Morgan team leads overall m/c points, Stacy leading SCORE TT Legend points;
other class point leaders include S. Price, C. Reid, K. Wells, Willert, Chamlee
Ruvalcaba, Ibarra, Thygerson, Herrera, Pena, Liebalt, Skurkis, Spinali, Sanchez;
Season Finale—52nd SCORE Baja 1000—Nov. 19-24 in Ensenada, Mexico
Following his tenacious victories in the 33rd SCORE San Felipe 250 and the 51st SCORE Baja 500 along with his second place finish in a brand new race truck at the recent Inaugural Lucerna SCORE Baja 400, San Diego’s ‘youthful’ veteran desert racer Andy McMillin continues to leads the SCORE Overall and the marquee SCORE Trophy Truck season point standings after three events in the four-race 2019 SCORE World Desert Championship.
Andy McMillin finished second behind Ryan Arciero in the SCORE Baja 400 in a field of 189 starters for the first-time race including 36 in the featured SCORE Trophy Truck division for high-tech, 950-horsepower unlimited custom trucks. McMillin, 32, who has 11 career SCORE Trophy Truck race wins, drives the No. 31 McMillin Motorsports Mason-built all-wheel drive Chevy Silverado and has a dominating 330 season point total after his twin wins and one second place.
52nd SCORE BAJA 1000
Entries from across the United States and several countries from around the world are expected for the upcoming internationally-televised Inaugural Lucerna SCORE Baja 1000. Season finale of the four-race 2019 SCORE World Desert Championship, the race will be held Nov. 19-24 in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. Ensenada is a coastal city on the Bahia de Todos Santos area of the Pacific Ocean, 80 miles south of the U.S. border at San Diego.
Many of the world’s best desert racers will be in action at this newest SCORE Baja event. The race will be televised on a delayed basis as a one-hour special on ABC TV’s World of X Games programming.
Over 250 vehicles are expected at the start line with racers from over 30 U.S. States and as many as 200 countries anticipated. Long-time SCORE sponsor BFGoodrich Tires has also posted a US$40,000 contingency bonus for the overall 4-wheel winner to help commemorate the start of the newest SCORE race.
LUKE MCMILLIN CHASING COUSIN
While Andy McMillin is clearly the SCORE Overall and SCORE Trophy Truck point leader after the first three races of the 2019 SCORE World Desert Championship, his cousin Luke McMillin is right on his tail in second in SCORE Trophy Truck and fifth in SCORE overall points with 293.
Luke’s brother Dan McMillin was in the hunt as well for the season point title but a fire in his race truck has dropped him back to 12th place in the ultra-competitive SCORE Trophy Truck division.
All third-generation desert racers from San Diego, Luke McMillin, 26, has finished fifth, second and 12th in SCORE Trophy Truck this year in his No. 83 Mark Racing Ford F-150 (Racer) while Dan McMillin, 31, had third and eighth-place finishes in SCORE Trophy Truck prior to the vehicle fire in the third race in his No. 83 Mark Racing Ford F-150 (Racer).
BURNETT LEADS UTVs
The overall Pro UTV point leader after three races and at the top of the standings in his Pro UTV FI (Forced Induction) class is veteran SCORE desert racer Marc Bunett. After three races, Burnett, Lakeside, Calif., has 283 season points and is also seventh in the SCORE Overall season point standings in his No. 2905 Monster Energy Can-Am X3.
This season so far he has consistent finishes of third, second and second prior to next month’s season finale at the SCORE Baja 1000.
Burnett is in a tight battle in his class with defending champion Wayne Matlock, Alpine, Calif. With first, fourth and fifth-place finishes in the first three races in his No. 2971 Monster EnergyPolaris RZR XP4 Turbo, Matlock is second in his class points and 10th in SCORE Overall Points heading to the finale at 277 total points.
TOP FIVE IN OVERALL POINTS
Second in SCORE overall points and leading the Trophy Truck Spec class is Sara Price, Canyon Lake, Calif., with 305 points in her No. 204 RPM Racing Geiser-Chevy truck. Price has three consecutive solid second place finishes in her class this season which has given her the season point lead in her class.
