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Over 330 entries expected
Rugged course opens Saturday for racer pre-running
For 37th Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 500 desert race
299 already entered in June 3-5 race in Ensenada, Mexico--
Round 3 of six-race 2005 SCORE Desert Series
LOS ANGELES,
CA (May 12, 2005) -- Southern California’s
borders into Mexico’s Baja
California will be even busier for the next few weeks starting  Saturday as
several thousand crew members and racers, representing over 300 race teams
begin the
arduous task or pre-running the rugged race course for next month’s popular
Tecate SCORE Baja 500 desert race.
Traditionally one of the
most popular events on the SCORE schedule, over 100,000
spectators are expected to enjoy the world’s best desert racers in action
at round 3 of the six-race 2005 SCORE Desert Series, to be held June 3-5 in
Ensenada, Mexico.
With over 330 entries expected
from 20 U.S. States, Mexico, Canada and Japan
in the world’s foremost desert racing series event, the green flag will
drop at 6 a.m. on Saturday (June 4) for the motorcycle and ATV classes in the
Tecate SCORE Baja 500, followed by the car and truck classes two hours later
at 8:30 a.m.
Looking much like an inverted
deflating balloon on a string, the 419-mile race course starts in downtown
Ensenada adjacent to the Riviera Convention
Center
and finishes at Deportivo Antonio Palacios baseball stadium, 9th & Guadalupe
Ave., in the heart of Ensenada. The course travels  in a counter-clockwise direction,
with the first 51.01 miles from the start to Tres Hermanos (17 miles south
of Ojos Negros) being used both ways. With the SCORE course marking crew finishing
on Friday, the course will open for practice on Saturday. No pre-running is
allowed
from the start to Ojos Negros, rm 34.0 except outbound only from May 30-June
3.
“With today’s competition and incredible racing equipment, I seriously
doubt if anyone could win the Tecate SCORE Baja 500 without pre-running,” said
Hawaii’s Alan Pflueger, who was the overall and SCORE Trophy-Truck winner
last year in his No. 28 Pflueger Racing Chevy Silverado. “Year in and year
out, the Tecate SCORE Baja 500 is the roughest, toughest, most challenging course
we race on  and if you aren’t prepared by multiple practice runs, you won’t
be able to drive fast enough to win and there will be plenty of rocks waiting
to jump out and bite your front end off. There are always rocks, but you can
be better prepared to avoid them.”
From Tres Hermanos, the course heads
west to Uruapan then onto Hwy 1 (K42) at race mile 74.4, turning south for
approximately six miles on pavement to Santo
Tomas at rm 80.4 (Hwy 1, K51). The course then heads southwest for toward the
Pacific Ocean, across by Erendira at rm115.6, looping down around Cerro Celo
before heading northeast up to Highway 1 just below San Vicente at rm138.70
(Hwy 1, K96). After four miles of pavement, the course heads east at rm 142.79
(Hwy
1, K102+) up a grade towards Valle De Trinidad.
At rm171.7, the course
represents a tall boot, running south, west, back east and then north around
Rancho El
Coyote , Rancho Buenavista, and then by Mike’s
Sky Rancho at rm 251.3 and back down to rm 270.9 (Hwy 3, K138). The course then
heads northwest on the pavement of Hwy 3 for just less than 12 miles, passing
through Valle De Trinidad to rm 282.1 (Hwy 3, K118). The course then heads north
on the infamous ‘goat trail’ past Santa Catarina and up for a loop
through the magnificent pine forest before droping down to rm 344.8 for a right
hand turn onto Hwy 3 at K78+. It turns left at rm 345.95 after just a mile
on pavement (Hwy 3, K77).
The course then winds its way past Cerro Colorado back
to Tres Hermanos. After returning to Tres Hermanos at rm 369.7, the course
heads north to Ojos Negros
at rm 385.8 (Hwy 3, K39) and back to Ensenada over the first 51.01 miles of
the course.
 The starting line area will once again be adjacent to the Riviera del
Pacifico Convention Center in downtown Ensenada, Mexico. The finish line will
be inside
the Deportivo Antonio Palacios baseball stadium at 9th Street and Guadalupe
Avenue in Ensenada. It is located approximately 1.5 miles east of the start
line area.
The admission will be free to this special SCORE finish line celebration. Vehicles
will start in 30-second intervals in the elapsed-time, 419.0-mile race.
The world’s
foremost desert racing series will showcase 24 Pro and 5 Sportsman classes
for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs in Ensenada, which is located
65 miles south of the U.S. border at San Diego on the Pacific Ocean side of
the majestic peninsula.
To date, the classes with the most entries are: Class 1-2/1600
(36), Class 1 (35), SCORE Trophy-Truck (28), SCORE Lite (19), Class 5/1600
(19) and Class 10
(17).
