Including Herbst/Roesler & Hengeveld/Campbell
Sixty-Seven racers with a combined 177 class wins
Among huge field for Saturday's TECATE SCORE BAJA 500
Over 270 entries expected in Ensenada for this weekend's
30th anniversary of first SCORE race in Mexico

ENSENADA, Mexico (May 21, 2003)- The list of favorites is long and talented as 67 racers with a combined 177 class wins will lead a massive starting grid into this weekend's historic 35th Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 500 desert race. Starting and finishing in Ensenada, 60 miles south of San Diego on Mexico's Baja California peninsula, the popular event is Round 3 of the six-race SCORE Desert Series, the World's Foremost Desert Racing Series.

Led by Larry Roeseler's even dozen, the entry list for this SCORE classic includes nine racers who have combined for 21 overall crowns in the storied event. Roeseler, 42, of Hesperia, Calif., has 10 overall victories, a record nine on a motorcycle along with his first four-wheel win he bagged last year with Las Vegas' Troy Herbst. Herbst, 36, who has four class wins in this race and Roeseler, will race again this year in the unlimited Class 1 in the No. 100 Terrible Herbst Motorsports Ford-powered Smithbuilt open-wheel desert race car.

Leading the motorcycle entries is the American Honda Factory team of Steve Hengeveld, 27 of Oak Hills, Calif., and Johnny Campbell, 32 of San Clemente, Calif., who each have three overall two-wheel victories in this event on the No. 1x Honda XR650R. Hengeveld started his winning ways in this race in 1995 by winning Class 21 (motorcycles under 250cc) to give him four class wins.

This weekend, SCORE, celebrating its 30th year of producing championship desert racing, will commemorate the 30th anniversary of the first SCORE desert race ever held in Mexico.

When final pre-race registration is complete, over 270 entries, from 15 U.S. states, Canada, France, Japan and Mexico, competing in 24 Pro and 5 Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs, are expected to take the green flag.

Attempting to cover a 452.93-mile race course, motorcycle/ATV classes will be first off the starting line at 6 a.m. on Saturday, followed two hours later by the car/truck classes. In the elapsed-time race, vehicles will leave the start line adjacent to the Riviera del Pacifico convention center in downtown Ensenada, one every 30-seconds. There will be an 18-hour time limit to be an official finisher in the event. The grueling race will finish on the Northeast outskirts of town at the end of Avenida Ruiz.

SCORE launched its venerable, long-standing tenure in Baja California, Mexico, on July 26, 1974, with an open desert race in Ensenada called the SCORE Baja Internacional. This popular race, now held regularly the first weekend in June, has become the SCORE Baja 500. It will be held for the 35th time this year. (It was produced from 1969 through 1974 by the old NORRA racing organization).

Started in 1973, when it was founded by the late Mickey Thompson, SCORE continues today under the direction of Sal Fish as the world's leading sanctioning body in the sport of desert racing and is most famous for its flagship event--the legendary Tecate SCORE Baja 1000.

Pre-race festivities for the 35th Tecate SCORE Baja 500 will center around the Riviera del Pacifico convention center in downtown Ensenada on Friday.

Traditionally drawing thousands of spectators, the pre-race Manufacturer's Midway and display off all the race vehicles will be held adjacent to the San Nicolas Hotel, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday. The post-race awards celebration will be held at the Riviera del Pacifico on Sunday at 10 a.m.

Among the entries in this year's race is Richard Jackson, Acton, Calif., who has 10 class wins in this summer classic. Jackson is once again entered in Class 50 for motorcycle riders over 50, where he has won three straight years on his No. 500 Honda XR650.

Noted apparel manufacturer Jim O'Neal, 56 of Chatsworth, Calif., who made history last year in this race by winning both Class 30 and Class 40 age-group motorcycle classes, returns to defend only the Class 40 title this year on his No. 400 Honda XR650.

Eric Allen, 20 of San Marcos, Calif./Adam Pfankuch, 21of Carlsbad, Calif., who lead Class 1-2/1600 and the SCORE Overall point standings after two races, will start 11th out of 26 cars entered so far in their No. 1611 Jimco-VW.

Second in overall points is Mexico's Eli Yee, who leads Class 10 after two straight wins in his No. 1005 Jimco-Honda. Yee will start fourth in his class, which has 19 entries to date.

