SCORE MEDIA CONTACT: Dominic Clark, Dominic@SCORE-International.com   August 1, 2023  

‘Celebrating 50 Years of SCORE Desert Racing Excellence’

4th SCORE Baja 400, Presented by VP Racing Fuels

Las Vegas’ HerbstX5, Menzies, The G.O.A.T.; McMillinX3,

Polaris Factory Racing, LR, Ampudia, C. Reid, Ja. McNeil,

Salas Jr, Burroughs, Solorzano among earliest entries

 

spectacular event is Round 3 of four-race 2023 SCORE World Desert Championship;

September 13-17 in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico; more info at…

 https://score-international.com/raceinfo/2023-baja-400-sept-12-17-2023/

 

#SCORE Baja 400

NOTE: Current Media unofficial entry list located at bottom of text

       ENSENADA, Baja California, Mexico—‘Celebrating 50 Years of SCORE Desert Racing Excellence’ this year, just four days into the very busy online racer registration, early entries for the upcoming 4th SCORE Baja 400, presented by VP Racing Fuels, include five members of the legendary Terrible Herbst Motorsports team, two-time defending race champion Bryce Menzies, Hall of Famer Rob MacCachren, the G.O.A.T. of off-road racing, the four-member Polaris Factory Racing team, along with SCORE champion racers Larry ‘Mr. Baja’ Roeseler, Alan Ampudia, Andy McMillin, Cody Reid, Jason McNeil, Arturo Salas Jr, Matt Burroughs and Eric Solorzano. WHEN The youngest race in the long and storied 50-year history of the World’s Foremost Desert Racing Organization will be held Sept. 13-17 in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. EARLIEST BIRDS Among the first 76 of the over 225 official entries expected in this newest of the legendary SCORE Baja races are Las Vegas’ Tim Herbst in SCORE Trophy Truck, Tim’s sons Pierce Herbst and Thor Herbst in Trophy Truck Spec, Tim’s nephew E.J. Pierce (Ed Herbst’s son) in a second Trophy Truck Spec vehicle and Tim’s other nephew Riley Herbst (Troy Herbst’s son) will be driver of record in another Trophy Truck Spec vehicle with an alternate DOR to be announced. All six Herbst-family members live in Las Vegas. Also in SCORE Trophy Truck will be Las Vegas’ two-time SCORE Baja 400 champion Bryce Menzies, Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Famer Rob ‘The G.O.A.T. MacCachren, Larry ‘Mr. Baja’ Roeseler, Imperial, Calif., San Diego’s Andy McMillin and his cousins Dan McMillin and Luke McMillin have entered, in three separate vehicles The four-member Polaris Factory Racing team of Craig Scanlon, Orange, Calif., Brock Heger, El Centro, Calif., Austin Weiland, El Cajon, Calif., and Las Vegas Cayden ‘Mini-Mac’ MacCachren are entered in the Pro UTV Open Class. Also, among the first several dozens of earliest entries are Alan Ampudia, Ensenada, Mexico, in SCORE Trophy Truck, Cody Reid, Apple Valley, Calif., in the unlimited Class 1, Jason McNeil, El Cajon, Calif., in Trophy Truck Spec, Arturo Salas Jr, Chula Vista, Calif. (Tecate, Mexico) in Pro Moto Unlimited, Matt Burroughs, Norco, Calif., in the Pro UTV FI class and Eric Solorzano, Tijuana, Mexico, in Class 11. WHAT Online racer registration along with a detailed schedule of events both are available on the SCORE website for Round 3 of the four-race 2023 SCORE World Desert Championship. Entries from all across the United States and around the world are anticipated for the upcoming desert race in Mexico’s Baja California. Inaugurated in 2019, the SCORE Baja 400 was not held in 2020 because of the international pandemic and in 2021 started and finished without spectators Northeast of the central city and returned to the heart of the city in 2022. The three defending overall and SCORE Trophy Truck champions in this new race are Ryan Arciero, Foothill Ranch, Calif. (2019) and Las Vegas’ Bryce Menzies (2021 and 2022). ONLINE RACER REGISTRATION Online registration, by class, for Pro and Sportsman cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads, is ongoing through the SCORE website. Information on all SCORE races can be found on the home page under the Race Info tab. Online racer registration will close at 5 p.m. PDT on Friday, Sept. 1. In person registration will be held in the SCORE Ensenada office until 5 p.m. PDT on Thursday, Sept. 7. For more info, visit

