The SCORE International off-road racing web site says it all with a post stating that the group’s next event will be Sept. 9-11 in Baja Mexico at a venue to be determined. Formerly scheduled for August in Primm south of Las Vegas, the move of the Primm 300 to Mexico was apparently the result of high fees required for the event in Southern Nevada along with restrictions placed on SCORE because of the desert tortoise.

However, there is a much deeper lesson to be learned in the move to Mexico in that off-road racing in the United States is under pressure big-time following the tragedy which killed eight and injured at least 12 northeast of Los Angeles last year.

Legendary race promoter Sal Fish, who has been presenting races in Mexico for decades, simply washed his hands of the issues in Primm and moved yet another race to Mexico which opens its arms to the sport.
SCORE now has a five-race series and four of the events are in Mexico. The other – the Laughlin Desert Challenge in January – is the only event held in the United States.

Stricter rules for keeping crowds away from the racetrack are working to enhance safety following a calamitous wreck last month in San Bernardino County that killed eight spectators. But promoters also were criticized by some race fans expecting to breathe in the dust the off-road racers kicked up and feel the dry blast of wind when a racer sped by.
Bureau of Land Management officials in California and Washington, D.C., have pledged stepped up enforcement of races on federal land. Officials with SCORE, organizers of the Primm 300, made slight safety adjustments to this year's race. The company, one of the pre-eminent desert race organizers, and the BLM limited spectators to only the main pit area and start-finish line. Organizers also added speed restrictions when racers rumbled their way past pit crews and crowds.

The changes, made to prevent a deadly accident like the one at the California 200 last month, underscore what some suggest is a difference between policing of races in Nevada and California.

Hundreds of onlookers lined the Johnson Valley course, many a few feet away from the racing trucks. The spectators killed were watching the race on the downhill slope of an area called the Rock Pile, where many of the trucks leap into the air because of the hilly terrain.

Race organizers and the BLM's California Desert District were criticized after the wreck because they were unable to keep the crowd far enough away from the racetrack. Only one BLM ranger was patrolling the 188,000-acre area where the crash happened.

In Primm, a dusty Nevada casino resort stop on the California border 35 miles from the lights of Las Vegas, BLM officials and race promoters possess and wield much more control over where crowds gather, compared to California races.

Most races in Southern California are at Johnson Valley and surrounding sites, and the BLM has consistently kept the area open because it is specifically for off-road vehicle use. In Nevada, the BLM has required access roads to be shut for racing to go on.

The difference between racing in Nevada and California leads to dissension among race teams who seek out the stricter, crowd-controlled races, desert off-road enthusiasts and some race fans who think safety can be accomplished while still giving spectators a good view of the race.

Many in Primm said they want desert racing to be safe and continue to have access to appropriate federal lands, but some spectators wonder if the sport can attract crowds if it keeps people so far away.

"No one is going to drive up here to see a race through a fence," said Scott "Shorty" Qualls, 23, of Corona.

For race teams, the fans are an important part of the sport, but they can get in the way. Drivers have horror stories of fans on foot or on dirt bikes darting across the course in front of trucks trying to win. But not in Nevada, at least recently.

Ray Croll, owner of the Grove Lumber team based in Corona, said his team doesn't race in California much because Nevada seems to attract more high-caliber competition and better organizers.

"We depend on the organizers to work with the BLM to make it safe," Croll said. "They provide the security and the medical staff and ensure that nobody is where they aren't supposed to be."

SCORE places high fences and patrols all access points along the race route. Safety teams and roving volunteers in trucks are present in all three pit areas for the race, and at roads leading into the desert. Vehicles can't get by without a pass, and those that can proceed are reminded of the rules and given a trash bag to bring out any garbage. Read the complete article here...

Credits: The Press-Enterprise / Dug Begley

Weaving his way through the field and hitting the hammer on the final lap, Jesse Jones jumped over a star-studded field of 30 SCORE Trophy-Trucks Saturday to capture the overall and SCORE Trophy-Truck victory at the 15th Annual SCORE Las Vegas Terrible’s Primm 300 desert race.
Coming from behind, Jones won his second race of the 2010 SCORE season and his second career SCORE Trophy-Truck race win, rambling his No. 76 Ford F-150 SCORE Trophy-Truck to a adjusted winning time of 4 hours 46 minutes, 39 seconds while averaging 57.44 mile per hour over 274.4-miles over the four laps of rugged, rock-strewn Southern Nevada desert course of 68.6 miles each in Primm, Nev., 45 miles south of Las Vegas.

Jones, who owns an Aerospace Engineering firm in Phoenix, started 15th in the star-studded field of 30 starters in SCORE Trophy-Truck in the elapsed-time race, overcoming leader Andy McMillin on the final lap and then holding off the charging team of Robbie Pierce, Santee, Calif./Mike Julson, Alpine, Calif., driving the No. 30 MasterCraft Racing Chevy Silverado, who finished second in and adjusted time of 4:50:08, 3 minutes, 29 seconds behind Jones.
Jones ran his four laps in 1:08:11, 1:14:00, 1:14:15 and ending with a 1:10:13. He now has two wins, one eighth and one 11th-place finish in the four SCORE races so far this season.
Round 4 of the five-race 2010 SCORE Desert Series, featured racers from 15 States and six countries racing on a typically rugged Southern Nevada race
course under brilliantly sunny skies with a light northerly wind and temperatures in the mid 90s.
For the ninth consecutive year, the race was split into two groups with the limited classes running in the morning. SCORE Trophy-Truck division along with the unlimited Class 1 open-wheel class, raced in the afternoon.
The main pits and start/finish area for the 68.6-mile loop course was located on the north side of Buffalo Bills Resort. The race course, which ran again in a counter-clockwise direction, was virtually the same layout as last year, although weather and use had altered the terrain.
"This is just great," reflected Jones at the Buffalo Bill’s finish line area. "We had a really, really great day. We had a flat on lap two and we lost a driveline. It was just dusty and we were fighting our way through the slower traffic. You’re so anxious to go but you know you better not do that because three guys will go by you when you’re changing your tire. The truck ran well. We passed 12 trucks physically so we started 15th and finished third on the road. Andy (McMillin, No. 31) had me by one (minute) on the last lap and I really stepped it up. Andy was down to me by four minutes at the last pit when he pulled in. Oh, man, maybe we’ll get some points out of this thing heading into the SCORE Baja 1000!"

Keeping SCORE Trophy-Trucks from sweeping the podium with their third straight overall in this race was the All German Motorsports unlimited Class 1 winning BMW-powered Jimco open-wheel desert race car driven by Germany’s Armin Schwarz and Martin Christensen of Escondido, Calif. With Schwarz starting and driving the first half of the race and Christensen bringing their car across the finish line in third place overall with a penalty-free elapsed time of 4:51:30, averaging 56.48 mph for their third consecutive Class 1 victory in Primm. (More info on the 2010 Primm 300 here...)
It was the second Class 1 win of the year for Schwarz, a former WRC pilot, and Christensen, a veteran SCORE desert racer who is originally from Denmark.
The stage is now set for the season-ending 43rd anniversary of the legendary Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 desert race to be held November 16-20 in Baja California, Mexico. The world’s most popular desert race will start in Ensenada, Baja California and finish in La Paz, Baja California Sur.
For the 2010 Baja 1000 only: www.baja-1000-live.com A independent Baja 1000 info website for the 2010 peninsula desert race run only. Opening the week after the Primm 300 race.
No worries about the name - it's 100% hoM.O. free!!