LOS ANGELES—Las Vegas’ all-America desert racer Rob MacCachren has drawn the first starting position, based on Saturday’s computerized drawing, for next month’s inaugural Tecate SCORE San Felipe Challenge of Champions.  Round 4 of the five-race 2011 SCORE Desert Series will be held Sept. 9-11 in San Felipe, Baja, California, Mexico. The computerized drawing for starting position, by class, was held at SCORE headquarters in Los Angeles.

The race replaces the Primm 300 race that was cancelled this year because of insurmountable insurance issues.

With late entries expected up to race morning, nearly 125 entries are expected for the new race, for 17 Pro and 2 Sportsman classes for cars and trucks, that will run over the same course that was recently used for this year’s MasterCraft Safety Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 in March of just over 250 miles.

The veteran MacCachren, 46, who is a six-time all-America motorsports driver included three first team awards, has earned eight SCORE class season point championships in his sterling career and he was the overall winner in this year’s MasterCraft Safety Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 in March.  He drives the No. 20 MasterCraft Safety Racing Ford F-150 in the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division for high-tech, 850 horsepower unlimited production trucks.  Including this year’s first San Felipe race win, MacCachren has eight career SCORE Trophy-Truck race wins.
“It’s always great to start first and it’s always fun to be part of something new, even if we are very familiar with the area and the race course,” said MacCachren. “San Felipe is one of everyone’s very favorite places to race in the desert and we look forward to putting on another competitive race for the throngs of appreciative race fans down in Mexico. Of course I will miss not racing Primm in my home state and near my hometown, but there are things happening we have absolutely no control over and if we can’t race in Primm, I can’t think of a better place than Mexico and San Felipe.”

The race will start at 7 a.m. (PDT) Saturday, Sept. 10 and the start/finish line area will be located adjacent to the iconic San Felipe arches entering town. Vehicles will leave the start line one every 30 seconds in the elapsed time race. While the fastest vehicles are expected to finish the 250-plus mile course in approximately four hours, 15 minutes, and all vehicles will have an 11-hour time limit from the time each starts to become and official finisher of the race.

Pre-race festivities will be held on Friday, Sept. 9 on the picturesque malecon boardwalk along the Sea of Cortez in the heart of San Felipe. The colorful SCORE Manufacturer’s Midway will be held on the malecon from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (PDT) and pre-race safety inspection will be held on the malecon from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Driver and media registration will be held at the Hacienda Don Jesus hotel two blocks off the Malecon from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. (PDT) on Friday, Sept. 9 as well.  The post race awards celebration will be held at 10 a.m. (PDT) on Sunday, Sept. 11 in the plaza in the heart of the malecon.

Among the other drivers drawing first starts for this new race are Justin Davis in the Unlimited Class 1, twin brothers Arturo and Abel Velazco in Class 1-2/1600, Sergio Salgado in Class 10 and Rafael Navarro IV in SCORE Lite.
SCORE Trophy-Truck had the most entries at the time of the start draw Saturday with 15, followed by Class 1 with 10.

Winning two of the first three series races overall and in the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division, Las Vegas rookie driver Bryce Menzies leads the points in the five-race 2011 SCORE Desert Series.

Menzies, who opened the season by winning the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge in January, drove to a penalty-free victory as well in June’s 43rd Tecate SCORE Baja 500 to assume a commanding lead in the SCORE Overall and SCORE Trophy-Truck point standings in the No. 70 Menzies Motorsports Ford F-150.  Sandwiched between his first two career SCORE race wins in the marquee racing division for high-tech, 850-horsepower, unlimited production trucks, Menzies finished sixth in SCORE Trophy-Truck at the 25th MasterCraft Safety Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 in March.

SCORE points are based on starting, finishing, placement and number of official starters within each class, Menzies, 23, who had only raced the 2010 SCORE Baja 500 where he finished seventh in his first start in SCORE Trophy-Truck, has 243 championship points following Round 3 of the five-race 2011 SCORE Desert Series. SCORE Trophy-Truck has had the largest starting field for all three races with 32 in Laughlin, 24 in San Felipe and 28 in Ensenada.
With two wins and a second so far this year, second in overall points and leading the unlimited class 1 is Justin Davis, 18 of Chino Hills, Calif., just three points behind Menzies with 240 so far. Davis, last year’s SCORE Lite point champion, won Class 1 in Laughlin and San Felipe and was a close second in Ensenada driving the Green Army Motorsports Chevy-powered ESM open-wheel desert race car.