https://score-international.com/raceinfo/2023-baja-400-sept-12-17-2023/

WHERE The race and pre-race festivities will be in the heart of Ensenada, the seaside port on the Pacific Ocean, 80 miles south of San Diego. All race festivities including racer registration, media registration pre-race contingency and the start/finish line compound will all be held in or adjacent to the iconic Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center. Contingency and the start/finish line area will once again be the fantastic, fan-friendly Boulevard Costero. THE FIELD Nearly 225 vehicles are expected at the start line for this third-time SCORE race with racers from as many as 25 U.S. States and 10 countries anticipated. Pro and Sportsman Classes are offered for cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads. In just four days since online registration opened, there are racers from 18 U.S. States, host country Mexico, Australia, Canada, France, and New Zealand. Leading the list of entries to date are SCORE Trophy Truck with 24 entries (including one in SCORE TT Legend for drivers over 50 years old) and Trophy Truck Spec with 24 entries. CINCO ‘LOS TERIBLES’ One of the most legendary families in all of desert racing, the Herbst family has almost all its second and third generation as racers on the Terrible Herbst Motorsports Monster Energy team from Las Vegas entered for this year’s SCORE Baja 400. Started by family patriarch the late Jerry Herbst back in the 1970s and carrying through until the 2010s with brothers Ed, Tim, and Troy Herbst, and all the third generation of the Herbst boys have taken to desert racing. Five family members are entered in this year’s SCORE Baja 400 in four trucks. For this year’s SCORE Baja 400, Terrible Herbst Motorsports will have four of its Herbst/Smith Fab custom trucks in the starting grid, one in SCORE Trophy Truck and three in Trophy Truck Spec with four Herbst family drivers who will actually be drivers in the race. Driver of record in the No. 19 Monster Energy Ford F-150 in SCORE Trophy Truck will be Tim Herbst, 60, who will share driving duties with another celebrated second-gen desert racer from Las Vegas, Pat Dean, 54. Driver of record in the No. 264 Herbst/Smith-Chevy in Trophy Truck Spec will be Tim Herbst’s oldest son Thor Herbst, 24. Second driver in the No. 264 will be Thor’s younger brother Pierce Herbst, 21. The third entry is the No. 263 Herbst/Smith-Chevy in Trophy Truck Spec is EJ Herbst, 22, son of Ed Herbst. His second driver will be New Zealand’s Ryan Millen, 37. Riley Herbst, 24, a top regular in the NASCAR Xfinity stock car racing series is entered as driver of record in the No. 298 Herbst/Smith-Chevy. His alternate DOR for this race is to be announced. With his NASCAR season complete, Riley Herbst will be the actual DOR for the No. 298 in November’s BFGoodrich Tires 56th SCORE Baja 1000. In this year’s recent SCORE Baja 500 in June, Terrible Herbst Motorsports saw Tim Herbst finish seventh out of 32 starters in SCORE Trophy Truck while in the Trophy Truck Spec class that had 31 starters, EJ Herbst finished second with Ryan Millen as alternate driver-of-record because EJ was sidelined with an injury, and Thor Herbst and his brother Pierce finished fourth in class. Midway through the 2023 season, Thor Herbst is second in SCORE Overall points and in the Trophy Truck Spec class while EJ Herbst is third in Overall and in his class point standings while Tim Herbst is currently 11th in the 2023 SCORE Trophy Truck season point standings. AWD MENZIES A one-time protégé of his hometown hero Rob MacCachren, Las Vegas’ Bryce Menzies has molded his own enviable career in desert racing and rally racing out of the Menzies Motorsports race shop in his hometown. Menzies, 35, literally exploded onto the SCORE desert racing scene in 2011 winning the SCORE Overall point championship, the SCORE Trophy Truck season point crown, two individual race wins and was voted as the 2011 SCORE Rookie of the Year. Menzies has nine career SCORE Trophy Truck race wins, the most recent being in June when he won the SCORE Baja 500 for the fourth time in his career. Last September he won the SCORE Baja 400 for the second straight year. A great start that has evolved into branching out into short-course racing, rally raid, long-jump record feats and rock-crawling victories. In 2016 Menzies made history by jumping his off-road truck 115.6m (379.4ft) over a New Mexico ghost town to set a new truck distance record. With nine career SCORE Trophy Truck race wins, Menzies is obviously among the favorites in his No. 7 Red Bull Menzies Motorsports Ford Raptor all-wheel drive SCORE Trophy Truck built by Mason Motorsports.      