San Felipe draw summary

Jefferies in SCORE Trophy-Truck, Bell in Motorcycles draw first starting slots for 23rd Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250
Josh Rigsby receives first Class 1 start as nearly 225 entries expected in March 14 desert race in Mexico

LOS ANGELES--Champion Southern California desert racers Damen Jefferies and Robby Bell received the pole positions for four-wheel and two-wheel vehicles in the computerized drawing for starting positions held Saturday for the upcoming 23rd Annual Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250. Jefferies races in the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division while Bell competes in Class 22 for open motorcycles.

Round 2 of the 2009 SCORE Desert Series will be held March 13-15 in Mexico's quaint and picturesque fishing village of San Felipe, located on the East side of the Baja California peninsula along the azure waters of the tranquil Sea of Cortez.

With nearly 225 entries expected to compete in 28 Pro and 6 Sportsman classes in the 232.4-mile race, the green flag will drop at 6 a.m. local time on Saturday, March 14, for the motorcycle and ATV classes, followed three hours later by the car and truck classes at approximately 10 a.m. local time. The start line for the race will once again be the landmark San Felipe Arches on Highway 5 on the outskirts of San Felipe. The race will finish just south of the Arches, directly behind the Tecate building. One vehicle will start every 30 seconds in the elapsed-time race, with a 10-hour time limit to become an official finisher.

Following January's season-opening SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge, the World's Foremost Desert Racing Series will visit Mexico for the first of three races in 2009.

Drawing the first starting slot for the unlimited Class 1 open-wheel desert race cars was Josh Rigsby of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Riding the first ATV off the line will be Class 25 rider Adolfo Arellano, Tijuana, Mexico.

Jefferies, 36, of Apple Valley, Calif., is a veteran SCORE desert racer who has three career SCORE Class season point titles in three different classes, including the 1997 SCORE Overall point championships. Also a successful desert chassis builder, Jefferies is racing the No. 22 Jefferies Racing Chevy Silverado this year with Luis Ramirez Jr. of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Jefferies is eighth in his class point standings this year after finishing fifth last season.

With 20 entries so far in the marquee SCORE racing division for 800 horsepower, unlimited production trucks, Jefferies will lead a strong field in SCORE Trophy-Truck that features many of the world's top desert racers.

Last year's top overall finishers have all entered this year even though one is with a new team. Leading the defending race champions group is four-wheel vehicle overall winner Brian Collins, Las Vegas, who will start 10th in the 20-truck SCORE Trophy-Truck class in the No. 12 Collins Motorsports Dodge Ram1500.

Bell, 23, of Sun City, Calif., has left the factory Honda team after winning the two-wheel overall title in San Felipe the last three years and will be teamed with another former Honda rider Mike Childress on the No. 1x Kawasaki KX450F. Bell drew the first start last year as well for the JCR team owned by SCORE Baja racing legend Johnny Campbell.

Campbell, who won his race-record seventh Overall motorcycle and eighth motorcycle class title in this race last year while riding with Bell, has entered two Honda CRF450X teams in this year's race for the JCR team. Rider of record on one bike will be Kendall Norman, who has two overall wins in San Felipe, and the team's other rider of record Colton Udall is a rookie on the team and making his first San Felipe start.

In Saturday's computerized drawing, SCORE Trophy-Truck had the most entries with 20, followed by the unlimited Class 1 and Class 1-2/1600 with 14 each. Late registration will be accepted up until race morning and as many as 50 additional entries are expected.

Defending SCORE overall series and race ATV and Class 25 champion Wayne Matlock, El Cajon has entered this year once again with Harold Goodman Jr., Brownsville, Mich. and a new third rider-Josh Caster, El Cajon, Calif.

Besides Collins, Bell and Matlock the other defending class winners entered so far this year are: Germany's Armin Schwarz (Class 1), Donald Moss, Sacramento (Class 3), Marcos Nunez, Ensenada, Mexico (Class 5/1600), John Holmes, Olivenhain, Calif. (Class 7SX), Rodrigo Ampudia Jr., Ensenada, Mexico (Class 8), Eric Solorzano, Tijuana, Mexico (Class 11), Anna Cody, Simi Valley, Calif. (Class 20), Jim O'Neal, Simi Valley, Calif. (Class 30) and Bret Helm, Poway, Calif. (Class 40-Scott Myers is rider of record this year).

Also back to defend his Sportsman class win among those entered to date is Sportsman Car winner Peter Lang.

This year's race will use the same 232.4-mile race course as 2008, running in a counter clockwise direction out of San Felipe up to and then along Highway 3 and back down through three of the most picturesque and challenging washes in all of Baja. Pre-running will officially open for participants in the event on Saturday, Feb. 28.

After the start at the landmark San Felipe Arches, the race will proceed north towards Zoo Road. The area approaching the Zoo Road crossing was bladed last year, which makes it a safer approach to the popular spectator area. That area will again be fenced and patrolled so that spectators can watch the action but not put themselves in way of the action. The course will run again this year in a counterclockwise direction.

This will be one of the few times that SCORE will run through the majestic Matomi Wash in the early part of the race instead of near the end. After Matomi, the challenging course will run through two more of the infamous Baja washes--Azufre and Huatomote before heading back Northwest for the final 19.6 miles to the finish line.

The pre-race Manufacturer's Midway and tech inspection of the vehicles in the race will be held on Friday, March 13 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the picturesque Malecon, flanked by the Sea of Cortez on one side and the popular restaurants and night clubs of San Felipe on the other.

At 10 a.m. on Sunday (March 15), the awards celebration will be held in front of The Beachcomber Night Club on the Malecon.

Following his dominating season-opening victory at the 15th SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge, NASCAR Cup owner/driver Robby Gordon finds himself at the top of a very crowded Overall leaderboard in the 2009 SCORE Desert Series point standings. With 54 points, Gordon, who returned to his desert racing roots, also leads the marquee SCORE Trophy-Truck class for high-tech, 800-horsepower, unlimited production trucks in his No. 77 Team Gordon Chevy CK1500.

With just 14 points separating the top 21 in 2009 SCORE Overall points, SCORE racers are now preparing to begin official pre-running.

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 car and truck class drivers who complete every required mile of the five-race season. Being presented by Toyota Motorsports for the 24th consecutive year, a total of 52 drivers remain eligible after Round 1 of the 2009 SCORE Desert Series.

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, Off-Road, American Suzuki, SignPros, P.C.I. Race Radios, McKenzie's Performance Products and Advanced Color Graphics.

Associate sponsors for the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 are the Tourism and Convention Bureau of Mexicali/San Felipe, and Cotuco.

The race annually provides a greater economic impact to San Felipe than the entire month-long 'Spring Break'.

For more information regarding the series, contact SCORE at its Los Angeles headquarters 818.225.8402 or visit the official website of the 2009 SCORE Desert Series at www.score-international.com.

-credit: score