Stacy in SCORE Trophy Truck and Gust in Open Motorcycles
draw first start spots for 29th Bud Light SCORE San Felipe 250
Anderson receives first Class 1 start for Saturday’s race in Baja California, Mexico
Entries from 18 states, six countries for 257.2-mile course as SCORE celebrates
42nd anniversary season with five-race SCORE World Desert Championship
RENO, Nev.—With Saturday’s live drawing for starting positions SCORE International desert racing has officially launched its 42nd anniversary season as RPM Racing’s Clyde Stacy and California rookie Nick Gust received the pole positions for four-wheel and two-wheel vehicles during the live webcast for this week’s 29th Annual Bud Light SCORE San Felipe 250 desert race.
Stacy, from Bristol, Va., races in the featured SCORE Trophy Truck Division while Gust, Pescadero, Calif., will compete in Open Motorcycle class.
The season opener of the five-race 2015 SCORE World Desert Championship will be held this week in Mexico’s picturesque fishing village of San Felipe, located 125 miles south of the U.S. border on the East side of the Baja California peninsula along the azure waters of the tranquil Sea of Cortez.
The race starts another new chapter in SCORE history and it will be televised as a one-hour special on the CBS Sports Network, in the most expansive television package in SCORE history.
With entries accepted up to 5 p.m. the evening before the race, over 150 entries from over 20 US States and 10 countries expected to enter the race that will feature competition in 25 Pro and 5 Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads.
Drawing the first starting slot for the unlimited Class 1 open-wheel desert race cars was Jim Anderson, Reno, Nev. Riding the first ATV off the line will be team led by Oscar Ruiz, El Centro, Calif..
With 24 entries so far in the marquee SCORE racing division for high-tech, 850 horsepower, unlimited production trucks, Stacy, who splits driving time with teammate Carlos Lopez, Tecate, Mexico, drives the No. 5 RPM Racing Chevy Rally Truck in SCORE Trophy Truck. Stacy finished second in the 2014 season point standings.
The live drawing for starting positions was held at the SCORE-International Baja Burgers restaurant in Chula Vista, Calif. The drawing was streamed live on the internet at www.score-international.com. The festivities are open to the public will include a special Baja Pits Taco-fest with food proceeds going to Cruz Roja-Mexico.
THE COURSE
Pre-running will be allowed on the actual race course through Friday (Jan. 23). The race course is a single loop, run counter-clockwise of 257.2 miles. The official course map, GPS files and course notes are available on the SCORE website. This year’s race course will have four physical check points, 57 virtual checkpoints and includes part of the infamous Laguna Salada dry lake bed the Diablo Dry Lake bed and three of the notorious Baja California washes—Huatamote, Chanate and Amarillas.
PRE-RACE SKED…
The pre-race Manufacturer’s Midway, contingency and tech inspection of the vehicles in the race will be held on Friday. Contingency will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and tech from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the picturesque Malecon, flanked by the Sea of Cortez on one side and the popular restaurants and night clubs of San Felipe on the other. Racer registration will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday at the San Felipe Marina Resort, a few miles south of downtown San Felipe. The Monster Energy SCORE Kick-off Party will be held adjacent to the start/finish line area at the landmark San Felipe Arches just outside of town on Thursday from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
GRAND MARSHAL:
SCORE is honored to have the legendary inventor and designer Lynn Chenowth, known throughout the off-road world for his Chenowth open-wheel desert race cars serve as Grand Marshal for this race. Chenowth, Lakeside, Calif., developed several top racing vehicles at Chenowth Racing Products with long-time partner Mike Thomas including the Chenowth Magnum and the Chenowth Mini Mag.
Chenowth products became a staple of off-road recreation, with noted drivers such as Robby Gordon, Ivan Stewart, Rick and Roger Mears along with Corky, Mark and Scott McMillin racing his vehicles.
Chenowth also designed race cars for Nissan Motors, Yamaha and the U.S. Military (including Fast Attack Vehicles that were the first into Kuwait during the Gulf War)
CBS SPORTS NETWORK COVERAGE
All races in the 2015 SCORE World Desert Championship series, along with the special SEMA SCORE Baja 1000 Experience and qualifying for the Bud Light SCORE Baja 1000 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway, will once again be aired in the USA and Canada on the CBS Sports Network. New for 2015, in addition to SCORE Trophy Truck coverage, the shows will also feature top action and highlights from many other classes of trucks, buggies, motorcycles, quads and UTVs – making sure that the most exciting footage and most compelling stories are now part of each race event broadcast.
