Round 2 of four-race 2021 SCORE World Desert Championship in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico;
Legendary age-group motorcycle champion Jim O’Neal selected Grand Marshal;
Hall of Famer Larry ‘Mr. Baja’ Roeseler, San Diego’s Andy McMillin, 2019 SCORE Trophy Truck season point champion and SCORE Baja 500 winner along with Las Vegas’ Bryce Menzies, a three-time SCORE Baja 500 winner and SoCal’s Jason Coleman, who leads the 2021 SCORE Overall point standings, head the most recent group of entries for next month’s internationally-televised BFGoodrich Tires 53rd SCORE Baja 500, presented by 4 Wheel Parts. Joining Roeseler, A. McMillin, Menzies and Coleman among the latest entries are fellow SCORE champion racers Cody Parkhouse, Shelby Reid, Eric Solorzano, Chad Hall and Matt Winslow.
Round 2 of the four-race 2021 SCORE World Desert Championship will be held June 10-13 in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico.
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.
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 at the end of the extension of Avenida Ruiz on the highway overpass, the same location as last year's SCORE Baja 1000.
Use the following link for the map to the SCORE start/finish compound:
https://score-international.com/raceinfo/map-to-compound/.
Spectators, adhering to the protocols, will be allowed to watch the race from around the race course.
ONLINE RACER ENTRY APPLICATIONS
Racer entry applications continue to be available at www.SCORE-International.com under Race Info on the SCORE Baja 500 page. Questions should be directed to SCORE Registration and Membership Director Audreonna Garcia at 775. 852.8907. Online racer entry applications will be accepted through Friday, May 21.
DETAILS
With nearly 300 entries expected from 30 U.S. States and 20 countries, 51 competition classes are offered for cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads. Among the latest group of 68 total entries to date are racers from 11 U.S. States, host country Mexico, along with Bolivia, Canada and France.
Domestically, the race will be televised on a delayed basis on the World of X Games show on the ESPN2 as co-produced by SCORE International and award-winning BCII TV of Los Angeles.
All four 2021 SCORE races are being held on Mexico’s magnificent Baja California peninsula for the sixth consecutive year.
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.
LR—‘MR. BAJA’
A racing legend on both sides of the Border, Hall of Famer Larry Roeseler simply goes by ‘Mr. Baja’ in Mexico. Living in Boulevard, Calif., Roeseler, 64, has been racing in SCORE Baja races since the early 1970s with an unrivaled record of excellence both on two wheels as well as four wheels.
In the SCORE Baja 1000, LR, as he is also known by friends and competitors, has a race-record 14 overalls (including 10 on motorcycles) among his 18 career class wins.
In the SCORE Baja 500, Roeseler has 11 overall wins (nine on motorcycles) among his 17 career class wins in this race.
In the SCORE San Felipe 250, Roseler has two overalls (both on motorcycles) and six class wins in four different classes. In motorcycles, Roeseler has a win in both the old Class 21 (Under 250cc) and Class 22 (unlimited), two Class 7 race wins (stock mini trucks) and two in the unlimited Class 1 (open wheel cars).
This year Roeseler is the solo driver in SCORE Trophy Truck for the No. 43 Cantina Racing Baja Jerky Toyota Tundra built by ID Designs.
In his first race with the team in last year’s SCORE Baja 500, held in San Felipe for the second time, he finished fifth in SCORE Trophy Truck.
In the SCORE San Felipe 250 this year, Roeseler finished 11th out of 35 starters.
In last year’s season finale at the SCORE Baja 1000 he drove the first half of the race for the overall winning Luke McMillin.
Roeseler is racing the full 2021 SCORE World Desert Championship for Cantina Racing, under sponsorship with Baja Jerky.
Team owner Chris Miller, 47, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. is the driver of the No. 40 Cantina Racing Baja Jerky Chevy Silverado built by Mason Motorsports. Miller finished 16th in SCORE Trophy Truck in this year’s SCORE San Felipe 250.
ANDY McMILLIN RETURNS
When it comes to the SCORE Baja 500, no family does it any better than San Diego’s McMillin family, well known as the Big Blue M Racing machine. Between seven family members, the three-generation McMillins have 22 class wins including 11 overall victories in the SCORE Baja 500. Clearly the winningest family in the history of this storied race.
Third-generation San Diego desert racer Andy McMillin, 33, who opted-out of racing last year because of the health pandemic, returns as the third McMillin family member entered this year’s SCORE Baja 500.
