Roeseler leading multi-class winners to SCORE Baja 1000

SCORE MEDIA CONTACT: Dominic Clark, Dominic@SCORE-International.com
 
November 1, 2022
 
Race week Nov. 15-20
BFGoodrich Tires 54th SCORE Baja 1000
presented by 4 Wheel Parts
Led by LR, 116 racers with combined 392 class wins
back for another amazing adventure in Baja California
 
Iconic race the famous finale of 4-race 2022 SCORE World Desert Championship;
Start/Finish in Ensenada adjacent to Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center;
 
More information under race info tab on www.score-international.com
 
NOTE: Multiple class winners list entered this year at bottom of text
 
     ENSENADA, Baja California, Mexico—Drawn once again by the lure of the most iconic desert race in the world, Hall of Famer Larry Roeseler leads 116 racers who have combined for 392 class victories among 275 expected starters who have been drawn to once again blaze another dynamic dusty trail. This year, the call of the desert has come in the form of this month’s BFGoodrich Tires 55th SCORE Baja 1000, presented by 4 Wheel Parts.
With entries so far from 32 U.S. States, the U.S. Territory of Puerto Rico and 15 countries, this year’s Granddaddy of All Desert Races will be a race of 828.25 masterful miles around the Northern part of Mexico’s majestic Baja California peninsula, starting and finishing in Ensenada, Baja California.
    The final round of the four-race 2022 SCORE World Desert Championship race-week festivities and the Granddaddy of All Desert Races itself will be held Nov. 15-20.
AT THE RIVIERA
Pre-race Contingency/Tech will be held (Nov. 16 and 17) along with the start and finish of the race (Nov. 18-20) in the SCORE compound located on Boulevard Costero adjacent to the historic Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center in Ensenada. SCORE Racer and SCORE Media Registration will be held Nov. 15-17 in Salon Rojo at the Riviera.
     SCORE International is well known around the globe as the ‘World’s Foremost Desert Racing Organization.’ Celebrating its 49th season in 2022, this race is the flagship event of the SCORE World Desert Championship.
AMAZING RACE
The SCORE Baja 1000 is at the pinnacle of motorsports as the most iconic, oldest, prestigious, toughest and longest continuously held desert race in the world.
This year’s race will be a very challenging loop race of 828.25 miles around the Northern part of magnificent Baja California.
BAJA MIL
Most of the world’s best desert racers will be in action at this year’s massive BFGoodrich Tires 55th SCORE Baja 1000, presented by 4 Wheel Parts. The 2022 season-finale will be televised on a delayed basis as a one-hour special on ESPN2’s World of X Games programming.
Race week activities will be held Nov. 15-20.
Nearly 275 vehicles are expected at the start line with racers from nearly 35 U.S. States and as many as 15 countries anticipated. Pro and Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads will be competing in the Granddaddy of All Desert Races.
Ensenada, “The Off-Road Capital of the World” 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.
This iconic race will start for the 48th time in Ensenada, finish for the 28th time in Ensenada
This race is annually the grand finale of the SCORE World Desert Championship, which has been held exclusively for the past seven years in Baja California.
LR TOPS MULTI LEADERS
At the top of the SCORE Baja 1000 all-time Pro Multi-Class winners entered this year is the legendary Larry ‘Mr. Baja’ Roeseler with 18 class wins in this race. Roeseler, 65, of Imperial, Calif., has a race-record 14 overall victories in this race, including 10 on a motorcycle. He is the only racer in history of this race to win an overall on a motorcycle, a SCORE Trophy Truck and an open-wheel desert race car.
For the record, Roeseler’s class win total in the SCORE Baja 1000 is second only to the late, great Rod Hall who earned 25 career class wins while driving in the first 50 races.
Roeseler’s first class win in this iconic race was in 1976 in the open motorcycle class riding with Mitch Mayes and his most recent was in 2020 when he was the second driver for Luke McMillin in SCORE Trophy Truck.
