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Pete Sohren Draws First Start Position
SCORE Trophy-Truck
Thissen Draws First Starting Position in M/C
For November’s
42nd Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 desert race

LOS ANGELES—Just patiently plugging along in desert racing’s marquee division, Arizona’s journeyman driver Pete Sohren has received the first starting position during Saturday’s computerized drawing for November’s 42nd Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 desert race. While the grizzled veteran Sohren will pilot his No. 2 Ford F-150 SCORE Trophy-Truck, starting first among the motorcycle and ATV classes will be the team led by promising newcomer Adam Thissen of Reno, Nev. on a KTM 550XC-W motorcycle.

An impressive total of 231 vehicles officially entered in time for Saturday’s computerized drawing held at SCORE International’s headquarters in Los Angeles. With over 275 entries expected to compete in 28 Pro and 7 Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs, the granddaddy of all desert races will be held Nov. 19-22 in Ensenada, Mexico. Completing its 36th year as the World’s foremost desert racing sanctioning body, the event is the finale of the five-race 2009 SCORE Desert Series. To date, entries have come from 34 U.S. States and 12 countries.

With massive crowds reaching nearly 25,000 anticipated to again be spread out along the rugged course that travels much of the northern part of Baja California, down Laguna Salada to San Felipe, down thrown legendary Matomi Wash, around Mike’s Sky Ranch, down the infamous Simpson’s Hill and back to the Pacific Coast through Santo Tomas covering much of the northern half of the majestic Baja California peninsula. The race will start for the 35th time and finish for the 20th time in Ensenada

The motorcycle and ATV classes will start their journey at 6:30 a.m. (Friday, Nov. 20) with the car and truck classes starting at approximately 10:30 a.m., or three hours after the last ATV leaves the line. Vehicles will leave in 30-second intervals in the elapsed-time race and while the fastest finishers are expected to complete the course in approximately 13 hours. All vehicles will have a 31-hour time limit to become official finishers in the legendary adventure. The race will start and finish on Boulevard Costero adjacent to the picturesque Bahia de Todos Santos in front of the historical Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center in the heart of Ensenada. Drawing the first start in the ATV classes was the team led by Patrick Christensen, Pleasant Prairie, Wisc., who will ride a Yamaha Raptor in Class 25.

A unique part of Saturday’s drawing was the special drawing for the top 10 finishers from the nearest previous SCORE Baja race entered in the current race in both SCORE Trophy-Truck and the unlimited Class 1. For this race it was the top 10 finishers from this year’s 41st Tecate SCORE Baja 500.

Sohren finished fourth in June’s race, tying his best career SCORE Trophy-Truck race finish. NASCAR Sprint Cup team owner/driver Robby Gordon, Charlotte, N.C., whose roots are in SCORE desert racing and is this year’s SCORE Overall and SCORE Trophy-Truck point leader, drew the eighth starting position in SCORE Trophy-Truck in the Team Gordon No. 77 Chevy CK1500. Gordon will be pulling double duty driving also driving in the NASCAR Cup season finale in Florida on Nov. 22. Drawing the second start in SCORE Trophy-Truck was Rick D. Johnson, Barstow, Calif., this year’s Tecate SCORE Baja 500 winner, who drives the No. 71 Ford F-150. Last year’s overall and SCORE Trophy-Truck winners in the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, Roger Norman, Reno, Nev./Larry Roeseler, El Cajon, Calif., drew the 10th starting spot in the No. 8 Norman Motorsports Ford F-150.

Pre-race festivities on Thursday, Nov. 19, for the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, including the vastly popular tech and contingency of all vehicles and the SCORE Manufacturer’s Midway will be held from 19 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Boulevard Costero in front of the Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center. The pre-race mandatory driver/rider briefing will be held Thursday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. in the Cathedral Room at the Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center. Racer and media registration will be held at the San Nicolas Resort Hotel from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 18 and from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 19.

While entries will be accepted up to race morning (Friday, Nov. 20), late entries will be assigned the next available number and starting position within each class. The post-race Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 Survivor’s Celebration will be held poolside at the San Nicolas Resort Hotel at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 22.

Besides Sohren, Gordon, Johnson and Norman/Roeseler, other entries among the veterans in the talented 32-truck field in the marquee SCORE Trophy-Truck division include Mark Post, Laguna Beach, Calif./Rob MacCachren, Las Vegas (No. 3-Ford F-150), B.J. Baldwin, Las Vegas (97-Chevy Silverado), Las Vegas’ Brian Collins/Chuck Hovey, Escondido, Calif. (12-Dodge Ram1500), Robbie Pierce/Mike Julson, Santee, Calif. (30-Chevy Silverado), Cameron Steele, San Clemente, Calif./Rick Geiser, Phoenix (GMC Sierra), Mexico's Gus Vildosola/Gus Vildosola Sr. (No. 4-Ford F-150), Honolulu’s Alan Pflueger (28-Chevy Silverado), Andy McMillin/Scott McMillin, National City, Calif. (31-Chevy Silverado), Las Vegas’ Tim Herbst/Troy Herbst (19-Ford F-150), Mark McMillin, El Cajon, Calif. (23-Ford F-150), Ron Whitton, Mesa, Ariz. (39-Ford F-150), Scott Steinberger, Cypress, Calif./Dave Sykes, San Diego (7-Ford F-150), Nick Vanderwey, Phoenix (84-Chevy Silverado), Ed Stout, Irvine, Calif. (13-Ford F-150) and Bobby Baldwin/Danny Anderson, Las Vegas (96-Chevy Silverado).
The car and truck classes with the most entries to date are SCORE Trophy-Truck (32), Class 1 (20) and Class 1-2/1600 (10).

