The 40th Baja 1000 is scheduled for Nov. 11-16 in Baja, Mexico. Tijuana festivities with the race run from Ensenada to Cabo San Lucas in Baja Mexico.
Nearly 450 entries from 41 U.S. States and 15 Countries, the 1,296.39-mile adventure down Mexico’s Baja California peninsula will be covered LIVE by Baja Racing News.com!
From Alaska to Florida and Maine to Hawaii in the U.S, and from Canada to Japan, adventuresome racers from around the world will be part of the massive starting grid for next month’s 40th Annual Baja 1000 desert race. To be held Nov. 11-16, this year’s historic 40th anniversary odyssey of the world’s longest non-stop and most famous desert race will be a grueling and memorable 1,296-39 mile adventure down Mexico’s mysterious Baja California peninsula starting in Ensenada, Baja California and finishing in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, Sur.
Baja Racing News.com coverage will feature nearly 450 entries from 41 U.S. States and 15 countries. From weekend warriors to Hollywood actors and producers, the famous and not-so-famous will compete in 28 Pro and 6 Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs. Among the entries are 22 class winners from last year’s race.While all the rugged regulars in the world’s foremost desert racing series will be in Mexico, the lure of this amazing race also attracts crossover racers as well as adventurers from all walks of life.The talented field of desert-racing veterans includes 134 racers who have combined for 343 class wins in this race. In that group are 11 racers who have combined for a total of 20 overall 4-wheel vehicle wins and 12 more riders have combined for 26 overall motorcycle victories.“we are on the brink of another historic desert racing milestone and we are awed and humbled by the unbelievable field for this year’s 40th anniversary of the legendary Baja 1000,”. “The stage has clearly been set for another star-studded, record-breaking memorable event in the storied history of this magnificent motorsports spectacle. We can’t wait for the green flag to drop. It will be like watching 40 Super Bowls all at once.”
The motorcycle and ATV classes will start their journey at 6:30 a.m. (PST) (Tuesday, Nov. 13) with the car and truck classes starting at approximately 11 a.m. (PST), or three hours after the last ATV leaves the line. The starting line will be on Blvd. Costero in front of the Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center in Ensenada. 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 23 hours. The finish line area in Cabo San Lucas will be inside the Campos de Futbol “Yenecamu” soccer fields next to the Cabo Club, the official Baja Racing News.com race headquarters. The Baja Racing News.com Media Center will be downtown, at Hard Rock Cabo.
Passing times from all pit locations, of all vehicles, will be posted there as well to assist in monitoring the race progress. With massive crowds reaching over 300,000 anticipated to again be spread out along the point-to-point course, the race will start for the 33rd time in Ensenada and will finish for only the second time in Cabo San Lucas. Robby Gordon, Charlotte, N.C., whose roots are in desert racing, returns as defending overall 4-wheel winner in the Team Gordon No. 71 Chevy CK1500 in SCORE Trophy-Truck. Gordon will pull double-duty, driving the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 before flying to Homestead, Fla., to race in the NASCAR Nextel Cup season finale.Also returning to their racing roots are NASCAR Truck Series regular Brendan Gaughan, Las Vegas, and NASCAR Grand National West Series regular Brian Ickler, Poway, Calif.
Among the other cross-over racers who are entered to date include World Rally champion Armin Schwarz of Germany, NASCAR Nextel Cup racer Boris Said, 2007 Dakar Rally overall motorcycle champion Cyril Despres of France, former IndyCar star Danny Sullivan, former NASCAR and open-wheel racer turned TV commentator Wally Dallenbach, actor/racer Patrick Dempsey, star of the ABC TV hit show ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, former IndyCar racer Scott Atchison, Supercross motorcycle legends Jeremy McGrath and Ricky Johnson, Freestyle Motorcross superstar Mike Metzger, father and son Pike’s Peak Hill Climb champions Rod and Rhys Millen (who is also a Drifting point champ) along with fellow PPHC champion Gay Smith, former Sprint Car turned stock car racer Erin Crocker, Indy Pro Series team owner/driver Ken Losch, Rock Crawling star Tracy Jordan, Snowmobile racers Paul Thacker and Chris Burandt, Snowboarder Luke Trembath, Rally racers Ken Block and Tanner Faust, TV show creator/producer Bud Brutsman, and BMX racer/TV personality Dave Mirra. In his first full season in the Desert Series, TV personality Jesse James, of Monster Garage fame, will drive his new No. 54 Chevy Silverado Trophy-Truck.Among the other very notable entries are Rod Hall, Reno, Nev., and Ron Bishop, Escondido, the only two individuals who have raced in all 39 previous Baja 1000 races.
