HURRICANE — The Baja 1000 and the Mint 400 are two of the toughest off-road races in the world, and Southern Utah’s Kaden Wells drove both of them this year in spectacular fashion.

Wells, a St. George resident and part of the Risq Racing team based in Hurricane, finished first in his class at the Mint 400 in Las Vegas during the first week of December.

“We had a pretty good race,” he told St. George News. “We started near the back and ended up taking the physical lead in lap 2, I think. Just paced ourselves and didn’t have any issues.” 

Each lap at the race is 97.5 miles, and each driver must finish four laps. Wells won the Pro NA 1000 class after posting his time of 9 hours, 11 minutes, 16.709 seconds.

“I had a new co-driver, Emma Cornwell; she did an awesome job,” Wells said, adding that co-drivers are vital because they help the driver anticipate course changes and stay connected to their racing team, which monitors the racers with GPS tracking during the race.

The victory was made even sweeter by Corbin Wells, Kaden’s brother, who finished on the podium with his third-place time of 09:26:40.908, earning Risq Racing two of the top three positions in the race.

“Most of the time my spot is fourth, but I’ve been pushing a little bit harder,” Corbin Wells said, noting he doesn’t get as much driving time as his brother. “I’ve been trying to keep up with him. It was weird being on the podium with him. It wasn’t expected, but I was super stoked.”

Both brothers are alumni of Desert Hills High School and are now fully vested in the racing business with their parents, Travis and Libby Wells.

The family makes up Risq Racing, with Libby Wells doing the marketing and seeking sponsors, Travis Wells turning the wrench, and the two boys driving..

Risq Racing is a Polaris factory racing team, which allows them to drive Polaris vehicles in races and get discounts on equipment.

Libby Wells said her sons started walking early and were into moving fast at a young age. They started out doing BMX racing, she said, but then were introduced to UTV’s and off-road racing when friends of the family invited them to a race at Sand Hollow.

The family took their Polaris 900 out to the race and were immediately hooked.

“We were like, ‘Go race it. It’ll be fun,’” she said. “That was it. After that it was full force. And we go all in once we decide to do something.”

Several years later, Wells said the family gets to share in achievements as a racing team.

“We’re pretty into what we do,” she said. “But we love it. It’s cool because we can do this as a family. It’s kept the boys out of trouble – as far as I know.”

Along with picking up the family finish at the Mint 400, Kaden Wells collected his fourth Milestone Award at the Baja 1000 this year.

The Baja 1000 is regarded as perhaps the most difficult off-road race in the world, traversing the length of the Baja Peninsula in Mexico.

The race is a series, meaning there are four different races per year, with the ultimate event being the 1000 mile desert course in November.

Milestone Awards are presented to those drivers who complete every mile of the entire series, totaling over 2,000 miles in the season.

After racing to his third Baja 1000 championship this year, Wells earned his fourth Milestone Award, an accomplishment Libby Wells lauded.

“These are pretty prestigious, and to have four is impressive,” she said. “To race every single mile of every single race, these are hard to come by. Not a lot of people achieve that. So these are pretty cool to us.”

Risq Racing plans on being at the top races again next year and is thinking about a future appearance perhaps at the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia, the peak of the off-road racing world.

Wherever it is, Kaden Wells said they just plan on continuing to race, “just trying to get better.”

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