‘Mr. Baja’, a member of both the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) and Off-Road Motorsports (ORMHOF) Halls of Fame, enters this year’s peninsula run in his No. 43 Baja Jerky Toyota Tundra. His plan is to drive solo, hoping to add even more to his amazing SCORE Baja legacy.
AGE GROUPERS
The next three racers entered on the all-time multiple class win list are motorcycle racers who race in age group classes.
Ninth overall with 14 class wins is the extreme veteran champion Jim O’Neal, 75, Santa Barbara, Calif. O’Neal, known worldwide for his O’Neal USA racing apparel, is racing in Pro Moto 50 this time around.
Racing in Pro Moto 60 this year with 12 class wins is Bob Johnson, Upland, Calif..
MORE MULTI-TIMERS
With 11 class wins (all in the last 14 years) all in Class 7 is Daniel Chamlee, Chad Hall also has 11 class wins, racing this year in Trophy Truck Spec while entered with 10 career class victories is Rob MacCachren, SCORE Trophy Truck while Eric Solorzano nine wins in Class 11.
With seven class wins each in this legendary race are Wayne Matlock (Pro UTV Open), Mike Cafro (Pro UTV Open), Kendall Norman (Pro Moto Unlimited) and Mark Samuels (Pro Moto Unlimited).
There are four racers entered so far with six class wins each: Lance Clifford (Baja Challenge), Brad Lovell (Stock Mid-Size), J. David Ruvalcaba (Class 10) and Jason Trubey (Pro Moto 40).
ENTRIES TO DATE
     With nearly 275 entries anticipated at the start line, through the close of online registration, 213 total entries have been received for the Granddaddy of All Desert Races, with racers representing 32 U.S. States, U.S. Territory Puerto Rico and 14 countries.
The countries are United States, U.S. Territory Puerto Rico, host country Mexico, Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, England, India, Japan, New Zealand, Peru and Spain.
DOUBLE DIGITS
Of the 213 entries to date, in the iconic race, 157 are cars, trucks or UTVs and 56 are motorcycles or quads.
Led by the marquee SCORE Trophy Truck division with 35 entries (including eight in SCORE TT Legend for drivers over 50 years old), six classes already have double-figure entry totals.
Among 4-wheel classes, besides SCORE Trophy Truck the classes with double-figure entries so far are Trophy Truck Spec (21), Pro UTV FI (Forced Induction) (20), Class 10 (13), Pro UTV Stock (8) and the venerable Class 11 for stock VW sedans (6).
Among the 2-wheel classes, Pro Moto Ironman has 23 official entries and Sportsman Motorcycle has nine.
LA RUTA
Identified, designed, plotted and marked by SCORE President/Race Director Abelardo Grijalva, the 828.25-mile race course for the BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 1000, presented by 4 Wheel Parts, runs in a clockwise direction after the first part to and then back from Ojos Negros.
The magnificent course features three physical, full-stop checkpoints and 285 virtual checkpoints. The course also has 18 speed zones for a total of 70.6 race miles.
Checkpoint 1 is at race-mile 200.22 (El Chinero), Checkpoint 2 is at rm 579.98 (Ejido Jaramillo) and Checkpoint 3 is at race-mile 726.57 (El Alamo).
After Ojos Negros, the course goes up and over the Cordillera de Molina to drop into the desert around Rm 115.
After reaching the La Ventana area it will run south to the El Chinero road crossing highway 3 at Km 192 and will keep going south to Matomi Wash. Halfway into Matomi Wash it exits and goes north to Azufre Wash, then to Huatamote wash, Chanate Wash and up to Morelia Junction.
From there the course will exit the desert and go to San Matias Pass road and Mike’s Sky Rancho, down to Rancho La Jolla and will run on the San Pedro Martir road to Meling Ranch. After Meling it will run to the Pacific Coast to Ejido Jaramillo and north to just below San Vicente where it will cross back to Valley de Trinidad then back to Ojos Negros and onto to the finish line in Ensenada.
For safety reasons, all of the Sportsman 4 Wheel Vehicle classes along with Class 11 and Class 7SX will run a reduced course of 695.79 miles and the Sportsman Motorcycle and Quad classes will race on a reduced course of 760.91 miles.
SCORE LIVE
During contingency on Wednesday (Nov. 16) and Thursday (Nov. 17) and the race on Friday (Nov. 18) until the course closes on Sunday (Nov. 20) early morning, live streaming will be broadcasting race activities and start and finish line interviews as well as live action from Drones, ground cameras and in-car cameras from around the race course.
