ENSENADA, Mexico
In what will likely go down in history as one of the most classic battles in desert racing history, solo driver B.J. Baldwin held it all together for 441.15 miles of the rugged Baja peninsula to capture the Overall 4-Wheel victory Saturday by a mere seven seconds over the veteran team of Mark Post/Rob MacCachren at the 40th Tecate SCORE Baja 500.
Driving the No. 97 Baldwin Motorsports Chevy Silverado SCORE Trophy-Truck, Baldwin covered grueling desert race course in nine hours, 10 minutes, 47 seconds, averaging 48.06 miles per hour to win the closest overall four-wheel vehicle finish in the 40-year history of the second oldest desert race in the world.
Post and MacCachren, the reigning SCORE Trophy-Truck point champions finished first physically in the elapsed-time race but the corrected-time results revealed their second place finish as Baldwin started 60 seconds behind the Post/MacCachren No. 1 Riviera Racing Ford F-150 SCORE Trophy-Truck, but came into the finish line just 53 seconds after MacCachren had crossed it.
“This win is massive. It is very important to me,” said Baldwin, the 2006 SCORE Trophy-Truck season point champion. “I have a hand full of trophies, but what I don’t have is that Montezuma thing, the first overall in a SCORE Baja race. That’s what I always wanted.”
Brian Collins finished third overall and in SCORE Trophy-Truck with new teammate Chuck Hovey, crossing the line 15 minutes behind Baldwin in a time of 9:25:47 in the No. 12 Collins Motorsports Mopar Dodge Ram 1500.
Earning a third consecutive overall motorcycle victory was the team of Robby Bell and Kendall Norman on the No. 1x Johnny Campbell Racing Honda CRF450X.  
Riding the fastest ATV in the race for his second win of the season and first in this race was the team led by Wayne Matlock, Marc Spaeth and Wes Miller on a new Honda TRX700XX.
Luis Ramirez, Jr. was the first Mexican national to win the unlimited Class 1 in this race, finishing fourth overall among 4-wheel vehicles in a Chevy-powered HMS open-wheel desert race car in 9:36:55.
Venerable veteran Rod Hall became the all-time winningest driver in the history of this race by earning his 18th class win and remaining undefeated in three SCORE races this year. Hall and Mike Winkel piloted his Rod Hall Racing Hummer H3 to first place in Stock Mini. Hall, 70, finished an hour and a half after his youngest son Chad Hall, who won the Stock Full class.
Earning his 12th career class win in this race and 11th in the last eight years, a team led by Jim O’Neal won Class 50 on a Honda CRF450X. O’Neal’s co-riders were Doug Heil, Andy Kirker, Dan Dawson, Paul Needles, Mike Sixberry and Craig Adams.
Rick St. John won for the second time this season in SCORE Lite and finished 10th overall in a Duvell-VW.
Staying undefeated in 2008 with their third straight win and their sixth class win in this race was the Moss Brothers Racing team, led by Donald Moss, who won Class 3 in a Ford Bronco.
Also winning for the second time this season were Adam Pfankuch (Class 1-2/1600, Mirage-VW), Jason Voss, (Protruck, Ford F-150) female driver Heidi Steele, (Class 7SX, Ford Ranger) and Kevin Carr (Class 5, unlimited VW Baja Bug).
 Winning their respective classes for the second straight year were Jose Montoya (Class 5/1600, 1600cc VW Baja Bug), Dan Chamlee (Class 7, Ford Ranger) and Ramon Fernandez (Class 11, VW Sedan).
Other 4-wheel vehicle class winners included Jesus Gonzalez (Class 10, Dunrite-Honda), Daniel Reyes, (Class 9, Venegas-VW) and Noah Ostanik (Class 8, Ford F-150).
Among the motorcycle classes, two other teams won their respective classes for the second straight year: rider of record Carlos Casas (Class 21, KTM 450CXF) and the team led by rider of record Brett Helm (Class 40, Honda CRF450X).
Winning the motorcycle Class 20 race was the team lead by Chad Black on a Honda CRF250X, while winning the ATV Class 24 race was the team led by Francisco Servin on a Honda TRX450R.
The team led by Donald Lewis, won Class 60 for riders over 60 years old for the second straight race of the season on a Honda CRF450X.