2022 SCORE San Felipe 250: Race Preview

For the first time in 2022, more than 250 car, truck, motorcycle, quad, and UTV entries will take to the sand for SCORE World Desert Championship action in this weekend’s King Shocks SCORE San Felipe 250. The 277-mile loop race will see top car and truck competitors take on qualifying on Thursday, with tech and contingency on Friday for all entries. Saturday will see a 6AM PT start time for motorcycles and quads, with the top Trophy Truck qualifier rolling off at 10AM PT.

After a number of years of UTV entries taking the title of World Desert Champion, 2022 could see a shift back to a Trophy Truck (or even TT Spec) overall SCORE champion. Those divisions have the largest entry lists prior to on-site registration, with the premier trucks numbered at 35 (plus seven Legends entries) and the TT Spec teams boasting an impressive 37. In comparison, the Pro UTV Forced Induction class, which produced last year’s overall champion in Phil Blurton, will have 26 entries in San Felipe.

The Trophy Truck field is led by defending champion Rob MacCachren, but the full entry list includes a who’s who of the sport: 2021 San Felipe winner Bryce Menzies, Justin Lofton, Tim Herbst, Cameron Steele, the Concrete Motorsports duo of Kevin Thompson and Harley Letner, two marquee Brenthel Motorsports trucks for Jonathan Brenthel and Kyle Jergensen, and all three McMillins—Andy, Luke, and Dan—are on there. Jason McNeil will look to defend his TT Spec title against a stacked field that includes the highly anticipated return of brothers Brett and Christian Sourapas, plus 2021 runner-up and third place finishers Jorge Sampietro and Jeff Bader, defending San Felipe winner Jason Coleman, and numerous secondary entries from Trophy Truck teams.

Blurton won’t be in San Felipe, opening the door for defending Pro UTV FI podium finishers Brandon Schueler, Austin Weiland, and Wes Miller to lead the way in that division. Kaden Wells headlines the Pro UTV NA division as he looks to back up last year’s title, while the expanding Pro UTV Open field sees defending Pro Stock champion Mike Cafro face off with the husband and wife duo of Wayne and Kristen Matlock in their pair of Polaris RZR Pro Rs.

Following San Felipe, the 2022 SCORE World Desert Championship continues on June 1-5 with the 54^th BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 500, followed by the 3^rd SCORE Baja 400 on September 13-18 and 55^th BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 1000 on November 15-20. As always, live coverage throughout the weekend will be followed by one-hour highlight shows on ESPN’s World of X Games in the coming months.