LOS ANGELES—With entries already received from 31 US States and 13 countries, the drawing for class starting positions will be held Saturday for next month’s 44th running of the legendary Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 desert race. This year’s internationally televised granddaddy of all desert races will be a loop race starting and finishing in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, with race week festivities scheduled for Nov. 17-20. Saturday’s drawing will be held at the SCORE headquarters in Los Angeles.

With the race itself starting on Friday, Nov. 18, official entry forms are available online along with all pertinent race information and prerunning rules on the SCORE website at www.score-international.com.

With late entries accepted up until race morning, over 250 entries from over 30 US States and 15 countries are expected to take the green flag in the 692.82-mile course, competing in 35 Pro and seven Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs.

In addition to the 31 States represented on the entry list to date, racers have already officially entered from Australia, Canada, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Guatemala, Israel, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico the Netherlands 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 37th time and finish for the 21st time in Ensenada. Completing its 38th year as the world’s foremost desert racing sanctioning body, the event is the finale of the five-race 2011 SCORE Desert Series. The race will start and finish 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.

Prerunning on the 692.82-mile loop course will officially begin on Nov. 4.

A unique part of Saturday’s drawing will be the special drawing for the top 12 finishers from the nearest previous SCORE Baja race entered in the current race in both the feature SCORE Trophy Truck and the unlimited Class 1. For this race it will be the top 12 finishers in each class from this year’s Tecate SCORE Baja 500 held in early June.

The top 12 official finishers in SCORE Trophy Truck from the 2011 Tecate SCORE Baja 500 were: Bryce Menzies, Andy McMillin, Nick Vanderway, Gary Weyhrich, Tim Herbst, Rick D. Johnson, Jesse James, Jesse Ashcraft, Rob MacCachren, Robbie Pierce, Gus Vildosola Jr. and Kory Scheeler.

In the unlimited Class 1 for open-wheel desert race cars, the top 12 official finishers from the 2011 Tecate SCORE Baja 500 were:  Steven Eugenio, Justin Davis, Damen Jefferies, Brett Lenk, Mike Childress, Randy Wilson, Daniel McMillin, Dan Myers, Richard Boyle, Armin Schwarz, Garrick Freitas and Dan Martin.

The 692.82-mile race course this year is a combination of much of the 2008 and the 2009 courses.  The rugged course that travels from Ensenada east through Ojos Negros, down Laguna Salada to San Felipe, down through the three legendary Baja canyon washes of Matomi, Huatomote and Chanate, joining familiar routes to the six-mile turnoff before Mike’s Sky Rancho, heading over to the Pacific Coast crossing Highway 1 near San Vicente and to Erendira, then through Santo Tomas, Uruapan and back to Ojos Negros, covering much of the northern half of the majestic Baja California peninsula to and from Ensenada.

Winning two of the first four series races overall and in the featured SCORE Trophy Truck division, Las Vegas rookie driver Bryce Menzies continues to stand at the top of the point leader board after four of five races in the 2011 SCORE Desert Series.

Menzies, who opened the season by winning the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge in January, drove to a penalty-free victory as well in June’s 43rd Tecate SCORE Baja 500 to pull further ahead in the SCORE Overall and SCORE Trophy Truck point standings in the No. 70 Menzies Motorsports Ford F-150.  Sandwiched between his first two career SCORE race wins in the marquee racing division for high-tech, 850-horsepower, unlimited production trucks, Menzies finished sixth in SCORE Trophy Truck at the 25th MasterCraft Safety Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 in March. In September  Menzies finished third at Tecate SCORE San Felipe Challenge of Champions and now has a six-point margin over the rest of the world’s best desert racers.

SCORE points are based on starting, finishing, placement and number of official starters within each class. Menzies, 23, who had only raced the 2010 SCORE Baja 500 where he finished seventh in his first start in SCORE Trophy Truck, has 306 championship points following Round 4 of the five-race 2011 SCORE Desert Series. SCORE Trophy Truck has had the largest starting field for all four races with 32 in Laughlin, 24 in San Felipe, 28 in Ensenada and 13 in the most recent San Felipe race.

Picking up his ninth career SCORE Trophy Truck race win last month in San Felipe, Las Vegas’ Rob MacCachren, an eight-time SCORE season point champion, is second in overall and in SCORE Trophy Truck points so far in 2011 after finishing fourth in Laughlin, winning the MasterCraft Safety Tecate SCORE San Felipe race in March and ninth in Ensenada with 300 points, just six behind Menzies.

With two wins and a second and a seventh this year, third in overall points and leading the unlimited class 1 is Justin Davis, 18 of Chino Hills, Calif., 11 points behind Menzies with 295 so far. Davis, last year’s SCORE LITES point champion, won Class 1 in Laughlin and San Felipe and was a close second in Ensenada and seventh in the September San Felipe race driving the Green Army Motorsports Chevy-powered ESM open-wheel desert race car.

Following consistent seventh, fifth, fourth and second-place finishes in the season’s first four events, Gary Weyhrich, Troutdale, Ore., is fourth in overall points and third in SCORE Trophy Truck with 281 in the No. 98 TSCO Motorsports Ford F-150.

This year’s race will commemorate the achievements of legendary desert racers like Rod Hall, Ron Bishop, Johnny Johnson, and Larry Roeseler. Hall, who will turn 74 on Nov. 22, has a record 21 class wins (including one overall win in 1972), and is the only racer who has competed in all 43 SCORE Baja 1000 races. Bishop is the only motorcycle racer who competed in the first 40 SCORE Baja 1000 races.

Hall will be racing this year for the second time in the featured SCORE Trophy Truck division where he will split the driving with his sons Josh and Chad.  As he attempts to add to his legacy, Hall will also be an additional driver in both the Stock Full and the Stock Mini classes.

Bishop is the only racer who competed every year of the first 40 on a Motorcycle, but is not scheduled to race this year at this time. Johnson, now retired, had 15 class wins, amazingly in eight different classes.

Roeseler has won 17 times in this race, including 13 overall wins (10 on a motorcycle). Roeseler will share driving duties this year in SCORE Trophy Truck with Tim Herbst in the No. 19 Terrible Herbst Motorsports Ford F-150. Roeseler won the unlimited Class 1 for four consecutive years (2004-2007), driving with the youngest of the three racing brothers, Troy Herbst, in the Smithbuilt-Ford open-wheel desert race car that was known as the ‘Land Shark’. Roeseler is the only racer in the history of the event to win the overall 4-wheel in a truck and also in a car as well as the overall 2-wheel title as well.

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

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 for the race. Drivers in the Pro car and truck classes are also attempting to earn prestigious SCORE Toyota Milestone Awards given to all Pro 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 27 drivers remain eligible after Round 4 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.

Tecate Beer is the title sponsor of the 44th annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000.

Official Sponsors of the SCORE Desert Series are:
-BFGoodrich Tires, Official Tire
-Volkswagen of America, Official Vehicle
-Sunoco Race Fuels, Official Race Fuel
-Slime, Official Tire Sealant
-Symons Ambulance Company, Official Ambulance
-Bilstein, Official Shock Absorber
-Instant Mexico Auto Insurance, Official Mexican Auto Insurance
Official Sponsors of the SCORE Baja 1000 are:
-Coca-Cola, Official Soft Drink
-Volaris Airlines, Official Airline
-Lightforce Performance Lighting, Official Driving Light

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

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.