yo-black e media tip: play sammy's music file with the video, on the vid, adjust to hd and audio adjust to your liking...awesome! oh yea, go buy the cd! maggots!
Laughlin Event: Baja Racing News.com Race Commentary
You know its sucking wind for SCORE when the DA can take 2nd and 3rd in trophy trucks at Laughlin! Robby Gordon crosses finish and according to time, takes Laughlin Competition. Tavo Vildosola engine failure kills the weekend, blown motor. Baja south Fito Ramirez came in on the hook late after the race.
Justin Smith aka Bean, takes second on the weekend, calls BJ Baldwins driving, "he was bicycling it, blowing corners", "we went right past BJ Baldwin". "Most likely Robby won't go to Mexico this year, that'll help us in the series". Wow, the kid is smarter than Sohren. Now he needs to kick the DA to the curb...and be legit!
Trophy Trucks BIG CRASH Roll-over Robbie Pierce on the infield!
Pierce reported as OK. His truck is wadded. Looks totalled. Co-dog, Dan Vance ambulanced with a broken leg. Pierce flipped four times!
Travis Coyne's motor fails. Left on the side of the course, just after the bleachers. BJ Baldwin running backwards for final lap!
DA Steele tires a problem again today=Yokohama tire FAIL. Remember back at the Baja 1000 in 2006 when Scam Steele tried to sneak the course on BFG rubbers! Bwaaaa!
PROMO LAUGHLIN 2009 ZOOROAD/RIGOS VIDEOS¡¡¡ from RIGOS VIDEOS on Vimeo.
BJ Baldwin was storming into third, now blown tranny and making his way around the course in reverse.
Reportedly, Norman-Roeseler truck has shock issues, motor smokin' and slowing considerably. Clyde Stout third and Justin Bean may be able to move into second. Jesse James no show on the last laps...probably coming in on a hook! Confirmed, tranny blown for Mr. Sandra BullockThe worst of the worst, BJ Baldwin limps across the finish line in reverse and officially DNF's. OUCH.
Laughlin Storyline
Starting his new racing year on a high note, NASCAR owner/Driver Robby Gordon returned to his racing roots Sunday to easily dominate the field to capture the Overall and SCORE Trophy-Truck victory at the season-opening 15th SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge. With the race split into two days of 8 laps each of an intensely rugged 6.25-mile course, Gordon ran a combined total time of 1 hour, 57 minutes, 54 seconds, averaging 50.89 miles per hour in his No. 77 Team Gordon Chevy CK1500.
Starting his new racing year on a high note, NASCAR owner/Driver Robby Gordon returned to his racing roots Sunday to easily dominate the field to capture the Overall and SCORE Trophy-Truck victory at the season-opening 15th SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge. With the race split into two days of 8 laps each of an intensely rugged 6.25-mile course, Gordon ran a combined total time of 1 hour, 57 minutes, 54 seconds, averaging 50.89 miles per hour in his No. 77 Team Gordon Chevy CK1500.
Second after the opening 8 laps by just 13 seconds, Gordon easily retook the lead both physically and on corrected time on the first lap as all of his challengers fell by the wayside.
The event featured 103 starters from 12 States, Mexico, Germany and New Zealand, who competed in 16 Pro and two Sportsman classes for cars and trucks for nearly $400,000 in prize money and contingency postings. The classes were split into five groups in Laughlin, each running as part of one of five races each day of three to eight laps over the rugged and challenging 6.25-mile race course. The event was Round 1 of the 2009 SCORE Desert Series.
Las Vegas’ Danny Anderson, driving for teammate Pat Dean who is recovering from shoulder surgery, overcame a first-half deficit of 51 seconds to win the unlimited Class 1 and finish fourth overall in a time of 2:07:05, averaging 47.21mph in the Las Vegas Dissemination Bunderson-Chevy. Dean was the defending overall and Class 1 champion in this race and the driver of record this year. Anderson will receive credit for the class win, his third in this race, but will receive no SCORE championship points because the driver of record did not start or finish as required by SCORE rules.
Racing in comfortable weather with slight breezes, mild temperatures, under mostly sunny skies, Gordon started from the pole on Saturday and the outside position and physically led all 16 laps over the weekend. On Saturday, however, Gordon, Charlotte, N.C., trailed Mexico’s Gus Vildosola Jr. by 13 seconds midway through the race on corrected-time in the elapsed time race.
Gordon took the lead on corrected-time on the first lap Sunday, pulling away from the 19-truck field for his eighth career race win in the marquee SCORE Trophy-Truck division for high-tech, 800-horsepower unlimited production trucks and first since the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 in November of 2006. After running the fast lap of the day to start Sunday’s half of the race at 7:07, Gordon ran consistent victory laps of 7:15, 7:25, 7:32, 7:29, 7:33, 7:25 and 7:23.
For the second straight year, Vildosola’s No. 4 Vildosola Racing Ford F-150 broke as attrition also hit also hit Saturday’s other top challengers: B.J. Baldwin, Robbie Pierce, and Justin Lofton.
