ENSENADA, Mexico — With pre-running on the rugged race route to open Saturday, Oct. 22, official entries from 27 U.S. States and 11 countries were included in Thursday’s drawing for start positions in various classes for next month’s 49th anniversary of the iconic SCORE Baja 1000 desert race, the season finale of the four-race 2016 SCORE World Desert Championship.
Nearly 250 cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads from 35 U.S. States and 15 countries are expected to take the green flag on Friday, Nov. 18 for this year’s 49th SCORE Baja 1000. The granddaddy of all desert races will be held Nov. 15-20 in Baja California Norte on Mexico’s majestic Baja California peninsula, starting and finishing in the seaside port of Ensenada, 65 miles south of the U.S. Border at San Diego.
DRAWING RECAP
The drawing for starting positions, by class, for all classes except SCORE Trophy Truck and Trophy Truck Spec, was held Thursday.
A solid total of 183 vehicles are officially entered as of today and nearly 75 additional entries are expected to enter in the five weeks before race day in Ensenada for the legendary race.
So far among the car, truck and UTV classes, SCORE Trophy Truck has the most entries with 28, followed by Trophy Truck Spec with 20, Pro UTV FI with 19, Class 10 with 18, the unlimited Class 1 with 15 and Pro UTV with 12 officially entered to date.
Among the motorcycle classes, the Pro Moto Ironman (solo) rider has the most entries with six today followed by the Pro Moto Unlimited and Pro Moto 40 (m/c riders over 40 years old) classes with five entries each so far.
In the Sportsman classes, leading the way is Sportsman Motorcycle with 11 entries to date.
REGISTRATION CONTINUES
Online entry registration for the race continues at Register Here for Race. Late entries received after the drawing will be placed by class in the next available starting position following those that entered in time for the random draw.
PRE-RUNNING
This year’s SCORE Baja 1000 will be a loop race and pre-running on the approximately 830-mile course will open on Saturday, Oct. 22 with the start to Ojos Negros only allowed on Wednesday and Thursday of race week (and only in the outbound direction).
The start line and finish line will once again be adjacent to the iconic Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center in the heart of Ensenada and the first and last several spectator-friendly miles running up and back down the Ensenada Arroyo.
MORE: SCORE Baja 500 Race Recap, Results
GLOBAL INTEREST
In addition to the 27 States represented on the entry list to date, racers have officially entered from 10 countries. In addition to the United States, entries so far have come from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Guatemala, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, New Zealand and the US Territory of Guam.
TIME TRAVEL
The SCORE Baja 1000 the oldest continuously-held desert race, the most prestigious, the most well known and has the most rugged race courses in all of desert racing. This year’s race will start for the 42nd time and finish for the 24th time in Ensenada and remains one of the single most appealing accomplishment to a racer. Since 1967, the race has been run over the mysterious Baja California peninsula every year except 1974 when the international fuel crisis forced a cancellation.
PRE-GREEN
The race week festivities will cover Nov. 15-20, with the race and all side events starting and finishing in Ensenada.
Pre-race festivities on Thursday (Nov. 17), for the SCORE Baja 1000, including the vastly popular tech and contingency of all vehicles and the SCORE Manufacturer’s Midway will be held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. PT on Boulevard Costero in front of the Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center. The pre-race mandatory driver/rider briefing will also be held on Thursday (Nov. 17) at 7 p.m. PT in the Cathedral Room at the Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center.
Racer registration will be held in the Red Room at the Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center in Ensenada. Racer registration will be held from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. PT on Tuesday (Nov. 15), from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. PT on Wednesday (Nov. 16) and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT on Thursday (Nov. 17). Media registration will be held as well in the Red Room at the Riviera from 1 p.m. until 6 p.m. PT on Wednesday (Nov. 16), 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT on Thursday (Nov. 17) and the BFGoodrich Tires/Baja California Secretary of Tourism SCORE Media Center will be open on Friday (Nov. 18) at 5:30 a.m. PT until the course closes at approximately 11 p.m. PT (Nov. 19) on Saturday and will re-open on Sunday from 8 a.m. until Noon PT.
Two special Monster Energy parties, open to the public will be held before the race starts. On Wednesday (Nov. 16) starting at 7 p.m. PT at the start/finish line area will be the SCORE Baja 1000 Goes Green Monster Energy Party. On Thursday (Nov. 17), the night before the start of the race, the Monster Energy SCORE Papas & Beer Street Party on Avenida Ruiz in front of Papas & Beer will start at 7 p.m. PT.
POST GREEN
As the celebration continues all-night on Friday, all day and evening on Saturday while official finishers cross the line and tales are added to the legacy of the event, the post-race awards fiesta will be held in the Cathedral Room at the Riviera starting at 10 a.m. PT on Sunday (Nov. 20).