Popular Rat Sult, who has been the voice of SCORE over the last seven seasons, will once again serve as host and lead announcer of the expansive SCORE Live streaming. Assisting Sult will be veteran voice Dave Arnold.
Sult and Arnold will be announcing from the SCORE start/finish ramp while the show will also include SCORE studio announcers back in El Cajon, Calif., providing live info and updates throughout the race.
SCORE Live is being produced again by SCORE Media House, Aaron Laub, producer, Alberto Luna-director.
SCORE Live may be launched from the home page of the SCORE website.
GREEN FLAG
The SCORE Baja 1000 will be an elapsed-time race with staggered starts as the green flag on Friday, Nov. 18 will drop first for the motorcycles and quads at 2:30 a.m. (PT) and 9:15 a.m. (PT) for the cars, trucks and UTVs. While the fastest vehicles are expected to finish in around 17 hours, all vehicles will have a 36-hour time limit to become official finishers in the iconic race.
GRAND MARSHAL—SCOT HARDEN
SCORE has announced that the Grand Marshal for the BFGoodrich Tires 55th SCORE Baja 1000, presented by 4 Wheel Parts, will be Hall of Fame SCORE motorcycle champion Scot Harden.
Harden, 66, born and raised in Las Vegas and currently living in Menifee, Calif., is a legendary professional desert motorcycle racer with a 50-year career as a world champion racer and motorcycle industry executive.
In his racing career Harden captured two SCORE Baja 1000 overall victories, three SCORE Baja 500 wins, two wins in the SCORE Parker 400, one Mexicali 300 win and he also won the 1979 SCORE Pro Moto Unlimited (Class 22) season point championship. In addition, he has numerous overalls at other major desert events,
In international competition Harden is a three-time International Six-Day Enduro (ISDE) medalist, earning a gold, silver and bronze in the early 1980s.
As a result of his illustrious career, Harden has been inducted into three halls of fame, the American Motorcyclist Association Hall of Fame in 2008, the Trailblazers HOF in 2020 and the Hot Shoe HOF in 2020.
BFGOODRICH TIRES UNMATCHED
BFGoodrich Tires, the official tire of SCORE for 46 years, received two awards for the 2021 SCORE World Desert Championship. BFGoodrich Tires was honored after the 2021 season as the SCORE Contingency Company of the year for the 31st time as well as being voted the SCORE Pit Support Team of the Year for the 33rd time.
BFGoodrich Tires has been the choice of 34 of the 54 overall winners of the popular SCORE Baja 500 and 32 of the 54 overall winners of the legendary SCORE Baja 1000. BFGoodrich Tires is also the title sponsor of both of the iconic races again in 2022.
BFGoodrich Tires also has been the choice of 29 of the 35 overall winners of the SCORE San Felipe 250, all three SCORE Desert Challenge races, the lone SCORE Challenge of Champions in San Felipe, the one SCORE Baja Sur 500 and the first of the three SCORE Baja 400 races.
This year’s SCORE San Felipe 250 overall victory by San Diego’s Luke McMillin marked the 100th BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja overall race win.
BFG BIG BONUS
SCORE major sponsor BFGoodrich Tires has posted a US$25,000 contingency bonus for the overall 4-wheel race winner to help commemorate the Granddaddy of All Desert Races.
PRESENTING SPONSOR
Presenting sponsor for this year’s BFGoodrich Tires 5th SCORE Baja 500 is 4 Wheel Parts, the official Off-Road Retailer and Race Presenting Partner of SCORE and the SCORE World Desert Championship.
SCOREscope
2022 FINALE
BFGoodrich Tires 55th SCORE Baja 1000, presented by 4 Wheel Parts—
November 15-20, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
2023 GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY SCHEDULE
Here are the dates for the four-race 2023 SCORE World Desert Championship Golden Anniversary season, ‘Celebrating 50 Years of Desert Racing Excellence’, which will be held totally in Baja California, Mexico for the eighth consecutive year:
King Shocks 36th SCORE San Felipe 250—
March 29-April 2, San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico
