SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/862155
THE 2017 SCORE DESERT CHALLENGE MOVES TO TIJUANA, BAJA, MX IN THE YEAR OF THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BAJA 1000, SCORE RETURNS TO WHERE IT ALL STARTEDThe Tijuana 21st SCORE Desert Challenge will be the third round of the SCORE World Desert Championship scheduled for September 20th-24th, 2017. Formerly in Rosarito Beach the race was moved to Tijuana and will be a split format, multi-lap race that will prove to be one of the most exciting and most accessible to race fans from the United States. This is not the first time that SCORE has raced in Tijuana. The first was the inaugural SCORE Baja 1000 (then called Mexican 1000) in 1967 and again in 1995. In both of those years the SCORE Baja 1000 finished in La Paz. At last year’s race in Rosarito, Juan C. Lopez took the overall win in the Trophy Truck division. Billy Wilson came in close second and could still be a contender for this race. Most SCORE fans however, think this race belongs to Apdaly Lopez, who last year flew past the finish line and earned penalties for not stopping soon enough, costing him the win. Most will agree that Lopez won’t let this happen again this year. While Lopez is a favorite in this race, we can’t throw out the tenacity and winning streak of Rob MacCachren, who is currently the overall points leader and who also leads the Trophy Truck division going into the race. MacCachren won the overall at the SCORE San Felipe 250, came in third at the SCORE Baja 500, and if he wins this race, he might be assured a 2017 SCORE Trophy Truck championship, even if he places in the top three at the 50th Anniversary SCORE Baja 1000 in November. Although everyone knows that statistics, horsepower and driving skills are only a part of the winning factor in Baja. With a fast race course and tough competition, it’s still anyone’s race. The Layout And Must See Events The Tijuana 21st SCORE Desert Challenge race will include a spectator-friendly start/finish line and ‘hot pit’ area located on the southeast outskirts of Tijuana to the east of the popular Casian Ranch area off of Boulevard 2000 (Highway No. 201). The actual start/finish line area and hot pits will be located 2.3 miles inland off of the highway. The Tijuana 21st SCORE Desert Challenge will not have qualifying sessions so there will be a drawing for starting positions within each class on Thursday, September. 14th. Racers will, however, be able to pre-run the course on Friday September 15th and Saturday September 16th. Pre-running exclusively for motorcycle and quad classes will take place Sunday September 17th Visitors coming to the Tijuana 21st SCORE Desert Challenge, will not want to miss Contingency day, which will be held directly in front of the headquarters hotel (the Real Inn Hotel in the heart of the Rio Zona, on the historic Avenida Paseo de los Heroes from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday September 21st. RACE DAYS The Tijuana 21st SCORE Desert Challenge features three full days of racing with the course consisting of a 23-mile loop through the challenging hills in the area that allows each class to run a total of six laps over for 138 total miles. This will be an all-out sprint in each division that will be split up by classes and different heats. Motorcycles, quads and one group of car classes will race in split heats on Friday September, 22 starting at 6:30 a.m. Racing will finish on Friday at 6:20 p.m. The other car and truck classes, including the marquee SCORE Trophy Truck and SCORE TT Legend divisions are scheduled to run the first half of their race on Saturday September 23rd and final half on Sunday September 24th. Racing for those classes will start each day at 8 a.m. and finish at 4:25 p.m. ART SAVEDRA MEMORIAL SHOOTOUT On September 22nd SCORE’s historical VW Baja Bug racing classes (Class 5-1600 and Class 11) will hold the Art Savedra Memorial Shootout in memory of SCORE’s Tech Director who passed away recently. These classes will run both halves of their race on that day with a time-out between their sessions. A special trophy and bonus purse for this special part of the race will be awarded.