LOS ANGELES—Noted chassis builder Mike Julson, young Hollywood actor Max Theriot, journeyman Marc Francke and veteran desert racer Carmen Cafro all drew pole positions in their respective classes during Friday’s computerized drawing for starting positions in the upcoming 39th Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 500.

     Round 3 of the six-race 2007 SCORE Desert Series, the World’s Foremost Desert Racing Series, will feature over 450 entries, competing in 28 Pro and 6 Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs, will be held June 1-3 in Ensenada, Mexico. Traditionally one of the most popular events on the SCORE schedule, over 150,000 spectators are expected to enjoy the world’s best desert racers in action at this year’s Tecate SCORE Baja 500.

     For the first time in race history, Volkswagen of America officially entered two of its Dakar Rally factory teams. Driven by American Mark Miller and South African Giniel De Vilers, the two turbo-diesel VW Taureg midsize Sport Utility Vehicles will compete in a special SCORE Int’l Truck class.

     “What an amazing lineup, both in quantity and quality, is entering this year’s 39th Tecate SCORE Baja 500,” said Sal Fish, SCORE CEO and President. “The world’s greatest desert racers will be coming to Mexico and SCORE is honored to have two factory Volkswagen teams join us at this great event. Powered by VW turbo-diesel engines, Volkswagen will show our sport a glimpse of the future with these types of powerplants. VW engines have long been a staple in desert racing, and it will be very interesting to see how these new diesels perform in Baja.”

     With late entries excepted up to race morning, over 450 entries are expected from 29 U.S. States, Mexico, Austria, Canada, England, France, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, New Zealand and South Africa. The green flag will drop for the race at 6 a.m. on Saturday (June 1) for the motorcycle and ATV classes in the Tecate SCORE Baja 500, followed by the car and truck classes three hours after the last ATV at approximately 10 a.m.  The race-record 387 that entered in time for Friday’s drawing represent 60 more than the previous record set last year with 327.

     Julson, 49, of Descanso, Calif., will drive the No. 20 Jimco Racing Chevy Silverado SCORE Trophy-Truck built in his Jimco raceshop. Jimco is the leading car chassis builder in desert racing and has earned SCORE Original Buggy Chassis Manufacturer of the year award 13 times.

     Thieriot, 18, Petaluma, Calif., is a budding young Hollywood actor who races with his father Cam Thieriot and veteran desert racer Glenn Harris. Thieriot is currently sixth in Class 1 points for the year after finishes of ninth and seventh in the first two races of the year in the No. 101 RPS-Chevy.

     Leading a veteran team that includes Dale Herron, James Hall and Jimmy Roberts, Francke, 32, Venice, Calif., drew first start in Class 22 to lead all of the motorcycle and ATV classes into the Baja desert. His team will ride the No. 2x Honda XR650R.

     Cafro, 45, Vista, Calif., will lead a team of ATV champions to Mexico. Besides Cafro, teammates Lance Schoonmaker and Earl Thigpen all have ATV class wins in this race and they will ride the No. 21 Temecula Motorsports Honda TRX650 in Class 25.

     All three overall winners from last year’s race are all entered.  Back to defend their overall 4-wheel vehicle and SCORE Trophy-Truck title is the team of Larry Ragland, Cave Creek, Ariz./Brian Collins, Las Vegas, in the No. 12 Collins Motorsports Chevy Silverado. Returning as the overall motorcycle and Class 22 champs is the team of Robby Bell, Murrieta, Calif./Kendall Norman, Santa Barbara, Calif., on the No. 1x Honda CRF450X. Back to defend their overall ATV and Class 25 victory is the team of Danny Prather, Ramona, Calif./Mike Cafro, Carlsbad, Calif., on the No. 1a Honda TRX250R.

     Ragland/Collins drew the ninth starting spot in SCORE Trophy-Truck while Bell/Norman will be 12th off the line in Class 22 while Prather/Cafro will start 10th in Class 25.

