Andy McMillin to start first at 51st SCORE Baja 500

SCORE MEDIA CONTACT: Dominic Clark, dominiccnv@aol.com

May 25, 2019

Airing on ABC World of X Games

San Diego’s A. McMillin to start first in SCORE Trophy Truck,

Morgan first M/C start for next week’s 51st SCORE Baja 500

 

ENSENADA, Baja California, Mexico – What was a forgone conclusion based on his winning the season opener in April, San Diego’s Andy McMillin will drive the first SCORE Trophy Truck to start the 4-wheel portion and Justin Morgan, El Cajon, Calif., will ride the first motorcycle to start the first portion of next week’s 51st Anniversary of the iconic SCORE Baja 500.

Pre-running on the rugged 487.11-mile course continues through next Friday (May 31).

Round 2 of the four-race 2019 SCORE World Desert Championship will be held May 29-June 2. The celebratory internationally-televised race will start and finish at the Lucas Oil Off-Road Stadium at the Estero Beach Resort in Ensenada, the seaside port on the Pacific Ocean, 80 miles south of San Diego.

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

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. The race will be televised on a delayed basis as a one-hour special on the ABC Network World of X Games programming. Los Angeles’ award-winning BCII TV will provide the production work of the telecast.

Like all SCORE races, it is an elapsed-time race with staggered starts as the green flag next Saturday (June 1) will drop first for the motorcycles and quads at 4 a.m. (PDT) and approximately 8 a.m. (PDT) for the cars, trucks and UTVs. The start/finish line area will be at the Lucas Oil Off-Road Stadium in Ensenada.

Over 250 vehicles are expected at the start line with racers from nearly 30 States and as many as 15 countries anticipated. Long-time SCORE sponsor BFGoodrich Tires has also posted a US$25,000 contingency bonus for the overall 4-wheel winner to help commemorate this year’s race.

START DRAW

SCORE announced prior to the start of the 2019 season that the finishing order from April’s 32nd SCORE San Felipe 250 would determine the start order for this race for those that raced in San Felipe and entered this race in time. Separate drawings were held for entries that did not finish in San Felipe and another start draw for all entries that didn’t race in San Felipe.

After winning the season-opener for his 10th career SCORE Trophy Truck win, Andy McMillin, 32, will start first in his No. 31 McMillin Racing Chevy Silverado (builder Mason).  Based on the finishing order in San Felipe, following Andy McMillin into the Baja desert will be Ryan Arciero, 45, Foothill Ranch, Calif., second in San Felipe in the No. 32 Ford F-150 (Herbst-Smith) and after that two other third-generation members of San Diego’s McMillin ‘Dynasty in the Desert’ family will start third and fifth.

Third off the line will be Dan McMillin, 31, of San Diego in the No. 23 Ford F-150 (Racer) and fifth will be Luke McMillin, 26, of San Diego, in the No. 83 Ford-150 (Racer).

Starting fourth will be Zak Langley, 44, Manhattan Beach, Calif., in the No. 50 COPS Racing Ford F-150 (ESM). And sixth will be TV Action Sports announcer and Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame racer Cameron Steele, 51, San Clemente, Calif., in the No. 16 Monster Energy Desert Assassins Ford Raptor.

For the motorcycles, Morgan and co-riders Mark Samuels, Yucca Valley, Calif. and Justin Jones, Murrieta, Calif., will be the first vehicle off the line in their No. 1x Monster Energy Honda CRF450X.

PRE-RUNNING

Official practice, or pre-running, on the official 487.11-mile course for this year’s continues through Friday May 31. Pre-running starts at race mile 30.41 near Uruapan and finish at the same location at race mile 456.76.

The section from the start to race mile 30.41 may only be run outbound and only on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of race-week. GPS files, course notes and preliminary Racer’s Briefing are available on the race page on the SCORE website under race info.

THE COUNT

The total of 228 entries to date have come from 25 U.S. States and 12 total countries--host country Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Peru, Spain and Venezuela.

