A. Lopez, Steele, G. Magness, Sampietro, M. Winslow, Spinali top new entries for 34th SCORE San Felipe 250

SCORE MEDIA CONTACT: Dominic Clark, dominic@score-international.com
February 25, 2020
Season Opener March 24-29

A. Lopez, Steele, G. Magness, Sampietro, M. Winslow,
Spinali top new entries for 34th SCORE San Felipe 250

 

ENSENADA, Baja California, Mexico – Able to find a new team for 2020 after prominent RPM Racing needed to take a sabbatical for the year, three-time SCORE Trophy Truck season point champion Carlos ‘Apdaly’ Lopez leads the recent group of early entries along with fellow SCORE Desert Racing stars Cameron Steele, Gary Magness, Jorge Sampietro, Matt Winslow and Giovanni Spinali for next month’s 34th Annual SCORE San Felipe 250 in Baja California, Mexico.
With less than 30 days left before race week, to date the 60 total early entries have come from 15 U.S. States along with host country Mexico, Canada, Denmark and New Zealand.
The season-opening event of the four-race internationally-televised 2020 SCORE World Desert Championship will be held March 24-29 in San Felipe, the peaceful fishing village on the Sea of Cortez, 125 miles south of the U.S. Border at Calexico, Calif. All four 2020 SCORE races will be held on Mexico’s magnificent Baja California peninsula for the fifth consecutive year.
Domestically, the race will be televised on a delayed basis on the World of X Games show on the ABC Television Network as co-produced by SCORE International and award-winning BCII TV of Los Angeles.
THREE DECADES-PLUS
Celebrating the 34th anniversary of the youngest of the three legendary SCORE Baja races, sometimes referred to as the SCORE ‘baby Baja’, entries are being accepted on the SCORE website under Race Info at www.SCOREInternational.com for Pro and Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads.
Pre-race festivities will be held in San Felipe on March 24, 25, 26 and 27 with race days on Saturday and Sunday March 28, 29 concluding with the post-race awards fiesta at Noon PT on Sunday, March 29.
The deadline to enter online in time to be in the drawing for starting positions within each class is 8 p.m. PT on Friday, March 13. Official pre-running on the 335-mile race course will open at 8 a.m. PT on Saturday, March 14.
APDALY
Mexico’s Apdaly Lopez, 25, of Tecate, won three consecutive SCORE Trophy Truck season championships (2015, 2016, 2017) for RPM Racing. Because of heart surgery that RPM Racing co-owner Justin Matney had earlier this month, the team is taking a sabbatical for this year.
For this season he has signed on to drive the No. 2 Chevy Silverado of Tony Smiley, Buckeye, Ariz. At the top of his SCORE racing list, Lopez won the 50th anniversary of the iconic SCORE Baja 1000 Ensenada to La Paz, Mexico, racing with his father Juan C. Lopez in 2017.
MORE EARLY ENTRIES
Cameron Steele, the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame second-generation desert racer from San Clemente, Calif. has entered the purpose-built No. 2069 Ford Bronco he debuted at last year’s SCORE Baja 1000 in SCORE Trophy Truck for this year’s SCORE San Felipe 250.
A well-known action sports TV commentator who is also a co-host of the SCORE TV broadcasts, Steele has class race wins in more than one SCORE class but his crowning moments came in 2018 when he won the final two SCORE Trophy Truck races of the season after 13 years of laboring in the marquee SCORE racing division.
Prominent international entrepreneur and Hollywood film producer Gary Magness of Denver, has entered SCORE Trophy Truck in his Mango Racing No. 45 Ford F-150. A long-time SCORE racer, Magness has numerous top 10 finishes in SCORE Trophy Truck.
Mexico’s Jorge Sampietro of Ensenada has entered in Trophy Truck Spec in his No.  298 Mason-Chevy. He won his class in last year’s inaugural SCORE Baja 400 in his hometown.
After winning the season title in Class 10 in 2018, Matt Winslow, 26, returns after a one-year break along with his father and additional driver Todd Winslow. Both from Clovis, Calif., the Winslow drives the No. 1081 Alumi Craft-Chevy.