This year’s SCORE San Felipe 250 was yet another example of his extreme tenacity and talent as he overcame a significant pre-running rollover and six flat tires during the race to finish third overall and in SCORE Trophy Truck. Coupled with his victory in this year’s SCORE Baja 500, Menzies is leading the SCORE Trophy Truck season point standings and his fourth in the overall standings behind, Jason McNeil, Thor Herbst and EJ Herbst. THE G.O.A.T. A second-gen desert racing was the overall winner of last year’s BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 500, Las Vegas’ Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee Rob MacCachren, 58, is always among the favorites in the marquee SCORE Trophy Truck division for high-tech, 1000 horsepower, unlimited custom trucks. MacCachren, admired as the G.O.A.T. of off-road racing, has three career overall and SCORE Trophy Truck victories in the SCORE Baja 500 (1996, 2018, 2022) as well as seven class wins over a period of 33 years starting with his first back in 1990. MacCachren, who is the SCORE All-time leader in career SCORE Trophy Truck race wins with 20, earned his three overall wins in this racing driving solo. The G.O.A.T. has an amazing 315 career race wins in desert, short-course, and stadium off-road racing. After running over half the race among the leaders, MacCachren had mechanical issues in San Felipe but he methodically pushed himself to make it to the finish line as 18th out of 39 starters in his class. In the SCORE Baja 500 he finished ninth as the alternate driver for Adam Householder. He drives his No. 11 BFGoodrich Tires Ford F-150 SCORE Trophy Truck. BIG BLUE M RACING All entered in the marquee SCORE racing division and the current stars of the third-generation of McMillin family racers from the Big Blue Machine, San Diego’s Andy McMillin, 36, and his cousins Dan McMillin, 35, and Luke McMillin, 30, who are also from San Diego, are clearly three of the racers with large targets on their backs as racers to beat in the SCORE Baja 400. …‘THE LUKE’ Continuing to emerge as the baby-faced ‘Face of SCORE’, San Diego’s third-generation desert racer Luke ‘The Luke’ McMillin, roared his way to the top of the point leaderboard in the SCORE Trophy Truck division and eventually the top of the SCORE Overall point leaderboard as well in 2022. Driving solo the first three races of 2022, Luke McMillin finished first in the SCORE San Felipe 250, sixth place in the SCORE Baja 500, second-place in the SCORE Baja 400 and capped the season with the help of the G.O.A.T. (Las Vegas’ Rob MacCachren who drove the first 394 miles) by winning the season-ending SCORE Baja 1000 to complete his championship 2022 season in the SCORE World Desert Championship. The youngest of the current active McMillin racers, Luke McMillin won the featured SCORE Trophy Truck division and the SCORE Overall and SCORE Truck title in 2022 in his McMillin Racing No. 1 4 Wheel Parts All Wheel Drive Chevy 1500 built by Mason Motorsports. Luke McMillin opened the 2023 SCORE World Desert Championship with a flawless SCORE Trophy Truck and SCORE Overall race victory at the King Shocks 36th SCORE San Felipe 250. Luke McMillin now has five career SCORE Trophy Truck race wins and earned a threepeat in in the 2022 BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 1000, presented by 4 Wheel Parts, splitting the driving with Las Vegas’ Rob MacCachren as his second driver. McMillin won the 2021 SCORE Baja 1000 as the second driver for MacCachren and in 2020 he won the iconic race with Larry Roeseler as his additional driver. In this year’s SCORE Baja 500, ‘The Luke’ overcame mid-race mechanical issues and fought back to a fourth-place finish and continue to be second in SCORE Trophy Truck season points, just three points behind the class-leading Menzies. In the three previous SCORE Baja 400 races, ‘The Luke’ has finishes in SCORE Trophy Truck of 12th in 2019, second in 2021 and second again in 2022. …DAN McMILLIN One the third-generation of McMillin family racers from the Big Blue Machine, San Diego’s Dan McMillin, 35, races in the featured SCORE Trophy Truck division against his younger brother Luke McMillin, his cousin Andy McMillin, and as many as 40 expected SCORE Trophy Truck entries. Dan McMillin won the 2020 SCORE Baja 500 which was held in San Felipe because of the pandemic and he drives