We’re back from an exciting weekend of racing in Baja, Mexico. The SCORE Series headed back to Ensenada for the Baja 400. The course takes drivers from the coastal dunes to the rocky mountains of the Baja peninsula. As we would see, the day would take its toll on the field with only 82 of the 133 vehicles crossing the finish line. Coming into Ensenada at the end of the day in first place was none other than Luke McMillin, continuing to build upon his 2026 SCORE winning streak.
Backing up his victories from the San Felipe 250 and the Baja 500, Luke McMillin has continued to dominate the field. McMillin crossed the line, piloting his Mason TT, with a time of 8:40:50 and an average speed of 48.75 mph. After qualifying in 3rd place, Luke started shortly after qualifying leader Christopher Polvoorde.
Polvoorde had a strong start with a top position in qualifying, but unfortunately his truck would suffer a blown engine putting him out of the race early on. Bryce Menzies would follow closely behind McMillin and cross the finish line in second position.
Menzies and Polvoorde drove together at last years Baja 1000 and won. With McMillin continuing to lead the series, the 1000 is bound to be an exciting match up between these legends and the rest of the field.
MATLOCK PUTS LIVEIQ ON TOP
Prior to the Baja 400, the Factory RZR Racing Team had dominated the UTV class to the point where they announced a bet: Beat us and win $50,000.00. The legendary Wayne Matlock took the challenge head on and drove his PRO R to an Overall UTV win, beating out the entire Factory RZR Racing Team. Wayne finished in a time of 9:54:28 with an average speed of 42.71mph, his time would put him in to 16th overall position. In addition to the money from Polaris, Matlock walked away with a crisp $5,000.00 from the FOX contingency program.
Wayne's PRO R is equipped with Live Valve shocks. This is an electronic semi-active damper system that constantly adapts to the terrain. The Live Valve system consists of dampers, sensors, and a central algorithm. The Algorithm is the brain of the system, telling the shocks to open/close based on inputs from the vehicle. Matlock's set up includes a propriety algorithm, developed in house, known as LIVEIQ.
LIVEIQ is unlike any other semi-active damper algorithm, because its designed by us. With 1000s of hours of testing in our own race trucks and testing along side the best drivers in the world, we have been able to develop a flexible software that allows us to fine tune the ride experience. For every track. For every driver. Wayne has driving Live Valve equipped vehicles for almost a decade, and has been helping develop the LIVEIQ algorithm for over a year now.
Our learnings with racers has enabled us to tailor the LIVEIQ algorithm to suit the needs to daily drivers and off-road enthusiasts, with the introduction of the Aftermarket kits for Trucks & SUV.
The Baja 1000 is the last race of the SCORE SERIES. Our team is gearing up to test & tune with our athletes ahead of the most exciting race of the season.