     As of the Start draw, the Pro 4-Wheel vehicles classes with the most entries are: Class 1 (46), SCORE Trophy-Truck (39), SCORE Lite (25), and Class 1-2/1600 (21).

     Leading the Motorcycle classes in entries so far are Class 22 (20), Class 30 (18), and with 17 each are Class 21 and Class 40.

     Class 25 for open ATVs has 16 entries.

     Among the Sportsman classes, SPT Motorcycles over 250cc has 37 entries and SPT ATV has 16.

     Drawing the first start in SCORE Lite was Rick St. John, Carlsbad, Calif., in a Duvell-VW, while on the pole in Class 1-2/1600 will be Steven Eugenio, El Centro, Calif., in a Lothringer-VW.

     Leading Class 30 (motorcycle riders over 30 years old) to the starting line will be the team led by Luis Valencia, of Rio Grande City, Texas.

     Among the other early entries is venerable veteran Rod Hall, Reno, Nev., who has entered the Stock Mini class in a Hummer H3. Hall, 68, has 16 class wins in the Tecate SCORE Baja 500. Hall’s oldest son Josh, 45, will drive a Hummer H2 in the Stock Full class.

     Also among the entries today is another 16-time class winner, Larry Roeseler, 49, of Hesperia, Calif., who will start fourth in Class 1 with Troy Herbst, Las Vegas, in the Terrible Herbst Motorsports Smithbuilt-Ford.

     Several crossover/celebrity racers are already entered in this year’s race, led by NASCAR’s Robby Gordon and Brendan Gaughan. Both second generation desert racers, Gordon, who has won this race three times, is a NASCAR Team Owner/Driver and is entered in SCORE Trophy-Truck while Gaughan, who is a NASCAR Truck Series driver, is entered in Class 1.

     Seven-time World Rally Championship driver Armin Schwarz of Austria is returning to Baja for the second time to race in Class 1 and Pikes Peak Hill Climb record holder Rod Millen of New Zealand is back again to race in the Stock Mini class.

     Millen’s son Rhyss Millen, also a Pikes Peak Hill Climb veteran and a national drifting champion, will be a co-driver for Chet Huffman in SCORE Trophy-Truck.
     Jamie Galles, a former Trans Am and Toyota Atlantic racer, will be a co-driver for Josh Rigsby in Class 1.

     The three celebrity drivers who are all SCORE regulars are SCORE Trophy-Truck drivers Cameron Steele, Jesse James and MaxThieriot. Steele, who is a TV sports announcer for Supercross, X Games and Champ Cars, has entered three classes once again—SCORE Trophy-Truck, SCORE Lite and Class 22.

     James, whose wife is legendary motion picture star Sandra Bullock, owns the world-famous West Cost Choppers company and was the star of the old Monster Garage television series.

     The starting line area will once again be in front of the Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center on Boulevard Costero in downtown Ensenada, Mexico. The finish line will be where it was last year--inside the Campo de Softball Jose Negro Soto stadium at 11th Street (Calle Once)and Espinoza Avenue in Ensenada. The stadium is located approximately 1.5 miles east of the start line area. Vehicles will start in 30-second intervals in the elapsed-time race.

     Pre-race festivities at the 39th Tecate SCORE Baja 500 will include the colorful SCORE Midway and tech inspection between the San Nicolas Hotel and the Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center in Ensenada from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Friday (June 1).  Racer registration will be held in the Grand Ballroom at the San Nicolas Hotel from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday (May 31) and from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Friday (June 1).

     The mandatory racer’s briefing will be held at 7 p.m. on Friday (June 1) in the Cathedral Room at the Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center.

     At 11 a.m. on Sunday (June 3), the awards celebration will be held poolside at the San Nicolas Hotel.

     As SCORE officials finalize the course layout for this year’s race, pre-running will begin on Sat., May 19.

     The 2007 SCORE Desert Series also includes the chase for the $75,000 Kartek Off-Road contingency bonus to be awarded to several 2007 SCORE Class point champions along with the run for the $12,000 Toyota True Grit and Toyota Milestone Awards.