Capping off the 2015 broadcast season, the Bud Light SCORE Baja 1000 broadcast on CBS Sports Network will be expanded to a full two-hour program – providing the most expansive television coverage of the “Main Event†of all desert races ever, allowing all the major class action to be showcased around the globe to the SCORE International fan base.
2015 CBSN Original Broadcast Schedule (subject to change, check local listings)
Bud Light SCORE San Felipe 250 (first telecast-Sunday, March 15, 9 p.m. ET)
Bud Light SCORE Baja Sur 500 (first telecast-Sunday, May 31, 9 p.m. ET)
Bud Light SCORE Baja 500 (first telecast-Sunday, July 26, 9 p.m. ET)
SCORE Imperial Valley 250 (first telecast-Sunday, November 15, 9 p.m. ET)
Bud Light SCORE Baja 1000 Qualifying @SEMA SCORE Baja 1000 Experience (first telecast-Sunday, January10, 9 p.m. ET)
Bud Light SCORE Baja 1000 (first telecast-Sunday, January 17, 9 p.m. ET)
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.
HISTORYonics…
The season-opener of the 2015 SCORE World Desert Championship series, the 29th Bud Light SCORE San Felipe 250 annually provides a greater economic impact to San Felipe than the popular six-week-long ‘Spring Break’.
The race began in 1982 and was not held between 1985 and 1989, the first five years of the seven-year combined High Desert Racing Association-HDRA/SCORE Desert Series of U.S. and Baja races. It has been held consecutively each year since 1990.
In its first 28 years, the race has been held in San Felipe all but 2007 when political issues forced a last minute move by SCORE, starting the race in Ensenada and finishing it in Santo Tomas. Ironically, 2007 saw a race-record 394 starters and a race-record 288 finishers even though the race was moved and the course changed just 10 days before the event. The records when the race actually started and finished in San Felipe are 341 for starters in 2006 and 220 for finishers, also in 2006.
SCOREscope
In its 42nd year as the world's foremost desert racing organization in 2015, the five-race 2015 SCORE World Desert Championship series will include four special events in Baja California, Mexico, and one in the United States. Here is the 2015 SCORE World Desert Championship schedule:
· 29th Bud Light SCORE San Felipe 250, Jan. 22-25, San Felipe, Mexico
· Inaugural Bud Light SCORE Baja Sur 500, April 16-19, Cabo San Lucas to Loreto, Mexico
· 47th Bud Light SCORE Baja 500, June 4-7, Ensenada Mexico
· 3rd SCORE Imperial Valley 250, Sept. 24-27, Coyne Powersports Motorplex-Plaster City, Calif.
· 48th Bud Light SCORE Baja 1000, Nov.18-21, Ensenada, Mexico
SCORE SPONSORS…
Official Sponsors: Bud Light-Official Beer/Official Race Sponsor, Monster Energy-Official Energy Drink, BFGoodrich Tires-Official Tire, Rigid Industries LED Lighting-Official Lights, King Shocks-Official Shock Absorber, Polaris-Official UTV, Vision Wheel – Official Wheel, Axial Racing-Official RC Vehicle, CBS Sports Network-Official Television Partner, Coca-Cola-Official Soft Drink, Wide Open Excursions- Official Arrive and Drive Company, Crystal Bay Casino-Official Casino.
Associate Sponsors: All Road Satellite, Symons Ambulance Company, Volaris Airlines, Coyne Powersports, Aero Calafia, Tessco.
Additional SCORE Partners: Proturismo Ensenada, Visit Baja California Sur, Baja California Secretary of Tourism, Baja California Sur State Government, Mexicali Ayuntamineto, COTUCO Mexicali/San Felipe, Cruz Roja Mexicana, Corporate Helicopters, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance, GoPro, PCI Race Radios, McKenzie’s Performance Products, Advanced Color Graphics.
For more information, visit the official website of the SCORE World Desert Championship at www.score-international.com.
