SCORE-Baja-1000-49th-9-12-16ENSENADA, Mexico — As entries continue to arrive from all across the United States and from around the world, the drawing for starting positions will be held on Thursday for next month’s 49th annual SCORE Baja 1000, the granddaddy of all desert races. The final round of the four-race 2016 SCORE World Desert Championship will be held Nov. 15-20 in Ensenada, Mexico.

The oldest continuous-running, most prestigious and most rugged desert race in the world, nearly 250 entries, from 35 U.S. States and 15 countries are expected to participate in classes for cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads in this year’s celebration of the iconic SCORE Baja 1000.

This year will mark the 42nd time the race has started and 24th time it will finish in Ensenada. The race will be held in the state of Baja California Norte on the majestic Baja California peninsula.

MORE: SCORE Baja 500 Race Recap and Results

START DRAW
The drawing for starting positions, by class, for all classes except SCORE Trophy Truck and the Trophy Truck Spec class will be held on Thursday. Online entry registration for the race is available at RegisterHereForRace.  Deadline to enter in time for Thursday’s drawing for start positions is 10 p.m. PT on Wednesday. Entries received after the drawing will be given the next available starting position within their respective classes.

PRE-RUNNING
This year’s SCORE Baja 1000 will be a loop race and pre-running on the approximately 830-mile course will open on Saturday, Oct. 22 with the start to Ojos Negros only allowed on Wednesday and Thursday of race week (and only in the outbound direction). This will allow competitors nearly four weeks of practice on the race course.

The start line and finish line will once again be adjacent to the iconic Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center in the heart of Ensenada and the first and last several spectator-friendly miles running up and back down the Ensenada Arroyo.

BEFORE BAJA… VIVA LAS VEGAS!
Jumpstarting the festivities for the SCORE Baja 1000 for the third straight year will be the massive SEMA SCORE Baja 1000 Experience at the Las Vegas Convention Center (Nov. 1-Nov. 4) and the special SCORE Baja 1000 qualifying for SCORE Trophy Trucks and the Trophy Truck Spec class. With both events presented by BFGoodrich Tires, qualifying will be held at the Off-Road Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (7 p.m. PT, Tuesday, Nov. 1).

MAIN COURSE!
As it has for over four decades, SCORE has put together another memorable race course, this one for a loop race, with all of the foreboding, unforgiving terrain that the northern state of the majestic Baja California peninsula has to offer. SCORE CEO/President Roger Norman and SCORE Race Director Jose A. Grijalva have designed and finalized this year’s SCORE Baja 1000 race course of approximately 830 miles.

Starting and finishing in the heart of Ensenada in front of the historic Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center, the course travels in a counter-clockwise direction. It includes the approximate 20 mile stretch to Ojos Negros which is used in both directions. Outgoing, the course heads south from Ojos Negros through Santo Tomas and then runs along the picturesque Pacific Ocean for over 100 miles and then back across to the center of Baja California Norte.

The course covers both sides of the peninsula and includes four checkpoints.

The race will have its normal start from Ensenada to Piedras Gordas, then out to highway 3 around Rm 20.7 and will go to Km33 and get back on the dirt. The course will go past Rancho Grijalva to El Mezcal and head to Uruapan using La Lagrima Rd, a different road than in past years.

From Santo Tomas, the course heads to the coast of the Pacific Ocean and runs down to San Quintin, Nuevo Odisea and then to El Rosario. The course will travel up the well known hill La Vivora, el Arenoso, and will loop around from San Juan de Dios at approximate Rm305 to El Metate Rm 340, Los Martires Rm 363 and go back to San Quintin on the east side of the highway and run north to Col. Vicente Guerrero, Jaramillo and Colonet.

The course will travel a new route from Colonet to Llano Colorado and across to Valley de Trinidad. The race course goes along the highway from San Matias to Villa del Sol then crossing the highway at El Chinero, north to Coabuso Junction and then climb up the summit in the opposite direction as previous races from the desert to Nuevo Junction and on to Catarina. From Catarina, it will be back to Ojos Negros and from Ojos Negros back to the finish line.

The four checkpoints will be located at Santo Tomas (CP 1–race-mile 87), El Rosario (CP 2–rm249), Vicente Guerrero (CP 3–rm457) and Nuevo Junction (CP 4–rm730).

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