Course map unveiled for 51st annual SCORE Baja 1000

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

September 29, 2018

Nov. 13-18 race dates

Course map unveiled for 51st annual SCORE Baja 1000 Saturday;

‘Racing into History’ book signing again Sunday at Off-Road Expo

 

SCORE Baja 1000 exhibit in Building 5 Sunday at SoCal’s Fairplex

in Pomona saluting 51st anniversary of world’s most iconic desert race

 

    POMONA, Calif., USA— Another radically rugged race route for November’s 51st SCORE Baja 1000 was unveiled Saturday at the SCORE Baja 1000 exhibit area in Building 5 at the Lucas Oil Off-Road Expo at the Fairplex in Pomona, Calif. The popular consumer show concludea Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (PT).

THE RACE

      Over 300 entries, from 35 U.S. States and 20 countries are expected to compete in this year’s 51st anniversary celebration of the SCORE Baja 1000 which is revered worldwide as the Granddaddy of all Desert Races.

     The world’s most iconic, oldest, prestigious and longest continuously held desert race, this year’s SCORE Baja 1000 will be a loop race of 806.76 miles in the northern state of Mexico’s majestic Baja California peninsula. It will start for the 44th time and finish for the 25th time in Ensenada and dates for the race and race week festivities are Nov. 12 through Nov. 18. The race is annually the finale of the four-race SCORE World Desert Championship, which has been held exclusively for the past three years in Baja California.

     With a total time limit of 36 hours in the elapsed-time race, the motorcycle and quad classes will start at 4 a.m. (PT) on Friday, Nov. 16 and the car, truck and UTV classes will follow with their start on at 10:30 a.m. (PT)on Friday, Nov. 16. This year’s course map is available on the SCORE website under race info on the SCORE Baja 1000 page at 51st Annual Baja 1000 Course Map

THE EXPO

     The colorful and extensive 51st SCORE Baja 1000 exhibit area in Building 5 is again offering desert-racing and off-road performance fans the opportunity to interact with many of the top desert racers in the world and legends of the sport while enjoying viewing the most radical motorsports vehicles ever developed from the past and the present.

BOOK SIGNING—‘Racing Into History’

     As a special added attraction to the SCORE Baja 1000 Exhibit at this year’s event is a pair of book signing sessions to help launch the sale of the new 416-page hard-cover book entitled ‘Racing Into History’, a pictorial celebration of last November’s BFGoodrich Tires 50th SCORE Baja 1000.

     While the elaborate book, which features a historical records section as well, will be on sale again Sunday at the Expo and the final showcase book signing session will be held from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. PT.

     Among the legends, past and present, scheduled to appear at the SCORE Baja 1000 ‘Racing Into History’ book-signing sessions are SCORE owners Roger and Elise Norman, legendary Ivan ‘Ironman’ Stewart and current racers Larry Roeseler, Rob MacCachren, Ed Herbst, Cameron Steele,  Carlos ‘Apdaly’ Lopez, Marc Burnett, Broc Dickerson, Wayne Matlock, Kristen Matlock, Joe Bacal, Mark Stahl Raul Rodriguez Jr and Christian Sourapas. SCORE also expects some other ‘surprise’ SCORE Baja racing legends as well for the two autograph sessions including several of the Monster girls.

BEFORE BAJA…VIVA LAS VEGAS

     SCORE Trophy Truck (including the SCORE TT Legend class), the marquee SCORE racing division for high-tech, 950-horsepower, unlimited custom trucks class will have a special qualifying session for start positions on Tuesday, Oct. 30 on the Off-Road Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The marquee SCORE racing division will be showcased that week (Oct. 29-Nov. 2) at the massive SEMA SCORE Baja 1000 Experience at the SEMA Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Both events are presented by BFGoodrich Tires.

     The starting order for all other classes was determined primarily by the finishing and placement results at last week’s Lucerna Hotels & Resorts Tijuana 22nd SCORE Desert Challenge.

RACER REGISTRATION

     Racer Registration is now open at www.SCORE-International.com under Race Info on the SCORE Baja 1000 page. Any questions, contact SCORE Registration Director Audreonna Cuarez at 775. 852.8907.

AMAZING SCORE VEHICLES

     Among the SCORE racing vehicles expected to be part of this massive SCORE Baja 1000 exhibit are  Terrible Herbst Motorsports No. 51 SCORE Trophy Truck of Troy Herbst/Christian Sourapas, Joe Bacal’s new Axatala Motorsports SCORE Trophy Truck, Brenthel Industries’ No. 61 Richard Armstrong’s SCORE Trophy Truck, Tecnovision’s all-electric open-wheel race car driven by Raul Rodriguez Jr, Marc Burnett’s Can-Am UTV, the Warrior Built motorcycle, Brian Chachua’s vintage SCORE championship Jeep and the impressive SCORE ‘black beauty’ pre-runner.

