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The SCORE Baja 400 is just around the corner, and this one comes with a little extra incentive: $50,000 is on the line for any UTV racer who can take down the RZR Factory Racing team.
Introduced earlier this summer, the Polaris SCORE Challenge gives any UTV racer, regardless of manufacturer, the opportunity to claim the $50,000 purse by defeating all four RZR Factory Racing entries and winning the UTV Overall at the Baja 400. If no one gets it done, the prize carries over to the Baja 1000.
Just a few weeks ago, Brock Heger powered his RZR Pro R Factory to the UTV Overall win at Vegas-to-Reno, earning the team its first-ever victory at the legendary race. Now the team heads back across the border, where Heger enters the Baja 400 leading the SCORE UTV Open Championship, alongside teammates Cayden MacCachren, Ethan Groom, Joe Terrana and Rodrigo Ampudia Jr., who are also ready to put their RZR Pro R Factory machines at the front of the field.
But the rest of the field has already shown it can make things interesting. At the Baja 500, Branden Sims, a Polaris Factory-supported racer, claimed the UTV Overall win, followed by Wayne Matlock and RZR Factory Racing’s Ethan Groom to give Polaris a 1-2-3 sweep. Polaris racers ultimately locked out the top nine overall UTV positions, with Mitch Guthrie Jr., Dallas Gonzalez and Joe Terrana rounding out the top six.
Sims’ Baja 500 victory made him the first racer to beat the RZR Factory Racing team at a SCORE event since the program launched in 2023, so the question heading into the 400 is pretty simple…
Can Sims do it again? Can another manufacturer finally take the $50,000? Or will RZR Factory Racing defend its territory and keep the SCORE Challenge alive for the Baja 1000?
The SCORE Baja 400 takes place this weekend, September 11–13 in Baja California.
