ENSENADA, Baja California, Mexico—Arturo Salas Jr, from Tecate, Baja California, will be the fortunate first to start at the front in the motorcycle divisions in next week’s 5th SCORE Baja 400, presented by VP Racing.
This extra prize was awarded to him after winning the BFGoodrich Tires 56th SCORE Baja 500 in June in the Pro Moto Unlimited class. He will be aiming for his third overall SCORE win this year.
The third round of the 2024 SCORE World Desert Championship will take place from Sept. 10 to 15 in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. The race course will differ for the cars in the pro classes, covering 424.96 miles, while the pro motorcycles will cover a greater distance of 434.52 miles. The Sportsman classes will also have different distances, with motorcycles racing 393.91 miles and cars 384.35 miles.
With qualifying for the SCORE Trophy Truck, SCORE Trophy Truck Legend, and the Trophy Truck Spec class scheduled for next Wednesday, the finalists from the previous SCORE Baja 500 in June will start the SCORE Baja 400 in the same position where they finished the previous SCORE race.
Meanwhile, competitors who did not participate in that race were part of a drawing to determine their starting positions.
The pre-race contingency row, start, and finish will take place on the Boulevard Costero in Ensenada, in front of the Riviera Center of Ensenada. Additionally, there will be a new feature with Nelson Ranch serving as the timing start and finish area, who will need to drive at normal traffic speeds from that area until reaching the tourist zone of Ensenada to receive the checkered flag adjacent to the iconic Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center on Boulevard Costero.
ON THE BOARD
With over 210 entries anticipated at the third race of the 51st season of SCORE desert racing, 182 total entries have been received so far for the newest SCORE event, with racers representing 22 U.S. States, and 12 countries. The countries with at least one racer so far are United States, host country Mexico, U.S. Territory Puerto Rico, Australia, Argentina, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, France, Ecuador, New Zealand, and Venezuela.
DOUBLE DIGITS
With double-digit entries to date are the marquee SCORE Trophy Truck (high-tech, unlimited, 1000-horsepower, custom trucks) with 31, Trophy Truck Spec, (SCORE Trophy Trucks with spec engines) with 26, Pro UTV Open with 18, Pro UTV FI with 13, Pro UTV Stock and Class 10 with 12.
MORE FIRST STARTS
Among the racers who will start first in their respective four-wheel vehicle classes in this year’s 5th SCORE Baja 400, presented by VP Racing, based on the results of the last race are Cody Reid, Apple Valley, Calif. (Class 1, No. 168), Francisco Vera, El Rosario, Mexico (Class 10, No. 1000), Cayden MacCachren, Las Vegas (Pro UTV Open, No. 1821), Phil Blurton, Auburn, Calif. (Pro UTV FI, No. 2944), Daniel Chamlee, San Felipe, Mexico (Class 7, No. 700), David Pedder, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (Pro UTV NA, No. 1984), Francisco Beltran, La Paz, Mexico (Pro UTV Stock, No. 3921), Daniel Goodrich, Chula Vista, Calif. (Class 1/2-1600, No. 1606), and Eric Solorzano, Tijuana, Mexico (Class 11, No. 1111).
Besides Salas Junior in Pro Moto Unlimited, among the other motorcycle first starts will be the teams led by Armando Ortiz, Tijuana, Mexico (Pro Moto Limited, No. 110x), Ethan Wheeler, Ocean Beach, Calif. (Pro Moto 30, No. 317x), Mike Prunty, Temecula, Calif. (Pro Moto 50, No. 547), Francisco Septien, Ensenada, Mexico (Pro Moto 40, No. 411x), and Patricio Cabrera, Chile (Pro Moto Ironman, No. 745x).
GREEN FLAG
The 5th SCORE Baja 400, presented by VP Racing, will be an elapsed-time race with staggered starts as the green flag on Saturday, Sept. 14 will drop first for the motorcycles and quads at 4:15 a.m. (PT) and 9 a.m. (PT) for the cars, trucks and UTVs. While the fastest vehicles are expected to finish in around eight and one-half hours, all vehicles will have a 16-hour time limit in the 424.96 mile-race and 434.52 mile-race to become official finishers in the popular race.
ROBERTSON, A GREAT LEGENDARY MARSHAL
San Diego’s Doug Robertson, a legendary Class 5 SCORE champion driver, has been selected by SCORE to be the Grand Marshal for this month’s 5th SCORE Baja 400, presented by VP Racing.
Robertson, and his late brother Don Robertson, built their own Class 5 unlimited VW Baja Bugs and together they were both stellar racers in the late 1970s.
Sponsored by the Bilstein shock absorber company that was just starting to grow in the United States after starting decades before in Germany, the Robertson brothers were admired in their Bilstein race cars.
Doug and Don were the 1977 SCORE Overall and Class 5 season point champions. Their Overall championship is the only time in the history of SCORE that a Class 5 vehicle has won the overall point title.
The brothers started out as teenagers on motorcycles in the desert and then got involved with some Jeep racers as codrivers. Their first event was the Ensenada 300 in 1973.
Among their individual Class 5 victories were the 1977 and 1979 SCORE Baja 500 and the 1976, 1977 and 1979 SCORE Baja 1000.
Working in management for several decades, Doug Robertson became the President of Bilstein USA and retired in 2010. While there, in addition to a prolific presence in SCORE racing, Bilstein became the standard in NASCAR racing, winning 10 straight championships.
Source: Score International / Gabriel Garcia
Picture: GetSome Photo.
Disclaimer:
As a service to the sport we all love and follow, Rally-Raid Network posts numerous media releases from a wide variety of sources on our website. Due to the large number, and some times short time available, it is nearly impossible to review each public release. These articles are written by reporters or press officers who work for various organizers, teams, drivers, riders, and other parties, and they do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Rally-Raid Network.