Garron Cadiente in Trophy-Truck and Richard Lancaster in Class 22 for open motorcycles drew the pole positions for the 40th anniversary of the desert racing classic at a ‘live’ drawing for starting positions. Cadiente, 31, of Mesa, Ariz., was the 2006 Rookie of the year and is third in this year’s Trophy-Truck season point standings after winning September’s Primm 300 in the No. 38 G&R Racing Ford F-150. There are 31 entries so far in the Trophy-Truck, the marquee desert racing division for 800-horsepower, high-tech, unlimited production trucks. Lancaster, 29, Santa Margarita, Calif., will lead 24 entries (to date) in Class 22 for open motorcycles on the No. 2x Honda XR650R. His additional riders are Peter Hardy, Pozo, Calif., John Kaisersatt, Los Osos, Calif., Fred Jowett, Atascadero, Calif., and Chris Whalley, Topanga, Calif.Drawing the first start in the ATV classes was the championship team led by Danny Prather, 27, Ramona, Calif., who will ride the No. 1a Honda TRX450R in Class 25. His teammates are Mike Cafro, Bonsall, Calif., Levi Marana, Ramona, Calif., and Marc Speath, Warner Springs, Calif.Among the other racers entered with significant class wins in the Baja 1000 are: Larry Roeseler, Hesperia, Calif., Class 1 (15), Chris Haines, Dana Point, Calif. Class 50 (12), Haines’ teammate Jack Johnson, Boulder City, Calif. Class 50 (11), Johnny Campbell, San Clemente, Calif., Class 22 (9), Mark McMillin, Chula Vista, Calif., Class 1 (8), Malcolm Smith, Riverside, Calif., Stock Full (8), Steve Hengeveld, Oak Hills, Calif., Class 22 (7, five straight motorcycle overalls), and Ted Hunnicutt Jr., Temecula, Calif., Trophy-Truck (7).In what has shaped up as a movie-script duel between the ‘veterans’ Mark Post and Rob MacCachren and young gun B.J. Baldwin, the showdown in Mexico will decide the overall and SCORE Trophy-Truck point championships of the 2007 SCORE Desert Series. With a single point separating the top two Trophy-Truck teams of 2007 an epic showdown is expected. After five of six events in the 2007 SCORE Desert Series, Post, 50, of San Juan Capistrano, Calif., and MacCachren, 42, of Las Vegas, have two wins, one second and two fourths to compile 359 points to date in the No. 3 Riviera Racing Ford-F-150 Trophy-Truck. Baldwin, 28, of Las Vegas, is the reigning Trophy-Truck season point champion in the No. 1 Baldwin Motorsports Chevy Silverado. Just one point behind Post/MacCachren, Baldwin has one race win this year, one second, two thirds and one fourth to remain in position to become the first back-to-back Trophy-Truck point champion since Ed and Tim Herbst of Las Vegas did it in 1999 and 2000 and again in 2002 and 2003.A total of just 33 points separate the top 10 overall point leaders after September’s 12th' s Primm 300. Third in Trophy-Truck points and third overall is Garron Cadiente with 338 points after his Primm 300 victory. Leading Class 1-2/1600 and fourth overall with 334 points is Dave Caspino, Woodland Hills, Calif., in a VW-powered Lothringer open-wheel desert race car.Tied for fifth overall with 332 points each are the team of Larry Ragland, Cave Creek, Ariz./Brian Collins, Las Vegas and brothers Bill Gasper, Chino Hills, Calif./Bill Gasper, Santa Barbara, Calif.. Ragland/Collins are fourth in Trophy-Truck points in the No. 12 Collins Motorsports Chevy Silverado while the Gaspers lead the unlimited Class 1 in their Porter-Chevy.
Desert racing points are determined both on final finishing position and number of vehicles that started the race within the individual class. Seventh overall and second in Class 1-2/1600 with 331 points is the team of L.J. Kennedy, Orange, Calif./Sammy Ehrenberg, Las Vegas in a ChenoSPF-VW. In a three-way tie for eighth overall and tied for second in Class 1 with 316 points heading to Mexico’s massive season finale are Larry Roeseler/Troy Herbst, Ronny Wilson and Eric Chase and his father Stuart Chase. Roeseler/Herbst, who have two race wins this year and have won Class 1 for three straight years at the Baja 1000, drive the No. 100 Smithbuilt-Ford, Wilson drives a Jimco-Chevy while the Chases pilot a Penhall-Chevy.Pre-race festivities on Monday, Nov. 12, for the Baja 1000, including tech and contingency and the SCORE Manufacturer’s Midway will be held from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (PST) adjacent to Nico Saad’s San Nicolas Hotel, in Ensenada. The pre-race mandatory driver/rider briefing will be held Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. (PST) at the Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center. Racer registration will be held at the San Nicolas from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. (PST) on Sunday, Nov. 11 and from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. (PST) on Monday, Nov. 12.The post-race Baja 1000 Award’s Celebration will be held during the Baja 1000 Fiesta at the Playa Cabo Club at noon on Friday, Nov. 16.
