ENSENADA, Mexico — Bryce Menzies, Luke McMillin and Robby Gordon were the top three qualifiers Wednesday among nearly 200 racers expected to start Saturday’s second SCORE Baja 400, presented by VP Racing launches the second half of the four-race SCORE World Desert Championship.
The newest SCORE race is being held in Baja California, just northeast of Ensenada.
Held on a 5.37-mile course east of Ensenada, Menzies powered his way in a time of 7 minutes, 52.444 seconds, averaging 40.92 mph in his No. 7 all-wheel drive Mason-built Ford Raptor SCORE Trophy Truck. He was the fastest of 27 SCORE Trophy Trucks out of the 34 entries who attempted to qualify.
Menzies edged McMillin by .51 hundredths of a second to earn the top spot.
McMillin, the defending SCORE Trophy Truck season point champion, will start second in Saturday’s race after completing the qualifying course in 7:52.444 (40.91 mph) in his AWD Mason Motorsports built Chevy Silverado SCORE Trophy Truck.
Veteran off-road racer Gordon, 52, finished third in qualifying, covering the 5.37 miles in 8:00.517 (40.23 mph). Gordon is a former indy car, NASCAR and rally driver who owns and drives in his own off-road series.
The fastest qualifier in Class 1 was Cody Parkhouse, turning in a hot lap of 8:38.138 while averaging (37.31 mph) in the No. 100 Chevy-powered Jimco open-wheel desert race car.
Top qualifier out of 26 entries in the Trophy Truck Spec class was Christopher Polvoorde with a time of 8:27.415 (38.10 mph) in the No. 204 Mason Motorsorts-built Ford Raptor. He was the 22nd racer to qualify in his class.
SCORE Trophy Truck, SCORE TT Legend, Class 1 and Trophy Truck Spec were the only four classes required to qualify for starting positions as the other start positions in the various classes were determined by a drawing.