BEFORE BAJA…VIVA LAS VEGAS!
Jumpstarting the festivities for the SCORE Baja 1000 for the third straight year will be the massive SEMA SCORE Baja 1000 Experience at the Las Vegas Convention Center (Oct. 31-Nov. 4) and the special SCORE Baja 1000 qualifying for SCORE Trophy Trucks and the Trophy Truck Spec class. With both events presented by BFGoodrich Tires, qualifying will be held at the Off-Road Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (7 p.m. PT, Tuesday, Nov. 1).
SCORE COURSE SUPREME!
As it has for over four decades, SCORE has put together another agonizingly memorable race course, this one for a loop race, with all of the foreboding, unforgiving terrain that the northern state of the majestic Baja California peninsula has to offer. SCORE CEO/President Roger Norman and SCORE Race Director Jose A. Grijalva have designed and finalized this year’s SCORE Baja 1000 race course.
Starting and finishing in the heart of Ensenada in front of the historic Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center, the course travels in a counter-clockwise direction. It includes the approximate 20 mile stretch to Ojos Negros which is used in both directions. Outgoing, the course heads south from Ojos Negros through Santo Tomas and then runs along the picturesque Pacific Ocean for over 100 miles and then back across to the center of Baja California Norte.
The approximately 830-mile course covers both sides of the peninsula and includes four checkpoints.
The race will have its normal start from Ensenada to Piedras Gordas, then out to highway 3 around Rm 20.7 and will go to Km33 and get back on the dirt. The course will go past Rancho Grijalva to El Mezcal and head to Uruapan using La Lagrima Rd, a different road than in past years.
From Santo Tomas, the course heads to the coast of the Pacific Ocean and runs down to San Quintin, Nuevo Odisea and then to El Rosario. The course will travel up the well known hill La Vivora, el Arenoso, and will loop around from San Juan de Dios at approximate Rm305 to El Metate Rm 340, Los Martires Rm 363 and go back to San Quintin on the east side of the highway and run north to Col. Vicente Guerrero, Jaramillo and Colonet.
The course will travel a new route from Colonet to Llano Colorado and across to Valley de Trinidad. The race course goes along the highway from San Matias to Villa del Sol then crossing the highway at El Chinero, north to Coabuso Junction and then climb up the summit in the opposite direction as previous races from the desert to Nuevo Junction and on to Catarina. From Catarina, it will be back to Ojos Negros and from Ojos Negros back to the finish line.
The four checkpoints will be located at Santo Tomas (CP 1–race-mile 87), El Rosario (CP 2–rm249), Vicente Guerrero (CP 3–rm457) and Nuevo Junction (CP 4–rm730).
Pre-running will open on Saturday, October 22, allowing competitors nearly three weeks of practice time on the official race course.
49th SCORE Baja 1000
Nov. 16-20, 2016—830.XX miles—Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
Final Round of four-race 2016 SCORE World Desert Championship
Total Entries: 183 (as of 10/13/16) (starting order from start draw, by class)
(from 27 U.S. States, U.S. Territory-Guam, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada,
Germany, Guatemala, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, New Zealand)
Pro Cars & Trucks
SCORE TROPHY TRUCK (28)
(Numerical, Before Qualifying)
1 Carlos Lopez
3 Mark Post
4 Justin Matney
5 Clyde Stacy
6 Steven Eugenio
10 Aaron Ampudia
11 Rob MacCachren
15 Billy Wilson
16 Cameron Steele
17 RPM Racing-Driver TBA
19 Tim Herbst