The four-wheel vehicle classes with the most entries to date are Class 1 (33), Trophy-Truck (31), Class 1-2/1600 (25), Class 5/1600 (23), SCORE Lite (19), Baja Challenge (18), Class 8 (14), Protruck (13), Stock Full (12) and Class 5 (11).The motorcycle classes with the most entries so far are: Class 22 (24), Class 40 (16) and Class 30 (11).Leading the six Sportsman classes in the race is Sportsman Motorcycle over 250cc which has 53 and Sportsman ATV with 17 entries to date.It’s the oldest and most well known of all desert races, and it remains as the single most appealing accomplishment to a driver. SCORE is putting on the race.
For more information regarding desert racing contact Speed Mex at 619-251-9486.
Schedule of Events (Subject to Change—as of 10/29/2007)
PRE/POST RACE SHEDULE
SUNDAY, Nov. 11, 2007-Ensenada--(All times PST)
1 p.m. – 6 p.m.-Media Registration, Grand Ballroom, San Nicolas Hotel1 p.m. – 6 p.m.--Racer Registration, Grand Ballroom, San Nicolas Hotel 1 p.m.- 10 p.m.—El Vigia Autograph Fiesta, La Ventana al Mar
MONDAY, Nov. 12, 2007-Ensenada--(All Times PST)
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.-Racer Registration, Grand Ballroom, San Nicolas Hotel9 a.m. – 5 p.m.--Media Registration, Grand Ballroom, San Nicolas Hotel10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.--Contingency Row, adjacent to San Nicolas Hotel10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.--Technical Inspection, End of Contingency Row11 a.m. – pre-race Media Conference, Cathedral Room, Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center7 p.m. --Mandatory Racer Meeting-Cathedral Room, Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center.
TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, FRIDAY, Nov. 13-16, 2007-Cabo San Lucas-(all times PST)9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 13 – Noon, Friday, Nov. 16—Baja Racing News.com Media Center open, Hard Rock Cabo. Posting of Passing Times/Unofficial Results—Race in Progress, Hard Rock Cabo.
THURSDAY, Nov. 15, 2007-Cabo San Lucas-
-(all times PST)7 p.m.--Posting of FINAL UNOFFICIAL Results—Hard Rock Cabo 8 p.m.--Competition Review Board.
FRIDAY, Nov. 16 -Cabo San Lucas- (All Times PST)
Noon-Awards Celebration-Playa Cabo Club
RACE DAYS SCHEDULE
TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY, Nov. 13-16,2007-(all times PST)
(1,296.39-mile course)START: Adjacent to the Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center, Blvd. Costero-Ensenada
FINISH: Campos de Futbol “Yenecamu” soccer fields-Cabo San Lucas.
TUESDAY, Nov. 13, 2007-Ensenada—(all times PST)
5:30 a.m.-Late Registration, Red Room, Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center5:30 a.m.--Late Tech, Start Line6 a.m.--Media Registration, Red Room, Riviera del Pacifico Cultural CenterRACE STARTS: (Tuesday, Nov. 13-Ensenada):6:30 a.m.--Motorcycles and ATVs10:30 a.m. (approx.)--Cars and TrucksSTARTING ORDER (Subject to change): (One vehicle every 30 seconds) Motorcycles and ATVs--22, 30, 40, 21, 20, 50, 60, 25, 24, Sportsman M/C>, Sportsman M/C<, Sportsman ATVCars and Trucks--TT, 1, 10, SL, 8, PT, 1-2/1600, 5, 7, BC, 5/1600, 7S, 7SX, SF, SM, 9, 3, 17, JS, Sportsman Truck, Sportsman Car, 11, Sportsman UTVTIME LIMIT: All vehicles will have a 53-hour time limit from the time they start.
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 14, 2007-Cabo San Lucas—(all times PST)
3: a.m. (approx)—Finish Line opens-Campos de Futbol “Yenecamu” soccer fields.
Checkpoint Closing Times
53 Hour Race Time Limit
# LOCATION MILE CLOSING TIME
1 Santa Catarina Cattle Guard 85.05 10:00PM - TUES 11/13
2 San Telmo Road Crossing 177.71 2:00AM - WED 11/14
3 El Rosario East of HWY 1 Bridge 306.21 9:00AM - WED 11/14
4 Coco's Corner 441.97 1:00PM - WED 11/14
5 Bay of Los Angeles 519.09 5:00PM - WED 11/14
6 San Ignacio La Pinta Hotel 695.15 9:00PM - WED 11/14
7 North of Loreto Near HWY 1 867.59 5:00AM - THURS 11/15
8 Insurgentes HWY KM 30 Crossing 1015.03 10:00AM - THURS 11/15
9 Rancho Santa Fe West of HWY 1 1120.38 1:00PM - THURS 11/15
10 South of Todos Santos 1243.47 4:00PM - THURS 11/15
11 Cabo San Lucas Finish Line 1296.39 6:00PM - THURS 11/15
Cabo Safari Ranch
Your Off Road experts in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
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Gary Newsome, Editor in Chief
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