While SCORE Trophy Truck has 10 racers in the top 26 points, Trophy Truck Spec is right behind with eight and actually has the racers in third, fourth and fifth in SCORE overall points. Currently second in the Trophy Truck Spec class and third in SCORE Overall points is Charles Dorrance, Austin, Texas, with 300 points in his No. 299 Geiser-Chevy. Dorrance was fourth in his class in San Felipe, earned his first SCORE class race win at the SCORE Baja 500 and finished third in class at the SCORE Baja 400.
After his first SCORE win ever in San Felipe, followed by two fourth-place finishes in class, fourth in the SCORE Overall point standings and third in Trophy Truck Spec is second-generation SCORE racer Austin A.J. Jones, 23, Litchfield Park, Ariz., who has 297 season points is his No. 279 TSCO-Chevy truck. Jones, son of 2010 SCORE Trophy Truck season point champion Jesse Jones, defeated a SCORE-record field of 29 starters in his class in San Felipe.
Fifth in overall points and second in SCORE Trophy Truck is Luke McMIllin.
MORGAN LEADS M/Cs
After earning the 2018 SCORE Overall Motorcycle and Pro Moto Unlimited class point championship after amazingly winning their class and the overall titles in all four races last year as a new team and three more this season for seven straight as a team, Justin Morgan, 29, El Cajon, Calif. and Mark Samuels, 29, Yucca Valley, Calif. won their have opened their 2019 campaign to lead their class and the SCORE Overall Motorcycle points with 260 points on their No. 1x Honda CRF450X.
Individually, Morgan has now won an amazing 10 straight SCORE Baja races including three as a co-rider in 2017 for Guatemala’s rider of record Francisco Arredondo. Arredondo won that year’s season point title in the Pro Moto Unlimited class.
SCORE TROPHY TRUCK LEADERS
Lined up behind the Andy and Luke McMillin in the point standings in the featured SCORE Trophy Truck division for high-tech, 950-horsepower custom trucks are several more of the world’s finest desert racers.
In third place in SCORE Trophy Trucks and sixth in SCORE overall points with 284 points are Ensenada brothers Alan Ampudia/Aaron Ampudia (No. 10 Papas Y Beer Ford Raptor-ID).
Fourth and seventh respectively in SCORE Trophy Truck season points after Round 3 are Desert Assassins teammates Cameron Steele and Bobby Pecoy.
Eighth in SCORE Overall points with 284 so far is Steele, San Clemente, Calif., who won last year’s SCORE Baja 1000, in his No. 16 Monster Energy Desert Assassins Ford Raptor (Geiser) and 12th in SCORE Overall points with 274 is Pecoy, Yorba Linda, Calif., in the No. 14 Monster Energy Desert Assassins Ford Raptor (Geiser).
Fifth is Las Vegas’ Bryce Menzies (No. 7 Red Bull Menzies Motorsports Ford Raptor-Huseman) with 280 points.
Sixth after two races in SCORE Trophy Truck and 10th in SCORE Overall points with 277 is the team of Chris Miller, La Jolla, Calif./Jimmy Nuckles, Brawley, Calif. in the No. 40 Toyota Tundra built by ID Designs.
Eighth in SCORE Trophy Truck season points and 13th in SCORE Overall points with 269 is former NASCAR team owner/driver and veteran SCORE champion Robby Gordon, Charlotte, N.C., in his No. 77 Speed Energy Custom-built Chevy Silverado.
Ninth in SCORE Trophy Truck and tied for 17th in SCORE Overall points with 262 is Mike Lawrence, Banning, Calif., in his No. 85 Lawrence Equipment Herbst/Smith-built Ford F-150.
Completing the top 10 in SCORE Trophy Truck points and tied for 20th in SCORE Overall points with 260 in last year’s SCORE Trophy Truck season point champion Rob MacCachren, Las Vegas, who is the all-time leader with 17 career SCORE Trophy Truck race wins, in his No. 11 Rockstar Energy MacCachren Motorsports Ford -150.
