Sohren Draws First SCORE Trophy Truck Start, Ridgway In M/C For November’s 45th Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 Desert Race

Simon | October 8, 2012

logoSCORE-500x500 LOS ANGELES—Veteran Arizona desert racer Pete Sohren has received the first starting position during Saturday’s live drawing at the Off-Road Expo for November’s 45th running of the legendary Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 desert race. While Sohren, who lives in Glendale, Ariz., will pilot his No. 2 Ford F-150 SCORE Trophy Truck, starting first among the motorcycle and ATV classes will be Chris Ridgway on a Honda CRF450X.

This year’s granddaddy of all desert races, the drawing for the mammoth finale of the five-race 2012 SCORE Desert Series was held in the unique SCOREville exhibit at this weekend’s Off-Road Expo at the Fairplex in Pomona, Calif.

The SCOREville exhibit in Building 6 at the Off-Road Expo is a salute to SCORE Baja Legends and the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame concludes from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

A solid total of 210 vehicles officially entered in time for Saturday’s drawing for the legendary motorsports adventure down Mexico’s majestic Baja California, with race week festivities scheduled for Nov. 14-17. This year’s historic 45th anniversary race will run down the length of Mexico’s majestic Baja California peninsula. It will start in Ensenada, Baja California and finish in La Paz, Baja California Sur.

In addition to static displays of vintage and current desert racing vehicles along with autograph sessions with many of the stars of the sport, both past and present, this was the third time in race history and first since 2007 that the drawing was held at the popular Off-Road Expo

SCORE’s Sal Fish, CEO and president since soon after SCORE started in 1973, unveiled the official course map for the 1,121.55-mile race Saturday just prior to the start of the drawing.

With late entries accepted up until race morning, nearly 300 entries, from nearly 20 countries and 40 U.S. States, competing in 35 Pro and six Sportsman classes for cars, truck, motorcycles and ATVs are expected to compete in this year’s international adventure.

In addition to the 31 States represented on the entry list to date, racers have officially entered from 16 countries. In addition to the USA, entries so far have come from Austria, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Guatemala, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway and the US Territory of Guam.

It’s the oldest and most well known of all desert races, and it remains as the single most appealing accomplishment to a racer. Since 1967, the race has been run over the mysterious Baja California peninsula every year except 1974 when the international fuel crisis forced a cancellation.

This year’s race will start for the 38th time in Ensenada and finish in La Paz for the 19th time. Completing its 39th year as the world’s foremost desert racing sanctioning body, the event is the finale of the five-race 2012 SCORE Desert Series. The race will start on Boulevard Costero adjacent to the picturesque Bahia de Todos Santos in front of the iconic Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center in the heart of Ensenada and finish on the outskirts of La Paz on Highway 1.

The motorcycle and ATV classes will start their journey at 6:30 a.m. (Thursday, Nov. 15) with the car and truck classes starting at approximately 11:30 a.m., or four hours after the last ATV leaves the line in the elapsed-time race.

The post-race awards celebration will be held on the malecon in La Paz on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 5 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.

The featured SCORE Trophy Truck division for high-tech, 850-horsepower unlimited production trucks had 39 vehicles entered in time for Saturday’s start draw.

For the first time in race history, a female driver of record-Monica Greenhill of Crowley, Texas, will start first in the unlimited Class 1 for open-wheel desert race cars. There were 19 Class 1 vehicles in the drawing.Greenhill, who also races with her husband David Greenhill and brother-in-law Mike Greenhill, is currently tied for third in the 2012 SCORE Class 1 season point standings.

Class 10 had 11 entries and among the motorcycle and ATV classes, Class 22 for open motorcycles has the most entries so far with 11.

Leading the six Sportsman classes in the race is Sportsman Motorcycle over 250cc which had 28 entries in the drawing.

This race also features the prestigious Sal Fish SCORE IronRider awards presented to each motorcycle and ATV rider who completes the entire course within the time limit while riding solo.

SCOREville at the Off-Road Expo will also includes a major display from the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame as well as a pictorial tribute timeline to the first 44 years of the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 through the lenses of Trackside Photography. SCORE will also debut the official commemorative merchandise of the 45th annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. SCOREville also features the SCOREville theatre showing numerous SCORE Baja 1000 race videos including the iconic 2004 film “Dust to Glory”.

The 2012 Lucas Oil Off-Road Expo Powered by General Tire is the greatest collection of off-road companies, parts, equipment, gear, and experts assembled in America with over 350 exhibitors. From off-road racing to rock crawling, trail riding to sand sports, motorcycles to ATV’s and camping to adventure travel, the event provides the unique opportunity to meet and talk with the most knowledgeable people in the off-road industry.

