Racers from 24 U.S. States, seven countries
466.00-mile journey around Mexico’s majestic Baja California Norte;
in Ensenada—late, on-site racer registration Thursday and Friday,
Motorcycles, Quads start at 6 a.m. Saturday, Cars, Trucks, UTVs at 10 a.m.
SCORE Live --Contingency, Start Line, Finish Line, Rat Sult host;
Vehicle Tracking at www.score-international.com, #SCOREBaja500
NOTE: Sked of events, all-time SCORE Baja 500 Overall winners at bottom of text
NOTICE: BioSecurity health & safety protocols will be strictly enforced
Led by 68 racers with 214 combined class wins, nearly 250 entries expected for this week’s 53rd anniversary celebration of the legendary BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 500, presented by 4 Wheel Parts. Round 2 of the four-race 2021 SCORE World Desert Championship will be held will be held Thursday to Sunday.
The celebratory internationally-televised race on a characteristically challenging 466.00-mile course will start and finish in a closed-to-the-public SCORE compound located Northeast of downtown Ensenada.
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.
THE SCOOP
Round 2 of the four-race 2021 SCORE World Desert Championship will be held Thursday through Sunday in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, the Off-Road Capital of the World.
Most the world’s best desert racers will be in action at this year’s celebration of one of the top 10 motorsports events in the entire world. SCORE is celebrating its 48th year as the World’s Foremost Desert Racing Organization.
GREEN FLAG--SATURDAY
The motorcycle and quad classes will start at 6 a.m. PT Saturday while the car, truck and UTV classes will begin their journey starting at 10 a.m. PT. SCORE Trophy Truck, TT Legend and the Pro Moto Unlimited classes will start one vehicle every 60 seconds race while all other classes will start one every 30 seconds.
While the fastest vehicles in the elapsed-time race are expected to finish in approximately eight hours, all vehicles will have 20 hours from the time each starts to become an official finisher in the historic race.
ON-SITE RACER REGISTRATION
Being held in the SCORE start/finish line compound Northeast of downtown, regular on-site and late racer registration will be held on Thursday from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. PT and on Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. No new entries will be accepted after 7 p.m. PT on Thursday and 3 p.m. PT on Friday.
NO SPECTATORS-START/FINISH
While the world continues to bounce back from last year’s pandemic trauma, this race will be held under the same BioSecurity Health and Safety protocols implemented by SCORE after approval from State and Local Health and Government authorities.
All race-week festivities and the start/finish line compound will be restricted access only and closed to the general public.
Spectators following health and safety protocols will be allowed in the open areas around the 466.00-mile race course.
The official course map is available on the SCORE website on the SCORE Baja 500 page under Race Info.
DETAILS
With over 250 entries expected, 51 Pro and Sportsman competition classes are offered for cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads. Among the 222 total tentative entries to date are racers from 24 U.S. States, host country Mexico, along with Bolivia, Canada, New Zealand, France and Peru.
Domestically, the race will be televised on a delayed basis on the World of X Games show on ESPN2 as co-produced by SCORE International and award-winning BCII TV of Los Angeles. Action Sports television announcer/Baja adventure tours host/Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame and SCORE Trophy Truck champion racer Cameron Steele returns as the on-camera host of the TV show.
All four 2021 SCORE races are being held on Mexico’s magnificent Baja California peninsula for the sixth consecutive year.
SCORE LIVE
SCORE Live will be streaming throughout contingency and race days on the SCORE website and on the new SCORE TV app. Colorful Rat Sult is back for his sixth season as the host of SCORE Live. Assisting him for this race will be veteran announcer Dave Arnold and Matt Moghaddam.
MULTIPLE CLASS WINNERS RETURN:
In the field are 68 racers who have 214 combined class wins in this race. Leading this prestigious group of returning multiple class winners are Jim O’Neal with 21 class wins and Larry Roeseler with 17. The other racers with the most multiple class wins in this race who are back to attempt to add to their winning totals are: Nick Vanderwey (8), Mike Cafro, Shane Esposito, Rob MacCachren and Eric Solorzano (7 each), Clyde Stacy (6), Dan Chamlee, Robby Gordon, Rick D. Johnson, Wayne Matlock, Earl Roberts and J. David Ruvalcaba (5 each), Elias Hanna, Andy McMillin, Jano Montoya, Jeff Proctor, Giovanni Spinali and Fred Willert (4 each) and Marc Burnett, Max Eddy Jr Chelsea Magness, Bryce Menzies, Justin Matney, Andy McMillin, Wes Miller and Jason Trubey (3 each).