Picking up his eighth career SCORE Trophy-Truck race win in San Felipe, Las Vegas Rob MacCachren, an eight-time SCORE season point champion, is third in overall and second in SCORE Trophy-Truck points so far after finishing fourth in Laughlin and ninth in Ensenada with 227 points.

Following consistent seventh, fifth and fourth-place finishes in the season’s first three events, Gary Weyhrich, Troutdale, Ore., is fourth in overall points and third in SCORE Trophy-Truck with 214 in the No. 98 TSCO Motorsports Ford F-150.

Tied for fifth in overall points with 205 is Mexico’s preeminent son-father team Gus Vildosola Jr. and Sr., in the No. 21 Vildosola Racing Ford F-150 (fourth in SCORE Trophy-Truck) and Damen Jefferies, Apple Valley Calif. in the Jefferies-Chevy (second in Class 1).

The RPM Offroad team of Bristol, Tenn., has its five regular entries in the new Tecate SCORE San Felipe Challenge of Champions–SCORE Trophy-Truck (Clyde Stacy), Class 4 (Clyde Stacy), Class 8 (Justin Matney), Class 11 (Justin Matney) and Stock Full (John Matney).

In addition to season class point championships, the racers are also competing for part of the nearly $300,000 in cash purse and contingency postings each race. Drivers in the Pro car and truck classes are attempting to earn prestigious SCORE Toyota Milestone Awards given to all car and truck class drivers who complete every required mile of the five-race season.  Being presented by Toyota Motorsports for the 26th consecutive year, a total of 32 drivers remain eligible after Round 3 of the 2011 SCORE Desert Series. Racers are also competing for the annual SCORE Off-Roadsman of the Year awards, including the MasterCraft Safety SCORE Rookie of the Year award.

Current SCORE official annual sponsors are: BFGoodrich Tires-official tire, Volkswagen of America-official vehicle, Sunoco Race Fuels -official fuel supplier, Bilstein-official shock, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance-official Mexican auto insurance and Slime-official tire sealant. Associate sponsors are: Tecate Beer, Coca-Cola of Mexico, Las Vegas Events, Blue C Advertising, SignPros, P.C.I. Race Radios, McKenzie’s Performance Products and Advanced Color Graphics.

While Tecate is title sponsor of the inaugural Tecate SCORE San Felipe Challenge of Champions, additional race sponsor is the Tourism and Convention Bureau of Mexicali/San Felipe and Cotuco.

For more information, contact SCORE at its Los Angeles headquarters 818.225.8402 or visit the official website of the 2011 SCORE Desert Series at www.score-international.com
Inaugural Tecate SCORE San Felipe Challenge of Champions
SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK (15)
20 Rob MacCachren
16 Cameron Steele
24 Adam Householder
21 Gus Vildosola Jr.
78 Jesse Ashcraft
10 Ken Losch
27 Dave Crinklaw
30 Robbie Pierce
2 Pete Sohren
70 Bryce Menzies
98 Gary Weyhrich
84 Nick Vanderwey
18 Clyde Stacy
54 Jesse James
4 Gus Vildosola
CLASS 1 (10)
101 Justin Davis
102 Dan Martin
103 Steve Appleton
104 Randy Wilson
105 Conan Barker
106 Damen Jefferies
100 Kory Halopoff
108 David Greenhill
109 Brian Parkhouse
149 Steven Eugenio
CLASS 1-2/1600 (6)
1601 Arturo Velazco
1602 Brad Wilson
1603 Luke McMillin
1604 Brian Wilson
1605 J.J. Schnarr
1649 Rick Boyer
CLASS 5 (2)
500 Kevin Carr
501 Cody Kellogg
CLASS 5/1600 (1)
551 Justin Herrmann
CLASS 6 (3)
601 Scott Ulrich
618 Heidi Steele
619 Marc Burnett
CLASS 7 (1)
700 Dan Chamlee
CLASS 8 (2)
801 Justin Matney
802 Noah Ostanik
CLASS 10 (4)
1000 Sergio Salgado
1001 Peter Hajas
1002 John Langley
1003 Matt Cullen
SCORE LITE (4)
1201 Rafael Navarro IV
1202 Zak Langley
1203 Perry McNeil
1204 Steven Lisa
CLASS 11 (1)
1149 Justin Matney
STOCK FULL (1)
879 John Matney
PROTRUCK (1)
1331 Jessica McMillin
CLASS 4 (1)
439 Clyde Stacy
CLASS 7-2 (3)
721 Fawn Finchum
720 Reid Rutherford
723 Bruce Finchum
SPORTSMAN
SPT CAR (1)
1400 Peter Lang