the No. 23 4 Wheel Parts AWD Chevy 1500 built by Mason Motorsports. In 2022, Dan McMillin finished 22nd in the season-opening SCORE San Felipe 250, 10th in the SCORE Baja 500 and third place in the SCORE Baja 400 and capped the year by finishing second behind his brother in the SCORE Baja 1000. For the year, Dan McMillin finished second (behind his brother Luke McMillin) in the 2022 SCORE Trophy Truck season point standings, his best finish in the featured racing division and the SCORE Overall point standings. Dan McMillin finished 15th in SCORE Trophy Truck in this year’s season-opener in San Felipe and seventh in the SCORE Baja 500 in June. …ANDY McMILLIN Andy McMillin, who won the SCORE San Felipe 250 in 2019 on the way to winning the SCORE Trophy Truck season point championship that year. Andy McMillin is tied for second with 11 career SCORE Trophy Truck race wins and he was the 2019 overall and SCORE Trophy Truck season point champion. At the end of the 2022 season, Andy McMillin sold his race truck and his race shop for economic reasons and returns for this year’s SCORE Baja 400 to drive the Menzies Motorsports No. 31 Red Bull Ford Raptor built by Mason Motorsports. POLARIS FACTORY RACING New super-team on the block this year is the Polaris Factory Racing team and the sport’s first purpose-built race ready UTV. Driving three all-new Polaris-engineered race machines all in the Pro UTV Open class are Cayden MacCachren, Austin Weiland, and Brock Heger. Team principal is Craig Scanlon, a former Polaris executive who continues to race in the Pro UTV Open class, former SCORE champion racer Ryan Thomas as the general manager and Adam Arsenault who is operations director at the team’s 10,000 sq. ft. race shop in San Diego. Crew Chief is Johnny Nelson, a two-time winner of the SCORE Mechanic of the Year Award (2013, 2019). The team made an auspicious debut at the 2023 King Shocks SCORE San Felipe 250 by all finishing in the top 10 in their class—first, fourth, sixth and 10th. In the 2023 BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 500, PFR finished first, ninth, 14th and one DNF out of 20 starters in their Pro UTV Open class. The team shares the same sponsors and vehicle livery supported by a team of Polaris off-road engineers. --SCANLON Team principal of SCI Motorsports, Craig Scanlon, 49, Orange, Calif. (Helena, Mont.) drives the No. 1831 Polaris RZR Pro R where he started the 2023 SCORE World Desert Championship by winning the Pro UTV Open class as well as recording the fastest time of a SCORE-record 64 total UTVs competing in the SCORE San Felipe 250 in five different classes. He endured an unfortunate DNF in the SCORE Baja 500 in June. Technically he is not part of the new Polaris Factory Racing team, but he obviously receives considerable assistance from the team that the leads. His second driver for the SCORE Baja 500 will be Max Eddy, 40, of Barstow, Calif. Eddy is a former SCORE motorcycle racing champion. --MINI-MAC Being son of the G.O.A.T. of off-road racing (Rob MacCachren), Las Vegas’ third-generation desert racer Cayden ‘Mini-Mac’ MacCachren, 21, has clearly stepped away from his famous father’s tracks and is forming his own trail in desert racing. In just a few short seasons, Cayden MacCachren has raced in multiple SCORE classes Cayden MacCachren finished his ‘rookie’ season by finishing third in the 2021 SCORE World Desert Championship point standings in the Pro UTV FI class as the second driver for Brandon Schueler. Cayden MacCachren was voted as the 2021 SCORE Rookie of the Year for his exemplary efforts. Last season he raced part of the season in Pro UTV FI and part in the Trophy Truck Spec class.      Cayden MacCachren has spent several years in Baja prior to the last two-plus seasons. Mini-Mac has driven for pre-running with his famous father while dad Rob records all the course notes for both of them. He opened the 2023 season with a fourth-place finish in Pro UTV Open in San Felipe. He finished 14th in class in the SCORE Baja 500. With his new Polaris Factory Racing team, Cayden MacCachren is the driver of the No. 1821 SCI Motorsports Polaris Pro-R. --WEILAND      Austin Weiland, 30, El Cajon, Calif. started through the youth ranks of karts, oval dwarf cars and eventually moving into short course off-road racing. Weiland has been competing full-time in the Pro UTV FI (Forced Induction) class in the SCORE World Desert Championship for the last few years. After a DNF in San Felipe last season, Weiland roared to three consecutive Pro UTV FI