New to their respective classes, desert racers Chad McNeil, Lee Patten and
Steve Thompson received the pole positions in the top three divisions at the
drawing
for starting positions held on April 30.
McNeil, El Cajon, CA, a second-generation
desert racer, will lead the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division in his new
McNeil Off-Road Chevy SCORE Trophy-Truck
while Patten, Bellflower, CA, drew the first start in the unlimited Class
1 and Thompson, Long Beach, CA, will be at the front of the motorcycle
classes.
Drawing the first start in Class 1-2/1600 was Jeff Quade, Temecula, CA,
in a Fisher-VW, while on the pole in SCORE Lite is Mike Halliday, Riverside,
CA,
in a Jimco-VW. At the front of Class 5/1600 will be Feliciano Cervantes, Montebello,
CA, in a VW Baja Bug and up front in Class 10 will be Jim Anderson, Claremont,
CA, in a Dunrite-VW.
 For the first time in several
years, the Tecate SCORE Baja 500 will be televised nationally on a delayed
basis. Aura 360, the Maine
production and marketing company
that has this year’s SCORE television rights, expects to announce within
two weeks which national cable outlet will carry the race.
A total of 18 class
winners from last year are entered, led by overall winners Alan Pflueger (4-wheel
vehicles, SCORE Trophy-Truck), Steve Hengeveld/Johnny
Campbell (Motorcycles, Class 22) and Troy Herbst/Larry Roeseler (unlimited
Class 1). Pflueger picked up his second class win in the race last year and
his first
in SCORE Trophy-Truck in his No. 28 Pflueger Racing Chevy Silverado. Hengeveld
has five consecutive Class 22 and overall motorcycle wins in this race, including
the last three with Campbell, who has five career overall wins as well on the
No. 1X American Honda XR650R.
 Herbst and Roeseler have won Class 1 the last three
years together, including the overall win in 2002 and 2003. In their careers,
Herbst has six class wins
in the Tecate SCORE Baja 500 with two overalls and Roeseler has 15 class wins,
including 11 overalls (nine on a motorcycle). They will again drive a Smithbuilt-Ford
open-wheel desert race car.
Nick Vanderwey (Class 8)
and Jim O’Neal (Class
40) have won their respective classes four straight years in this summer classic
and Donald Moss (Class 3)
has earned three consecutive class wins.
Another of the early entries is NASCAR
Nextel Cup owner/driver Robby Gordon, who will return to his racing roots for
the first time this season. Gordon, a
three-time SCORE class point champion, will once again attempt to pull double-duty,
racing the same weekend in the NASCAR race in Dover, Delaware.
Pre-race festivities
for the 37th Tecate SCORE Baja 500 will center around the Riviera del Pacifico
convention center in downtown Ensenada on Friday (June 3).
Traditionally
drawing thousands of spectators, the pre-race Manufacturer’s
Midway and display off all the race vehicles will be held adjacent to the San
Nicolas Hotel, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday (June 3). The post-race awards
celebration will be held at the San Nicolas Hotel in Ensenada on Sunday (June
5) at 10 a.m.
Leading the SCORE
overall and Class 1-2/1600 point standings, Las Vegas’ Rob
MacCachren has put himself at the top of the list in the chase for the $50,000
Kartek Off-Road bonus purse. The top three overall point leaders in the 2005
SCORE Desert Series will receive bonus money of $25,000, $15,000 and $10,000
from the Southern California aftermarket company. MacCachren, who also races
in the SCORE Trophy-Truck division with Gus Vildosola in the No. 4 Vildosola
Racing Ford F-150, runs a Fraley-VW with Las Vegas’ Bryan Freeman in
Class 1-2/1600.
The race also features
the hunt for the 2005 SCORE Toyota Awards--the Toyota Milestone Awards and
the $12,000 Toyota True Grit bonus purse. Milestone
awards
are presented to every racer who completes every required race mile for the
season and the bonus purse will be split among the point champions in four
non-factory
backed classes (1-2/1600, 5, Class 10 and SCORE Lite). A total of 45 of SCORE’S
toughest desert racers are still in the hunt for Milestone Awards.
SCORE
official sponsors for 2005 are: BFGoodrich Tires-official tire, C.L. Bryant-VP Racing
Fuels-official fuel supplier. Associate sponsors are:  Tecate Beer, Coca-Cola
of Mexico, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance, Las Vegas Events, Herbst Gaming,
Kartek Off-Road, Centrix Financial, Fram, Autolite, Prestone, Bilstein, Signpros,
Cotuco,
Fideicomiso Publico para la Promocion Turistica de Ensenada, Cotuco, P.C.I.
Race Radios, McKenzie’s Performance Products, and Advanced Color Graphics.
For information contact:
SCORE International at its Los Angeles headquarters
(818) 225-8402 or visit
the official 2005 SCORE Desert Series website at:
www.score-international.com
For
Sponsorship Information, contact:
Mark Handley
(760) 750-1905
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