaris Factory Team Racer Brock Heger Attacks The Field With A Vengeance By Larry Saavedra Photos by Get Some Photo It was an endless series of whoops, according to some UTV teams describing the 281 miles long KING Shocks 39th SCORE Baja San Felipe 250. But it was much more than whoops, it was also brutally fast, the perfect racing combination they added, to kick off the 2026 SCORE World Desert Championship series. Coming out on top Overall was Polaris Factory team racer, Brock Heger, who took the SCORE UTV Overall win, and the SCORE Pro Open Class win. According to his sponsor Polaris, Heger starts the season on an absolute tear, kicking it off with precision. While Heger and the Polaris Factory Team of SCI Motorsports did well, Baja was unfortunately tough with the rest of the UTV classes. SCORE Pro UTV Open Heger controlled his pace for most of the course, only suffering punctures in two tires, and a minor suspension issue. His start from back in the field meant he did a lot of passing until he was comfortable enough to hold the lead into the finish. With a time of 5:51:29.301, Heger beat out all of the UTVs by a healthy margin and was faster than all of the Class 10 cars. One surprise was Polaris Factory team racer Joe Terrana in the No. 1898 RZR. It was Terrana’s first ever Baja with the new team, and he crossed the finish line only minutes behind Heger. Terrana took second for his first podium finish. “It was awesome,” he said. “We had a flawless day. We didn’t have to get out of the car once. We stopped just for fuel and a flat but at the pit stop, so that was all good. And we just made it all the way in. Clean and fast, that’s all. Being a part of this new team for me has been pretty sweet. Everything’s been working out pretty well and these cars, they work flawlessly. For the rest of the season, our goal is to come out here and try and get some more wins.” Making it a clean sweep for Polaris Dallas Gonzalez in the No. 1851 RZR ended up third. “It was a good day,” he said. “I can’t complain, we’re here. I started off the race pretty mellow; I didn’t really push until race mile 40. I got passed by a couple of people, and then just kind of picked up the pace, and kind of started clicking off people. And here we are now in P3. The car is awesome, but we had no test time on it. We kind of just threw it together. It was my brother’s first-time co-driving.” Kristen Matlock said she had a great time at San Felipe, after finishing 7th in the standings. “The course was rough as we anticipated,” she said. “It’s San Felipe, so I would expect no less, but it was a hot one too. It’s been hot all week long, and so we just tried to stay cool, tried to keep moving. No flats, that was awesome on my Yokohama tires. We lost a couple axles, unfortunately. Matlock said they had to change two axles, and also a belt 50 miles from the finish.” “We would have done a little bit better,” she added. “But you know what? A 7th place in class, and I’m totally happy with a top 10 down here with the competition the way it was.” Matlock said it was the roughest SCORE San Felipe 250 ever. She said it was hard to navigate with the speeds they have to run because of the competition. It’s Matlock’s 11th year running a Polaris RZR. SCORE Pro UTV Forced Induction Can-Am Factory-supported racer in the No. 2935 Maverick R, Kaden Wells, also posted a win in SCORE Pro UTV Forced Induction. He did so even though he raced a hastily tuned Can-Am pre-runner, instead of his race-prepped Maverick R. Wells said, a fire destroyed his race car back in the states. He had about a month to rethink how to race the pre-runner in Mexico. Can-Am typically dominates this class and at the SCORE San Felipe 250 they didn’t disappoint the fans. Can-Am took the podium 1,2 3 in SCORE Pro UTV FI. Wells’s time of 6:03:27.955, 30 minutes ahead of second place finisher Erick Kozin in the No. 2940 Maverick R. Kozin did have a few penalties but retained second place officially. Ivan Rivera in the No 2954 Maverick R held onto third place in class. Missing from the field at the SCORE San Felipe 250 was Can-Am Factory racer Phil Blurton Jr., who captured two first place finishes for Can-Am in 2025. Blurton told SCORE Journal that he and Can-Am decided to sit out this season and race in the states. “My intention is to get back to Baja in ‘27 after we dial in the race cars, and figure out a strategy moving forward,” SCORE Pro Stock UTV Although primarily racing SCORE Pro UTV Open and Pro UTV FI, Baja veteran Craig Scanlon, in the No. 3931 RZR, stepped in and captured the win in SCORE Pro Stock UTV. Scanlon’s time of 6:44:26.152 beat out everyone in class by three minutes. Elexander Noble, who ran SCORE UTV Open in 2025 moved into RZR No. 3946 and took second behind Scanlon. “The course was very, very difficult,” Scanlon said. “The heat was not fun, but we had a pretty clean race. We got a rock inside the wheel and chewed it up and that caused a flat towards the end, but otherwise it was clean. Sometimes you have to go slow to go fast, right? But it was a great race, and I appreciate SCORE for putting it on.” Francisco Beltran in the No. 3900 Can-Am enjoyed a great season last year in SCORE Pro Stock UTV after winning the Class Championship, unfortunately Beltran ended up outside the top 5 in class at the SCORE San Felipe 250. Beltran said both rear shocks developed serious leaking, and his crew managed to replace one of them at mile-marker 170, but it wasn’t enough after the other started leaking. He practically had to crawl over the many whoops without adequate suspension. “We thought we were prepared for anything, but apparently not,” he said. Endy Chavez in the No. 3928 Can-Am Maverick R had a flawless race and ended up taking third place. Sportsman UTV Open/Stock The course was also difficult for the Sportsman UTV racers, but 100-percent of them finished the race. On top was the No. 1814 Yamaha of Ricardo Acevedo. Behind him was the No. 1808 Can-Am of Chuck Lopeman, followed by Travis Oakes in the NO. 1818 Can-Am. SJ • The 1814 team of Ricardo Acevedo finished first in SCORE Sportsman UTV