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51st Annual SCORE BAJA 500 Pre-running opens Saturday
SCORE MEDIA CONTACT: Dominic Clark, dominiccnv@aol.com May 16, 2019 51st annual SCORE Baja 500
Roeseler, MacCachren, Troy Herbst, Gordon, Baldwin, Letner, Menzies, A. Lopez, Vildosola Jr, A. McMillin all seek more gold
Pre-running on 487.11-mile course opens Saturday;
177 entries to date from 24 States, 10 Countries;
Round 2 of four-race 2019 SCORE World Desert Championship
to be televised on ABC World of X Games;
Contingency, start/finish to be held for first time at Estero Beach Resort
in Ensenada; May 29 to June 2;
Race entry closes May 21, event info available at
http://score-international. com/raceinfo/2019-baja-500/
ENSENADA, Baja California, Mexico – Past overall race winners Larry Roeseler, Rob MacCachren, Troy Herbst, Robby Gordon, B.J. Baldwin, Harley Letner, Bryce Menzies, Carlos ‘Apdaly’ Lopez, Gustavo ‘Tavo’ Vildosola and Andy McMillin will be seeking more glory as they are among the entry field to date for the upcoming 51st Anniversary celebration of the legendary SCORE Baja 500.
With 27 SCORE Baja 500 overall wins between the 10 of them, racers from around the world will converge on Baja California, Mexico when pre-running on the challenging 487.11-mile course opens on Saturday.
Round 2 of the four-race 2019 SCORE World Desert Championship will be held May 29-June 2. The celebratory internationally-televised race will start and finish at the Lucas Oil Off-Road Stadium at the Estero Beach Resort in Ensenada, the seaside port on the Pacific Ocean, 80 miles south of San Diego.
Ensenada is a coastal city on the Bahia de Todos Santos area of the Pacific Ocean, 80 miles south of the U.S. border at San Diego.
SHOWTIME
Most the world’s best desert racers will be in action at this year’s celebration of one of the top 10 motorsports events in the entire world. The race will be televised on a delayed basis as a one-hour special on the ABC Network World of X Games programming. Los Angeles’ award-winning BCII TV will provide the production work of the telecast.
Like all SCORE races, it is an elapsed-time race with staggered starts as the green flag on Saturday (June 1) will drop first for the motorcycles and quads at 4 a.m. (PDT) and approximately 8 a.m. (PDT) for the cars, trucks and UTVs. The start/finish line area will be at the Lucas Oil Off-Road Stadium in Ensenada.
Over 250 vehicles are expected at the start line with racers from nearly 30 States and as many as 15 countries anticipated. Long-time SCORE sponsor BFGoodrich Tires has also posted a US$25,000 contingency bonus for the overall 4-wheel winner to help commemorate this year’s race.
PRE-RUNNING
Official practice, or pre-running, on the official 487.11-mile course for this year’s 51st SCORE Baja 500 will open on Saturday at 8 a.m. PT. Pre-running will start at race mile 30.41 near Uruapan and finish at the same location at race mile 456.76.
The section from the start to race mile 30.41 may only be run outbound and only on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of race-week. GPS files, course notes and preliminary Racer’s Briefing are available on the race page on the SCORE website under race info.
THE CHAMPS
With four of the former champions are all from Las Vegas, and all 10 former overall champs are racing in this year’s race in the marquee SCORE Trophy Truck division, the marquee racing class for high-tech, 950-horsepower unlimited custom trucks. Included on the entry list are former SCORE Baja 500 overall winners Roeseler (11 overalls, including 9 on a motorcycle), MacCachren (1996, 2018), Troy Herbst (1996, 2002, 2003), Gordon (1989, 1990, 2005, 2013), Baldwin (2008), Letner (2009), Menzies (2011, 2012, 2014), ‘Apdaly’ Lopez (2015), ‘Tavo’ Vildosola (2016) and A. McMillin (2010, 2017).
Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame racer Roeseler, 62, of Imperial, Calif., is a SCORE Baja racing icon with nine overall wins (1975, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1993) over three decades on a motorcycle and two (2002, 2003) in a four-wheel vehicle (unlimited Class 1 with Troy Herbst). This year will be the second driver for Las Vegas’ Mark Post in the No. 3 Riviera Racing Ford F-150 in SCORE Trophy Truck.