States among the field range so far from California, Washington and Oregon in the Pacific West, Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico in the Mountain West, New York and Connecticut in the Northeast, Illinois, Nebraska, Iowa, Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin in the Midwest and Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia in the South.

Leading the entries so far is the marquee SCORE Trophy Truck division for high-tech, 950-horsepower, unlimited custom trucks with 38 official entries as of today.

SCORE Trophy Truck, in its 26th year as the featured racing division in the sport, have been the overall winners of the SCORE Baja 500 for the last nine consecutive years and 14 of the last 15.

Other classes with double-figure entries so far besides SCORE Trophy Truck with 38 are Trophy Truck Spec with 27 entries, Pro UTV FI (Forced Induction) with 24, Class 10 with 16, the unlimited Class 1 with 13 and SCORE Lites with 11 and SPT Quad with 10.

Leading the motorcycle classes so far with eight entries each are Pro Moto Limited and SPT Moto.

CHALLENGING COURSE

The 51st anniversary SCORE Baja 500 race course, designed and finalized by SCORE President/Race Director Jose A. Grijalva is a rugged, challenging 487.11 miles. The course will run in a clockwise direction starting and finishing for approximately one mile in each direction on the off-road track at the Lucas Oil Off-Road Stadium. The first and last 30.41 miles up to Uruapan and back will be shared course outbound and inbound.

The historic race course is another memorable example of all that Mexico’s Baja California has to offer, including high-speed dirt trails, sandy, rocky and silty natural terrain, majestic Baja washes and canyons, stretches along the Pacific Ocean seashore with elevations from sea level to over 3,000 feet. The course will be another jewel reflecting the mesmerizing, stark beauty of Baja California.

This year’s 51st anniversary course will have four physical checkpoints, 146 virtual checkpoints and 11 speed zones (total of 41.72 race miles).

The four checkpoints will be located as follows: Checkpoint No. 1-Nuevo Junction (Race Mile 144.50), Checkpoint No. 2-San Matias (RM 256.32), Checkpoint No. 3-Vicente Guerrero (RM 343.47) and Checkpoint No. 4-Santo Tomas (RM 446.08).

Reflecting on the course, Grijalva commented, “This is going to be the one of the roughest and toughest as well as one of the most spectacular SCORE Baja 500 race course. There are numerous areas of the course that SCORE has never used before in its long and storied history in Baja.”

Among the other towns, areas and landmarks the course goes through or near are San Carlos wash, Uruapan, Santa Catarina, the Summit, Borrego, Mike’s Sky Rancho, Rancho El Coyote, San Telmo, Rancho Montes, Santo Domingo wash, Camalu, Colonet, San Vicente  and the wash at Erendira.

ESTERO BEACH S/F

Start/finish line area for this year’s SCORE Baja 500 will be the Lucas Oil Off-Road Stadium on the grounds of the Estero Beach Hotel & Resort, 12.2 miles south of downtown Ensenada. This will mark the first time the race has started at the popular luxury resort.

SCORE has also announced that there will be no admission charge for spectators to view the start and finish of the race from several thousand grandstand seats at the Lucas Oil Off-Road Stadium at Estero Beach. The course will run on nearly one mile of the Lucas Oil track outbound and inbound.

A HAPPENING…

Colorful race week festivities will be expanded to help celebrate another big anniversary of SCORE’s first Baja race.

Chassis inspections will be held on Thursday (May 30) as well as pre-tech/Stella bracket check and installation on Avenida Lopez Mateos in Ensenada.

On Friday evening will be the Monster Energy Papas Y Beer Street Party on Avenida Ruiz from 6 p.m. to 12 midnight.

On-site Racer Registration and Media Registration will be held on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (May 29-31) at the Mayapan Conference Center at the Estero Beach Resort.

Racer registration will be held on Wednesday (May 29) from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. PDT, on Thursday (May 30) from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. PDT and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday (May 31) with no new entries accepted after 3 p.m. PDT on that day.