McMillin won his last SCORE Baja 500 in 2019 on the way to capturing the 2019 SCORE Overall and SCORE Trophy Truck season point championship.
McMillin has 11 career SCORE Trophy Truck individual race wins. That total has him tied for second behind Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Famer Rob MacCachren’s 17 all-time SCORE Trophy Truck race wins with additional Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame racers Robby Gordon, Ed/Tim Herbst and Larry Ragland.
With four class wins and three overall victories in this race, McMillin will drive his No. 31 McMillin Racing Chevy Silverado AWD SCORE Trophy Truck built by Mason Motorsports.
McMillin started the 2021 SCORE World Desert Championship with a very solid third-place finish in the SCORE San Felipe 250.
His cousins Daniel McMillin, 33 and Luke McMillin, 28, are the other two McMillin entries in this year’s SCORE Baja 500. All three will be among the favorites to win the race. Luke McMillin finished second in the 2021 season opener, just ahead of Andy McMillin and Daniel McMillin was the overall and SCORE Trophy Truck winner in the 2020 SCORE Baja 500.
MENZIES HUNGRY FOR MORE
Las Vegas’ Bryce Menzies, the 2011 SCORE Overall Point, 2011 SCORE Trophy Truck class point champion and 2011 SCORE Rookie of the Year, is hungry for more in this year’s SCORE Baja 500.
Winner of the 2021 season opener at the SCORE San Felipe 250, Menzies, 33, returns to the SCORE Baja 500 as a three-time overall and SCORE Trophy Truck race winner, winning three times in four years in the SCORE Baja 500 (2011, 2012, 2014).
Spending a number of years winning races in short course events, rally racing and long jump contests, Menzies now has six career SCORE Trophy Truck race wins after his season-opening win in San Felipe. For several years he raced part-time in the SCORE World Desert Championship.
Menzies drives the No. 7 Menzies Motorsports Ford Raptor AWD SCORE Trophy Truck built by Mason Motorsports.
FRONTRUNNER COLEMAN
Easing his way into the SCORE World Desert Championship, Jason Coleman, 36, of Huntington Beach, Calif., is the SCORE Overall point leader and at the top of the Trophy Truck Spec class after finishing first in class out of a SCORE-record 34 starters in the season-opening BFGoodrich Tires 34th SCORE San Felipe 250, presented by Ford.
President/CEO of prominent Golden Construction, a commercial general contractor company from Huntington Beach, Coleman has been desert racing since 2007, but mostly in Nevada and a few forays into
SCORE Baja racing.
This year in San Felipe he won the Trophy Truck Spec class and finished 12th overall out of 269 starters in the No. 292 Chevy truck built by Herbst/Smith Fabrication which is also located in Huntington Beach. Herbst/Smith is the home of the legendary Terrible Herbst Motorsports team of Las Vegas.
In 2012 Coleman won Class 1/2-1600 driving with C.J. Hutchins of Henderson, Nev. in the SCORE Baja 500.
PARKHOUSE PAIR
A two-generation race team, veteran defending 2020 SCORE World Desert Championship Class 1 point champs Cody Parkhouse and his father Brian Parkhouse are back in 2021 trying to defend their season crown.
Fresh out of high school at the time, Cody Parkhouse started his official desert racing career in 2006 racing in Class 1/2-1600.
Both from Long Beach, Calif., Cody Parkhouse, 33 and his father Brian Parkhouse, 61, teamed up to win both of the 2020 SCORE Baja races in their No. 100 Parkhouse Motorsports Chevy-powered Jimco open-wheel desert race car.
With driving help from his father, Cody Parkhouse has won three SCORE unlimited Class 1 season point championships. The duo won the SCORE season crowns in 2012, 2013 and 2020.
In San Felipe this year, the Parkhouse team endured a rare disqualification for a course violation.
In the SCORE Baja 500, the son/father tandem has earned three Class 1 race wins (2014, 2015, 2020).
Injured seriously in a race accident in the 2016 SCORE Baja 1000, Parkhouse has clearly returned to his championship form and will be one of the racers to beat in Class 1 in Ensenada.
REID DUO
After racing in separate classes for a few years, Shelby Reid has reunited with her son Cody Reid to form a very formidable unlimited Class 1 team. The mother/son team opened the season by winning the Unlimited Class 1 in the season-opening SCORE San Felipe 250.
From Apple Valley, Calif., Shelby Reid, 53 and Cody Reid, 29, are both former SCORE class point champions. Shelby won Class 1 season title in 2015 and Cody was the SCORE Class 10 season point champion in both 2014 and 2015.