Another Hall of Famer, MacCachren, 54, Las Vegas, drives the No. 11 Rockstar Energy MacCachren Motorsports Ford F-250 (Geiser builder) and is the reigning SCORE Trophy Truck season point champion and last year’s SCORE Baja 500 race winner. He also has the most career SCORE Trophy Truck race victories with 17 among his more than 300 total class wins in his legendary career in the desert, short-course and stadium off-road racing.
Troy Herbst, the youngest of the three racing Las Vegas Herbst brothers at 52, has seven class wins in the SCORE Baja 500 including his three overall wins. He will drive this year in the No. 54 Monster Energy Terrible Herbst Motorsports Ford F-150 (Herbst/Smith). His second driver will be Pat Dean, also one of the prominent Las Vegas desert racers.
Gordon, 50, the SoCal transplant and former NASCAR and Indy Car racer who lives in Charlotte, N.C., has five class wins in this race, including his four overalls and pilots the No. 77 Speed Energy Team Gordon Chevy Silverado (Custom).
Baldwin, 39, also of Las Vegas, has one overall win in this race and will be driving the No. 97 Monster Energy Baldwin Motorsports Toyota Tundra (ID). In his championship race in 2008, he defeated MacCachren by a mere seven seconds in the 500-mile race.
A third-generation SCORE desert racer, Letner, 35, of Corona, Calif., won the overall in 2009 in the unlimited Class 1 with his cousin Kory Halopoff in what was the last time a class other than SCORE Trophy Truck captured the overall race victory. In this year’s race he will be the second driver for Kevin Thompson in the No. 70 Ford Raptor (Herbst/Smith).
Mexico’s Lopez, 24, who became the first Mexican national to win this race overall in 2015 and is the a three-time SCORE Trophy Truck season point champion (2015, 2016, 2017), drives the No. 9 RPM Racing Chevy Rally Truck (Geiser).
Mexico’s Vildosola Jr, 37, won the 2016 SCORE Baja 500 to join the elite group of nine racers who have won the SCORE Baja Triple Crown for overall wins in the SCORE San Felipe 250, the SCORE Baja 500 and the SCORE Baja 1000. Vildosola Jr will be driving the No. 21 Vildosola Racing Ford Raptor (Vildosola).
The fourth Las Vegas racer in the group of former overall champions entered this year, Menzies, 31, won three overalls in four years and drives the No. 7 Red Bull Menzies Motorsports Ford Raptor (Huseman).
San Diego’s third-generation desert racer A. McMillin, 32, who won this year’s season-opening SCORE San Felipe 250 as well as this race last year, has three class wins in the SCORE Baja 500 including his two overall wins and will be racing this year in his No. 31 McMillin Racing Chevy Silverado (Mason).
CHALLENGING COURSE
The 51st anniversary SCORE Baja 500 race course, designed and finalized by SCORE President/Race Director Jose A. Grijalva is a rugged, challenging 487.11 miles. The course will run in a clockwise direction starting and finishing for approximately one mile in each direction on the off-road track at the Lucas Oil Off-Road Stadium. The first and last 30.41 miles up to Uruapan and back will be shared course outbound and inbound.
The historic race course is another memorable example of all that Mexico’s Baja California has to offer, including high-speed dirt trails, sandy, rocky and silty natural terrain, majestic Baja washes and canyons, stretches along the Pacific Ocean seashore with elevations from sea level to over 3,000 feet. The course will be another jewel reflecting the mesmerizing, stark beauty of Baja California.
This year’s 51st anniversary course will have four physical checkpoints, 146 virtual checkpoints and 11 speed zones (total of 41.72 race miles).
The four checkpoints will be located as follows: Checkpoint No. 1-Nuevo Junction (Race Mile 144.50), Checkpoint No. 2-San Matias (RM 256.32), Checkpoint No. 3-Vicente Guerrero (RM 343.47) and Checkpoint No. 4-Santo Tomas (RM 446.08).
Reflecting on the course, Grijalva commented, “This is going to be the one of the roughest and toughest as well as one of the most spectacular SCORE Baja 500 race course. There are numerous areas of the course that SCORE has never used before in its long and storied history in Baja.”
Among the other towns, areas and landmarks the course goes through or near are San Carlos wash, Uruapan, Santa Catarina, the Summit, Borrego, Mike’s Sky Rancho, Rancho El Coyote, San Telmo, Rancho Montes, Santo Domingo wash, Camalu, Colonet, San Vicente and the wash at Erendira.