Media registration will be held in the Mayapan Conference Center from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. PDT on Wednesday (May 29) and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PDT on both Thursday and Friday (May 30-31).

Friday (May 31) will see the day-long, pre-race Manufacturer’s Midway and contingency festival at the Lucas Oil Off-Road Stadium at Estero Beach. Starting at 8 a.m. contingency row will be held all classes. Tech inspection on that day will also start at 8 a.m. at the end of the manufacturer’s row.

During the race on Saturday, June 1 until the course closes on Sunday morning, June 2, the start/finish line compound at the Lucas Oil Off-Road Stadium at Estero Beach will include the massive double-sided SCOREvision LED screen broadcasting race festivities and start and finish line interviews. Popular Rat Sult will again serve as primary host of the SCORE live streaming.

All of the week’s festivities will be aired both live and same-day including the race, airing via the internet on the SCORE website.

COURSE MAP

The official 487.11-mile course map is available on the SCORE website at the following link… http://score-international.com/raceinfo/course-map-2019-baja-500/.

GRAN HISTORIA

Following last year’s epic celebration of the 50th BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 500, this year’s SCORE World Desert Championship includes another special tribute to the iconic SCORE Baja 500 when it is held this year in Ensenada.

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 as the first of over 150 SCORE Baja races.

Ensenada is the heart and soul of the SCORE Baja 500 as the popular summertime race will start for the 46th time there and finish for the 42nd time there.

In the history of the race, the start and finish line areas have been located in several areas of Ensenada and this year will be the first time the race has either started or finished at Estero Beach.

SCOREscope

2019 SCHEDULE

Here is the four-race 2019 SCORE World Desert Championship and for the fourth consecutive year all races are being held in Baja California, Mexico:

33rd SCORE San Felipe 250, April 3-7, San Felipe, Mexico
51st SCORE Baja 500, May 29-June 2, Ensenada, Mexico
Inaugural Lucerna SCORE Baja 400, Sept. 19-23, Ensenada, Mexico
52nd SCORE Baja 1000, Nov.19-24, Ensenada, Mexico

ABC TV IN 2019

The 2019 SCORE World Desert Championship will be televised on the ABC TV family of networks, marking the first time back on the ABC network since the 1967 and 1968 coverage of the Baja 1000 on ABC’s old Wide World of Sports show.

The one-hour shows on the 33rd SCORE San Felipe 250, 51st SCORE Baja 500 and the 52nd SCORE Baja 1000 will be televised as part of ABC’s World of X Games year-long programming. Presented by SCORE sponsors Monster Energy and BFGoodrich Tires, the ABC World of X Games series profiles iconic action sports figures and also highlights athletes, artists, event previews and recaps.

The show for the SCORE San Felipe 250 is scheduled to air on ABC on Saturday, June 1 at 2:30 p.m. ET and 1:30 p.m. PT. Check local listings for time in each are of the country.

The inaugural Lucerna SCORE Baja 400 next September will air as a one-hour special on ESPN TV.

All of the SCORE race coverage shows will continue to air internationally in nearly 25 countries in Europe, Asia, Latin America and South America via syndication and ESPN International.

SCORE SPONSORS…

Official SCORE Sponsors: BFGoodrich Tires-Official Tire, Monster Energy-Official Energy Drink, King Shocks-Official Shock Absorber, Polaris RZR-Official UTV, RACELINE Wheels-Official Wheel, VP Racing Fuels-Official Fuel, Lucerna Hotels & Resorts-Official Hotel and official race title sponsor, Wide Open Excursions-Official Arrive and Drive Company, Crystal Bay Casino-Official Casino.

SCORE Official Partners: PCI Race Radios, The Satellite Phone Store.

Additional SCORE Associate Partners: Proturismo Ensenada, Baja California Secretary of Tourism, Mexicali Ayuntamiento, COTUCO Mexicali/San Felipe, Cruz Roja Mexicana, Corporate Helicopters.