Shelby Reid is still looking for her first win in the SCORE Baja 500 while her son Cody won Class 10 in 2019.
For this year’s SCORE Baja 500, they will split the driving in their sparkling new AWD No. 168 Chevy-powered Alumi Craft open-wheel desert race car.
ALL IN THE NUMBERS—SOLORZANO
Numbers seem to tell a story for veteran SCORE champion Eric Solorzano, a fixture in SCORE racing for nearly three decades.
Racing in the venerable Class 11 for stock VW Sedans, Solorzano has 11 class wins in the SCORE Baja 500 and his vehicle number is, ironically, 1111.
From Tijuana, Mexico, Solorzano, 61, if you couldn’t guess it, he also has 11 SCORE Class 11 season point championships.
It’s obvious you can’t count No. 1111 out in any SCORE Baja race.
C. HALL HONORS LATE DAD ROD
Son of the late iconic Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame desert racer Rod Hall, Chad Hall, 58 of Reno, Nev. has entered this year’s race in the Trophy Truck Spec Class.
A veteran champion driver who doesn’t race in his famous father’s tracks, but rather his memory, Chad Hall has 11 class wins in the legendary SCORE Baja 1000 where his famous father set the race record with 25 class wins in the Granddaddy of all Desert Races.
Officially as driver of record, Chad Hall is credited with winning the Stock Full class in the 2008 SCORE Baja 500.
Key executive for Rod Hall Products and Hall Racing in Northern Nevada, Chad Hall will be sharing the driving in this year’s SCORE Baja 500 with his son Austin Hall, 34, Sparks, Nev. They will drive the Hall Racing No. 230 Mobil 1/Chevy Performance Chevy Silverado in Baja.
The last legacy of Rod Hall continues through his children and grandchildren.
FAMILY TIME
SCORE racing is all about family and the Winslow family of Clovis, Calif., is another great example of that. Owner of an agricultural commodities company in Clovis, Calif., Todd Winslow has made SCORE desert racing a family adventure.
After finishing fourth out of 23 starters in Class 10 in this year’s season-opening SCORE San Felipe 250 this year, Matt Winslow returns to Ensenada with his father Todd Winslow to enjoy the camaraderie of racers, the beauty of Baja and the challenge of SCORE Baja racing with quality family time.
Matt Winslow, 28, and his father Todd Winslow share the driving in their No. 1081 Chevy-powered Alumi Craft open-wheel desert race car. While son and father split the driving, Todd’s wife and two daughters are all part of the race crew for their Central California desert racing team.
“We really love Mexico and SCORE Baja racing continues to be a significant family pastime,” said Todd Winslow raced in several motorcycle classes in SCORE Baja racing for nearly a decade before moving to Class 10. “You know what they say, ‘with age comes a cage’.
Their first race win in Class 10 came at the SCORE Imperial Valley 250 in 2015 as they finished fourth in season points. In 2016 the father/son team won two races and finished a very closed season in Class 10 season points. The pair finally broke all they through to the top of the podium in 2018 when the captured the Class 10 season point championship.
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.
Enduring many broken bones and hospitalizations in his long and successful career in SCORE Baja racing, O’Neal has a race-record 21 class wins in the SCORE Baja 500.
O’Neal, who began racing in motocross when he was just 15 years old, also has a race-high 19 Class wins (all in the last 23 years) in the SCORE San Felipe 250. He is the only person who has raced in all 34
SCORE San Felipe 250 races.
In the SCORE Baja 1000, O’Neal has 14 age-group motorcycle class wins including three in 2006 and two in 2016.
O’Neal also has 38 starts out of 52 years in the SCORE Baja 500 and 39 starts out of 53 years in the SCORE Baja 1000.
“This is a great honor for me personally to be asked to be a Grand Marshal of a SCORE Baja race,” said O’Neal. “If you are a desert racer, SCORE Baja racing is the only place to be and I will still get to race in Pro Moto 50 for the 39th time in the SCORE Baja 500. I represent all motorcycle racers who have been such a big part of SCORE Baja racing all of these years.”
Over the years he has always put together a very strong group of co-riders and he has earned a SCORE-record 22 season class 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. Spinali and team including O’Neal won this year’s SCORE San Felipe 250. O’Neal will ride on the No. 510x Yamaha YZ450FX for Spinali’s team.
Source SCORE International
Photo: Bryce Menzies official Facebook Page