THE COUNT
The total of 177 entries to date have come from 24 U.S. States and 10 total countries--host country Mexico, Argentina, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Peru and Venezuela.
States among the field range so far from California, Washington and Oregon in the Pacific West, Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico in the Mountain West, New York and Connecticut in the Northeast, Illinois, Nebraska, Iowa, Ohio, and Texas in the Midwest and Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia in the South.
Leading the entries so far is the marquee SCORE Trophy Truck division for high-tech, 950-horsepower, unlimited custom trucks with 37 official entries as of today.
SCORE Trophy Truck, in its 26th year as the featured racing division in the sport, have been the overall winners of the SCORE Baja 500 for the last nine consecutive years and 14 of the last 15.
Other classes with double-figure entries so far besides SCORE Trophy Truck with 37 are Trophy Truck Spec with 23 entries, Pro UTV FI (Forced Induction) with 16, the unlimited Class 1 with 12 and Class 10 with 10
Leading the motorcycle classes so far with seven entries each are Pro Moto 30 (riders 30 years old and over) SPT Moto.
ONLINE RACER REGISTRATION
Online registration, by class, for Pro and Sportsman cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads, is ongoing through the SCORE website at http://score-international.- 33rd SCORE San Felipe 250, April 3-7, San Felipe, Mexico
- 51st SCORE Baja 500, May 29-June 2, Ensenada, Mexico
- Inaugural Lucerna SCORE Baja 400, Sept. 19-23, Ensenada, Mexico
- 52nd SCORE Baja 1000, Nov.19-24, Ensenada, Mexico
51st annual SCORE Baja 500
Round 2 of the four-race 2019 SCORE World Desert Championship
May 29-June 2, 2019—487.11 miles –Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
Total Entries: 177 (as of 5/16/19)
(from 24 U.S. States, host Mexico, Argentina, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Peru, Venezuela)
(Start order based on finish results from SCORE San Felipe 250,
balance to be drawn)
Pro Cars/Trucks/UTVs
SCORE TROPHY TRUCK (37)
31 Andy McMillin
32 Ryan Arciero
23 Dan McMillin
50 Zak Langley
83 Luke McMillin
16 Cameron Steele
14 Bobby Pecoy
41 Justin Lofton
40 Chris Miller
77 Robby Gordon
7 Bryce Menzies
19 Tim Herbst
97 Robert ‘BJ’ Baldwin
*1L Scott Bailey
10 Alan Ampudia
*37L Rolf Helland
85 Mike Lawrence
*72L Rob Reinertson
15 Billy Wilson
11 Rob MacCachren
*79L Russell Buehler
45 Gary Magness
2 Tony Smiley
4 Justin Matney
*5L Clyde Stacy
*55L Jose de Jesus Flores
33 Todd Tuls
To be Draw 1
3 Mark Post
9 Carlos ‘Apdaly’ Lopez
21 Gustavo ‘Tavo’ Vildosola
*25L Mark Winkelman
27 Jonathan Brenthel
28 Corey Keysar
54 Troy Herbst
99 Dale Dondel
To be Draw 2
57 Mike Palmer
70 Kevin Thompson
*SCORE TT LEGEND
CLASS 1 (12)
100 Brad Wilson
168 Shelby Reid
185 Justin Davis
162 Brendan Gaughan
129 Brandon Bailey
106 Derek Fletcher
To be Draw 1
138 Brian Wilson
150 Morgan Langley
To be Draw 2
127 Cody Parkhouse
166 Brady Turner
167 Rhys Millen
113 Damen Jefferies-RS
TROPHY TRUCK SPEC (23)
279 Austin ‘A.J.’ Jones
204 Sara Price
299 Charles Dorrance
232 Chelsea Magness