class wins to end the SCORE season—capturing his competitive class at the SCORE Baja 500, SCORE Baja 400 and the SCORE Baja 1000. This year, he pilots the No. 1827 SCI Motorsports Polaris Pro-R. His long-time second driver is Dylan Schmoke, 30, Santee, Calif. In the season opener in San Felipe, Weiland finished sixth in Pro UTV Open. He followed that up with a ninth-place finish in the SCORE Baja 500. --HEGER      Brock Heger, 23, El Centro, Calif., has excelled in every discipline of racing and has over 100 wins and 200 podiums on his resume so far. Most recently, Heger has raced in Pro-Lite short course trucks and Production UTVs in the Champ Off Road Series, earning championships in both classes as well as most recently as the second driver in the Trophy Truck Spec class in SCORE races. Heger drives the No. 1896 SCI Motorsports Polaris Pro-R. He opened the new campaign with a 10th place finish in his new class. He won his class in the SCORE Baja 500 to move him into the point lead in his Pro UTV Open class in the SCORE World Desert Championship. LR—MR. BAJA A racing legend on both sides of the Border, Hall of Famer Larry Roeseler simply goes by ‘Mr. Baja’ in Mexico. Living in Boulevard, Calif., Roeseler, 66, has been racing in SCORE Baja races since the early 1970s with an unrivaled record of excellence both on two wheels as well as four wheels. In the SCORE Baja 1000, LR, as he is also known by friends and competitors, has a race-record 14 overalls (including 10 on motorcycles) among his 18 career class wins. In the SCORE Baja 500, Roeseler has an amazing 12 overall wins, including nine on motorcycles among his 18-career class wins in this race as well.  His first class win in the SCORE Baja 500 was in 1972 on a motorcycle and his most recent was in 2021 in SCORE Trophy Truck. This year Roeseler is again be the solo driver in SCORE Trophy Truck for the No. 43 Cantina Racing Baja Vida Toyota Tundra built by ID Designs. In 2021, Roeseler won the SCORE Baja 500 overall and drove solo to a strong finish in the SCORE Baja 1000 peninsula run. The SCORE Baja 500 victory in 2021 gave him five career SCORE Trophy Truck race wins. In the 2020 season finale at the SCORE Baja 1000, Roeseler drove the first half of the race for the overall winning Luke McMillin. The very popular Roeseler is an inductee into both the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame (ORMHOF) (2012) and the American Motorcycle Association (AMA) Hall of Fame (1999).      After finishes of seventh and third place, LR is currently in third place in the 2023 SCORE Trophy Truck season point standings. AMPUDIA-PAPAS Y BEER Alan Ampudia, 32, of Ensenada, Mexico, is a major part of the second-generation of Mexican SCORE desert racers from the well-known Ampudia family, who own Papas Y Beer night clubs in Ensenada, Mexico and Rosarito Beach, Mexico. Alan Ampudia drives the AWD No. 10 Papas Y Beer Ford Raptor built by Mason Motorsports. Ampudia and his younger brother Aaron Ampudia drove to the overall and SCORE Trophy Truck victory the 2019 SCORE Baja 1000. Alan Ampudia was as high as third in the 2022 SCORE Trophy Truck season points, but a DNF in the SCORE Baja 1000 dropped down to 10th in points for the 2022 season. Driving solo so far in 2023, Alan Ampudia opened the season with a second-place finish in SCORE Trophy Truck in the SCORE San Felipe 250. He averaged 61.63 miles per hour over the 263.50-mile race course, finishing second overall as well, seven minute, 16 seconds behind the race winner Luke McMillin. In the SCORE Baja 500, Alan Ampudia had a mechanical issue force him out of the race. He is currently 15th in the SCORE Trophy Truck season point standings. REID READY A second-generation SCORE desert racer, Cody Reid returns to this year’s SCORE Baja 400, presented by VP Racing Fuels, after winning the unlimited Class 1 in both the 2022 and the 2023 SCORE Baja 500. After racing in separate classes for a several years, Cody Reid, 31, Apple Valley, Calif., was reunited in 2021 with his mother Shelby Reid to form a very formidable unlimited Class 1 team. The Reids debuted their No. 168 Chevy-powered Alumi Craft AWD open-wheel desert race car by winning their class in the 2021 SCORE San Felipe 250. Shelby Reid, 55, is also a former SCORE class point champion and has announced retirement from behind the wheel. After a rare DNF in last year’s SCORE San Felipe 250, the Reids were scheduled to split the driving in the 2022 SCORE Baja 500, but Shelby dropped out because of a family issue that came up