PREVIEW: 2024 SCORE World Desert Championship – San Felipe 250

Season 51 of the SCORE International World Desert Championship will begin with the thirty-seventh San Felipe 250. Luke McMillin is seeking his third straight win for Four-Wheelers while Ciaran Naran hopes to go back-to-back for Moto.

Qualifying for Trophy Truck categories will take place on Thursday, 21 March, followed by race day on Saturday, 23 March.

The Course

As is tradition, the race will begin and end in San Felipe. At 285.59 miles for the Pro classes (284.86 miles for Sportsman), the course is longer than in 2023.

At RM 90, the bikes and quads will go take a bypass that splits them off from the Four-Wheelers. Sportsman categories will also join them on this route at RM 162, and both will eventually merge back on course at RM 178. The physical checkpoint awaits just past the 200-mile mark.

The bikes split off again at general RM 270, taking them further south near El Carrizo and a run north along Highway 5 before rejoining at RM 278. Of course, the actual deviation is much longer than the two points marked, stretching roughly eighty miles.

After the Mini Summit was dropped at the last minute from the 2023 edition, to the chagrin of those like UTV overall winner Rodrigo Ampudia, those hoping for a restoration in 2024 will surely be disappointed about its exclusion from the final route. Still, it figures to be a fast course thanks to its runs through two lakebeds, though this could also cancel out as many noticed Huatamote Wash’s particularly rocky state while pre-running.

Although longer than the 2023 layout, racers will have one fewer hour to complete it at thirteen.

Credit: SCORE International

The Grid

Bryce Menzies and McMillin renew their rivalry for another year in Trophy Truck. As the reigning SCORE TT champion, the former has switched to a red #1 numberplate.

Two weeks after winning the Mint 400, Adam Householder will be the first truck to start qualifying on Thursday. Tim Herbst, who starts second, will hope to turn his luck around after a disappointing end to his Mint, as will others like Dan Myers and Rob MacCachren. Toby Price and Paul Weel of Team Australia, who topped both qualifying sessions in 2023, will try to continue their momentum there while finding more luck in the races themselves as they have only finished two of six races since their formation.

For the first time in team history, McMillin Racing will have all three members of the family on one team as Luke leads the #83 Trophy Truck while his brother Dan teams up with their cousin Andy in the #23. Andy often raced on his own before selling his team’s assets to Polaris Factory Racing and Team Australia, and teamed up with Menzies and Tavo Vildósola—who returns to his #21 TT for San Felipe—to win the 2023 Baja 1000. Monster Energy has joined the team and will sponsor Luke’s truck while the #23 features The Beast Unleashed hard tea brand.

Polaris Factory Racing’s quest for a second straight Pro UTV Open title in as many years begins with a slightly tweaked lineup: while champion Brock Heger and Cayden MacCachren return, Max Eddy Jr. has been promoted from being team boss Craig Scanlon‘s navigator to full-time driver. Scanlon, the 2023 San Felipe class winner, is also entered.

From Polaris’ rival Can-Am, Best In The Desert star Vito Ranuio will enter his first SCORE race in Pro UTV Open. Can-Am colleague Ampudia is not aiming to repeat as the highest finishing UTV as he instead joins his brothers Alan and Aaron Ampudia in the #10 Trophy Truck.

Juan Carlos Salvatierra will try to defend his Pro Moto Unlimited title but faces stiffer competition than in 2023 as new names move up from other classes. Fernando Beltran is one of them, arriving after winning the Pro Moto Limited championship.

Naran, the 2023 Pro Moto Unlimited runner-up fresh off rally raiding in Tunisia, has joined forces with Baja powerhouse SLR Honda, where he will share the #7X bike with Rider of Record Justin Morgan and Tyler Lynn.

Baja 1000 Pro Moto 50 victor Giovanni Spinali will not be racing but has a studded lineup for his HERO Racing team as they enter Unlimited. Arturo Salas Jr. will lead the #11X Honda alongside Carter Klein, who won the 1000 overall as Salvatierra’s team-mate. Klein switches to Honda at the same time as his brother and Dakar Rally competitor Mason, now a factory rider for Honda’s Brazilian department.

San Felipe will see the débuts of the Pro Moto Adventure and Pro Baja-e Moto bike categories. The latter, another attempt by SCORE to integrate electric vehicles but the first for motorcycles, will be represented by Christian Klein on his Zero bike with Branson Fustes and Eric Rauser as team-mates.

Pro Moto Adventure is reserved for rally raid bikes such as those that compete at the Dakar Rally. World Rally-Raid Championship manufacturer Kove Moto is spearheading the category’s development by offering bonuses for the first five riders who sign up for the class at San Felipe and prize money for its podium finishers regardless of marque. Reigning Baja 500 Sportsman Moto winner Javier Rubio, Dustin Davis, and Mexican 1000 class victor Scott Purcell are the first to toss their hats into the ring with their Kove 450 Rally bikes.