Course Change for #BAJA1000 Detailed

SCORE MEDIA CONTACT: Dominic Clark, dominiccnv@aol.com
 
October 22, 2016
 
Nov. 15-20 race dates
As pre-running opens today race officials make
course change for 49th annual SCORE Baja 1000
 
entries from 35 States, 15 countries expected for the iconic Granddaddy of all Desert Races;
pre-race festivities include SEMA SCORE Baja 1000 experience, presented by BFGoodrich Tires
Nov. 1-4 at Las Vegas Convention Center; SCORE Baja 1000 qualifying for SCORE Trophy Truck,
Trophy Truck Spec class at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Off-Road Track at 7 p.m., Nov. 1
 
on-line racer registration continues until Nov. 13 at RegisterHereForRace
 
    ENSENADA, Mexico—Because of navigation concerns for participants and chase crews, SCORE race officials have eliminated an area deep into the race course known as ‘the summit’ as pre-running opens Saturday for the internationally-televised 49th Annual SCORE Baja 1000, the iconic finale of the four-race 2016 SCORE World Desert Championship.
Over 250 cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads from 35 U.S. States and 15 countries are expected to take the green flag on Friday, Nov. 18 for this year’s 49th SCORE Baja 1000. The granddaddy of all desert races will be held Nov. 15-20 in Baja California Norte on Mexico’s majestic Baja California peninsula, starting and finishing in the seaside port of Ensenada, 65 miles south of the U.S. Border at San Diego.
THE CHANGE
SCORE Race Director Jose A. Grijalva has announced that near Saldana at approximate race-mile 665, the modified course will go to Borrego, take a pavement section on Highway 3 to Valley de Trinidad and then up the goat trail to reach the remainder of the originally-announced course at checkpoint 4 in Nuevo Junction. The change adds approximately 20 miles to the overall length of the course, extending it to approximately 854 miles.
Grijalva commented, “While we originally thought that running up in the opposite direction as previous races over the summit would be challenging, we have determined it is more than that. While marking the course for the opening of pre-running, we determined that several classes would not be able to negotiate this route so we elected to make this course change at this time in fairness to all competitors. This year’s course is one of the toughest ever and this change will give the racers a brief break from the tortuous terrain.”
PRE-RUNNING WINDOW
This year’s pre-running window will allow competitors nearly four weeks of practice time on the typically rugged race course of approximately 854 miles. Pre-running the start to Ojos Negros will once again be only allowed on Wednesday and Thursday of race week (Nov. 16-17) (and only in the outbound direction).
SCORE COURSE SUPREME!
As it has for over four decades, SCORE has put together another agonizingly memorable race course, this one for a loop race, with all of the foreboding, unforgiving terrain that the northern state of the majestic Baja California peninsula has to offer. SCORE CEO/President Roger Norman and SCORE Race Director Jose A. Grijalva have designed and finalized this year’s SCORE Baja 1000 race course.
Starting and finishing in the heart of Ensenada in front of the historic Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center, the course travels in a counter-clockwise direction. It includes the approximate 20 mile stretch to Ojos Negros which is used in both directions. Outgoing, the course heads south from Ojos Negros through Santo Tomas and then runs along the picturesque Pacific Ocean for over 100 miles and then back across to the center of Baja California Norte.
The approximately 854-mile course covers both sides of the peninsula and includes four checkpoints.
The race will have its normal start from Ensenada to Piedras Gordas, then out to highway 3 around Rm 20.7 and will go to Km33 and get back on the dirt. The course will go past Rancho Grijalva to El Mezcal (Rm 39.6) and head to Uruapan using La Lagrima Rd, a different road than in past years.