With a full weekend of excitement, event features include the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Exhibition Course, Toyota off-road test drives, Yamaha ATV/UTV Demo Track, High-flying Freestyle Motocross action, autograph sessions with off-road celebrities, the Overland Adventure Travel Pavilion, Miss Off-Road Expo Contest and live music all weekend on the Bud Light Entertainment Stage.

The Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame, located in Reno, Nev., includes SCORE’s Sal Fish as one of its legendary inductees. Rod Hall, the chairman of the ORMHOF is the only person who has raced in all 44 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 races and he has a race-record 21 class wins in the international motorsports extravaganza.

For more information regarding SCORE International and the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, visit www.score-international.com, for information on the Off-Road Expo visit www.offroadexpo.com and for more info on the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame, please visit www.ormhof.org.

In addition to season class point championships, the racers are also competing for part of the nearly $400,000 in cash purse and contingency postings each race. Drivers in the Pro car and truck classes are also attempting to earn prestigious SCORE Toyota Milestone Awards given to all car and truck class drivers who complete every required mile of the five-race season. Being presented by Toyota Motorsports for the 27th consecutive year, a total of 24 drivers are still in the hunt for the awards for the 2012 SCORE Desert Series after four rounds in the five-race series.

Racers are also competing for the annual SCORE Off-Roadsman of the Year awards, including the MasterCraft Safety SCORE Rookie of the Year award. All categories, except Engine Builder and Original Buggy Chassis Manufacturer, will be determined by public on-line voting while Engine and Buggy awards are determined by season points.

Tecate Beer is the title sponsor of the three SCORE Baja races.
MasterCraft Safety is co-title sponsor of the MasterCraft Safety Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250.

Official Sponsors of the 45th SCORE Baja 1000 and the SCORE Desert Series are:
-Tecate Beer, Official Beer
-BFGoodrich Tires, Official Tire
-Graham Watchmakers, Official Timekeeper
-Red Bull, Official Energy Drink
-Volkswagen of America, Official Vehicle
-Sunoco Race Fuels, Official Race Fuel
-Coca-Cola, Official Soft Drink
-Slime, Official Tire Sealant
-Symons Ambulance Company, Official Ambulance
-Bullet Liner, Official Spray-On Bedliner
-Volaris Airlines, Official Airline
-Fox Car Rental, Official Rent-A-Car
-Lightforce Performance Lighting, Official Driving Light
-Maxtrax, Official Vehicle Recovery Device
-Azunia Tequila, Official Tequila
-Bilstein, Official Shock Absorber
-Instant Mexico Auto Insurance, Official Mexican Auto Insurance

Additional SCORE Sponsors are – Baja California Sur Tourism, Proturismo Ensenada, Baja California Secretary of Tourism, COTUCO Mexicali/San Felipe, Blue C Advertising, SignPros, PCI Race Radios, McKenzie’s Performance Products and Advanced Color Graphics.

45th Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000
Nov. 14-17, 2012—Final round of five-race 2012 SCORE Desert Series
Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico – 1,121.55 miles
TOTAL ENTRIES: 210 (31 States, 16 Countries) (as of 10/06/12)
PRO CARS & TRUCKS
SCORE TROPHY TRUCK (39)
2 Pete Sohren
93 Chris Kemp
20 Rob MacCachren
23 Daniel McMillin
12 Kory Scheeler
34 Ken Losch
97 B.J. Baldwin
1 Bryce Menzies
31 Andy McMillin
9 Mark Weyhrich
76 Jesse Jones
18 Juan C. Lopez
19 Tim Herbst
14 Cameron Steele
94 Steve Strobel
50 John Langley
88 Sergio Salgado
59 Craig Potts
26 Jay Reichert
73 Rob Reinertson
16 Cameron Steele
62 Billy Bunch
53 Jose Flores
84 Nick Vanderwey
13 Ed Stout
92 John Clark Gable
48 Jimmy Nuckles
21 Gus Vildosola
45 Gary Magness
10 Greg Nunley
37 Tommy Greer
49 Ryan Arciero
15 Armin Schwarz
3 Mark Post
57 Mike Palmer
77 Robby Gordon
71 Rick D. Johnson
39 Ron Whitton
60 Mike Voudouris

CLASS 1 (19)
101 Monica Greenhill
102 Ronny Wilson
103 Luke McMillin
104 Buddy Feldkamp
105 Tony Miglini
106 Clyde Stacy
107 Jon Walker
108 Brian Wyborny
109 Samuel Araiza
110 Josh Rigsby
111 Tom Koch
112 Brad Etter
113 Travis Chase
114 Erik Jacobs
115 Todd Tuls
116 Rudy Cortez
147 Patrick McCarthy
148 Cody Parkhouse
149 Cory Kruseman

CLASS 1/2-1600 (7)
1601 George Peters
1602 Brad Maurer
1603 Rob Archibald
1604 Arturo Velazco
1605 Hiram Duran
1606 Jesus Velez
1649 Eliseo Garcia