Besides defending overall championships Herbst/Roeseler, leading the field in the unlimited Class 1 is the team of Dale Ebberts, 32 of Canyon Lake Calif./Ernie Castro Jr., 35 of Newport Beach, Calif., in their Inland Truss Racing No. 131 Jimco-Toyota, is unbeaten after two races this season. Ebberts drove solo to win the season-opening SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge (Jan. 19-20) and the pair split the driving to win Class 1 at the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 (March 15).

Mark Miller and Ryan Arciero, in the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division, and Adam Neuwirth, in Class 22 for open motorcycles, have drawn the first starting positions. SCORE's computerized drawing for starting positions was held on May 2.

In a motorsport where there is no qualifying for starting positions, the drawing is signficantly important.

Driving the No. 81 Chevy Silverado, Miller/Arciero will lead the car and truck classes while Neuwirth, racing on the No. 2x Honda XR650R, will lead the motorcycle and ATV field into the challenging and unforgiving desert in Baja California, Mexico.

Miller won the SCORE Trophy-Truck class last year, teaming with five-time race winner Larry Ragland. Ragland, 60 of Phoenix, will drive this year in the Protruck class. Ragland has five class wins in the Tecate SCORE Baja 500, including three overall titles.

A formidable field of 13 high-tech, 750-horsepower SCORE Trophy-Trucks are entered to date in the marquee SCORE racing division, but the largest entry fields so far are the unlimited Class 1 (32), Class 1-2/1600 (26), Class 5/1600 (23), Class 10 (19), and SCORE Lite (18).

The oldest driver in the race-veteran Corky McMillin, 74, of Bonita, Calif.--will start first in Class 1, which has an event-record 32 vehicles entered to date. McMillin and his long-time co-driver Brian Ewalt, 43 of Chula Vista, Calif., drive the McMillin Racing No. 101 Chenowth-Ford open-wheel desert race car. Class 1 starts second, behind SCORE Trophy-Truck and the 32 entries in the class is the most since SCORE combined the old Class 1 and Class 2 into just one unlimited class for single or two-seaters in 1990.

Among the other early entries in the marquee SCORE Trophy-Truck for unlimited production trucks are teams of Mexico's Gus Vildosola/Rob MacCachren of Las Vegas, Las Vegas brothers Ed and Tim Herbst and Dan Smith/Dave Ashley, of Riverside, Calif. Vildosola/MacCachren are the SCORE Trophy-Truck point leaders after two races in the Vildsola Racing No. 4 Ford F-150. The Herbst brothers, whose Terrible Herbst Motorsports is the only team to win three SCORE Trophy-Truck season point crowns, will drive the No. 1 Ford F-150.

Smith and Ashley, the all-time SCORE multiple season class point champions with 24 (Smith-14, Ashley-10), won the SCORE Trophy-Truck division in 2001 at the 2001 Tecate SCORE Baja 500 in the Enduro Racing No. 8 Ford F-150.

SCORE official sponsors for 2003 are: BFGoodrich Tires-official tire, Southern California Ford Dealers-official vehicle, 76 Racing Fuel-official fuel and Rental Service Corporation-official equipment supplier. Associate sponsors are: Tecate Beer, Coca Cola of Mexico, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance, Bilstein Shocks, Signpros, P.C.I. Race Radios, McKenzie's, Off-Road Innovations and Advanced Color Graphics.

Additional associate sponsors for both the Tecate SCORE Baja 500 and November's 36th Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 are Cotuco and Fondo Mixto Turistica de Ensenada.

After this weekend's Tecate SCORE Baja 500, the 2003 SCORE Desert Series returns to the U.S. for Rounds 4 and 5 in the Southern Nevada desert.

The 2nd Annual SCORE Henderson's Terrible 250 will be held July 9-12 with pre-race festivities in Henderson, Nev., and the actual race in Boulder City, Nev.

Round 5 will be the 8th Annual SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300, Sept. 12-13, in Primm, Nev., 35 miles south of Las Vegas at the Nevada/California border.

For more information, contact SCORE at its Los Angeles headquarters 818.225.8402 or visit the official website of the 2003 SCORE Desert Series at www.score-international.com.