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Course map reveal—BFGoodrich Tires 56th SCORE Baja 1000
SCORE MEDIA CONTACT: Dominic Clark, Dominic@SCORE-International.
Map unveiled—BFGoodrich Tires 56th SCORE Baja 1000 as Off-Road Expo continues through Sunday at Fairplex
Online Racer Registration now open at www.score-international.com
for BFGoodrich Tires 56th SCORE Baja 1000, presented by K&N
Iconic former SCORE owner Sal Fish Grand Marshal for 2023 season;
SCORE Baja 1000 exhibit in Building 7 Sunday at SoCal’s Fairplex
saluting 56th anniversary of world’s most iconic desert race;
POMONA, Calif., USA—Another radically rugged race route for November’s BFGoodrich Tires 56th SCORE Baja 1000, presented by K&N, was unveiled Saturday at the SCORE Baja 1000 exhibit area in Building 7 at the massive Off-Road Expo at the Fairplex in Pomona, Calif. The popular consumer show concludes Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (PT).
THE RACE
Always the fitting season finale of the four-race SCORE World Desert Championship, the BFGoodrich Tires 56th SCORE Baja 1000, presented by K&N, will be held Nov. 13-18.
Nearly 300 entries, from 40 U.S. States and 20 countries are expected to compete in this year’s legendary Granddaddy of All Desert Races.
The world’s most iconic, oldest, prestigious, toughest, and longest continuously held desert race, this year’s SCORE Baja 1000 will start for the first time in race history in La Paz, Baja California Sur, and finish in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico.
It will be a point-to-point race of 1,310.94 miles up Mexico’s majestic Baja California peninsula.
It will start for the first time in La Paz, and finish for the 29th time in Ensenada. The race is annually the finale of the four-race SCORE World Desert Championship, which has been held exclusively for the past eight years in Baja California.
The race festivities will be held pre-race along the picturesque El Malecon in La Paz and adjacent to the historic fan-friendly Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center in the heart of Ensenada.
With a total time-limit of 50 hours in the elapsed-time race, the motorcycle and quad classes will start on the La Paz Malecon at 1 a.m. (PT) on Thursday, Nov. 16 and the car, truck and UTV classes will follow with their start in on the Malecon at 9 a.m. (PT).
Pre-running on the official race course will open 8 a.m. (PT)on Saturday, Oct. 21.
THE RACE COURSE
The 1310.94-mile race course, the longest ever between La Paz and Ensenada for the BFGoodrich Tires 56th SCORE Baja 1000, presented by K&N, runs for the first time from La Paz to Ensenada, up Mexico’s magnificent Baja California peninsula.
The iconic race will start for the first time on the picturesque El Malecon in La Paz along the Sea of Cortez and finish on Boulevard Costero, adjacent to the historic Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center in the heart of Ensenada.
The incredibly beautiful and ridiculously rugged race course will have 30 Speed Zones, 308 Virtual Check Points, three physical, full-stop Check Points and feature nine BFGoodrich Tires Pits.
Physical Check Point 1 will be a race mile 233.88 (Valle de Santo Domingo), CP 2 will be at RM 599.34 (South of Vizcaino) and CP3 will be at RM 922.25 (South of Catavina).
After leaving El Malecon in La Paz, the course begins its windy road North from the Mexican State of Baja California Sur to the Mexican State of Baja California. The race course will pass near several of the legendary Spanish Missions on its way North.
From RM 50 across Arroyo Seco, the course will run adjacent to the Pacific Ocean for the first time up to RM 220.
At RM 277.46 the course will pass by Mission de San Javier on top of the Sierra de La Giganta and at RM 300.05 for the first time in SCORE history, the race course go through El Malecon in Loreto, again by the Sea of Cortez.
At RM 632.75, the course crosses from Baja California Sur into Baja California for the final half of the race.
At RM 821.35, the course is near the Pacific Ocean for the final time near Bahia Blanco.
While the race course includes numerous Baja washes, at race-mile 1014.24, the course will begin a treacherous trek though six of the gloriously majestic washes around San Felipe: Matomi, Azufre, Boulder Canyon, Huatamote, Chanate, and Amarillas.
