ROSARITO BEACH, Mexico — With a storied legacy of more than four decades as the world’s foremost desert racing organization, SCORE International launches something new this week with a tantalizing taste of something old at the history-making, internationally-televised Rosarito Beach 20th SCORE Desert Challenge in Rosarito Beach, Mexico.
Having held nearly 150 races in Mexico in the last 40-plus years, this will be the first time that SCORE has held a race in Rosarito Beach. SCORE Baja races have been held numerous times in Ensenada and San Felipe, several times in La Paz, a few times in Mexicali, Santo Tomas, Ojos Negros and Cabo San Lucas, twice in Tijuana and once in Loreto. But never before this year has one bel held in Rosarito Beach.
With a special race format, Round 3 of the four-race 2016 SCORE World Desert Championship will be held Thursday through Sunday in Mexico’s Baja California. Starting and finishing just south of Rosarito Beach, the colorful resort area on the Pacific Ocean located just 19 miles from the U.S. Border south of San Diego. The actual start/finish area, hot pits and primary spectator area will be at Los Manantiales off of old Highway 1 south of central Rosarito.
A HAPPENING
Colorful race week festivities will start on Thursday with the day-long, pre-race Manufacturer’s Midway and Contingency festival starting on Blvd. Benito Juarez and will travel along the beach in front of the massive famed Papas & Beer Beach Club and finishing back on Blvd. Benito Juarez almost in front of the legendary Rosarito Beach Hotel. SCOREvision will stream contingency activities and racer interviews from the beach in front of Papas & Beer.
The Monster Energy SCORE Kick-off Party will be held from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. PT on Thursday in the Monster Energy VIP area at Papas & Beer.
After staging at Papas & Beer, the three groups each day will parade with a police and SCORE escort to the start line 9.5 miles south of town.
At 8:30 p.m. PT on Saturday at Papas & Beer, the awards celebration will be held for the car/truck/UTV classes and at 6 p.m. PT on Sunday for the motorcycle/quad classes.
All of the week’s festivities will air live, including the three race days, via the internet on the SCORE website and the new SCORE App.
MORE SCORE COVERAGE
SCORE Baja 500 Official Results
SPECIAL FORMAT
Unique for SCORE, the 20th time using this race format will see all classes racing a total of four laps over a surprisingly rugged 32.1-mile race course (128.4 total miles) split into two, two-lap sessions.
Nearly 150 total entries are expected at the start line with entries from 17 U.S. States and five countries anticipated. Classes for cars, trucks and UTVs will be divided into four groups, running their first two laps on Friday and their final two laps on Saturday.
The motorcycle and quad classes will run as one large group, running all of their laps on Sunday, their first two in the morning and the final two in the afternoon following a break.
It is an elapsed-time race with vehicles in each group starting in 30-second intervals.
Racing for the cars, trucks and UTVs will start at 6:20 a.m. PT on Friday and Saturday and the course will close each day at 6 p.m. PT.
The featured SCORE Trophy Truck division for high-tech, 850-horsepower unlimited production trucks will start their laps along with the Trophy Truck spec class each day at 12:40 p.m. PT followed by the group including the unlimited Class 1, Class 10 and SCORE Lites and 3:20 p.m. PT as the final race of each day.
On Sunday, motorcycles and quads will start their first two laps at 10:30 a.m. PT and their final two laps starting at 2 p.m. PT with their course closing at 3:55 p.m.
The start order for the second session for all classes will be an invert of the start order from the first session.
SPECTATORS
Local organizations sponsoring and supporting the Rosarito Beach 20th SCORE Desert Challenge have developed a special and gradually-elevated spectator area at Los Manantiales with line-of-sight viewing of the start line, finish line, hot pits and first and last portions of the race course. The spectator area will also include food and beverage stands and novelty vendors. The spectator area will also have its own access road with ample directional signage to the area.
The rest of the course will include limited access to spectators in specific locations that will be under police supervision as much of the challenging course winds through several private ranches in the area that are entirely fenced in.
