Rising Southern Nevada desert racing star Bryce Menzies along with Dan Martin, Shane Esposito and Roberto Ruiz all drew pole positions in their respective divisions during Saturday’s computerized drawing for starting positions in the upcoming 43rd Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 500 desert race. The draw was held at the SCORE headquarters in Los Angeles.
Round 3 of the five-race 2011 SCORE Desert Series, the World’s Foremost Desert Racing Series, will feature over 250 entries, competing in 28 Pro and 7 Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs, will be held June 2-5 2011 in Ensenada, Mexico.
This race is traditionally one of the most popular events on the SCORE schedule, and most the world’s best desert racers are expected to be in action at this year’s 43rd anniversary of the Tecate SCORE Baja 500, the original desert race produced by SCORE on July 26, 1974.
With late entries accepted up to race morning, entries are expected from 25 U.S. States, and 10 countries. The green flag will drop for the race at 6 a.m. on Saturday (June 4) for the motorcycle and ATV classes in the Tecate SCORE Baja 500, followed by the car and truck classes three hours after the last ATV at approximately 10 a.m. The elapsed-time race will start and finish in front of the Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center on Boulevard Costero in the heart of Ensenada, leaving and returning into the city through the spectator-laden Arroyo Wash.
Las Vegas Menzies, 23, winner of this year’s SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge in January, received the first starting position for 4-wheel vehicles in the No. 70 Menzies Motorsports Ford F-150. In just his fourth SCORE race, this is also the first time in his budding career that he has drawn the coveted starting position in the marquee SCORE Trophy-Truck division for high-tech, 800-horsepower unlimited production trucks.
A championship short-course stadium racer since 2007, Menzies also has one season championship in an open-wheel desert race car class in a domestic desert-racing series. Prior to this season, where he stands third in points, his only other SCORE start was last year’s Tecate SCORE Baja 500 where he finished seventh in SCORE Trophy-Truck in his SCORE debut.
“I guess it would be an understatement to say how fortunate I’ve been in my racing career so far and drawing the first start in the SCORE Baja 500 is something some drivers what years to get and I got it in just my fourth SCORE race,” commented Menzies, who finished sixth in the MasterCraft Safety Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 in March. “My dad makes Menzies Motorsports happen and without his unbelievable support and the great crew he has put together I wouldn’t even be close to developing as much as I have as a young racer.”
In Saturday’s drawing there were a SCORE 31 SCORE Trophy-Trucks had officially entered.
Martin, Monrovia, Calif., will start first in the unlimited Class 1 in the COPS Racing Chevy-powered Penhall open-wheel desert race car.
Esposito, Lake Elsinore, Calif. will lead the motorcycles and his team into the Baja desert on a Kawasaki KX450F in Class 22 for open motorcycles.
Ruiz, El Centro, Calif., is leading a multi-rider Class 25 ATV team on a Honda TRX450R.
While late entries will be accepted up to race morning, as of the Start draw, the Pro 4-Wheel vehicles classes with the most entries are: SCORE Trophy-Truck (31), Class 1 (20) and Class 1-2/1600 (10).
Leading the Motorcycle classes in entries so far are Class 22 (7).
Class 24 leads the ATV classes with six entries to date.
Among the Sportsman classes, SPT Motorcycles 450cc and over has 15 entries.
Last year’s overall race champions are also among the early entries in this year’s race. The overall 4-wheel winner in 2010 was the son/father team of Andy and Scott McMillin, National City, Calif., who drive the No. 31 Ford F-150 SCORE Trophy-Truck. Recording the fastest overall time while leading all motorcycles in last year’s race was the JCR Honda Racing Team riders Kendall Norman, Santa Barbara, Calif./Quinn Cody, Buellton, Calif., on a Honda CRF450X while the fastest ATV was the Honda TRX700X riding by Wayne Matlock/Josh Caster, El Cajon, Calif./Wes Miller, Fallbrook, Calif.
The McMillins will start second behind Menzies in SCORE Trophy-Truck while Norman/Cody will be the second motorcycle off the line in Class 22 and Matlock and his team will be the third ATV to start, racing in Class 25.
Competition in the SCORE Desert Series has never been closer as veteran SCORE Trophy-Truck driver Jesse Jones and young gun unlimited Class 1 racer Justin Davis lead their respective classes and are tied at the top of SCORE point leader board following the recent 25th MasterCraft Safety Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250.
SCORE points are based on starting, finishing, placement and number of official starters within each class. Jones, 45, of Litchfield Park, Ariz., and Davis, 17 of Chino Hills, Calif., not only lead their respective classes following Round 2 of the five-race 2011 SCORE Desert Series, they are tied for the SCORE Overall point lead with 139 point each.
Jones, the reigning SCORE Trophy-Truck and SCORE Overall point champion, has finished a very close second in both of the first two races of the season in the No. 1 Jones Motorsports Ford F-250 SCORE Trophy-Truck, while Davis, last year’s SCORE Lite point champion, has won Class 1 in both races in the Green Army Motorsports Chevy-powered ESM open-wheel desert race car.
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 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 26th consecutive year, a total of 38 drivers remain eligible after Round 2 of the 2011 SCORE Desert 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.
Current SCORE official annual sponsors are: BFGoodrich Tires-official tire, Volkswagen of America-official vehicle, Sunoco Race Fuels -official fuel supplier, Bilstein-official shock, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance-official Mexican auto insurance and Slime-official tire sealant. Associate sponsors are: Tecate Beer, Coca-Cola of Mexico, Las Vegas Events, Blue C Advertising, SignPros, P.C.I. Race Radios, McKenzie’s Performance Products and Advanced Color Graphics.