At RM 1200.75, the course passes Valle de Trinidad and up the infamous Goat Trail, behind Santa Catarina (RM 1226.36) by Rancho El Mezcal to Ojos Negros (RM 1277.04) and to the finish line in Ensenada.
All the Sportsman classes along with Class 11 and Class 7SX will run a reduced course of 1197.04 miles.
This year’s course map is available on the SCORE website under race info on the SCORE Baja 1000 page at www.SCORE-International.com.
ONLINE RACER/MEDIA REGISTRATION
Online racer and media registration for this year’s SCORE Baja 1000 are now open through Monday, Oct. 30 on the SCORE website. Racer registration is under Race Info and media registration applications may be accessed through the MEDIA tab on the home page of the SCORE website.
Entries who competed in the recent SCORE Baja 400 will start in the order they finished for the SCORE Baja 1000, followed by entries who were DNFs in the SCORE Baja 400.
A drawing for the remaining starting positions will be held for all entries who did not race in the SCORE Baja 400 that will be posted on the SCORE website on Friday, Nov. 3.
THE EXPO
The colorful and extensive SCORE Baja 1000 exhibit area in Building 7 is once again offering desert-racing and off-road performance fans the opportunity to interact with many of the top desert racers in the world and legends of the sport while enjoying viewing the most radical motorsports vehicles ever developed from the past and the present. More info at www.offroadexpo.com.
AMAZING VEHICLES
The SCORE Baja 1000 exhibit will include several prominent vehicles on display.
Representing several current classes that compete in the SCORE World Desert Championship in the exhibit area will be one of the Terrible Herbst Motorsports Trophy Truck Spec trucks built by Herbst/Smith Fab of Huntington Beach, Calif., as well as another Trophy Truck Spec truck built by legendary Jimco Racing Products of Santee, Calif.
Also on display will be the Baja Vida Class 11 stock VW Sedan driven in the SCORE series by Eric Brandt and another classic Rugged Radios Class 11 stock VW Sedan.
Matlock Racing, Alpine, Calif., champion drivers Wayne Matlock and his wife Kristen Matlock will have two of their specially-built Polaris RZR UTV race vehicles on display in the SCORE exhibit.
Another feature vehicle on display will be from Bolivia’s SCORE multi-time motorcycle champion Juan Carlos Salvatierra, will have his No. 1X KTM 450SX-F motorcycle as part of the special exhibit. The reigning SCORE Pro Moto Unlimited season champion, Salvatierra and his team won the recent SCORE Baja 400 in Ensenada, Mexico.
SCORE MERCHANDISE
The SCORE Baja 1000 Exhibit includes a vast variety of unique and special SCORE apparel and souvenir merchandise available for sale including the special books on the 50th anniversaries of both the SCORE Baja 1000 and the SCORE Baja 500.
GRANDEST MARSHAL FOR GOLDEN YEAR
Sal Fish, admired as the iconic ‘godfather’ of SCORE desert racing who is a foundational pillar of the organization, is the Grand Marshal of the Year for the entire four-race 2023 SCORE World Desert Championship.
Revered all over Baja California, Fish, who turned 84 in May of this year, is a former publisher of Hot Rod Magazine and a 2006 inductee into the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame. He led SCORE for 38 years, from 1974 until he sold the organization on Dec. 20, 2012.
His footprint left an indelible mark on all of desert racing as he was an extraordinary innovator and visionary for SCORE and the entire world of desert racing.
He expanded TV coverage of SCORE races and in 1994 created the SCORE Trophy Truck class, the marquee racing division in the sport of desert racing.
SCOREscope
2023 GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY FINALE
Here is the remaining date for the four-race 2023 SCORE World Desert Championship Golden Anniversary season, ‘Celebrating 50 Years of SCORE Desert Racing Excellence’, which are being held totally in Baja California, Mexico for the eighth consecutive year:
- BFGoodrich Tires 56th SCORE Baja 1000, presented by K&N—