     Current SCORE official annual sponsors are: BFGoodrich Tires-official tire, Sunoco Race Fuels/Bryant Petroleum-official fuel supplier, Bilstein-official shock, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance-official Mexican auto insurance, American Racing ATX Series-official wheel, Slime-official tire sealant, Airstar America-official space lighting provider and Red Bull--official energy drink. Associate sponsors are: Tecate Beer, Coca-Cola of Mexico, Las Vegas Events, Terrible Herbst Inc., Blue C Communications, Kartek Off-Road, Fram, Autolite, Prestone, Bendix, American Suzuki, SignPros, P.C.I. Race Radios, McKenzie’s Performance Products and Advanced Color Graphics.

      For more information, contact SCORE at its Los Angeles headquarters 818.225.8402 or visit the official website of the SCORE Desert Series at www.score-international.com.

SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK (39)
20 Mike Julson
1 B.J. Baldwin
4 Gus Vildosola
86 Josh Baldwin
3 Mark Post
28 Alan Pflueger
38 Garron Cadiente
31 Andy McMillin
12 Larry Ragland
19 Tim Herbst
60 Mike Voudouris
30 Roger Norman
55 Luis Wallace
77 Travis Coyne
58 Frank Thing
7 Scott Steinberger
2 Pete Sohren
85 Todd Wyllie
16 Cameron Steele
27 David Scaroni
37 Bruce Greer Jr.
51 Kory Scheeler
71 Robby Gordon
96 Bobby Baldwin
41 Chris Lucas
35 Robbie Pierce
91 Bill McBeath
54 Jesse James
22 Damen Jefferies
39 Ron Whitton
76 Jesse Jones
69 Francisco Cervantes
32 Juan C. Ibarra
29 Richard Boyle
15 Jim Beaver
40 Chet Huffman
17 Carl Renezeder
82 Ryan Arciero
50 Jerry Larimore

SCORE INT’L TRUCK (2)
83i Giniel De Villers
81i Mark Miller

CLASS 1 (46)
101 Max Thieriot
102 Randy Wilson
103 Robert Ross
100 Larry Roeseler
105 Bill Gasper
106 B.J. Richardson
107 Danny Ebberts
108 Luis Ramirez Jr.
109 Pat Dean
110 Josh Rigsby
111 Richard Boyle
112 Brian Hudson
113 Jamie Campbell
114 Trigger Gumm
115 Dale Lenk
116 Rob Bruce
117 Steve Sourapas
118 Steve Sullivan
119 Brian Parkhouse
120 Mark Levrett
121 Ronny Wilson
122 Todd Cuffaro
123 Adam Pfankuch
124 John Herder
125 Eduardo Gonzalez
126 Brendan Gaughan
127 Armin Schwarz
128 Gonzalo Pirron
129 Darren San Angelo
130 Vincent DeJong
131 Mike Bilek
132 John Harrah
133 Bill Witt
134 Alex Danze
135 Gary Weyhrich
136 Chuck Hovey
137 John Gould
138 Danny Anderson
139 Byron Ashley
140 Brian Kirby
141 Chuck Hovey
142 Dan Moore
143 Eric Chase
144 Mark McMillin
145 Dan Myers
159 Mike Sandoval

CLASS 1-2/1600 (21)
1601 Steven Eugenio
1602 Gerardo Iribe
1603 Billy Skinner
1604 Hiram Duran
1605 Ray Files
1606 Mario Gastelum
1607 Ed Bonanni
1608 Brent Parkhouse
1609 Arturo Velazco
1610 Chris Langmayer
1611 David Caspino
1612 Adam Ashcraft
1613 Juan Gallo
1614 Leonardo Navarrete
1615 Layton Bowles
1616 Arnoldo Ramirez
1617 Daniel McMillin
1618 Curt Geer
1647 L.J. Kennedy
1648 Eliseo Garcia
1649 Blaise Jackson

CLASS 3 (4)
300 Donald Moss
301 Alejandro Cancino
348 Dylan Evans
349 Chris Raffo

