San Felipe, Baja, California (March 1, 2006)

Most of the year this quiet little fishing village is home to a contingent of snowbirds and retirees living among the Mexican locals who thrive on a quiet, but bustling tourist destination. Situated on the sands of the Sea of Cortez, this quaint seaside city hosts one of the biggest off road racing events of the year, the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250. With the average temperature hovering around 75 degrees this time of year the sands of San Felipe are no better for one of Mexico’s biggest off road races of the season.

Thousands of race fans flood into the San Felipe area to watch the world’s top off road racers vie for the top spot in what has become a literal 250-mile sprint to the finish. This rumble in the sands has long been regarded by top racers as a “jewel” in the cabinet of trophies among off road teams worldwide.

Regarded as one of the most difficult short races ever held, the San Felipe 250 blends a myriad of excitement for the off road racing fan like the bartender named, “Colorado” blends the margaritas at the famed MiraMar Bar in downtown San Felipe.

It’s certainly a one-stop shop for everything an off road fan ever wanted to see.

Festivities begin early Friday morning with contingency and technical inspection where fans can walk among the top drivers and crew members during the all day contingency process on the Malecon.

Besides an off road race in Mexico where can race fans mingle with the likes of Monster Energy Drink’s Alan Pflueger, Fabtech / Toyo Tires' Jesse Jones, CST / Toyo Tires' John Marking, Jimco’s Mike Julson, Skyjacker’s Curt LeDuc, Riviera Racing’s Mark Post, Desert Assassin’s Cameron Steele, Robby Gordon Motorsports' Young Gun / Andy McMillin, Terrible’s Ed Herbst, Fabtech / Toyo Tires' Scott Steinberger, 2005 SCORE TT Champ / Bob Shepard, Lucas Oil’s Carl Renezeder, Speedway’s Pistol Pete Sohren and 4WheelParts / Marty & Travis Coyne, as well as many more of the dirt nation’s top drivers and teams.

Held on the beach front boulevard along San Felipe’s famous restaurant row the contingency festivities are second to none. Among the many food vendors are a slew of open air establishments featuring the coldest beer and the best fish tacos in the world.

However, by dawn Saturday morning the smell of race fuel lingers in the air. The sounds of revving motorcycles and quads echo loudly throughout the streets of San Felipe as the nation’s top off road motorcycle competitors and ATV riders all converge at “The Arches” in San Felipe for the start of race day.

SCORE Baja 1000 Champion – Steve Hengeveld will roar into the wilds of the San Felipe desert in search of yet another Baja victory as he and Mikey Childress team together in this first race of the 2006 SCORE motorcycle desert racing season. The reigning 2005 SCORE Class 21 Champion recently got his first taste of four-wheel vehicle action at the Best in the Desert Parker 425 where he and his motorcycle teammate, Mikey Childress, drove the Jones Motorsports Trophy Truck to an astonishing third place finish behind the winner Robby Gordon and second place Pistol Pete Sohren.

This season Hengeveld and his Honda 1X team will see his longtime teammate, Johnny Campbell; take a support role as a third teammate ready to get on the championship winning Honda 650XR.

Sometime around mid-morning beneath “The Arches” of San Felipe the thunderous sounds of 800 horsepower Trophy Trucks will ignite the passion of the thousands of fans who will crowd into the starting area awaiting the first truck off the line.

This year the first truck off the line is Desert Assassin Bad Boys – Cameron Steele and Clyde Stout. The #16 Trophy Truck drew position number one and is expected to run very fast in clean air as they charge towards the finish line in this so-called 240.34 mile sprint race.

DirtNewz spoke with Cameron Steele via satellite phone only last night and he and his race team had just come off the race course south of San Felipe where they have been prerunning the course since it opened on Friday, February 24, 2006.

Steele said, “We’ve had a great prerun and today we took Martin, Owner of Rice & Beans Restaurant, with us on a prerun of Matomi Wash and he had a blast. He’d never been back there and we gave him the run of his life. I think he was scared. I’m not sure, but somewhere in the desert I took away his camera and turned the tables on him as I filmed him instead of him always filming us. It was great! We’re sitting down right now at El Nido getting ready for a big steak and shrimp dinner. We’ve been down here for a few days prerunning the course it is gonna’ be tough. But this is an off road race right? It’s supposed to be tough! Bring it hard cuz the Desert Assassin’s are here to win big at San Felipe.”

Chasing down the Desert Assassin’s Trophy Truck off the start line will be Rob MacCachren driving the #4 Mexicana Logistics Trophy Truck followed by John Marking charging in the #26 CST / Viejas Casino / Toyo Tires Trophy Truck.

Both MacCachren and Marking will give Steele a run for his money in the early stages of the race as the 800 horsepower machines skip off the big bumps of San Felipe’s famous Zoo Road. If Steele allows the door to open at all, you can be sure that Rob Mac and Marking will quickly take full advantage of that mistake. Both Rob Mac and Marking have tremendous experience mashing the pedal to the floor and not letting up.

In 2005, the late Jason Baldwin charged his bright orange #1 Baldwin Motorsports Trophy Truck to victory over the #19 Terrible Herbst Trophy Truck piloted by Ed Herbst. At this race the #19 Herbst Trophy Truck goes off the line in 9th position behind the Robby Gordon Motorsports Young Gun of Andy McMillin.

Andy McMillin, arguably the best top young talent in off road desert racing at this time, will start in 8th position driving the #83 Red Bull Trophy Truck owned by NASCAR’s Robby Gordon Motorsports. Gordon hired McMillin earlier this season to drive his #83 Trophy Truck on Toyo Tires while he attends to his busy NASCAR Nextel Cup racing schedule. McMillin and Gordon recently completed testing through the toughest sections the San Felipe 250 course has to offer and successfully ran the #83 truck without any major problems. Watch for Andy McMillin to be lightning fast at San Felipe.

Robby Gordon recently told DirtNewz.com, “I used to build my trucks to be Robby-proof. After my direct involvement with Andy and the crew in San Felipe I’m now changing that saying about my trucks having to be built Andy-proof. We are very excited to have Andy in the #83 Red Bull Trophy Truck.”

This year’s Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 is expected to be a wild rush towards the finish line. Stay tuned as DirtNewz.com brings you the latest from the San Felipe action in Baja California.