From Santo Tomas, the course heads to the coast of the Pacific Ocean at La Calabera and runs down nearly 100 miles to San Quintin, Nuevo Odisea and then to El Rosario. The course will travel zig zag up the well known hill La Vivora, el Arenoso, and will loop around from San Juan de Dios at approximate Rm305 to El Metate Rm 340, Los Martires Rm 363 and go back to San Quintin on the east side of the highway and run north to Col. Vicente Guerrero, Jaramillo and Colonet.
The course will travel a new route from Colonet to Llano Colorado and across to Valley de Trinidad. The race course goes along the highway from San Matias to Villa del Sol then crossing the highway at El Chinero, north to Coabuso Junction and then out to Borrego, up Highway 1 and up the goat trail to checkpoint 4 Nuevo Junction. From there it will be on to Catarina then back to Ojos Negros and from Ojos Negros back to the finish line.
The four checkpoints will be located at Santo Tomas (CP 1--race-mile 88.15), El Rosario (CP 2--rm249.92), Vicente Guerrero (CP 3--rm469.15) and Nuevo Junction (CP 4--rm752).
BEFORE BAJA…VIVA LAS VEGAS!
Jumpstarting the festivities for the SCORE Baja 1000 for the third straight year will be the massive SEMA SCORE Baja 1000 Experience at the Las Vegas Convention Center (Oct. 31-Nov. 4) and the special SCORE Baja 1000 qualifying for SCORE Trophy Trucks and the Trophy Truck Spec class. With both events presented by BFGoodrich Tires, qualifying will be held at the Off-Road Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (7 p.m. PT, Tuesday, Nov. 1).
REGISTRATION CONTINUES
Online entry registration for the race continues at Register Here for Race.  Late entries received after the drawing will be placed by class in the next available starting position following those that entered in time for the random draw.
BEGINNING TO END
This year’s race will start for the 42nd time and finish for the 24th time in Ensenada. The start line and finish line will once again be adjacent to the iconic Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center in the heart of Ensenada and the first and last several spectator-friendly miles running up and back down the Ensenada Arroyo.
ENTRY UPDATE
A growing total of 207 vehicles are officially entered as of today and over 60 additional entries are expected to enter in the four weeks before race day for the legendary race.
So far among the car, truck and UTV classes, SCORE Trophy Truck has the most entries with 29, followed by Trophy Truck Spec with 20, Pro UTV FI with 20, Class 10 with 18, the unlimited Class 1 with 16 and Pro UTV with 14 officially entered to date.
Among the motorcycle classes, the Pro Moto Ironman (solo rider) class has the most entries with six followed by the Pro Moto Unlimited and Pro Moto 40 (m/c riders over 40 years old) classes with five entries each so far.
In the Sportsman classes, leading the way is Sportsman Motorcycle with 12 entries to date.
GLOBAL INTEREST
In addition to the 27 States represented on the entry list to date, racers have officially entered from 12 countries.  In addition to the United States, entries so far have come from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Guatemala, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, New Zealand and the US Territory of Guam.
PRE-GREEN
The race week festivities will cover Nov. 15-20, with the race and all side events starting and finishing in Ensenada.
Pre-race festivities on Thursday (Nov. 17), for the SCORE Baja 1000, including the vastly popular tech and contingency of all vehicles and the SCORE Manufacturer’s Midway will be held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. PT on Boulevard Costero in front of the Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center.  The pre-race mandatory driver/rider briefing will also be held on Thursday (Nov. 17) at 7 p.m. PT in the Cathedral Room at the Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center.
Racer registration will be held in the Red Room at the Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center in Ensenada. Racer registration will be held from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. PT on Tuesday (Nov. 15), from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. PT on Wednesday (Nov. 16) and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT on Thursday (Nov. 17). Media registration will be held as well in the Red Room at the Riviera from 1 p.m. until 6 p.m. PT on Wednesday (Nov. 16), 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT on Thursday (Nov. 17) and the BFGoodrich Tires/Baja California Secretary of Tourism SCORE Media Center will be open on Friday (Nov. 18) at 5:30 a.m. PT until the course closes at approximately 11 p.m. PT (Nov. 19) on Saturday and will re-open on Sunday from 8 a.m. until Noon PT.