CLASS 5 (7)
501 Chris Bowman
502 Jim Varshay
503 Michelle Bruckmann
500 George Seeley
505 Victor Cesena
518 Kevin Carr
519 Luivan Voelker

CLASS 5/1600 (14)
551 Tommy Craft
552 Dan Edwards
553 Gregorio Villarino
554 Arnulfo Valenzuela
555 Mario Reynoso
556 Angel Vinaja
557 Ernie Negrete
558 Adolfo Aguilar Jr.
559 Danny Ledezma
560 Scott Pellerin
576 Gerardo Rubio
577 Ernesto Arambula
550 Marcos Nunez
579 Carlos Macklis

CLASS 7 (5)
700 Dan Chamlee
701 Shannon Dierkop
702 Justin Simmons
703 Barry Karakas
719 A.J. Rodriguez

CLASS 7S (2)
721 Javier Avila
720 Mike Horner

CLASS 7SX (10)
741 Rich Severson
742 Norman Turley
743 Noe Sierra
744 Alberto Iriarte
755 Heidi Steele
740 John Holmes
757 Jim Hinesley
758 Gerardo Novelo
759 Kurt Youngs

CLASS 8 (4)
800 Nick Vanderwey
801 Kurtis Kupiec
802 Greg Adler
803 Glen Greer

CLASS 9 (2)
901 Luis Guevara
902 Joe Castrey

CLASS 10 (12)
1001 Todd Elam
1002 Corey Keysar
1003 Chris Harrold
1004 Jim Knorr
1005 Matt Cullen
1006 Will Higman
1006 Will Higman
1007 Mark Weger
1008 Lobsam Yee
1009 Michael Meurer
1010 Alex Crostwaithe
1000 Darren Hardesty
1049 Brendan Fikes

SCORE LITE (25)
1201 Rick St. John
1202 Craig Brabant
1203 David Callaway
1204 Kevin Derby
1205 Chuck Sacks
1206 Scott Wisdom
1207 Ricardo Malo
1208 Dave Bonner
1209 Matt Drever
1210 Mike Williams
1211 Mike Halliday
1212 Hector Garcia
1213 Cameron Steele
1214 Allen Russell
1215 Mike Belk
1216 Scott Rhone
1217 Stan Potter
1218 Randy Ross
1219 Ty Godde
1220 Phil Green
1221 Bob Bingham
1222 Arturo Salas
1200 Tim Noe
1224 Bil Hernquist
1249 Richard Garavito

CLASS 11 (2)
1100 Eric Solorzano
1149 Jeremy Altman

STOCK FULL (3)
860 Terry Henn
861 John Griffin
862 Josh Hall

STOCK MINI (4)
761 Rod Millen
760 Rod Hall
778 Gavin Skilton
779 Steve Kovach

PROTRUCK (11)
213 Dave Westhem
252 Mike Johnson
204 Gus Vildosola Jr.
208 James Wasson
234 Rob Reinertson
226 Al Hogan
235 Jason Voss
250 Gary Magness
236 Rick L. Johnson
240 Rob Kittleson
266 Jeff Voss

CLASS 17 (1)
1701 Bob Land

PRO MOTORCYCLES

CLASS 22 (20)
2x Marc Francke
3x Shannon Powell
4x David Warren
5x Greg Richards
6x Dan Walsh
7x Chris Blais
8x Jesse Sharpe
9x Blake Visin
10x Ralph Barrera
11x David Rutherford
12x Kevin Johnson
1x Robby Bell
14x Joe Desrosiers
15x Marc Burnett
16x Cameron Steele
17x Kris McDonald
18x Nick Thompson
19x Scott Bloom
20x Travis Simmons
21x Steven Soto

CLASS 20 (4)
151x Ryan Penhall
152x Ryan Grandon
153x Mark Chicado
154x Brett Girmsley

CLASS 21 (17)
101x Luis Valencia
102x Anna Jo Cody
103x Joey Lane
104x Francisco Arredondo
105x Chris Parker
106x Darren Scott
107x Nathon Verdugo
108x Luke Dodson
109x Cory Evenson
110x Collin Corrigan
111x Brent Harden
112x Brett Helms
113x Justin Hermann
114x Ryan Gustine
100x Shaun Hanson
116x Juan Castro
117x David Gonzalez Jr.

