El Rey Network airing one-hour special show Sunday at 6 p.m. PT on BFGoodrich Tires 50th SCORE Baja 500

SCORE MEDIA CONTACT: Dominic Clark, dominiccnv@aol.com

September 6, 2018

Racing in Ensenada, Mexico

El Rey Network airing one-hour special show Sunday

at 6 p.m. PT on BFGoodrich Tires 50th SCORE Baja 500

 

Epic race was second round of the four-race 2018 SCORE World Desert Championship;  

grueling 542.12-mile race included Pro, Sportsman cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles & quads

 

    ENSENADA, Baja California, Mexico—Coverage continues on the El Rey Network Sunday of the four-race 2018 SCORE World Desert Championship with a one-hour show spotlighting the BFGoodrich Tires 50th SCORE Baja 500. The newest show will premiere on Sunday (Sept. 9) at 6 p.m. Pacific Time.

     Hosts of the ERN shows from the SCORE World Desert Championship this year are SCORE champion racers Cameron Steele and Alan Ampudia.

     Producing these shows for SCORE is award-winning BCII TV of Los Angeles.

STATES/COUNTRIES/STARTERS

     With the 321 official starters being a solid eighth-most  and the 187 finishers the fifth-most in the 50-year history of this great race., U.S. racers among the field ranged from Alaska, Hawaii, California, Washington and Oregon in the Pacific West, Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico in the Mountain West, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Connecticut in the Northeast, Illinois, Ohio, South Dakota, Kansas and Texas in the Midwest and Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia in the South.

     In addition to 32 U.S. States, racers came from 14 total countries. In addition to the USA, U.S. Territories Guam and Puerto Rico, racers came from host Mexico, Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Peru and Spain.

RACE REWIND

     Patience and fortitude along with a trusty steed carried Las Vegas’ iconic Hall of Fame desert racer Rob MacCachren to his second straight overall SCORE win June 2 as he won the golden anniversary celebration of the 50th BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 500 in dynamic fashion by starting first, never losing the physical lead and finishing first in the elapsed-time race.

BIG BONUS

     Race title sponsor BFGoodrich Tires also paid a US$25,000 contingency bonus to MaCachren for his overall victory to help commemorate this year’s race. He earned the 32nd overall 4-wheel victory for his tire sponsor BFGoodrich Tires in this race. He won on BFGoodrich Baja T/A KR3 tires.

THE PODIUM

     Starting first and never passed while defeating a strong field of 321 starters including 33 in the marquee racing division for high-tech, 950-horsepower, unlimited custom trucks, MacCachren, 53, drove to victory over a tremendously tough 542.12-mile race course, finishing in his trusty warhorse-- No. 11 Rockstar Energy MacCachren Motorsports Ford F-150 (built by Geiser Bros of Phoenix) in a penalty-free 11 hours, 21 minutes, 15 seconds, averaging 47.75 miles per hour.

    MacCachren earned a victory margin of three minutes, 32 seconds over Luke McMillin, 25 of San Diego, who finished second overall in 11:24:47 at 47.50 mph in the No. 83 Mark Racing Ford F-150.

    For MacCachren it was his sixth class win and second overall triumph in the SCORE Baja 500 as he increased his SCORE-record total of career SCORE Trophy Truck race wins to 17. While finishing second three times in this race by less than four minutes total, including a seven-second loss to Las Vegas’ B.J. Baldwin in 2008, MacCachren’s first overall win here came in 1996 when he was racing for the powerful BFGoodrich Tires Rough Riders team in SCORE Trophy Truck.

     Improving on his fifth place finish in San Felipe, Ryan Arciero, 44, Lake Forest, Calif., deftly drove himself to the final spot on the podium with a third-place overall and SCORE Trophy Truck finish in his No. 32 Ford F-150 in 11:29:06 while averaging 47.20 mph.