during race week and Cody Reid roared to the Class 1 victory driving solo. In his solid career, Cody Reid has won two SCORE season class point crowns, both in Class 10 (2014, 2015). In the SCORE Baja 500, he has two class wins, 2019 in Class 10 and last year in Class 1. To open the 2023 SCORE World Desert Championship, Cody Reid finished third in Class 1 in the SCORE San Felipe 250, won Class 1 in the SCORE Baja 500 and leads the Class 1 point standings midway through the season. McNEIL MOVIN’ Jason McNeil has moved up to lead the points in not only Trophy Truck Spec but also is the SCORE Overall point leader midway through the 2023 SCORE World Desert Championship. McNeil, 45, of El Cajon, Calif., drives the No. 234 TSCO-Chevy in the class with the largest number of entries so far this season. He has a total of 268 points after the first two races of the season. Part of an avid desert racing family with several relatives racing as well, McNeil won the Trophy Truck season point championship in 2021. After his victory in this year’s SCORE Baja 500, McNeil said at the finish line, “A lot of things happened today, but it was good. Besides all that, we had a flawless day and never got out of the truck. We ran into a SCORE TT Legend truck in an accident, he pulled over but was halfway on the course and I tried to get out of the groove and there was really nothing we could do. The hood was flapping in my face for like 80 miles and that was frustrating, but we cut it off during out pit stop.” “From there on, we were just cruising. We picked up quite a few cars and got a lot of cars between us and the second place. That was the big difference today. It’s a dream coming true. It’s really hard to win the SCORE Baja 500 in this class, there’s a lot of competition. There are nine or ten fast guys who can win on any day. We had some close calls and some risks we had to take, but that’s what you have to do here. No risk, no reward.” SALAS JR      Winning the overall motorcycle for the second straight year in the SCORE Baja 500, and the first time as rider of record of his own race team was Arturo Salas Jr, 21, Chula Vista, Calif. (Tecate, Mexico) with another young gun Clayton Roberts, 21, Hesperia, Calif.  The talented new duo covered the blistering course in a penalty-free 10:29:59, averaging 45.11 miles per hour on their hard-charging KTM 450XCF. In one of the most competitive motorcycle battles in recent SCORE history, Salas Jr battled three other teams for the majority of the race, exchanging leads physically several times. Last year, Salas Jr was on the winning motorcycle team led by Bolivia’ Juan Carlos Salvatierra. In his first SCORE race as the rider of record with his own team, an emotional Salas Jr, expressed at the finish line, “It was a very good race. It took us a lot of time and effort to make it possible and this would never have been such a good race without the support of our incredible team and our amazing families. The race was awesome, full of competition.” “We battled the 9x (Connor Eddy), 3x (Ciaran Naran) and 1x (Juan Carlos Salvatierra) until the very last mile and I want to give them props for a great race and for keeping it fun. We had a perfect bike the entire race, I bet it could still run another 500 miles if we had to. I have no complaints at all and am very happy about how it turned out.” BUROUGHS KING OF UTVs Another of the top honorees of the 2022 SCORE World Desert Championship was Matt Burroughs. With three fourth-place finishes and one ninth-place, consistency provided big dividends for Burroughs as he won the 2022 Pro UTV FI (Forced Induction) class championship, but also the SCORE Overall UTV point championship as well with his 485 season points. All the numbers added up and his point total placed him fifth in the 2022 SCORE Overall point standings as well. Burroughs, 54, Norco, Calif., a Can-Am Factory driver, drove his No. 2948 Can-Am X3 to his second season championship in three years in 2022. In 2020 he was also the SCORE Overall point champion. For this year’s SCORE Baja 400, his second driver will again be Bradley Howe, 34, Leona Valley, Calif. Burroughs opened this year with sixth place out of the SCORE-record 30 starters in the Pro UTV FI class in San Felipe. He then placed third out of 22 starters in his class in the SCORE Baja 500, giving him enough points to lead the Pro UTV FI class in season points at the halfway point of the 2023 season. YO 11-11 Eric Solorzano is a legendary Mexican racer who has risen from humble beginnings as an orphan