While Tecate is title sponsor of the 43rd Tecate SCORE Baja 500, additional race sponsors are the Office of the Secretary of Tourism of Baja California and ProTurismo de Ensenada.
For more information, contact SCORE at its Los Angeles headquarters 818.225.8402 or visit the official website of the 2011 SCORE Desert Series at www.score-international.com.
43rd Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 500
June 2-5, 2011—Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
Total Entries: 148 (as of 4/24/11)
(from 21 States, Canada, France, Germany, Guatemala, Japan, Mexico and U.S. territory-Guam)
Pro Cars & Trucks
SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK (31)
70 Bryce Menzies
31 Andy McMillin
19 Tim Herbst
84 Nick Vanderwey
27 Dave Crinklaw
24 Adam Householder
54 Jesse James
98 Gary Weyhrich
23 Mark McMillin
20 Rob MacCachren
16 Cameron Steele
1 Jesse Jones
30 Robbie Pierce
7 Scott Steinberger
39 Ron Whitton
78 Jesse Ashcraft
10 Ken Losch
8 Roger Norman
18 Clyde Stacy
71 Rick D. Johnson
28 Alan Pflueger
49 Troy Herbst
47 James Bult
60 Mike Voudouris
51 Kory Scheeler
2 Pete Sohren
77 Robby Gordon
45 Gary Magness
97 B.J. Baldwin
35 Jason Voss
21 Gus Vildosola Jr.
CLASS 1 (20)
101 Dan Martin
102 Randy Wilson
103 David Greenhill
104 Justin Davis
105 Ronny Wilson
106 Josh Rigsby
107 Steve Appleton
108 Brian Parkhouse
109 Daniel McMillin
110 Damen Jefferies
111 Armin Schwarz
112 Richard Boyle
113 Mike Childress
114 Chris Kemp
115 Dan Myers
116 Harley Letner
117 Jon Walker
118 Garrick Freitas
119 Ryan Sharman
120 Dale Lenk
CLASS 1-2/1600 (10)
1601Eliseo Garcia
1602 J.J. Schnarr
1603 Brad Wilson
1604 Wes McKenzie
1605 Arturo Velazco
1600 Luke McMillin
1607 Cody Robinson
1608 Brian Wilson
1648 Daniel Lopez
1649 Arnoldo Ramirez
CLASS 3 (2)
300 Donald Moss
349 Billy Bunch
CLASS 5 (3)
501 Cody Kellogg
500 Kevin Carr
503 Ronald Cook
CLASS 5/1600 (1)
551 Cameron Thieriot
CLASS 6 (6)
601 Marc Burnett
602 Jeff Holmes
618 Heidi Steele
600 David Caspino
CLASS 8 (2)
801 Noah Ostanik
802 Justin Matney
CLASS 10 (3)
1000 Sergio Salgado
1001 Matt Cullen
1002 John Langley
SCORE LITE (9)
1201 Steve Eugenio
1202 Brent Parkhouse
1203 Jeff Sanca
1204 Perry McNeil
1205 Dave Callaway
1206 Steven Lisa
1207 Zak Langley
1208 Sammy Ehrenberg
1209 Rafael Navarro IV
CLASS 11 (1)
1101 Justin Matney
STOCK FULL (1)
861 John Matney
PROTRUCK (2)
1340 Chelsea Magness
1331 Jessica McMillin
CLASS 7-2 (2)
721 Bruce Finchum
720 Reid Rutherford
CLASS 4 (2)
401 Brian Hewitt
402 Clyde Stacy
CLASS 2 (1)
201 Rob Rill
PRO MOTORCYCLES
CLASS 22 (7)
1x Kendall Norman
2x Shane Esposito
3x Colton Udall
4x A.J. Stewart
5x Francisco Arredondo
6x Tim Burr II
7x Doug Swerbus
CLASS 21 (4)
101x Adam Neuwirth
102x David Gonzalez Jr.
103x Brody Kunz
104x Trevor Insley
105x David Kleiman
CLASS 30 (3)
301x Kelly Oldroy
302x Tim Abshire
300x Francisco Septien
CLASS 40 (3)
401x Oscar Fazz
400x Jeff Kaplan
403x Mike Prunty
CLASS 50 (2)
501x Gregg Haggart
502x Glen McGuire
CLASS 60 (1)
600x Donald Lewis
PRO ATVs
CLASS 25 (5)
2a Roberto Ruiz
3a Travis Dillon
1a Wayne Matlock
5a Paul Velasquez
6a Craig Christy
CLASS 24 (6)
101a Jamie Kirkpatrick
100a Brandon Brown
103a Juan Sanchez
104a Heriberto Marquez
105a Marco Marrujo
106a Jorge Brambila
CLASS 26 (1)
201a Carl Vella
SPORTSMAN
SPT CAR (1)
1401 Viry Felix
SPT UTV (1)
1800 Thomas Graves
SPT M/C< (1) 201x Richard Heinauer SPT M/C> (15)
251x Mark Adams
252x Mark Winkelman
253x Daniel O’Leary
254x Steve Malley
255x Matthew Banuelos
256x Akihiri Saito
257x Eric Saltzer
258x Carlos Valdez
259x Tomohiro Murakami
260x Mike Mensinger
261x Thierry Mas
262x Jay Pierce
263x Darren Lowrey
298x Stuart Gilred
299x Louie Montano
SPT ATV (4)
51a Paul Engen
52a Rusty Batza
53a Moises Saiza
54a Jesus Sanchez