Two special Monster Energy parties, open to the public will be held before the race starts. On Wednesday (Nov. 16) starting at 7 p.m. PT at the start/finish line area will be the SCORE Baja 1000 Goes Green Monster Energy Party. On Thursday (Nov. 17), the night before the start of the race, the Monster Energy SCORE Papas & Beer Street Party on Avenida Ruiz in front of Papas & Beer will start at 7 p.m. PT.
POST GREEN
As the celebration continues all-night on Friday, all day and evening on Saturday while official finishers cross the line and tales are added to the legacy of the event, the post-race awards fiesta will be held in the Cathedral Room at the Riviera starting at 10 a.m. PT on Sunday (Nov. 20).
CBS SPORTS NETWORK COVERAGE
All races in the four-race 2016 SCORE World Desert Championship, along with the special SEMA SCORE Baja 1000 Experience and qualifying for the SCORE Baja 1000 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway are once again airing in the USA and Canada on the CBS Sports Network.  The spectacular shows feature not only SCORE Trophy Truck coverage, but also top action and highlights from many other classes of trucks, cars, UTVs, motorcycles and quads – making sure that the most exciting footage and most compelling stories continue as part of each race event broadcast.
Capping off the 2016 broadcast season, the SCORE Baja 1000 broadcast on CBS Sports Network will air as a full two-hour special for the second straight year.
ON THE AIR
2016 CBS Sports Network Original Broadcast Schedule (subject to change, check local listings)
SCORE San Felipe 250 (first telecast-Sunday, April 17, 9 p.m. ET)
SCORE Baja 500 (first telecast-Sunday, July 24, 9 p.m. ET)
Rosarito Beach SCORE Desert Challenge (first telecast-Sunday, Nov. 13, 9 p.m. ET)
SCORE Baja 1000 Qualifying @SEMA SCORE Baja 1000 Experience (first telecast-Sunday, Dec.18, 9 p.m. ET)
SCORE Baja 1000 (two-hour special) (first telecast-Sunday, December 25, 9 p.m. ET)
CBS SPORTS NETWORK
CBS Sports Network is available across the country through local cable, video and telco providers and via satellite on DirecTV Channel 221 and Dish Network Channel 158. For more information, including a full programming schedule and how to get CBS Sports Network, go to www.cbssportsnetwork.com.
SCOREscope
The four-race 2016 SCORE World Desert Championship includes four special events and for the first time all four are being held in Baja California, Mexico. Here is the complete 2016 SCORE World Desert Championship schedule:
30th SCORE San Felipe 250, Feb. 25-28, San Felipe, Mexico
48th SCORE Baja 500, June 1-5, Ensenada Mexico
Rosarito Beach 20th SCORE Desert Challenge, Sept. 14-18, Rosarito, Mexico
49th SCORE Baja 1000, Nov.16-20, Ensenada, Mexico
SCORE SPONSORS…
Official SCORE Sponsors: Bud Light-Official Beer, Monster Energy-Official Energy Drink, BFGoodrich Tires-Official Tire, King Shocks-Official Shock Absorber, Vision Wheel – Official Wheel, Axial R/C-Official R/C Vehicle, Muck Daddy-Official Hand Cleaner, CBS Sports Network-Official Television Partner, Wide Open Excursions- Official Arrive and Drive Company, Crystal Bay Casino-Official Casino.
Official SCORE Partners: 4 Wheel Parts, Coca Cola, The Satellite Phone Store, PCI Race Radios.
Additional SCORE Partners: Proturismo Ensenada, Visit Baja California Sur, Baja California Secretary of Tourism, Mexicali Ayuntamineto, COTUCO Mexicali/San Felipe, Cruz Roja Mexicana, Corporate Helicopters, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance, McKenzie’s Performance Products, Advanced Color Graphics.
Rosarito Beach SCORE Desert Challenge Special Partners: Vi Ayuntamiento de Playas de Rosarito, Cotuco de Playas de Rosarito, Comite de Mercadatecnia Playas de Rosarito, Baja California Secretary of Tourism.
For more information regarding SCORE, visit the official website of the SCORE World Desert Championship atwww.SCORE-International.com.