Desert Rally for Four Wheels and Off-Road Motorbikes.
Desert Rally for Four Wheels and Off-Road Motorbikes.
In the year 1962, Honda America wanted to prove their newly announced Honda CL76 Scrambler of its worthiness on the tracks and road. So they approached Bud Ekins and his brother to choose a suitable route to prove the power and endurance of their new motorcycle in the USA. There came the Rally routs of first Baja and it was Tijuana to La Paz. Bud's brother and Bill Robertson Jr were the riders and their motorbikes were Honda CL76 Scrambler. The condition was to send telegrams from the start point in Tijuana and the finish point in La Paz to prove their authentication.
At those times racing though the hard track was not a problem but getting the petrol for the motorbike was a big problem. The riders took some in their back carriage while the air planes dropped some fuel for them on their routes. Nearby Ranchers too helped the riders to get some fuel on their route. They used to finish the route in 40 hours of time.
This inspired Ed Pearlman to start the NORRA (National Off-Road Racing Association). Under this they organized the first Mexican 1000 rally from Tijuana to La Paz in the year 1967. Then came the Baja 500 rally in the year 1969. All these events allowed four wheels and motorcycles to participate in the same track.
In 1973 the fuel crisis coasted the Baja Race and came in Mickey Thompson and his SCORE (Southern California Off-Road Enterprises) organization. Later Thompson with Sal Fish worked together and then Sal bought the new SCORE International to be the Baja racing organization. By the year 2012, Roger Norman bought the SCORE International. In the year 2009 the Mexican 1000 rally became as an important world Rally event. Rod Hall has competed in every Baja 1000 from 1967 and has won 21 Baja 1000 class and 18 Baja 500 wins. Honda Motorcycles records 20 of the last 21 editions in the Baja 1000, having won.
Here are the SCORE International Racing schedule. It will be conducted as four events and all of them will be held in Mexico throughout its Baja Peninsula. Riders and spectators used to come from all over the world. International drivers and riders used to participate as Pro and Sportsman level in cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles, and quads.
Events will start off on March 24, where the 34th Score San Felipe 250 held in the fishing village of San Felipe near to the Cortez sea. A new event named as Lucerna Baja 400, qas held in Ensenada from September 18th till 22nd. Starting and finishing will take place by the Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center.
2023 Baja Rally Champion: Mike johnson
Baja Rally 1 2023 Champion: Tony Palanrdni
Justin Morgan's SLR Honda 7X team along with Tyler Lynn, Brandon Prieto and Ryan Surratt came out in the 2024 SCORE Baja 1000 Motorcycle event. The team had completed the 864-mile course with a time of 17:52:34, whith the average speed of 48.34 mph for the Honda CRF450X Engine team.