20 Pat O’Keefe
21 Gus Vildosola Jr
22 Casey Currie
23 Dan McMillin
31 Andy McMillin
39 Ron Whitton
45 Gary Magness
48 Jimmy Nuckles
50 Zak Langley
59 Craig Potts
67 Brian Trapnell
68 Tim Weston
76 Jesse Jones
83 Luke McMillin
91 Troy Herbst
97 B.J. Baldwin
200 Robby Gordon
CLASS 1 (15)
188 Sergio Salgado
125 Scott Rueschenberg
172 Jamie Galles
153 Brad Wilson
147 Pat McCarthy
138 Ronny Wilson
189 Jon Walker
150 Morgan Langley
105 Matt Cullen
127 Cody Parkhouse
100 Shelby Reid
104 Rob Archibald
114 Al Torres
175 Jamie Huerta Jr-RS
106 Derek Fletcher-RS
TROPHY TRUCK SPEC (20)
(Numerical, Before Qualifying)
201 Russell Buehler
202 Chad Broughton
203 Dion Podgumy
211 Pat Sims
216 Heidi Steele
220 Craig Christy
222 Pete Sohren
227 Jonathan Brenthel
232 Chelsea Magness
244 Javier Quiros
250 John Langley
252 Gonzalo Pirron
255 Lee Banning
268 Jeffrey Kozak
271 Carey Chrisman
273 Jordan Brenthel
274 Elias Hanna
288 Mark Luhtala
299 Charles Dorrance
276 Scott Kuhne-RS
CLASS 2 (1)
2001 Jeff Proctor
HAMMER TRUCK UNLTD (1)
4451 Melvin Wade
CLASS 10 (18)
1002 Clay Lawrence
1018 Miguel Tornel Sr
1086 Joseph Jepsen
1070 George Marsh
1007 Chris Surville
1058 Mike Lawrence
1062 J.J. Schnarr
1036 Corey Goin
1056 Johnny Buss
1085 Justin Davis
1064 Justin Beckley
1088 Sergio Salgado
1081 Todd Winslow
1000 Cody Reid
1045 Patrick Dailey
1075 Eliseo Garcia
1009 Rafael Navarro IV
1060 Armando Boehme
CLASS 1/2-1600 (5)
1666 Brandon Steele
1603 Oscar Alvarez
1620 John Witchel
1616 Ramon Bio
1605 Miguel Cortez
SCORE LITES (8)
1229 Raul Rodriguez
1208 Rich Roberts
1201 Mario Alcala
1221 Matt Drever
1218 Miguel Tornel Jr
1240 Miguel Bonilla
1247 Wes McKenzie
1244 Eric Palacios
CLASS 5 (2)
500 Victor Cesena
524 Ben Swift
CLASS 7 (2)
701 Brandon Walsh
725 JT Holmes
Pro UTV FI (19)
2971 Wayne Matlock
2950 Burt Jenner
2904 Cory Sappington
2975 Mike Cafro
2905 Marc Burnett
2916 Cody Rahders
2921 Johnny Angal
2923 Tyler Backus
2913 Branden Sims
2903 Jaime Romero Sr
2920 Scott Bergen
2933 Todd Romano
2977 Justin Ellenburg
2918 Justin Lambert
2947 Levi Gilkison
2974 Sheldon Creed
2919 Brandon Schueler
2917 Derek Murray
2906 Aaron Quesada-RS
Pro UTV (12)
1954 Kristen Matlock
1967 Rhys Millen
1949 Alonso Lopez
1958 George Felix
1991 David Laurence
1929 John Stegerman
1955 Paul Champion
1910 Ryan McIntire
1998 Bill Whittington
1962 Dodge Poelman
1923 Ben Bischoff
1901 Greg Row
CLASS 5-1600 (1)
575 Erich Reisen-RS
BAJA CHALLENGE (9)
BC6 Douglas Saunders
BC2 Bill Weber
BC3 Edward Muncey
BC7 Jim Swartzbaugh
BC4 Mike Brodeur
BC1 Kyle Tucker
BC9 Markus Palttala
BC5 Jeff Stone
BC8 Josh Savage
STOCK FULL (4)
8101 Rod Hall
8180 Chris Forsberg
8155 Ryan Davis
8170 Roger England
CLASS 11 (2)
1156 Art Penner
1103 Noe Gutierrez
Sportsman
SPT UNLTD TRUCK (3)
1425 Andrew Entwistle
1491 Paul Nauleau
1452 Gary Leyendecker-RS
Pro Motorcycles
PRO MOTO UNLIMITED (5)
37x Kevin Murphy
1x Colton Udall
45x Francisco Arredondo
10x Skyler Howes
35x Nick Gust
PRO MOTO 30 (1)
321x Benjamin Petter
PRO MOTO 40 (5)
403x Oscar Fazz
422x Chad Thornton
404x Jano Montoya
400x Colie Potter
437x Craig Thompson
PRO MOTO LIMITED (3)
101x Mark Winkelman
160x Santiago Creel
106x Garrett Poucher
PRO MOTO 50 (1)
507x Mark Winkelman
PRO MOTO IRONMAN (6)
716x Ryan Gutile
715x Jeff Benrud
774x Florian Schwarz
714x Lawrence Janesky
775x Tanner Janesky
729x Michael Skurkis
Sportsman
SPT MOTO (11)
228x Scott McIntosh
267x Akira Kamata
227x Masahide Kawaguchi
230x Kristopher Harvey
215x James Williams
216x Ken Greenfield
263x Sidney Marchand
261x Sean Graves
249x Andrew McConnell
259x Mike Kaplan
209x Hank Salyer-RS
SPT QUAD (1)
110a Danny Magdaleno