Total Entries: 131 (as of 1/17/15)
(from 18 U.S. States and Austria, Finland, Germany, Mexico)
(By starting order within class)
Pro Cars & Trucks
SCORE TROPHY TRUCK (24)
5 Clyde Stacy
11 Rob MacCachren
16 Cameron Steele
1 Steven Eugenio
50 Zak Langley
45 Gary Magness
38 Eric Hustead
48 Jimmy Nuckles
47 James Bult
10 Taylor Mills
72 Robert Acer
52 Gonzalo Pirron
59 Craig Potts
44 Kyle Jergensen
21 Gus Vildosola Jr
17 Eduardo Laguna
97 B.J. Baldwin
40 Chris Miller
36 Glen Greer
84 Nick Vanderwey
88 Sergio Salgado
?? Jason McNeil
85 Justin Davis-2nd RS
25 Brian Ostrom-1st RS
CLASS 1 (11)
180 Jim Anderson
199 Mike Thurlow
131 George Peters
159 Dennis Boyle
109 Tony Murray
172 Jonathan Brenthel
104 Rob Archibald
155 Mike Boone
142 Steven Sells
168 Shelby Reid
160 Victor Barreda-1st RS
CLASS 1/2-1600 (9)
1661 Mike Lichtenfeld
1644 Cesar Fiscal
1636 Aaron Ampudia
1606 Ruben Sanudo
1605 Raul Rodrizuez
1625 Eric Sheetz
1697 Jorge Sampietro
1691 David Jones-2nd RS
1609 J. David Ruvalcaba-1st RS
CLASS 3 (2)
366 Don Hatch
300 Donald Moss
CLASS 5 (3)
501 Kevin Carr
528 Victor Cesena
CLASS 5-1600 (4)
552 Carlos Rivera
557 Martin Rangel
553 Armando Garcia
597 Enrique Zazueta Jr-1st RS
CLASS 7 (5)
717 Pat Sims
701 Brandon Walsh
700 Dan Chamlee
721 Jon Anderson-2nd RS
726 Greydon Fauvre-1st RS
CLASS 7SX (1)
7?? Ismael Reyes
CLASS 8 (1)
818 Brent Downing
CLASS 10 (12)
1000 Cody Reid
1061 Todd Winslow
1002 Mark Lawrence
1006 Mike Lawrence
1089 Arnoldo Gutierrez Jr
1009 Rafael Navarro IV
1011 Morgan Langley
1016 Cody Robinson
1033 Miguel Tornel Sr
1058 Clay Lawrence
1050 John Langley
1075 Eliseo Garcia-1st RS
SCORE LITES (2)
1209 Rafael Navarro III
1207 Michael Crichton-1st RS
STOCK FULL (1)
8125 John Gonzales
CLASS 3000 (3)
3048 Dewey Clark
3030 Chad Broghton
3050 Bill Young
TROPHY TRUCK SPEC (4)
846 Jose Gomez
852 Russell Buehler
871 Larry Connor
872 Jordan Brenthel
CLASS 19 (11)
1915 Thomas Graves
1921 Johnny Angal
1900 Marc Burnett
1942 Scott McFarland
1917 Derek Murray
1904 Cory Sappington
1949 Alonso Lopez
1930 Sean Cook
19?? Raul Gonzalez
1932 Matt Parks
1903 Jaime Romero-1st RS
Pro Motorcycles
OPEN M/C (7)
35x Nicholas Gust
14x Raul Hernandez
9x Arnulfo Verdugo
26x Nick Owens
5x Colton Udall
3x Mark Samuels
1x Ricky Brabec
LIMITED M/C (1)
122x Ruben Alamo
CLASS 30 (1)
300x Mark Winkelman
CLASS 40 (7)
444x Kyle Abney
403x Oscar Fazz
404x Jano Montoya
424x Jeff Powell
408x Dave Callagy
411x Collie Potter
400x Paul Thomas
CLASS 50 (1)
501x Marc Prince
SCORE IRONMAN (6)
700x Tony Gera
706x Kevin Daniels
799x Jason Miller
703x Donald Lewis-3rd RS
7??x Juan Rodriguez-2nd RS
741x Jason Babcock-1st RS
Pro Quads
Pro Quad (3)
12a Oscar Ruiz
7a Francisco Vera
49a Gustavo Ameca-1st RS
SPT BUGGY (2)
1515 Derek Fletcher-1st RS
1588 Jeff Cepielik-2nd RS
SPT UNLIMITED TRUCK (2)
1494 Vincent Munoz
1424 William Wolfard-1st RS
SPT M/C (6)
230x Eric Saltzer
272x William Johnson
202x Risto Niemi
282x Jason Lulis
222x Kenneth Skillern-2nd RS
218x Gabe Willitts-1st RS
SPT QUAD (2)
107a Jesus Ramirez
109a Juan Dominguez