CLASS 3 (2)
300 Donald Moss
349 David Moore

CLASS 5 (5)
501 Sandy Hall
502 Drew Belk
503 Cody Kellogg
500 Kevin Carr
519 Vince Wavra

CLASS 5-1600 (3)
551 Erich Reisen
578 Trevor Anderson
579 Clyde Stacy

CLASS 6 (3)
617 Gavin Skilton
600 Heidi Steele
619 Eduardo Laguna

CLASS 7 (1)
700 Dan Chamlee

CLASS 7SX (2)
740 Elias Hanna
759 Justin Fisher

CLASS 8 (3)
801 Francisco Monroy
802 Alfredo Carballlo
839 Rodolfo Iribe

CLASS 10 (11)
1001 Cam Thieriot
1002 Mike Lawrence
1003 Chip Prescott
1004 Dean Grizzle
1005 John Martensen
1006 Ross Savage
1007 Peter Hajas
1008 Mark Lawrence
1009 Matt Cullen
1048 Lee Banning
1049 Rick Boyer

SCORE LITES (6)
1204 Brent Parkhouse
1202 Matt Drever
1201 Pedro Velasquez
1203 Juan Guillen
1248 Otoniel Huerta
1249 Moises Torres

CLASS 11 (3)
1101 Alfonso Lacarra
1102 Eric Solorzano
1149 Mark Murrell

STOCK MINI (2)
761 Andy Bell
762 Rod Hall

PROTRUCK (1)
1350 Chelsea Magness

CLASS 4 (3)
401 Mike Shaffer
402 Jim Kirby
439 Derek Fletcher

CLASS 7-2 (3)
721 Dave Sykes
720 Reid Rutherford
723 Riggs Lennon

CLASS 2 (1)
219 Clyde Stacy

BAJA CHALLENGE (2)
BC1 Steve Hilbert
BC2 Bud Brutsman

SCORE SUPER 8 TRUCK (1)
851 Bob Dixon

PRO MOTORCYCLES
CLASS 22 (11)
2x Chris Ridgway
3x Mark Samuels
4x Radek Burkat-S
5x Kurt Caselli
6x Warren Strange
8x Robby Bell
9x A.J. Stewart
7x Arik Swan
10x Jason Miller-S
1x Colton Udall
12x C.R. Gittere III-S

CLASS 20 (1)
179x Gabriel Williams-S

CLASS 21 (7)
101x Ulises Fierro
102x Megumi Shiono
103x Francisco Septien
104x Jim O’Neal
105x Yoshiaki Hoda
106x Aaron Lindsey-S
107x Brandon Prieto

CLASS 30 (4)
301x Francisco Arredondo
300x Mike Johnson
303x Ryan Gutile-S
349x Chris Parr-S

CLASS 40 (9)
400x Jeff Kaplan
401x Chuck Shortt
402x Larry Brown
403x Robert Creemers
404x Lloyd Andrew-S
405x Mike Prunty
406x Paul Thomas
407x Feisal Somji
408x Oscar Fazz

CLASS 50 (5)
501x Marc Prince
502x Dirk McFarlane
503x Robert Smith
548xMark Winkleman
549x Mark Jerman

CLASS 60 (1)
601x Al Perrett

PRO ATVS
CLASS 25 (4)
2a Brandon Brown
1a Wayne Matlock
4a Craig Christy
5a Charles Laviolette

CLASS 24 (2)
101a Nick Nelson
102a Shawn Robins

CLASS 26 (1)
219a Joe Rice

SPORTSMAN
SPT BUGGY (4)
1401 Todd Welling
1402 Robert Becker
1403 George Jackson
1449 Jim Bunn

SPT UTV (5)
1801 Douglas McCrady
1802 Chris Koch
1803 Thomas Graves
1804 Greg Row
1805 Dave Broome

SPT M/C 250< (6)
201x Brett Robinson
202x Darren Elia
203x Gregory Gilbert
204x Patrick Christensen
205x Philip Kegel-S
249x Mark Winkelman

SPT M/C 250> (28)
251x Yukio Higuchi-S
252x Tomoki Hayashi
253x Tetsuya Naito-S
254x Adrian Ruiz
255x Akiro Saito-S
256x Bill Baker
257x Matt DeVall-S
258x Christopher Amos
259x Robert Gumser
260x Carlos Sanchez
261x Hideki Sugiyama
262x Hideyuki Sumiyoshi
263x Kris Meeke-S
264x Tetsuya Hirasawa
265x Sebastien Bouchard-S
266x Olaf Satre
267x Kevin Murphy-S
268x Yuji Kikuchi
269x Gary Walker
270x Brady Sharp-S
271x David Haller-S
272x Naoki Kusano
273x Tibi Imbuzan-S
274x Ron Weinmeister
275x Yusuke Hino
276x Thierry Mas-S
277x Risto Niemi
278x Jeff Kawell-S