Among the latest early motorcycle racers to enter is Giovanni Spinali, 53, of El Cajon, Calif., who returns as a four-time SCORE age-group motorcycle class point champion with 13 class wins since 2014. In 2014 he won the Pro Moto 40 (riders over 40 years old) with four race wins. For the last three seasons, Spinali has won the season class title in Pro Moto 50 (riders over 50 years old) with two race wins in 2017, four race wins in 2018 and three race wins in 2019. He and his winning team ride the No. 500x Yamaha YZ450X.
MORE SCORE TROPHY TRUCKS & SCORE TT LEGENDS
SCORE Trophy Truck, the marquee SCORE racing division for high-tech, 950-horsepower unlimited custom trucks leads the early entry list with 14 vehicles (including three SCORE TT Legend entries) in the lineup so far. In addition to Lopez, Steele and Magness, the other early SCORE Trophy Truck entries are defending race and season point champion Andy McMillin, 32, San Diego (No. 1 Chevy Silverado), his cousins Luke McMillin, 27, San Diego (No. 83 Ford F-150) and Dan McMillin, 32, San Diego (No. 17 Chevy 1500), B.J. Baldwin, Las Vegas (No. 97 Toyota Tundra), Alan Ampudia, Ensenada, Mexico (No. 10 Ford Raptor), Mike Lawrence, Banning, Calif. (No. 85 Ford F-150), Bobby Pecoy, Yorba Linda, Calif.  (No. 14 Ford Raptor) and Dave Taylor, Page, Ariz. (No. 26 Chevy Silverado).
In SCORE TT Legend for drivers 50 years and older, entries so far are Russell Buehler, Kansas City, Kansas (No. 79L Ford Raptor), Rob Reinertson, Woodside, Calif. (No. 72L Ford F-150) and Jim Bult, Monee, Ill. (No. 47L Dodge Ram2500).
QUALIFYING
For just the second time in the history of this popular ‘Spring Break’ race, SCORE will hold a qualifying session starting at 8 a.m. PT on Wednesday, March 25 to determine the starting positions within each class for the SCORE Trophy Truck, SCORE TT Legend, Class 1 and Trophy Truck Spec classes. Entries in these classes must also be completed by Friday, March 13 to be eligible to qualifying.
Starting positions for the other classes will be determined by a random drawing after the close of online racer registration which is at 8 p.m. on Friday, March. 13.
Late, on-site entries will receive the next starting position within the class entered.
The first time qualifying was held for this race was in 2017 when Rob MacCachren, Cameron Steele and Carlos ‘Apdaly’ Lopez were the top three qualifiers in the marquee SCORE Trophy Truck division for high-tech, 950-horsepower, unlimited custom trucks.
Qualifying will again be held south of the airport, which is located on the south end of San Felipe.
2-WHEEL CHAMP
Justin Morgan, El Cajon, Calif., won for the second straight year in San Felipe in 2019 on his No. 1x SLR Honda CRF450X. Last year he split the riding with teammates Mark Samuels, Yucca Valley, Calif., who now has four SCORE San Felipe 250 race wins and Justin Jones, Murrieta, Calif., who won for the second time in San Felipe.
Morgan won the SCORE Overall Motorcycle and Pro Moto Unlimited point title last year by winning all four races in the 2019 SCORE World Desert Championship. He has now won 11 consecutive SCORE Baja races over the last three seasons.
     GREEN FLAG SATURDAY
The motorcycle and quad classes will start at 6:20 a.m. PT Saturday (March 28) while the car, truck and UTV classes will begin their journey starting at 9:30 a.m. PT (March 28). SCORE Trophy Truck 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 six hours, all vehicles will have 16 hours from the time each starts to become an official finisher in the historic race.
SCORE FIESTA TIME
Colorful pre-race festivities will be held in San Felipe during race week on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with race days on Saturday and Sunday concluding with the post-race awards celebration at Noon PT on Sunday.
The colorful pre-race contingency and Manufacturer’s Midway, the starting line and the finish line will be on the Malecon in the heart of San Felipe for the fourth straight year.
