Aussies Win Baja 500, World Turns Upside Down

On a particularly rugged, mountainous Baja 500 course in northwest Mexico that saw roughly one third of competitors drop out, Australians Toby Price and Paul Weel poured their years of experience into a win in the BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 500.

Weel and Price finished the 482.97-mile race in 9 hours, 20 minutes, and 22 seconds, for an average speed of 51.71 mph in their Mason-built Chevy Silverado.

“After a tough few years, this is an epic reward for our small but mighty crew!” Price said on his Instagram page.

Weel, who drove the first 360 miles, was equally enthusiastic. “We tried so hard for the last two years and we knew it was coming, but it’s fantastic to finally get one.”

The course itself was the biggest challenge for many of the 254 race teams taking part in the second round of the 2024 SCORE Desert World Championship, with 169 crossing the finish line on Ensenada's Boulevard Costero, for a 66.54 finisher percentage.

Team Australia’s victory was the first overall SCORE Baja win for both drivers in SCORE International and in SCORE Trophy Truck. For Price, in particular, it was impressive, considering the multi-talented driver/rider has also won the Dakar Rally twice on motorcycles.

“Getting this win is one box ticked for us, it's exceptional,” said Price at the finish line. “It’s a big effort to come from Australia and compete with these guys, so I’m very proud of the team for the effort… We had a good, clean run, with no issues and no drama. We were fighting with Tavo (Vildósola Jr., No. 21) all day.”

Vildosola Jr. held on to take second driving his Ford Raptor to finish just seven minutes behind Team Oz. It was Vildosola Jr.’s second podium in a row out of two races run so far this season. Christopher Polvoorde took third in a Mason-built Ford Raptor in 9:30:37.

On motorcycles, the win went to the Hero Racing team of Arturo Salas Jr., Carter Klein, and Ciaran Naran, who shared riding duties on a Honda CRF450X.

It was the third consecutive overall motorcycle victory for the youthful Salas Jr. in the SCORE Baja 500, despite running out of gas and having to push his bike two to three miles.

“I had that problem, but fortunately some fans gave me gas,” Salas said. “They were on the hill, although I had to walk the bike about two or three miles. Unfortunately that caused me to be overtaken by Justin (Morgan, who wound up finishing second on another CRF450X). In general, the bike was very good all day, so we did a great job in this race.”

Gustavo Vildósola Sr., father of Gustavo Jr., with co-driver Ricky Johnson, scored their 10th consecutive SCORE Trophy Truck Legends victory in a row with the fifth fastest overall time of 9 hours, 51 minutes, and 48 seconds in their No. 1L Ford Raptor Mason.

Another multi-generational racer, Polaris Factory Racing’s Cayden MacCachren, son of multi-time-winner Rob MacCachren, won the UTV Overall and UTV Pro Open class in his RZR Pro R Factory. This marks the younger MacCachren’s third consecutive victory in the SCORE series, having won the 2023 Baja 1000, and kicking off the season with a win at the San Felipe 250.

Next up is the SCORE Baja 400 Sept. 11-15 and then the season final at the BFGoodrich SCORE Baja 1000 Nov. 12-17.