For more information regarding SCORE, visit the official website of the SCORE World Desert Championship at www.SCOREInternational.com.

SCORE TROPHY TRUCK (38)

31 Andy McMillin

32 Ryan Arciero

23 Dan McMillin

50 Zak Langley

83 Luke McMillin

16 Cameron Steele

14 Bobby Pecoy

41 Justin Lofton

40 Chris Miller

77 Robby Gordon

7 Bryce Menzies

19 Tim Herbst

97 Robert ‘BJ’ Baldwin

*1L Scott Bailey

10 Alan Ampudia

*37L Rolf Helland

85 Mike Lawrence

*72L Rob Reinertson

15 Billy Wilson

11 Rob MacCachren

26 Dave Taylor

*79L Russell Buehler

45 Gary Magness

2 Tony Smiley

*5L Clyde Stacy

4 Justin Matney

*55L Jose de Jesus Flores

33 Todd Tuls

99 Dale Dondel

27 Jonathan Brenthel

28 Corey Keysar

3 Mark Post

21 Gustavo ‘Tavo’ Vildosola

54 Troy Herbst

9 Carlos ‘Apdaly’ Lopez

*25L Mark Winkelman

70 Kevin Thompson

57 Mike Palmer

*SCORE TT LEGEND

CLASS 1 (13)

100 Brad Wilson

168 Shelby Reid

185 Justin Davis

105 Mason Cullen

162 Brendan Gaughan

129 Brandon Bailey

106 Derek Fletcher

150 Morgan Langley

138 Brian Wilson

127 Cody Parkhouse

166 Brady Turner

167 Rhys Millen

113 Damen Jefferies-RS

TROPHY TRUCK SPEC (27)

279 Austin ‘A.J.’ Jones

204 Sara Price

299 Charles Dorrance

232 Chelsea Magness

209 Rafael Navarro IV

274 Elias Hanna

246 James Scully

250 John Langley

294 Vincent Munoz

295 William Hedrick Jr

260 Luis Pelayo

253 Mike Perez

211 Pat Sims

218 Chad Dohrman

266 Scott Biernot

270 Kelly McArthur

240 Bobby Patton

205 Joe Delucie

234 Jason McNeil

208 Andrew Entwistle

297 Bill McBeath

238 Scott Kiger

275 Jaun Sanchotena

290 T.J. Tuls

254 Joe Brain

257 Shane Redline

220 Craig Christy-RS

CLASS 2 (1)

2022 Hammond Meredith

HAMMER TRUCK UNLTD (1)

4421 Mike Hales-RS

CLASS 10 (16)

1011 Cesar Cuevas

1008 Chase Warren

1022 Rafael Aguirre

1068 Cody Reid

1016 Hiram Duran

1002 Clay Lawrence

1058 Jeremy Davis

1048 Kevin Price

1062 J.J. Schnarr

1026 Hugo Becerra

1099 Rick Little

1069 Dan Berg

1060 Pedro Perez

1063 Ruben Torres

1087 Ivan Tagle

1078 Augie Cortez

CLASS 7 (2)

700 Daniel Chamlee

709 Jeff Proctor

CLASS 5 (2)

527 Dustin Grabowski

510 Gerardo Ibarra-1st RS

PRO UTV FI (24)

2975 Mike Cafro

2905 Marc Burnett

2919 Brandon Schueler

2987 Edgar Garcia

2977 Justin Elenberg

2930 Sean Cook

2926 Christine Giampaoli Zonca

2912 Tony Riggs

2946 Jose Juarez

2904 Cory Sappington

2910 Scott Trafton

2918 Justin Lambert

2936 Jacob Carver

2968 Paul Kraus

2911 Michael Mamelli Jr

2948 Matthew Burroughs

2978 Jose Juarez

2927 Justin Smith

2931 Craig Scanlon

2903 Juan Martinez

2917 Jason Murray

2942 Casey Currie

2964 Derek McGaughy 3rd-RS

2995 Daniel Parker 2nd-RS

2971 Wayne Matlock 1st-RS

SCORE LITES (11)