Contingency will be held on two days for the second time in the history of this race with classes split with some, including all UTVs, motorcycles and quads going through the line on Thursday and the balance, including the marquee SCORE Trophy Truck division, SCORE TT Legend, Class 1 and Trophy Truck Spec, going through  on Friday. Contingency will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT each day with pre-race tech lasting until 6 p.m. PT on both Thursday and Friday (March 27-28).
The post-race awards celebration will be held on the start/finish line ramp on the Malecon on Sunday (March 29) at Noon PT.
LATE RACER REGISTRATION
A special on-site racer registration will be held on Tuesday (March 24) from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. PT for the racers who will be part of qualifying. Regular on-site, late racer registration will start at 2 p.m. PT on Wednesday in San Felipe.  It will be held Wednesday (March 25) from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. PT as well as Thursday (March 26) from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday (March 27) from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT with no new entries accepted after 3 p.m. PT on Friday.
SIX-TIMER
While three racers have three overall victories in the SCORE San Felipe 250, Las Vegas’ Hall of Fame racer Rob MacCachren might have set a standard that will last for awhile, unless he breaks his own record of six overall and SCORE Trophy Truck wins.
MacCachren, who won the overall in San Felipe in 2018 to give him 10 class wins in this race, earned his first SCORE Trophy Truck overall in this race in 2003 when he split the driving with Mexico’s Gustavo Vildosola Sr and his second in 2007 when he split the driving with Mark Post.
MacCachren earned back-to-back wins in 2011 and 2012 driving solo and won his fifth in 2017 and his sixth in 2018 driving solo again in his No. 11 MacCachren Motorsports Ford F-150.
BFGOODRICH TIRES UNMATCHED
As part of their massive SCORE Contingency program for 2020, long-time SCORE sponsor partner BFGoodrich Tires is offering a large contingency bonus for each overall winner in the 2020 SCORE World Desert Championship. For the 34th annual SCORE San Felipe 250, the contingency bonus is US$10,000. BFGoodrich Tires is entering its 44th year as the Official Tire of SCORE and in 2020 the company will also be the title sponsor of both the 52nd SCORE Baja 500 and the 53rd SCORE Baja 1000.
Presenting sponsor of both of those iconic races will be 4 Wheel Parts.
BFGoodrich Tires is celebrating over four decades as a major player in SCORE Baja racing. In addition to being the official tire of SCORE International for over four decades, BFGoodrich Tires has now produced the tire of choice for 30 of the overall 4-wheel vehicle winners in the SCORE Baja 1000, including 30 of the last 34 years along with a record-run of 20 straight from 1986 through 2005. In total, BFGoodrich Tires has now be the tire of choice for the overall 4-wheel vehicle winner in 92 SCORE Baja races including 32 in the SCORE Baja 500.
EL BANCO
For over three decades, the annual motorsports festival that has brought the largest economic impact of any single event held annually in this lightly-populated portion of the rugged, rough and bountifully beautiful Baja peninsula has been the SCORE San Felipe 250.
SCOREscope
2020 SCHEDULE
Here is the four-race 2020 SCORE World Desert Championship and for the fifth consecutive year all races will be held in Baja California, Mexico:
34th SCORE San Felipe 250, March 24-29, San Felipe, Mexico
BFGoodrich Tires 52nd SCORE Baja 500, presented by 4 Wheel Parts, June 3-7, Ensenada, Mexico
2nd SCORE Baja 400, Sept. 16-20, Ensenada, Mexico
BFGoodrich Tires 53rd SCORE Baja 1000, Nov.16-21, presented by 4 Wheel Parts, Ensenada, Baja California to La Paz, Baja California Sur
ABC TV AGAIN IN 2020
For the second straight year, the 2020 SCORE World Desert Championship aired on the ABC family of networks. The four-races air as one-hour specials on ABC TV’s World of X Games program with replays on ESPN2.
ABC first covered the 1967 and 1968 Baja 1000 races on the old ABC Wide World of Sports show with Jim McKay and again in the late 1980s with veteran motorsports journalist Sam Posey.