BFGoodrich Tires 55th SCORE Baja 500, presented by 4 Wheel Parts—
May 31-June 4, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
4th SCORE Baja 400, presented by VP Racing Fuels—
September 12-17, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
BFGoodrich Tires 56th SCORE Baja 1000, presented by 4 Wheel Parts—
November 13-18, La Paz, Baja California Sur to Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
ESPN TV NETWORKS AGAIN IN 2022
For the fourth straight year, the 2022 SCORE World Desert Championship races will air on the ESPN family of networks. The four-races will air as specials on the World of X Games program 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 journalists Sam Posey and Jack Arute.
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. The shows are co-produced by SCORE International and SoCal’s award-winning BCII TV.
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 and Race Title Sponsor, Polaris RZR-Official UTV, RACELINE Wheels-Official Wheel, VP Racing Fuels-Official Fuel and race presenting sponsor, Optima Batteries-Official Batteries, Wide Open Excursions-Official Arrive and Drive Company, Crystal Bay Casino-Official Casino and PCI Race Radios.
SCORE Official Partners: The Satellite Phone Store, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance, Lucerna Hotel.
Additional SCORE Associate Partners: Baja California Secretary of Tourism, MEXICO Secretary of Tourism, San Felipe Foundational Municipal Council, Ensenada Municipal Government, San Felipe Marketing Tourism Committee, Ensenada Marketing Tourism Committee, Ensenada Hotel and Motel Association, Proturismo Ensenada and Cruz Roja Mexicana.
For more information regarding SCORE, visit the official website of the SCORE World Desert Championship at www.SCORE-International.com.
SCORE Baja 1000 Pro Multi-Class Champion Leaders
(1967 thru 2021)
(list includes racers officially entered as of 11.1. 22)
DRIVER/RIDER (Years)*TOTAL
18
Larry Roeseler--1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2020
15
Jim O’Neal—1998, 2004, 2005, 2006(3), 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016(2), 2021
13
Francisco Septien—2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
12
Bob Johnson—1985, 1995, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2018
11
Dan Chamlee—2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020
Chad Hall--1995, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2015, 2016, 2017
10
Rob MacCachren--1992, 1993, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2021
9
Eric Solorzano--1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006
7
Mike Cafro—1994, 2006, 2007, 2014, 2019, 2020, 2021
Lance Clifford—2007, 2008, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021
Wayne Matlock—2005, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2018
Kendall Norman—2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2021
Mark Samuels—2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
6
Brad Lovell—2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2021
David Ruvalcaba--1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2014, 2019
Jason Trubey—2005, 2012, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021
5
Elias Hanna—2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2021
Andy McMillin—2006, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015
Wes Miller—2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2020
Justin Morgan—2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
Larry Ragland--1991, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999
4
Justin Davis—2010, 2011, 2014, 2016
Chuck Dempsey—2008, 2011(2), 2015
George Erl—1978, 1992, 1997, 2002
Josh Hall—2003, 2005, 2006, 2007
Mike Horner—1985, 2002, 2003, 2007
Luke McMillin—2011, 2012, 2020, 2021
Tim Morton—1993, 1995, 1997, 2005
Mark Winkelman—2011, 2015, 2016(2)
3
Jim Anderson—2007, 2011, 2012
Ryan Arciero—1998, 2003, 2004
Max Eddy Jr—2014, 2017, 2019
Ramon Fernandez—2007, 2008, 2011
Ricky Johnson—1997, 2003, 2010
Roger Norman—2001, 2004, 2008
Gerardo Novelo—1994, 1995, 2019
Jeff Proctor—2015, 2016, 2021
Josh Row—2014, 2015, 2016
Hector Sarabia—1999, 2001, 2005
Chad Thornton—2015, 2018, 2019
Eli Yee—2005, 2020, 2021
*Includes racers who have been driver/rider of record at least once