Among the motorcycle and ATV classes, Class 22 has the most entries to date with 18. Leading the seven Sportsman classes in the race is Sportsman Motorcycle over 250cc which had 22 entries and Sportsman Motorcycle under 250cc which had 11 entries in the drawing. Drawing first start in Class 1 was former German World Rally Championship driver Armin Schwarz/Martin Christensen, Escondido, Calif., in a Jimco-BMW, while first off in Class 1-2/1600 will be Cody Robinson, Calexico, Calif., in a Romo-VW.

Pre-running on the 672.85-mile loop course will officially begin on Saturday, Nov. 6. Pre-running will be allowed only from Ojos Negros and back. One way pre-running from the start to Ojos Negros will be allowed only on Wednesday and Thursday of race week (Nov. 18 and 29).

It’s the oldest and most well known of all desert races, and it remains as the single most appealing accomplishment to a driver. Since 1967, the Granddaddy of all desert races has been run over the mysterious Baja California peninsula.

This year’s Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 desert race will be televised on a delayed basis as a one-hour NBC Sports special, in association with SCORE and Aura360, for the sixth consecutive year, scheduled to air at 2 p.m. (EST) on Sunday, Dec. 19 on the NBC Television Network. It will also air on a delayed basis outside of the U.S. on ESPN International.

In addition to season point class point championships, drivers in the Pro car and truck classes are also racing to earn prestigious SCORE Toyota Milestone Awards given to all drivers who complete every required mile of the five-race season. Being presented by Toyota Motorsports for the 24th consecutive year, a total of 16 drivers remain eligible after Round 4 of the 2009 SCORE Desert Series.

This race also features the prestigious Sal Fish SCORE IronRider awards presented to each motorcycle or ATV rider who completes the course within the time limit while riding solo. To date, nine individuals have declared that they will be attempting to complete the course riding solo.

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, Slime-official tire sealant and Red Bull--official energy drink.
Associate sponsors are: Tecate Beer, Coca-Cola of Mexico, Las Vegas Events, Terrible Herbst Inc., Blue C Enthusiast Advertising, American Suzuki, SignPros, P.C.I. Race Radios, McKenzie’s Performance Products and Advanced Color Graphics.

PRO CARS & TRUCKS
SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK (32)

2 Pete Sohren
71 Rick D. Johnson
96 Bobby Baldwin
7 Scott Steinberger
12 Brian Collins
84 Nick Vanderwey
1 B.J. Baldwin
77 Robby Gordon
19 Tim Herbst
8 Roger Norman
24 Adam Householder
3 Mark Post
9 Mark Weyhrich
16 Cameron Steele
23 Mark McMillin
4 Gus Vildosola Jr.
59 Craig Potts
28 Alan Pflueger
31 Andy McMillin
74 Rob Bruce
76 Jesse Jones
78 Jesse Ashcraft
51 Kory Scheeler
13 Ed Stout
22 Damen Jefferies
47 James Bult
30 Robbie Pierce
20 Rob MacCachren
58 Ronnie Wilson
35 Jason Voss
39 Ron Whitton
10 Greg Nunley

CLASS 1 (20)
101 Armin Schwarz
102 Harley Letner
103 Jerry Penhall
104 Armin Kremer
105 Brian Parkhouse
106 Randy Wilson
107 Robert LeMaster
108 Todd Welling
109 Rudy Cortez
110 Troy Herbst
111 Dale Lenk
112 George Thieriot
113 Josh Daniel
114 Eric Chase
115 Brad Fouvre
116 Richard Boyle
117 Brendan Fikes
118 Brad Etter
119 Charles Rudolph
120 Jesse Hooker

CLASS 1-2/1600 (10)
1601 Cody Robinson
1602 Jose Fernandez
1603 Arturo Velazco
1604 Wes McKenzie
1605 Daniel McMillin
1645 Eric Duran
1646 Corbin Harris
1647 Brian Wilson
1648 Justin Smith
1649 Arnoldo Ramirez

CLASS 3 (3)
300 Donald Moss
301 Scott Barnes
302 Daniel Wright

CLASS 5 (5)
500 Kevin Carr
501 Drew Belk
502 Chris Willis
518 Vince Wavra
519 Che Corlett

CLASS 5/1600 (5)
551 Jonathon Knight
552 Alonso Angulo
553 Oscar Venegas
554 Mark Low
550 Marcos Nunez

CLASS 6 (6)
601 Richard Blunk
602 Marc Burnett
606 Steve Kovach
607 Heidi Steele
608 John Townsend
609 Gregg Hempel