209 Rafael Navarro IV
274 Elias Hanna
246 James Scully
250 John Langley
294 Vincent Munoz
295 William Hedrick Jr
260 Luis Pelayo
253 Mike Perez
211 Pat Sims
218 Chad Dohrman
266 Scott Biernot
270 Kelly McArthur
240 Bobby Patton
To be Draw 1
208 Andrew Entwistle
297 Bill McBeath
To be Draw 2
238 Scott Kiger
254 Joe Brain
257 Shane Redline
220 Craig Christy-RS
CLASS 2 (1)
2022 Hammond Meredith
HAMMER TRUCK UNLTD (2)
To be Draw 2
4402 Casey Currie
4421 Mike Hales-RS
CLASS 10 (10)
1022 Rafael Aguirre
1068 Cody Reid
1002 Clay Lawrence
1058 Jeremy Davis
To be Draw 1
1062 J.J. Schnarr
To be Draw 2
1063 Ruben Torres
1069 Dan Berg
1078 Augie Cortez
1087 Ivan Tagle
1099 Rick Little
CLASS 7 (2)
700 Daniel Chamlee
To be Draw 2
709 Jeff Proctor
CLASS 5 (2)
To be Draw 2
527 Dustin Grabowski
510 Gerardo Ibarra-RS
PRO UTV FI (16)
2905 Marc Burnett
2919 Brandon Schueler
2987 Edgar Garcia
2977 Justin Elenberg
2930 Sean Cook
2989 Wes Miller
3995 Daniel Parker
2912 Tony Riggs
To be Draw 1
2910 Scott Trafton
To be Draw 2
2917 Jason Murray
2918 Justin Lambert
2911 Michael Mamelli Jr
2927 Justin Smith
2936 Jacob Carver
2948 Matthew Burroughs
2971 Wayne Matlock-RS
SCORE LITES (7)
1206 Freddie Willert
1202 Matias Arjona IV
1212 Martin Lizarraga
1224 Javier Rochin
To be Draw 2
1208 Rich Roberts
1247 Wes McKenzie
1255 Darren Walsh
PRO UTV NA (6)
1995 Kaden Wells
To be Draw 1
1912 Rickey Arslanian
To be Draw 2
1906 Mark Levrett
1958 George Felix
1985 Adrian Arellana
1954 Kristen Matlock-RS
CLASS 1/2-1600 (3)
To be Draw 1
1600 Oscar Alvarez
To be Draw 2
1683 Juan Peralta
1609 J. David Ruvalcaba-RS
PRO UTV STOCK (2)
To be Draw 1
3931 Craig Scanlon
3937 Brad Lovell
CLASS 8 (1)
852 Spencer Morgan
CLASS 5-1600 (4)
599 Hector Hurtado
550 Luis Herrera
To be Draw 2
571 David Heredia
582 Rodolfo Martinez
CLASS 7F (3)
700F Brandon Walsh
To be Draw 1
704F Aaron Celiceo
714F Justin Park
CLASS 7SX (2)
751 Mike Lesle
740 Gerardo Novelo-RS
CLASS 3700 (1)
3791 Brett Maister
CLASS 11 (3)
1111 Eric Solorzano
To be Draw 1
1113 Kent Thygerson
To be Draw 2
1109 Mauro Diaz
Sportsman
SPT UNLTD TRUCK (1)
2044 Russ Hopkins
Pro Motorcycles
PRO MOTO UNLIMITED (5)
1x Justin Morgan
66x Santiago Creel
To be Draw 2
12x Webster Whinery Jr
18x Araben Agundez
69x Ben Hagle
PRO MOTO LIMITED (3)
100x Santiago Creel
To be Draw 2
150x Alirio Amado
152x Alirio Amado
PRO MOTO 40 (3)
444x Jason Trubey
To be Draw 2
420x Paul Thomas
436x Bobby Wilbanks
PRO MOTO 30 (7)
308x Ryan Liebelt
360x Santiago Creel
325x Jano Montoya
304x Chris Racan
365x Nick Lanning
300x Luis M. Gomez
To be Draw 1
370x Francisco Septien
PRO MOTO IRONMAN (3)
To be Draw 2
708x Joe Janas
714x Lawrence Janesky
737x Joseph Amirault
PRO MOTO 50 (4)
500x Giovanni Spinali
To be Draw 2
502x Julian Guerra
506x Mark Adams
508x Eizaburo Karasawa
Pro Quads
Pro Quad (2)
2a Don Higbee
To be Draw 1
3a Oskar Espinoza
Sportsman
SPT QUAD (5)
100a Danny Magdalena
To be Draw 1
170a Carlos Napoles
To be Draw 2
130a Nakol Hernandez
135a Jesus Valezuela
148a Alejandro Amador
SPT M/C (7)
284x Shane Schorno
228x Scott McIntosh
To be Draw 2
234x Clay Adams
237x Rachel Van Diepen
251x Seiji Kubota
257x Steven Miller
266x Roy Buelna