CLASS 30 (18)
301x Shawn Freiling
302x Ricardo De La Peria
303x Steve Bailor
304x Jake Buell
305x Mitchel Sanchez
307x Charlie Wilson
309x Jamey Kabisch
310x Michael Mann
311x Dan O’Neal
312x Scott Polimeni
313x Jim O’Neal
314x Greg Perryman
315x Stuart Goggins
316x John Trabucco
317x Gerardo Rojas
318x Francisco Septien

CLASS 40 (17)
401x Dennis Green
402x Brett Helm
403x Richard Deveau
404x Gilberto Gallardo
405x Julio Abril
406x Ken Perkins
407x Steve Downey
408x John Connolly
409x Dave Simpson
410x Donald Connelly
411x Leonel Vallejo
412x Kent Pfeiffer
413x Bill Boyer
414x Todd Winslow
415x David Rentfro
416x Jim Buckingham
417x Paul Needles

CLASS 50 (4)
501x Keith Speir
502x Tim Savin
500x Jim O’Neal
504x Jeff Keeler
549x Eric Bondus

CLASS 60 (1)
601x John Carmona

PRO ATVs

CLASS 25 (16)
2a Carmen Cafro
3a Wayne Matlock
4a Brandon Brown
5a Adolfo Arellano
6a Alex Camanini
7a Richard Thrift
8a Jovany Pimentel
9a Jason Greenhaw
10a Mark Dyer
1a Danny Prather
12a Jeff Hancock
13a Miguel Batisdas
14a Josh Row
15a Francisco Ruano
48a Kyle Needham
49a John Padgett

CLASS 24 (4)
101a Jose Mendoza
102a Scott Taylor
103a Francisco Servin
104a Daniel Marin Jr.

SPORTSMAN

SPT CAR (2)
1400 Peter Lang
1401 Dave Donaldson

SPT TRUCK (4)
1501 Miguel Jimenez
1502 Andrew Leavitt
1503 Randy Swink
1504 Mark Growe

SPT UTV (6)
1801 Jason Raley
1802 Marty Fiolka
1803 Richard Nelson
1804 Todd Romano
1805 Cassey Currie
1849 Damon Cardone

SPT M/C< (6)
201x Brady Van Matre
202x Garrett Tolman
203x Jose Mercado
204x Marc Morelli
205x Brody Kunz
206x Jack Sussoev

SPT M/C> (37)
251x Alan Wahlstrom
252x Sam Eyssautier
253x David Robinson
254x Thierry Mas
255x Brandt Anderson
250x Jeff Leonard
257x Eric Bowen
258x Luke Terrry
259x Javier Hernandez
260x Fernando Vara
261x Carlos Becerril
262x William Saunders
263x Ken Olson
264x Carlos Chavez
265x Daniel Gregory
266x Adam Barr
267x Mike Crawford
268x Eric Litzenberg
269x Mike Gilbert
270x Glen Gomez
271x Mark Fishburn
272x Gary Barr
273x Rene Lorentz
274x Marc Jenkins
275x Jeremiah Kolbensvik
276x Steven Moak
277x Bret Pemberton
279x Levi Colton
280x Bill Eddings
281x Buddy Bishop
282x Fred Sobke
283x Louis Vanlandingham
284x Mike Layton
297x Phillip Allford
298x Daniel Allford
299x Chris Shwemaker

SPT ATV (16)
51a Jason Wade
52a Esequiel Lopez
53a Miguel Arellano
54a Scott Ferguson
55a Reid Rutherford
56a Heriberto Marquez
57a John Crowley
58a Carlos Juarez
59a Craig Christy
60a Justin Ryan
61a Bub Stratton
50a David McCarroll
63a David Corbani
64a Luis Salgado
98a Shawn Munro
99a Joe Rice