CLASS WINNERS RETURN:
A total of 14 class winners from last year’s SCORE Baja 500 are entered this year with most racing in their same classes. Returning 2020 class winners are Daniel McMillin (SCORE Trophy Truck, No. 23 Chevy C1500), Clyde Stacy, Bristol, Va./Nick Vanderwey, Phoenix (SCORE TT Legend, No. 5L Chevy V16), Cody Parkouse, Long Beach, Calif. (Class 1, No. 127 Jimco-Chevy), Jorge Sampietro, Ensenada, Mexico (Trophy Truck Spec, No. 200 Jefferies-Chevy), Matt Burroughs, Norco, Calif. (Pro UTV FI, No. 2948 Can-Am X3), Jeff Proctor, Glendora, Calif. (Class 7, Honda Ridgeline), Kristen Matlock, Alpine, Calif. (Pro UTV NA, Polaris RZR XP4 1000), Mike Cafro, Fallbrook, Calif. (Pro UTV Stock, No. 3955 Polaris RZR Turbo S), Mike Hales, Rogers, Ark. (Hammer Truck UNLTD, No. 8851 Jeep Wrangler), Edward Muncey, San Diego (Baja Challenge, No. BC4 BTC-Subaru), Fernando Beltran, Ensenada, Mexico (Pro Moto Limited, No. 180x Yamaha YZ250F), Juan Carlos Salvatierra, Boliva (Pro Moto Ironman, KTM 500EXCF), Vance Kennedy, Peoria, Ariz. (Pro Moto 50, KTM 500XCW) and Carlos Silva, Mexicali, Mexico (SPT M/C, 200x Honda CRF450X).
Everyone in this group of last year’s winners is in their same respective classes for this year’s race, except Silva who has moved from Sportsman Motorcycle to Pro Moto Unlimited, leading his team on the No. 11x.
OVERALL WINNERS RETURN:
Starting with last year’s winner Daniel McMillin, among the overall race winners in race history returning this year are 12 racers who have combined to win 33 overall 4-wheel and 2-wheel titles including drivers from of the last 11 consecutive years of 4-wheel overalls. Leading the way with multiple overall wins in this race are Larry Roeseler with 11 overall victories (including nine on a motorcycle), Robby Gordon with four, Andy McMillin, Scott McMillin and Bryce Menzies with three each, Rob MacCachen with two, Gustavo ‘Tavo’ Vildosola, Carlos ‘Apdaly’ Lopez, Daniel McMillin and Justin B. Smith with one each in 4-Wheel. In 2-wheel, besides Roeseler’s nine overall motorcycle wins, Colton Udall with two and Shane Esposito has one overall.
HISTORY OF START/FINISH:
In the 53-year history of the SCORE Baja 500, this will be the 47th time the race has started in Ensenada and the 43rd time it has finished in Ensenada. It will be the first time it has started one-mile past the Northeast end of the extension of Avenida Ruiz.
This race has also started three times in Ojos Negros, twice in San Felipe and one time Barstow, Calif. (USA).
This race has also finished five times in Santo Tomas, twice in Ojos Negros, twice in San Felipe and one time in Barstow, Calif. (USA).
The 1989 race that started and finished in San Felipe was the only year that there were no classes for motorcycles.
DOUBLE DIGITS
Led by SCORE Trophy Truck with 32 entries to date (including five in SCORE TT Legend for drivers over 50 years old), seven classes have 10 or more entries entering late, on-site racer registration in Ensenada June 10-11.
After SCORE Trophy Truck, Pro UTV FI (Forced Induction) has 28 entries followed by Trophy Truck Spec (26), Class 10 (21), Class 1 (11) and Pro UTV NA (Naturally Aspirated) with 11. Among motorcycle and quad classes, SPT Quad has 10 entries so far.