All of the SCORE race coverage shows also 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 and Race Title Sponsor, Monster Energy-Official Energy Drink, 4 Wheel Parts-Official Off-Road Retailer and Race Presenting Partner, Ford-Official Truck and SUV, King Shocks-Official Shock Absorber, Polaris RZR-Official UTV, RACELINE Wheels-Official Wheel, VP Racing Fuels-Official Fuel, Wide Open Excursions-Official Arrive and Drive Company, Crystal Bay Casino-Official Casino.
SCORE Official Partners: PCI Race Radios, The Satellite Phone Store, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance, Lucerna Hotel.
Additional SCORE Associate Partners: Baja California Secretary of Sustainable Economy and Tourism, XXIII Ensenada Municipal Government, XXIII Mexicali Municipal Government, Mexicali and San Felipe COTUCO, Cruz Roja Mexicana.
For more information regarding SCORE, visit the official website of the SCORE World Desert Championship at www.SCOREInternational.com.

SCORE TROPHY TRUCK (14*)
1 Andy McMillin
2 Carlos ‘Apdaly’ Lopez
10 Alan Ampudia
14 Bobby Pecoy
17 Dan McMillin
26 Dave Taylor
45 Gary Magness
83 Luke McMillin
85 Mike Lawrence
97 Robert ‘BJ’ Baldwin
2069 Cameron Steele
*TOTAL INCLUDES LEGEND
SCORE TT LEGEND (3)
47L Jim Bult
72L Rob Reinertson
79L Russell Buehler
CLASS 1 (4)
100 Mason Cullen
114 Al Torres
123 Broc Dickerson
168 Shelby Reid
TROPHY TRUCK SPEC (8)
213 Karl Ebdrup
219 Tony Murray
220 Craig Christie
244 Brad Lovell
260 Santiago Creel
294 Vincent Munoz
298 Jorge Sampietro
299 Charles Dorrance
CLASS 10 (4)
1002 Clay Lawrence
1075 Eliseo Garcia
1078 Augie Cortez
1081 Matt Winslow
PRO UTV FI (4)
2912 Tony Riggs
2914 Martin Christensen
2940 Erick Kozin
2987 Edgar Garcia Leon
SCORE LITES (2)
1234 Phillip Jones
1255 Darren Walsh
PRO UTV NA (3)
1912 Rickey Arslanian
1978 T. Bradley Millner
1995 Kaden Wells
CLASS 1/2-1600 (1)
1616 Eli Yee
PRO UTV STOCK (2)
3930 Douglas Cornwell
3933 Randy Emberton
CLASS 8 (0)
HEAVY METAL (0)
CLASS 7 (2)
703 Scott Brady
710 Mike Shaffer
CLASS 4700 (0)
HAMMER TRUCK UNLTD (1)
4421 Mike Hales
PRO UTV UNL (0)
CLASS 5 (3)
501 William Hernquist
507 Greg Sullivan
528 Victor Cesena
CLASS 5-1600 (0)
BAJA CHALLENGE (0)
CLASS 7F (0)
CLASS 7SX (0)
STOCK FULL (0)
CLASS 2 (0)
CLASS 11 (1)
1108 Luis Garcia
Sportsman
SPT UNLTD TRUCK (0)
SPT OPEN-WHEEL (0)
SPT UTV STOCK (1)
39XX Chris Clifton
Pro Motorcycles
PRO MOTO UNLIMITED (1)
66x Santiago Creel
PRO MOTO 30 (1)
370x Francisco Septien-1st RS
PRO MOTO LIMITED (0)
PRO MOTO 50 (3)
500x Giovanni Spinali
501x Robert Creemers
505x Steve Hatch
PRO MOTO 40 (1)
4XXx TJ Joun
PRO MOTO IRONMAN (1)
716x Roger Bowie
Pro Quads
Pro Quad (0)
Sportsman
SPT M/C (3)
201x Scott Borden
203x Giovanni Aviles
213x Bradley Loveday
SPT QUAD (0)