SEVEN CLASS LEADERS IN TOP 26 OVERALL
Including Andy McMillin in SCORE Trophy Truck, Price in Trophy Truck Spec and Marc Burnett in Pro UTV FI, a total of seven classes have at least one racer in the top 26 SCORE Overall 4-wheel point standings after Round 3 of the four-race 2019 SCORE World Desert Championship.
The classes among the top 26 point leaders are SCORE Trophy Truck (10 racers), Trophy Truck Spec (8), Pro UTV FI (2), Class 10 (2), SCORE Lites (2), Pro UTV NA (1) and Class 1 (1).
Besides SCORE Trophy Truck, Trophy Truck Spec and Pro UTV FI the other three 2019 class point leaders in the top 26 in the 2019 SCORE Overall points are Brad Wilson, Long Beach, Calif. in the No. 100 Jimco-Chevy (Class 1, 16th overall), Cody Reid, Apple Valley, Calif. in the No. 1068 Alumi Craft Chevy (Class 10, 14th overall), Kaden Wells, St. George, Utah in the No. 1995 Polaris RZR XP1000 (Pro UTV, NA-Naturally Aspirated, 24th Overall.
MORE PRO CLASS POINT LEADERS
Among the other 2019 SCORE World Desert Championship class point leaders in Pro car/truck/UTV classes after three of four races in the 2019 SCORE World Desert Championship are Clyde Stacy, Bristol, Va./Nick Vanderwey, Phoenix (SCORE TT Legend, No. 5L Chevy Rally Truck-Geiser), Dan Chamlee, Montecito, Calif. (Class 7, No. 700 Ford Raptor), J. David Ruvalcaba, Ensenada, Mexico (Class 1/2-1600, No. 1609 VBR-VW), Jesus Mendez Jr, Mexicali, Mexico (Pro UTV UNLTD, N. 1850 Can-Am Maverick XRS), Edward Muncey, San Diego (Baja Challenge, No. BC4 BTC-Subaru), Luis Herrera, Granada Hills, Calif. (Class 5-1600, No. 550 1600cc VW Sedan), Dave Cole, Corona, Calif. (Class 7F, No. 724F Jeep Gladiator), Mike Leslie, Wildomar, Calif. (No. 751 Class 7SX, Jeep Comanche) and Kent Thygerson, San Diego (Class 11, No. 1113 VW Sedan).
Besides the Justin Morgan 1x team, among the other riders of record class point leaders in Pro motorcycles are Marco Pena, Nuevo Casas Grandes, Mexico (Pro Moto Limited, No. 120x Husqvarna 350FE), Ryan Liebelt, Reedley, Calif. (Pro Moto 30, No. 308x Yamaha WR450F), Jason Trubey, Henderson, Nev. (Pro Moto 40, No. 444x Husqvarna FE501), Michael Skurkis, Henderson, Nev. (Pro Moto Ironman, No. 729x Husqvarna FE501) and Giovanni Spinali, El Cajon, Calif. (Pro Moto 50, No. 500x Yamaha YZ450FX).
Leading the Pro Quad class is the team led by Rider of Record Said Sanchez, Tijuana, Mexico (Pro Quad, No. 1a Honda TRX450R.
SPORTSMAN LEADERS
The 2019 Sportsman motorcycle point leader with 252 points and two race wins so far in 2019 is the team led by Shane Schorno, Discovery Bay, Calif. in the No. 284x KTM 500EXCF. Leading in the Sportsman Quad division with 232 points after a pair of fifth-place finishes and one second in his class is the team led by Jovani Marquez, Los Cabos, Mexico, on the No. 145a Honda TRX450R.
THE UNDEFEATED
Besides the Justin Morgan 1x Motorcycle team, the only other class point leader who has won all three races so far in the 2019 SCORE World Desert Championship season is Giovanni Spinali, El Cajon, Calif. (Pro Moto 50).
Source SCORE International
Photo Andy McMillin official Facebook page