in Tijuana to becoming the winningest Mexican national in SCORE racing history. Solorzano, 62, was also part of the Class of 2022 to be inducted into the prestigious Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame. He started racing off-road on motorcycles in local races around Tijuana in 1974 and continued until 1988 when he decided to trade two wheels for four after an injury so he could continue racing. He bought his first VW Bug in 1989. His first race was in 1991. He still owns, and races, the same car, more than 30 years later. Solorzano competes in Class 11, the stock VW class. He first competed in the Mexican Record Series and later SCORE. In SCORE racing, Solorzano has won 11 SCORE season point championships in his No. 1111 VW Sedan and still competes to this day. A husband and father of eight, Solorzano also has 11 class wins in the SCORE San Felipe 250, nine in the SCORE Baja 1000 and seven in the SCORE Baja 500. His thousands of fans in Mexico view him as an inspiration for what hard work and preparation can do for a person. He opened the 2023 season with a fifth-place finish in Class 11 in San Felipe followed by a second-place podium finish in the SCORE Baja 500 to currently sit second in Class 11 points for the 2023 season. GREEN FLAG It is an elapsed-time race with staggered starts with the green flag dropping on Saturday (Sept. 16). Motorcycles and Quads will start at 5:30 a.m. PT, Cars, Trucks, and UTVs will start at 8:15. When finalized, the race course will be 386.42 miles. While the fastest vehicles will finish in about eight hours, the elapsed-time race will have a 16-hour time limit to become an official finisher. THE FIELD Nearly 225 vehicles are expected at the start line for this fourth-time SCORE race with racers from as many as 20 U.S. States and 10 countries anticipated. Pro and Sportsman Classes are offered for cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads. START GRID-SCORE BAJA 1000 The results of the SCORE Baja 400 also will determine the start order within each class for November’s iconic season-ending BFGoodrich Tires 56th SCORE Baja 1000. DRAW DEADLINE The starting order within each class for this race (except for the classes that are qualifying), will be determined by a random drawing for those entries received online and paid in full by 5 p.m. (PDT) on Friday, Sept. 1. No additional online entries will be accepted after 5 p.m. PDT on Friday, Sept. 1. Late, on-site racer registration will be held on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (Sept. 13-15). In person registration will be held in the SCORE Ensenada office until 5 p.m. PDT on Thursday, Sept. 7. PRE-RUNNING Official practice, or pre-running, on the official 386.42-mile race course for this year’s 4th SCORE Baja 400 will open at 8 a.m. PDT on Saturday, Sept. 2. Pre-running will begin at race mile 38.92, ending at race-mile 345.49. The first section to up race mile 38.92, which will be used in both directions during the race, will be available for pre-running only on Thursday (Sept. 14) and Friday (Sept. 15) and only in the outbound direction. QUALIFYING      Qualifying for starting positions within their respective classes will be held on Wednesday (Sept. 13), starting at 7 a.m. PDT. Classes that will be qualifying for the 4th SCORE Baja 400, presented by VP Racing Fuels, are SCORE Trophy Truck, SCORE TT Legend, and the Trophy Truck Spec class. Starting order for qualifying will be determined by the order in which each vehicle enters the race. MAIN COURSE The race will feature a course, when fully plotted and then marked over the next several weeks by SCORE President/Race Director Jose A. Grijalva, of 386.42 miles of rugged Baja California terrain. The challenging race course will be 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 seashore with elevations from sea level to over 3,000 feet. The course will be another jewel reflecting the stark beauty of Baja California. A HAPPENING… Colorful race week festivities will start on Wednesday, Sept. 13 to help celebrate this newest SCORE Baja race. They will be held in or adjacent to the landmark Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center in the heart of Ensenada. Chassis inspections and pre-tech/Stella device check and installation will be held on Wednesday (Sept. 13) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PDT by appointment (619.572.8245) and on Thursday (Sept. 14) chassis inspection/pre-tech/Stella bracket check and installation will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PDT