MORGAN WINS MOTO OVERALL

     Riding the No. 7x Honda CRF450X, Justin Morgan, 25, El Cajon, Calif. and his three-rider team raced to the overall motorcycle victory for his third overall motorcycle win in this race in the last four years. Repeating their SCORE San Felipe 250 win earlier this year, they crossed the finish line in11:54:58 at an average speed of 45.49mph.

      Morgan split the riding with Mark Samuels, Yucca Valley, Calif. who won his second overall moto title in this race in three years and Justin Jones, Murrieta, Calif. who won his first SCORE overall moto title in this race.

     The win was also the 20th overall motorcycle victory for Honda in the SCORE Baja 500.

OVERALL UTV

     Pulling off a major upset by winning over a SCORE-record field of 35 starters in Pro UTV FI, 13 starters in Pro UTV and three starters in Pro UTV Unlimited, Kristen Matlock was the overall UTV winner and Pro UTV NA (Normally Aspirated) class winner in the race. Matlock, 37, of Alpine, Calif., drove solo in Pro UTV NA to a winning time of 14:26:47 in a Polaris RZR XP4 1000 for a victory margin of over 31 minutes over the second place finisher among all 51 of the Pro UTVs that started the race.

     A veteran competitor in her class and winner of the season opener in San Felipe, Matlock’s victory was even more impressive by the fact that she defeated all of the normally-faster Forced Induction UTVs as well.

     Keeping things in the family, her husband Wayne Matlock, 40, finished second in the higher-powered Pro UTV FI class in a Polaris RZR XP4 Turbo. The married couple both won their respective classes in the season-opening SCORE San Felipe 250 in early April.

SCOREscope

2018 REMAINING SCHEDULE

• Lucerna Hotels & Resorts Tijuana 22nd SCORE Desert Challenge, Sept. 19-23, Tijuana, Mexico
• 51st SCORE Baja 1000, Nov.14-18, Ensenada, Mexico

2019 SCHEDULE

     Here is the four-race 2019 SCORE World Desert Championship and for the fourth consecutive year all races are being held in Baja California, Mexico:

• 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. 18-22, Ensenada, Mexico
• 52nd SCORE Baja 1000, Nov.19-24, Ensenada, Mexico

TV TIME

     Next on the broadcast airwaves for SCORE, the BFGoodrich Tires 50th SCORE Baja 500 race coverage show is scheduled to debut on the El Rey Network at 3 p.m. PT on Sunday, Sept. 9.

     El Rey Network is a 24-hour, English-language lifestyle network and is available in 45 million homes across the country through cable and OTT providers and via satellite on DirecTV Channel 341 and Dish Network Channel 253. For more information on how to watch El Rey visithttp://elreynetwork.com.

SCORE SPONSORS…

     Official SCORE Sponsors: BFGoodrich Tires-Official Tire and official race title sponsor, Monster Energy-Official Energy Drink, King Shocks-Official Shock Absorber, Polaris RZR-Official UTV, RACELINE Wheels-Official Wheel, VP Racing Fuels-Official Fuel, Lucerna Hotels & Resorts-Official Hotel and official race title sponsor, Wide Open Excursions-Official Arrive and Drive Company, Crystal Bay Casino-Official Casino.

     SCORE Official Partners: PCI Race Radios, 4 Wheel Parts, The Satellite Phone Store, Satellite Del Norte.

     Additional SCORE Associate Partners: Proturismo Ensenada, Baja California Secretary of Tourism, Mexicali Ayuntamiento, COTUCO Mexicali/San Felipe, Cruz Roja Mexicana, Corporate Helicopters, McKenzie’s Performance Products, Advanced Color Graphics.

     Lucerna Hotels & Resorts 22nd Tijuana SCORE Desert Challenge Special Partners: XXII Ayuntamiento de Tijuana, Baja California State Secretary of Tourism, Comite de Turismo and Convenciones, Comite de Marcadotecnia Turistica, Lucerna Hotels and Resorts, Asociacion de Hoteles del Noroeste.

     For more information regarding SCORE, visit the official website of the SCORE World Desert Championship at www.SCOREInternational.com.