PRE-RUNNING
Official practice, or pre-running, on the official 466.00-mile race course started May 22 and continues until Friday (June 11) for this year’s BFGoodrich Tires 53rd SCORE Baja 500, presented by 4 Wheel Parts continues, starting at race mile 32.9 and finishing at race mile 433.1. The rm0.0 to rm32.9 section will be open only from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday and Friday (June 10-11). Only outbound running to rm32.9 except on race day.
The official SCORE Racer Brief, course map and GPS files are available on the SCORE website under race info/SCORE Baja 500.
COURSE PREVIEW
SCORE President/Race Director Jose A. Grijalva has identified, plotted and marked another 466-mile spectacular race course to challenge the world’s best desert racers.
Running in a clockwise direction, the race will start and finish without spectators in the SCORE compound. The SCORE start/finish compound will be located Northeast of downtown Ensenada.
The race has an impressive course of 466.00 miles. It runs in a clockwise direction west to Ojos Negro then south down the middle and then up the Pacific Coast side of Baja California.
There are two physical checkpoints, 233 virtual checkpoints and two narrow virtual checkpoints for this race course. It also has 14 speed zones for a total of 74.9 miles.
The two physical, full-stop checkpoints—Checkpoint 1 will be located at race mile 170.8 at San Telmo Road and Checkpoint 2 will be at rm 305 at Vicente Guerrero.
The course goes east through Ojos Negros and then begins its Southern journey through El Alamo, the Goat Trail and Valle de Trinidad.
From there it heads back west towards the Pacific Ocean going by and through Mike’s Sky Rancho, El Coyote Ranch and Rancho Meling. It then goes through Santo Domingo Wash, San Simon Wash. The course than parallels and draws close to the Pacific Ocean going through San Quintin, Vicente Guerrero, Camalu, San Vicente, Santo Tomas and Uruapan before heading back northeast up to Ojos Negros and back to the finish line.
All Sportsman classes, Class 7SX, Baja Challenge, Class 11 and the Baja-e will race on a reduced course of 389.56 miles.
CLOSED START/FINISH
Because of the significant health and safety protocols developed by SCORE in conjunction with and the approval of state and local health authorities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, all race-week festivities and the start/finish line compound will be restricted access only and closed to the general public. The SCORE race start/finish compound will be located Northeast of downtown Ensenada.
Spectators, adhering to the protocols, will be allowed to watch the race from around the race course.
GRAN HISTORIA
This year’s SCORE World Desert Championship is another special tribute to the iconic SCORE Baja 500. The race is returning to its home in Ensenada after being moved last year and held in September in San Felipe because of the health pandemic.
The SCORE Baja 500 is one of the top motorsports events in the world. It was started originally in 1969 by the NORRA organization. Mickey Thompson and his SCORE International organization were invited by the Mexican government to take over the event starting in 1974. Sal Fish ran and later owned and produced the SCORE Baja 500 for 39 years until he sold SCORE in December of 2012.
The first Baja 500 organized and produced by SCORE was held on July 26, 1974 in Ensenada as the first of over 150 SCORE Baja races.
After being held last year because of the health pandemic in San Felipe for just the second time in race history, this year’s SCORE Baja 500 will start for the 47th time in Ensenada and finish for the 43rd time in Ensenada.
GRAND MARSHAL: JIM O'NEAL
Jim O’Neal, 74, the noted apparel/performance products manufacturer (O’Neal USA) from Simi Valley, Calif., and super-vet multi-time SCORE champion age-group motorcycle racer has been selected to be the Grand Marshal for this year’s BFGoodrich Tires 53rd SCORE Baja 500, presented by 4 Wheel Parts.
O’Neal has a race-record 21 class wins in the SCORE Baja 500. He has 39 starts out of 52 years in the SCORE Baja 500 and 39 starts out of 53 years in the SCORE Baja 1000 and he has raced in all 34 SCORE San Felipe 250 races. He has a SCORE-record 22 season point titles in his lengthy career.
This year’s SCORE Baja 500 will be his fourth SCORE race as a co-rider for the Giovanni Spinali team in the Pro Moto 50 class for riders over 50 years old on the No. 510x Yamaha YZ450FX.
Source SCORE International
Photo Luke McMillin official page
