COPS Racing Team enters vehicles in SCORE Trophy Truck, Class 1, Trophy Truck Spec for 32nd SCORE San Felipe 250

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

March 8, 2018

Race Dates April 4-8

COPS Racing Team enters vehicles in SCORE Trophy Truck,

Class 1, Trophy Truck Spec for 32nd SCORE San Felipe 250

 

Pre-running opens March 17; start/finish line on Malecon in San Felipe;

To be televised internationally; Start Draw to be held on Tues., March 27

    ENSENADA, Baja California, Mexico – As if award-winning Hollywood executive John Langley wasn’t busy enough creating and producing over 1000 episodes over the last 30 years of the acclaimed COPS reality TV show, he is also celebrating the 10th year of his colorful COPS Racing Team by entering three vehicles among the early entries in next month’s 32nd annual SCORE San Felipe 250 in Baja California, Mexico.

     The race will feature classes for cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads. With many of the sport’s top stars among the first 83 official entries as of today from 19 U.S. States along with the additional countries of Austria, Canada, Germany, Italy and host Mexico, Langley and his son’s Morgan and Zak are the drivers of record in three separate classes.

     Featuring a rugged Baja race-record route of 315.2 miles, the race will start and finish for the second straight year on the Malecon beach walk along the water’s edge in the heart of town, the event will be held April 4-8 in San Felipe, the peaceful fishing village on the Sea of Cortez, 125 miles south of the U.S. Border at Calexico, Calif.

FAB FIFTY

     All four 2018 races will be held on Mexico’s magnificent Baja California peninsula for the third consecutive year.
The year of 2018 also marks the 50th anniversary celebration of the legendary BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 500 to be held the end of May and beginning of June. The SCORE Baja 500 is one of the top 10 motorsports events held annually in the world.

GODFATHER OF ‘REALITY TV’

     The creator and executive producer of the COPS show that debuted in 1989, John Langley is considered the ‘godfather’ of reality TV by his peers and in 2011 was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the television industry.

     In 2008 Langley and his sons Morgan and Zak launched the COPS Racing Team which has successfully competed for the last 10 years in the SCORE World Desert Championship.

     While the affable and philanthropic John Langley might end up with the COPS logo on other vehicles, the official COPS Racing Team entries for this year’s SCORE San Felipe 250 from their race shop in Carson, Calif., will be in SCORE Trophy Truck, the unlimited Class 1 and in the Trophy Truck Spec divisions. Two of the race vehicles were built by ES Motorsports and the third by Mason Motorsports.

     Zak Langley, 43, will race the No. 50 ESM-built Ford F-150 in the featured SCORE Trophy Truck division for high-tech, 900 horsepower unlimited production trucks, Morgan Langley, 44, will be the driver of record in the No. 150 ESM-Chevy powered open-wheel desert race car in the unlimited Class 1 and family patriarch John Langley, 74, will be ‘dor’ in the No. 250 Mason-Chevy truck built by Mason Motorsports.

     All three plan on having a second driver in San Felipe. Second generation desert racer Luke Johnson, Trabuco Canyon, Calif. will drive part of the race in Zak Langley’s No. 50 SCORE Trophy Truck while Paul Keller, La Jolla, Calif. will be the other driver for Morgan Langley’s No. 150 Class 1 car.

     John Langley’s second driver in the No. 250 Trophy Truck Spec will be veteran desert racing champion Steve Hengeveld, Flagstaff, Ariz. Hengeveld has four overall motorcycle wins in the SCORE San Felipe 250 (2001 through 2004) and along with Kash Vessels, Bonsall, Calif., helped John Langley defeat 26 starters in Trophy Truck Spec to win their class in last November’s epic 50th BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 1000.

SCORE RULE BOOK UPDATE NOW ONLINE

     Under the supervision and direction of SCORE CEO/President Roger Norman, SCORE Race Director Jose A. Grijalva and SCORE Tech Director Dan Cornwell with editing and updating by SCORE Ops personnel Lawton Shank and Christine Wait, the 2018 SCORE Rule Book has been updated along with the 2018 Rule Book Addendum and is now online.

     All relevant items are available on the SCORE website under the race info page and the Addendum summarizes the additions and changes to the SCORE rule book starting with the 2018 SCORE World Desert Championship.

THREE DECADES-PLUS

     Celebrating the 32nd 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 entries for cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads.

SAN FELIPE SKED

     Pre-race festivities will be held in San Felipe on April 4, 5 and 6 with race days on Saturday, April 7-8 concluding with the post-race awards fiesta at 10 a.m. PDT on Sunday, April 8.

     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 second straight year.

