BAJA 1000: 277 entries set for 49th running

Above: Rob MacCachren, shown here in in short course competition, will roll off fifth in the SCORE Trophy Truck category in the Baja 1000.

With the conclusion of registration on Thursday, 277 total entries have been processed as official entries for Friday's start of the 49th SCORE Baja 1000, the final round of the four-race 2016 SCORE World Desert Championship.

Starting and finishing in Ensenada with classes for cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads from 33 U.S. States, 18 countries, the elapsed-time race over a grueling 854.50-mile course covering much of Baja California Norte will start at 6 a.m. PT on Friday for the motorcycle/quad classes following by the start of the car/truck/UTV classes at 10:30 a.m. PT.

While the fastest finishers are expected to complete the course in approximately 17 hours, all vehicles will have 36 hours from the time each starts to become an official race finisher.

The competitors come from 33 U.S. states, Guam and 18 countries, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Finland, France, Guatemala, Japan, Thailand and Venezuela.

The finale will conclude a three-way battle for first in the SCORE Trophy Truck division. Billy Wilson, a 30-year old SCORE truck rookie from Corpus Christi, Texas, is leading the season point standings with 223 points in the No. 15 Bevly Wilson Racing Chevy Silverado. Defending season point champion Carlos "Apdaly" Lopez and his father Juan C. Lopez, both of Tecate, Mexico, are in second with 217 in the No. 1 RPM Racing Chevy Rally Truck, while third is international entrepreneur Gary Magness of Denver with 199 points in the No. 45 Mango Racing Chevy Silverado.

The competitors include legendary desert racer Rod Hall – who will turn 79 on Nov. 22. He is the only racer to compete in all 48 Baja 1000s and has collected a record 23 class wins and one overall win in 1972). His son Chad will join him in the Stock Full class. Seventeen-time winner Larry Roeseler and three-time winner Robby Gordon, whose truck will be the third off the line, are among the entrants.

LIVE vehicle tracking can be found on SCORE Live HD at www.score-international.com.