1206 Freddie Willert

1202 Matias Arjona IV

1212 Martin Lizarraga

1224 Javier Rochin

1297 Gerardo Sadney

1247 Wes McKenzie

1208 Rich Roberts

1255 Darren Walsh

1229 Douglas Satterfield 3rd-RS

1257 Michael Cooper 2nd-RS

1203 Oliver Flemate 1st-RS

PRO UTV NA (6)

1995 Kaden Wells

1912 Rickey Arslanian

1906 Mark Levrett

1985 Adrian Arellana

1958 George Felix

1954 Kristen Matlock 1st-RS

CLASS 1/2-1600 (6)

1614 Bruce Yee

1600 Oscar Alvarez

1616 Angel Barajas

1650 Adolfo Arambula 3rd-RS

1683 Juan Peralta 2nd-RS

1609 J. David Ruvalcaba 1st-RS

PRO UTV UNLIMITED (3)

1877 Josh Herzing

1850 Jesus Mendez Jr

1851 Herman Johnson

PRO UTV STOCK (1)

3937 Brad Lovell

CLASS 8 (1)

852 Spencer Morgan

BAJA CHALLENGE (1)

BC4 Edward Muncey

CLASS 5-1600 (5)

550 Luis Herrera

575 Edgar Torres

571 David Heredia

599 Hector Hurtado 2nd-RS

582 Rodolfo Martinez 1st-RS

CLASS 7F (4)

700F Brandon Walsh

725F Kelly McNeil

704F Aaron Celiceo

714F Justin Park

CLASS 7SX (2)

751 Mike Lesle

740 Gerardo Novelo 1st-RS

CLASS 3700 (1)

3791 Brett Maister

CLASS 11 (6)

1111 Eric Solorzano

1152 Elmer Cayetano

1113 Kent Thygerson

1106 Mauro Diaz

1164 John Marshall

1153 Ruben Osuna 1st-RS

SPT UNLTD TRUCK (1)

2044 Russ Hopkins

SPT OPEN-WHEEL (1)

1577 Diane Gianelli

PRO MOTO UNLIMITED (8)

1x Justin Morgan

4x Ray Dal Soglio

66x Santiago Creel

12x Webster Whinery Jr

69x Ben Hagle

18x Araben Agundez

50x Alirio Amado

52x Alirio Amado

PRO MOTO LIMITED (6)

120x Marco Pena

100x Santiago Creel

116x Eric Kirby

180x Fernando Beltran

129x Fernando Tavares

110x Carlos Miranda

PRO MOTO 40 (3)

444x Jason Trubey

420x Paul Thomas

436x Bobby Wilbanks

PRO MOTO 30 (7)

308x Ryan Liebelt

360x Santiago Creel

325x Jano Montoya

304x Chris Racan

365x Nick Lanning

300x Luis M. Gomez

370x Francisco Septien

PRO MOTO IRONMAN (6)

729x Michael Skurkis

775x Tanner Janesky

737x Joseph Amirault

708x Joe Janas

714x Lawrence Janesky

750x Julian Guerra

PRO MOTO 50 (3)

500x Giovanni Spinali

506x Mark Adams

508x Eizaburo Karasawa

Pro Quad (3)

1a Said Sanchez

2a Don Higbee

3a Oskar Espinoza

SPT QUAD (10)

100a Danny Magdalena

123a Ismael Hernandez

115a Norberto Arce

145a Carlos Napoles

170a Carlos Napoles

124a Ruben Ramos

127a Marco Sanchez

130a Nakol Hernandez

148a Alejandro Amador

135a Jesus Valezuela

SPT M/C (8)

284x Shane Schorno

228x Scott McIntosh

223x Mike Mettler

234x Clay Adams

253x Seiji Kubota

257x Steven Miller

266x Roy Buelna

237x Rachel Van Diepen