     The deadline to enter in time to be in the drawing for starting positions within each class is 8 p.m. PT on Tuesday, March 27.

     Motorcycles and quads will leave the start line first in the elapsed-time race, starting at 6:20 a.m. PDT on Saturday. The car, truck and UTV classes will begin their journey at approximately 9:30 a.m. PDT with a minimum two and one-half hour gap between the last SPT quad and first SCORE Trophy Truck.

     While the fastest vehicles are expected to complete the course in just over five hours, all vehicles will have 16 hours from the time each starts to become an official finisher.

FAB FIVE

    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 five overall and SCORE Trophy Truck wins this year.

     MacCachren, who won the overall in San Felipe last year to give him nine 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 last year driving solo again in his No. 11 MacCachren Motorsports Rockstar Ford F-150.

MORE SCORE TROPHY TRUCKS & SCORE TT LEGENDS

     SCORE Trophy Truck, the marquee SCORE racing division, continues to lead the early entry list with 18 trucks (including four SCORE TT Legend entries) in the lineup so far. In addition to MacCachren and Zak Langley, the other early SCORE Trophy Truck entries are Apdaly Lopez, Tecate, Mexico (No. 1 Chevy Rally Truck), Justin Matney, Bristol, Tenn. (No. 4 Chevy 4WD Rally Truck, Juan C. Lopez, Tecate, Mexico (No. 18 Chevy Silverado), Andy McMillin, National City, Calif. (No. 31 Chevy Silverado), Cameron Steele, San Clemente, Calif. (No. 16 Chevy Silverado), Billy Wilson, Corpus Christi, Texas (No. 15 Chevy Silverado), Dan McMillin, San Diego (No. 23 Ford F-150), Luke McMillin, San Diego (No. 83 Ford F-150), Robbie Pierce/Mike Julson, Alpine, Calif. (No. 30 Ford Raptor), Mark Post, Las Vegas (No. 3 Ford -150), Mike Lawrence, Banning, Calif. (No. 85 Ford F-150) and Chas Dana, Mesa, Ariz. (No. 39 Ford F-150).

     The SCORE TT Legend field includes to date Clyde Stacy, Bristol, Va./Armin Schwarz, Austria (Germany) in the No. 5L Chevy Rally Truck, Gustavo Vildosola Sr, Mexicali, Mexico (No. 12L Ford Raptor), Rob Reinertson, Woodside, Calif. (No. 72L Ford F-150) and Sandy Hall, Culpeper, Va. (No. 90L Chevy Silverado).

BIG DEAL

     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.

ANOTHER GOLDEN YEAR

     Following last year’s epic celebration of the 50th BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 1000, this year’s SCORE World Desert Championship includes the special tribute to the 50th BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 500 when it is held this year in Ensenada on May 30-June 3. Like all SCORE races, there will be classes for cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads.

     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 in 1974. Sal Fish ran and later owned and produced the SCORE Baja 500 for 39 years until he sold SCORE to Roger and Elise Norman 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 that have been held to date.

     Ensenada is the heart and soul of the SCORE Baja 500 as the popular summertime race. It will start in Ensenada for the 45th time and finish in Ensenada for the 41st time.

     BFGoodrich Tires, the SCORE official tire for over 40 years, has posted a $25,000 contingency bonus for the overall winner of the golden anniversary race.

SCOREscope

     Below is the four-race 2018 SCORE World Desert Championship schedule. For the third consecutive year all four races are being held in Baja California, Mexico. Here is the complete 2018 SCORE World Desert Championship schedule:

32nd SCORE San Felipe 250, April 4-April 8, San Felipe, Mexico
50th BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 500, May 30-June 3, Ensenada Mexico
Tijuana 22nd SCORE Desert Challenge, Sept. 19-23, Tijuana, Mexico
51st SCORE Baja 1000, Nov.14-18, Ensenada, Mexico

SCORE SPONSORS…

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

     SCORE Official Partners: PCI Race Radios, 4 Wheel Parts, The Satellite Phone Store, Satellite Del Norte, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance, CETTO Vineyards.

     Additional SCORE Associate Partners: Proturismo Ensenada, Baja California Secretary of Tourism, Baja California Sur State Government, Baja California Sur Secretary of Tourism, Mexicali Ayuntamiento, COTUCO Mexicali/San Felipe, Cruz Roja Mexicana, Corporate Helicopters, McKenzie’s Performance Products, Advanced Color Graphics.

     Tijuana SCORE Desert Challenge Special Partners: XXII Ayuntamiento de Tijuana, Baja California State Secretary of Tourism, Comite de Turismo and Convenciones, Comite de Marcadotecnia Turistica, Asociacion de Hoteles del Noroeste.

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