CLASS 7 (2)
701 Scott Ulrich
700 Dan Chamlee

CLASS 7SX (3)
741 Norman Turley
742 Brandt Anderson
759 John Holmes

CLASS 8 (2)
801 Rodrigo Ampudia Jr.
839 Clyde Stacy

CLASS 9 (2)
901 Zack Burkett
949 Ulises Morquecho

CLASS 10 (7)
1001 Jesus Gonzalez
1000 Mike Lawrence
1003 Javier Robles
1004 Justin Davis
1005 Lars Ferry
1006 Scott Gailey
1049 Jose Lynch

SCORE LITE (7)
1201 Luis Barragan
1202 Brent Parkhouse
1203 Morgan Langley
1204 John Langley
1205 Rob Smith
1206 John Padgett
1249 Roberto Encinas

CLASS 11 (5)
1101 Eric Solorzano
1102 Michael Brown
1103 Dolores Casarez
1104 Jim Graham
1149 Gustavo Garayzar

STOCK FULL (2)
878 Joe Bacal
879 Justin Matney

STOCK MINI (2)
778 Robert Ditner
779 Gavin Skilton

PROTRUCK (0)

CLASS 17 (3)
1701 Eric Filar
1702 Mike Shaffer
1749 Cliff Cook

BAJA CHALLENGE (4)
BC1 Christian Hammarskjold
BC2 Jay Culbertson
BC3 Brian Valentine
BC4 Mike Cassling

CLASS 2 (1)
209 William Erickson

PRO MOTORCYCLES
CLASS 22 (18)
2x Adam Thissen
3x Jason Lulis
4x Cameron Corfman
5x James Hall-S
1x Robby Bell
7x A.J. Stewart
8x John Kaisersatt
9x Dunn Voyer
10x Mark Bradford
11x Ivan Ramirez
12x Kendall Norman
13x Chuck Neugebauer
14x Chad Black
15x Ron Wilson-S
16x Brad Williscroft
17x Aaron Lindsey
18x Colton Udall
19x Adam Neuwirth

CLASS 21 (5)
101x Dan Troy
102x Ronnie Wilson
103x Bill Boyer
104x Chris Parker
105x Jeremy Purvines

CLASS 20 (5)
151x Manuel Reyes
150x Anna Cody
153x Jesus Rios
154x Tony Gurule
155x Marco Bernaldez

CLASS 30 (8)
301x Mike Johnson
302x Sean Bradley
303x Jean-Paul Cyr
304x Alejandro Ventosa
305x Eric Alfaro
306x James Dickinson
307x Richard Boyle
308x Sol Saltzman

CLASS 40 (5)
401x Brian Campbell
402x Brad Turnidge
403x Tom Vogt
400x Scott Myers
405x Mike Prunty

CLASS 50 (4)
501x Hugh Graffunder
502x Gary Barr-S
503x Craig Wear
500x Jim O’Neal

CLASS 60 (1)
600x Donald E. Lewis

PRO ATVS
CLASS 25 (5)
2a Patrick Christensen
1a Wayne Matlock
4a Greg Row
5a Felipe Velez
6a Nick Nelson

CLASS 24 (5)
101a Brian Harris
100a Craig Christy
103a Cesar Chanate
104a Tom Wright
105a Roberto Ruiz

CLASS 26 (2)
201a Chuck Neugebauer
202a Reid Rutherford

SPORTSMAN
SPT CAR (4)
1401 George Jackson
1400 Peter Lang
1403 Raymond Calore
1449 Peter Ramseier

SPT TRUCK (2)
1501 Nick Tonelli
1502 Ken Fraizer

SPT UTV (3)
1801 Dave Roberts
1802 Thomas Graves
1803 Reid Nordin

SPT M/C 250 (11)
201x Charles Shortt
202x Matt Ladendorf
203x Brian Garrahan
204x Joel Blockson
205x Miguel Montenegro
206x Seppo Saarinen
207x Talya Dodson
208x Fred Sobke
209x Doron Kollan
210x Zachy Moritz
249x Nathan Barlow

SPT M/C 250 (22)
251x Craig Anstine
252x Salvador Sainz
253x Jeff Leonard
254x Cliff Cook
255x Craig Campbell
256x Oscar Fazz
257x Eric Anderson-S
258x Jeb Boynton
259x Dave Bervin
260x Michael Powell
261x Mike Kaplan
262x Andrew Siegmund
263x Ricardo De La Pena
264x Gary Gonzales
265x Doug McCrady-S
266x Shohei Himeno
267x Bob Gumser
268x Ray Grupp
269x Tibi Imbuzan
270x Mike Mensinger
271x Trent Burgiss
299x John Lowe

SPT ATV (10)
51a Dennis Lemare-S
52a Howie Orona
53a Adrian Valdez
54a Edgar Saldivar
55a Daniel Wehr-S
56a Yuval Sharon
57a Daniel Montano
58a Brad McLean
59a Manuel Jimenez
99a Gustavo Ameca

S-indicates solo rider