on Blvd. Costero just past the start/finish ramp. Friday (Sept. 15) will see the colorful day-long, pre-race Manufacturer’s Midway and contingency festival in the start finish line area in Ensenada. From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. PDT contingency row will be held for all classes. Tech inspection/Transponder checks/Stella/SPICA device pickup will be from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. PDT on Friday as well at the end of the manufacturer’s row. During the race on Saturday, Sept. 16 until the course closes on Sunday morning, Sept. 17, the start/finish line compound will include the massive double-sided SCOREvision LED screen broadcasting race festivities, the start, live race action from around the course and finish line interviews. Popular Rat Sult will once again serve as host of the SCORE Live streaming. Assisting Sult will be veteran voice Dave Arnold. Contingency and the race itself will be streamed live, airing via the internet on the SCORE website. Included in the exclusive race coverage, along with vehicle tracking, will be live drone and in-car camera footage from various locations around the race course. There will also be hosts in the SCORE Studio bringing live updates during the race. AT THE RIVIERA… The historic Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center, in the heart of Ensenada, will again be the site of many of the activities surrounding the 4th SCORE Baja 400, presented by VP Racing Fuels. Racer registration and media registration will both be held in Salon Rojo on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (Sept. 13-15). On Wednesday (Sept. 13 for qualifying teams only) racer registration will be held from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. PDT. On Thursday (Sept. 14) it will run from 9a.m. to 5 p.m. PDT, and on Friday (Sept. 16) from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Wednesday, no new entries will be accepted after 7 p.m. PDT, on Thursday and Friday after 4 p.m. PDT. SCORE Media Registration will be held in Salon Rojo at the Riviera on Wednesday (Sept. 13) from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. PDT and on Thursday and Friday (Sept. 14-15) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PDT. The start/finish line for the race will once again be adjacent to the iconic Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center on Blvd. Costero. SCOREscope 2023 GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY SCHEDULE Here are the dates for the remaining two races in the four-race 2023 SCORE World Desert Championship Golden Anniversary season, ‘Celebrating 50 Years of SCORE Desert Racing Excellence’, which are being held totally in Baja California, Mexico for the eighth consecutive year: ·       4th SCORE Baja 400, presented by VP Racing Fuels— September 13-17, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico ·       BFGoodrich Tires 56th SCORE Baja 1000— November 13-18, La Paz, Baja California Sur to Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico SCORE SPONSORS… Official SCORE Sponsors: BFGoodrich Tires-Official Tire and Race Title Sponsor, Ford-Official Truck and SUV, King Shocks-Official Shock Absorber and Race Title Sponsor, Polaris RZR-Official UTV, VP Racing Fuels-Official Fuel and race presenting sponsor, Baja Vida-Official Snacks and race presenting sponsor, Optima Batteries-Official Batteries, Rugged Radios-Official Radio Communications, Wide Open Excursions-Official Arrive and Drive Company, Crystal Bay Casino-Official Casino. SCORE Official Partners: The Satellite Phone Store, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance. Additional SCORE Associate Partners: Baja California Secretary of Tourism, MEXICO Secretary of Tourism, San Felipe Foundational Municipal Council, Ensenada Municipal Government, San Felipe Marketing Tourism Committee, Ensenada Marketing Tourism Committee, Ensenada Hotel and Motel Association, Proturismo Ensenada and Cruz Roja Mexicana. For more information regarding SCORE, visit the official website of the SCORE World Desert Championship at www.SCORE-International.com.

‘Celebrating 50 Years of SCORE Desert Racing Excellence’

4th SCORE Baja 400, presented by VP Racing Fuels

Round 3 of four-race 2023 SCORE World Desert Championship

Sept. 13-17 - Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico – 386.42 miles

Total Entries: 76 (as of 8/01/23)

(from 18 U.S. States, host Mexico, Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand)