San Felipe 250 to see record grid

Nearly 375 entries expected

LOS ANGELES--As entries continue to surpass record levels, next month's 21st Annual Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 will undoubtedly feature a battle of former overall champions, including 13 former winners in the 4-wheel divisions and eight former motorcycle champs. Round 2 of the six-race 2007 SCORE Desert Series will be held March 10 in the quaint and picturesque fishing village of San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico.

With a race-record of nearly 375 entries expected to compete in 27 Pro and 6 Sportsman classes, the green flag will drop at 6 a.m. on Saturday, March 10, for the motorcycle and ATV classes, followed by the car and truck classes three hours later at approximately 10 a.m. The start and finish line area for the 201.3-mile loop course will once again be the landmark San Felipe arches on Highway 5 on the outskirts of San Felipe. All vehicles will have a 9-hour time limit in the elapsed time race and vehicles will start in 30-second intervals.

Following January's season-opening SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge, America's Foremost Desert Racing Series will visit Mexico for the first of three times in 2007.

To date, 358 official entries have been received, led by the unlimited Class 1 with 39. The featured SCORE Trophy-Truck is next with a race-record 36 followed by Class 1-2/1600 with 28, SCORE Lite with 24, Class 10 with 20, Class 22 with 16 and Class 30 with 14. Late registration will be accepted up until race morning.

The race will be webcast live with video and audio on the SCORE International website at www.score-international.com, with production provided by Digital 1 Unlimited in association with SCORE Television partner Aura360.

"This is an extremely challenging race course, and that's part of the lure it has had during the first 20 races," said Sal Fish, SCORE President/CEO. "This particular race course hasn't been used since 2001 and is also a course with incomparable beauty, featuring both Baja ruggedness and diversity, truly a majestic representation of the entire Baja California peninsula. It runs through four storybook Mexican washes--Huatamote, Chanate, Azufre and the magnificent Matomi. I honestly believe that many of the competitors are drawn to this race because of the incredible beauty of the course."

Leading the group of former overall 4-wheel vehicle champions are Las Vegas brothers Ed and Tim Herbst and Scott McMillin, of Poway, Calif., who have earned three titles each during the first 19 of these 'Spring Break' desert racing classics.

The Herbst brothers, driving the No. 19 Terrible Herbst Motorsports Ford F-150 in the marquee SCORE Trophy-Truck division for hi-tech, 800-horsepower, unlimited production trucks, won three consecutive years in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

Scott McMillin, racing in the unlimited Class 1, won in 1983 and 1984 in a Porsche-powered Chenowth open-wheel desert race car, with his late father Corky McMillin, the family patriarch of SCORE's first three-generation McMillin Racing team. In 2005, Scott won in Class 1 as co-driver for his son Andy McMillin in a Jimco-Chevy. This year, Andy McMillin will be the driver of record in the No. 31 McMillin Racing Chevy C1500 in SCORE Trophy-Truck with his father Scott McMillin as the second driver.

On the motorcycle side of the popular race, American Honda superstar Johnny Campbell, San Clemente, Calif., who has a total of six Overall two-wheel vehicle victories. Campbell's triumphs came in two three-year spurts winning in 1998 and 2000 with Tim Staab, and 1999 with Cole Marshall, before winning in 2002, 2003 and 2004 with Steve Hengeveld.

Hengeveld, a regular for Team Honda, will sit this year's race out while recovering from a broken arm he suffered recently.

Campbell is currently listed as a third rider for last year's winning motorcycle duo of Robby Bell, Murrieta, Calif., and Kendall Norman, Santa Barbara, Calif., on a Honda CRF450X.

Also back to defend their victories last year are the overall 4-wheel champion and the overall ATV winner. Garron Cadiente, Mesa, Ariz., returns in SCORE-Trophy in the No. 38 G&R Racing Ford F-150 while Wayne Matlock, El Cajon, Calif., and Chad Prull, Laveen, Ariz., return as the 2006 ATV winners on a Honda TRX450R.

A pair of two-time Overall 4-wheel vehicle champs in this year's lineup are Mark Post, San Juan Capistrano, Calif. (1998 and 2004) and Larry Ragland, Cave Creek, Ariz. (1991 and 1995).

This year, both veteran drivers will compete in SCORE Trophy-Truck and both are teamed with former Overall Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 race winners. Post will have 2003 winner Las Vegas' Rob MacCachren splitting driving time in the No. 3 Riviera Racing Ford F-150 while Ragland will be the driver of record for Las Vegas' Brian Collins, who won in 1990, in the No. 12 Collins Motorsports Chevy Silverado. Ragland and Collins will split the driving, just like Post and MacCachren.

Giving the field eight of the last nine Overall 4-wheel champions will be 2003 winner Gus Vildosola, Mexicali, Mexico, who won with MacCachren, in the No. 4 Vildosola Racing Ford F-150.

Two-time Overall Motorcycle champion Larry Roeseler, 49, of Hesperia, Calif. (1991, 1992) has moved to 4-wheel vehicles and is the driver of record this year for Las Vegas' Troy Herbst, 40, who won Class 1 and finished second overall to his older brothers in 2000. Herbst, the youngest of the three racing brothers, is still rehabilitating a severely torn Achilles tendon.

Las Vegas' Tim Herbst and Southern California's Chris Blais received the pole positions for four-wheel and two-wheel vehicles in the computerized drawing for starting positions held Feb. 9. Herbst races in the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division while Blais competes in Class 22.

Drawing the first starting slot for the unlimited Class 1 open-wheel desert race cars was Brian Parkhouse, of Bell Gardens, Calif. Riding the first ATV off the line will be San Diego's Jovany Pimentel.

Herbst, 43, who will drive solo while his older brother Ed continues his rehabilitation from neck surgery he had last November, has four class wins including three overalls in San Felipe in the No. 19 Terrible Herbst Motorsports Ford F-150 SCORE Trophy-Truck.

With a race-record 36 entries so far in the class for 800 horsepower, unlimited production trucks, Herbst will lead a strong field in SCORE Trophy-Truck that features many of the world's top desert racers.

Blais, 26, who led the overall motorcycle championship team in San Felipe in 2005, will split riding time this year with David Pearson, 23, of Las Vegas, on the 2x Red Bull KTM 525XC. Blais became the first American to finish on the podium in January when he finished third on a KTM in the challenging Dakar Rally.

Parkhouse, 47, will split driving time with another SCORE veteran, Tom Ridings, 52, Long Beach, Calif., in the No. 101 Parkhouse Motorsports Chevy-powered Jimco open-wheel desert race car in Class 1.

Helping Pimental, 22, lead the ATV entries off the line in a Yamaha YFZ450 will be riding mates Christian Vargas, 18, San Diego, Roberto Ulloa, 26, Chula Vista, Calif., and Rafael Guzman, 24, National City, Calif.

Besides Herbst, who with his brother Ed won the overall and SCORE Trophy-Truck titles in San Felipe in 1999, 2000 and 2001, the record SCORE Trophy-Truck field includes last year's overall and SCORE Trophy-Truck winner Garron Cadiente, 31, of Mesa, Ariz., in the No. 38 G&R Racing Ford F-150. The 2004 SCORE Trophy-Truck race and overall San Felipe winner Mark Post, 49, San Juan Capistrano returns in his No. 3 Riviera Racing Ford F-150 with new teammate, Rob MacCachren, 41, of Las Vegas, who won this race in 2003 with Gus Vildosola. Vildosola, Mexicali, Mexico, will split driving time this year with his son Gus Vildosola Jr., in the No. 4 Vildosola Racing Ford F-150.

Cameron Steele, 38, an ESPN action-sports announcer from San Clemente, Calif., has entered in three classes for San Felipe. Steele drives the Desert Assassins No. 16 Ford F-150 in SCORE Trophy-Truck.

Steele, whose wife Heidi Steele is a SCORE regular in Class 7SX in a Ford Ranger, will ride a Suzuki DRZ450 in Class 22 and a Desert Assassin-VW in SCORE Lite.

Among the other racers to draw first starting position in their respective classes were: Steven Eugenio, El Centro, Calif. (Class 1-2/1600, Lothringer-VW), Ricardo Malo, Mexicali, Mexico. (SCORE Lite, Curry/BRP-VW) and the Las Vegas husband and wife team of Adam and Bekki Wik (Class 10, Jimco-Honda).

Pre-race festivities at the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 will include the colorful SCORE Midway and tech inspection on the Malecon beachfront in downtown alongside the azure waters of the Sea of Cortez from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Friday (March 9).

At 9 p.m. on Saturday (March 10), the awards celebration will be held in front of The Beachcomber Night Club on the Malecon.

The 2007 SCORE Desert Series also includes the chase for the $75,000 Kartek Off-Road contingency bonus to be awarded to several 2007 SCORE Class point champions along with the run for the $12,000 Toyota True Grit and Toyota Milestone Awards.

-credit: score