FIRST STARTS
Among the racers who drew first starts along with the number of entries to date in their respective classes are: SCORE Trophy Truck – No. 45 Gary Magness, Denver/Devin Housh, Desert Hot Springs, Calif., Ford F-150 (five entries to date); Trophy Truck Spec – No. 200 Larry Connor, Miamisburg, Ohio/Steven Eugenio, Carlsbad, Calif., Mason-Chevy, (eight entries); Class 1 – No. 169 Otoniel Huerta, San Luis Rio Colorado Mexico, Jimco-Chevy (nine entries); Class 10 – No. 1002 Clay Lawrence, Murrieta, Calif., LMS-Chevy (11 entries); Class 1/2-1600 – No. 1997 Jorge Sampietro, Ensenada, Mexico, Romo-VW (11 entries), SCORE Lites – No. 1204 Gustavo Pinuelas, Calexico, Calif., Jimco-VW (nine entries) and Pro UTV FI – No. 2921 Johnny Angal, Mesa, Ariz., Polaris RZR XP4 Turbo (eight entries).
Leading the motorcycles onto the course will be the No. 1x of Colton Udall, Yucca Valley, Calif./Mark Samuels, Yucca Valley, Calif., Honda CRF450X (seven entries) in the Pro Moto Unlimited Class.
HISTORIC COURSE
The race features a colorful course, finalized by SCORE CEO/President Roger Norman along with Race Director Jose A. Grijalva of 312.1 miles through the foothills and around a mountain to the south and east of central Rosarito Beach. It will start and finish at the Los Manantiales area.
This landmark race course is another memorable example of Baja California diversity in terrain starting near sea-level and climbing up twice to around 2,000 feet. The course will be another unique jewel reflecting the majestic beauty of Baja California going through more ranches than most SCORE race courses.
Traveling in a clockwise direction, the race course weaves its way through washes, on existing trails, up and over a ridgeline trail at the top of two hills and back down into the start/finish line area off of the old Highway 1 south of Rosarito Beach at Los Manantiales.
Filled with farms and ranches, the race course goes through areas like Piedra Azul, Panchos, Loma Del Gato and Loma Bonita while racing around the famous El Cerro del Coronel mountain in areas where SCORE has never before held a race.
The race course will include three physical, full-stop checkpoints, checkpoint No. 1 at race-mile 9.4, CP No. 2 at race-mile 18.6 and CP No. 3 at race-mile 26.7.
ENTRY FEES LOWEST IN 20 YEARS
Online registration, by class, for Pro and Sportsman cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads, has now closed on the SCORE website. SCORE has put entry fees for this year’s race have been reduced to the lowest amount in 20 years.
ROSARITO BEACH HOTEL
Race headquarters is the iconic Rosarito Beach Hotel, the historical landmark in the heart of Rosarito that opened in 1925. It will be the site of many of the activities surrounding the Rosarito Beach 20th SCORE Desert Challenge. Racer registration and Media registration will be held at the hotel from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT on Thursday and the pre-race driver’s meeting for the car, truck and UTV classes will be at the hotel at 7 p.m. PT on Thursday as well.
SPECIAL MOTO/QUAD REG
Rider registration for motorcycle and quad classes will be part of regular racer registration next Thursday at the Rosarito Beach Hotel as well as a special rider registration, tech and SPOT tracking installation for moto and quad classes only will be held from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. PT on Saturday also at the Rosarito Beach Hotel.
BIENVENIDOS A PLAYAS DE ROSARITO
The SCORE World Desert Championship will be visiting the popular Playas de Rosarito for the first time in its long and storied history.
Located 19 miles south of the border near San Diego, this scenic location between the alluring beaches of the Pacific Ocean and majestic coastal foothills of Baja California Norte helps to make Rosarito one of the leading resort towns in all of Mexico.
The main urban district of Rosarito Beach is a four mile stretch along the beach on Blvd. Benito Juarez that is filled with hotels, condominiums, restaurants, night clubs and gift shops.
HISTRIONICS
While this will be the first time in Rosarito, the SCORE Desert Challenge has been held 19 previous times since it first began in 1995. It was held in Laughlin, Nev., USA, from 1995 through 2012 and in Plaster City, Calif., USA, in 2014.
For more information regarding SCORE, visit the official website of the SCORE World Desert Championship at www.SCORE-International.com.