OH, WHAT A COURSE!

     As it has for over four and one-half decades, SCORE has put together another memorable race course for the 51st anniversary, this one a loop race, with all of the foreboding, unforgiving terrain that the northern state of the majestic Baja California peninsula has to offer. SCORE Race Director Jose A. Grijalva has designed and finalized this year’s race course of 806.76 miles. The course will have five checkpoints along the way to the finish and 192 visual checkpoints.

     Starting and finishing in the heart of Ensenada in front of the historic Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center, the course travels in a clockwise direction east to Ojos Negros before launching its weaving route around both the east and then the west side of the northern part of the peninsula.

     Pre-running (Oct. 27) starts 5.6 south of Ojos Negros at Rm 38.4 and the course heads out to Jamau. After Jamau before the ‘Goat Trail’ there is a new short section that has never been raced on. Course will go to Kiliwas and out to Hwy 3 to San Matias, over to the desert in San Felipe. South of San Felipe it loops around Amarillas Wash and comes back to Old Puertecitos Road on Huatamote Wash, head south to the Sulphur mines and turn right and will loop back using Matomi Wash to Old Puertecitos Highway. South from Puertecitos to Gonzaga Bay and before Coco’ s Corner it turns south and takes a new trail that will take racers back to the main road out to Chapala. At Chapala the course goes across Hwy 1 and does a loop behind Cataviña where there is tons of silt and nasty hill climbs. North of Cataviña the course goes back across the peninsula on the east side of Hwy 1 and heads north to Rancho Victoria and more silt before and after this ranch in the Rm 490 to Rm 510 area. It then drops down to El Rosario Wash and goes north to San Quintin on a fast smooth road that has never been raced on. In San Quintin the course runs north and hits the coast to Santo Tomas, taking pavement to Uruapan and back to Ojos Negros and to the finish in Ensenada.

     The five checkpoints will be located at north of San Felipe (race mile 177.34), before Highway 1 on Chapala Road (rm 378.27), Highway 1 in San Quintin (rm 597.81), end of Vicente Guerrero Wash (rm 633.85) and in Santo Tomas before Highway 1 (rm 733.02).

     Because of the horrendous silt beds, Class 11 (stock VW sedans) and all Sportsman 4-wheel vehicles classes will be allowed to eliminate the Cataviña loop, taking pavement from rm 379.22 to rm 478.38.

PRE-RUNNING

     Teams will be allowed to begin pre-running or practicing on the race course starting at 8 a.m. (PT) on Saturday, Oct. 20 starting from north of Ojos Negros as the section from the start to Ojos Negros will be restricted. Pre-running will start at race mile 38.40 at Rancho El Mezcal which is 5.6 miles southeast of Ojos Negros. On the return, pre-running will end at race mile 767.26.

BEFORE BAJA…VIVA LAS VEGAS!

     Jumpstarting the festivities for the 50th BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 1000 for the fifth straight year will be the massive SEMA SCORE Baja 1000 Experience at the Las Vegas Convention Center (Oct. 29-Nov. 2) and the special SCORE Baja 1000 qualifying for SCORE Trophy Trucks and SCORE TT Legend vehicles. With both events presented by BFGoodrich Tires, qualifying will be held at the Off-Road Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (5:30 p.m. PT, Tuesday, Oct. 30).

NUMERO UNO, DOS TIEMPOS

     In a special voting held in 2016 and 2017, the invincible SCORE Baja 1000 was selected as the No. 1 motorsports event in the world both years in a reader’s choice voting conducted by the USA Today newspaper, defeating such events as the Indy 500 and the Knoxville Nationals.

MORE EXPO INFO

     The 2018 Lucas Oil Off-Road Expo is once again the largest and greatest collection of off-road companies, parts, equipment, gear, and experts assembled in America. From off-road racing to rock crawling, trail riding to sand sports, motorcycles to quads and camping to adventure travel, the event provides the unique opportunity to meet and talk with the most knowledgeable people in the off-road industry. With a full weekend of excitement, other event features include over 350 industry-specific vendors, the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Demo at the MAV TV Proving Grounds, Rubicon Trail – Off Road Vehicle Ride Along, O’Reilly Auto Parts Show-N-Shine and live music all weekend at the STEEL-IT Main Stage.

SCOREscope

2018 REMAINING SCHEDULE

• 51st SCORE Baja 1000, Nov.13-18, 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. 19-23, Ensenada, Mexico
• 52nd SCORE Baja 1000, Nov.12-17, Ensenada, Mexico

TV TIME

     SCORE races are airing domestically on the El Rey Network and outside of the U.S. on ESPN International as well as syndication. The SCORE Baja 1000 race coverage show will be a two-hour special.

     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 visit http://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 atwww.SCOREInternational.com.