At the checkered flag and the dust settled, Gordon’s victory margin was a comfortable 4:13 over the runner-up team of Cameron Steele/Justin Smith, San Clemente, Calif., who each drove one day in the No. 16 Dessert Assassins, Chevy Silverado SCORE Trophy-Truck.
Third in SCORE Trophy-Truck was the No. 13 Stout Industries Chevy Silverado of Ed Stout, Santa Ana, Calif., who was 5:17 behind Gordon.
For both Steele and Stout, it was their first podium finishes. Steele couldn’t drive Sunday because he had to return to his ESPN XGames announcing position in Aspen, Colo., and Stout drove both days. Steele
“After qualifying first on Friday, I knew we had a truck that could dominate and we were able to do just that although we did cruise a bit too much on Saturday,” said Gordon, who finished third last weekend in the Dakar Rally in Argentina and Chile. “This was our first win at the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge and it was about time. We came in with a new race strategy and it ended up working out well. We have a busy year ahead with our NASCAR schedule, but I always enjoy coming back to the SCORE Desert Series. This win solidifies our plan more to run for the SCORE Trophy-Truck season point championship.”
Surviving the attrition on Sunday, finishing fifth overall and fourth in SCORE Trophy-Truck was Adam Householder, Orange, Calif., in the No. 24 Householder Motorsports Chevy Silverado.
Adam Pfankuch, Carlsbad, Calif., earned a pair of class wins on Sunday, winning Class 1-2/1600 as the driver of record and SCORE Lite where he drove Sunday for driver of record Rick St. John, Encinitas, Calif.
In Class 1-2/1600, defending SCORE season point champion Pfankuch, Carlsbad, Calif., increased his two-second lead to a final victory margin of 30 seconds over Brian Burgess, Riverside, Calif., who drove a Seagrove-VW.
In defeating a field of 18 starters in Class 1-2/1600, Pfankuch earned his fifth career class win in this race in a Mirage-VW. Steven Eugenio, El Centro, Calif., drove Saturday’s half of the race for Pfankuch while Las Vegas’ Aaron Hawley drove Burgess’ car on Saturday.
St. John, the defending SCORE Lite season point champion, drove to a six-second lead in SCORE Lite on Saturday before turning over a Duvel-VW to Pfrankuch. Pfankuch padded St. John’s lead by covering the course the fastest on Sunday for a 46-second victory over the husband and wife team of Michelle and Vic Bruckmann, Lemon Grove, Calif., who split the driving in their Lothringer-VW.
With his twin class wins, Pfankuch joined Rob MacCachren, Las Vegas, as the only drivers to win two classes in the same SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge.
Donald Moss, Sacramento, Calif. (Class 3, Ford Bronco) won for the seventh time in eight years. His win ties him for the most class wins in the history of this race with George Seeley. It was also the 31st career race win for Moss, a six-time SCORE class season point champion.
Among the other class winners crowned Sunday were: Robert McBeath, Las Vegas (Class 10, Jimco-Honda), Dan Chamlee, Carpenteria, Calif. (Class 7, Ford Ranger), John Holmes, Olivenhain, Calif., Ford Ranger (Class 7SX, Ford Ranger), Heidi Steele, San Clemente, Calif. (Class 6, Ford Ranger), Greg Adler, Manhattan Beach, Calif. (Class 8, Ford F-150), Gavin Skilton, Anaheim, Calif. (Stock Mini, Honda Ridgeline), Alonso Angulo, Ensenada, Mexico (Class 5/1600, 1600cc VW Baja Bug) and Kevin Carr, San Diego (Class 5, unlimited VW Baja Bug).
It was the second class win for Steele, Holmes and Carr and first for McBeath, Chamlee, Adler, Skilton and Angulo.
Sportsman Car race winner was Rory Ward, Mohave Valley, Ariz. (Chenowth-Chevy) and Sportsman Truck winner was Gary Messer, Kingman, Ariz., Trophy Lite-Chevy.
Also of note, the four-vehicle Wilson Motorsports team of Long Beach, Calif., saw brothers Randy and Ronny finish third and fourth in Class 1 and seventh and eighth overall while second generation Wilson desert racers Brian and Brad finished fourth and 15th respectively in Class 1-2/1600.
A total of 59 of the 103 official starters finished the challenge, for a .57.3 finishing rate.
Round 2 of the 2009 SCORE Desert Series will be the 22nd Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250, March 13-15, in Baja California, Mexico.
The 15th annual SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge is sponsored by the Laughlin Tourism Commission, the Laughlin visits Bureau, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority in association with Las Vegas Events. The race is sanctioned and produced by SCORE International of Los Angeles.
14th SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge
Round 1, 2008 SCORE Desert Series
Jan. 22-25 - Laughlin, Nevada, 6.25 miles per lap
Total Starters: 113 Total Finishers: 59 57.3 Percent
TOP OVERALL FINISHERS
Rank, Driver(s), Manufacturer, Class, 16-lap, 100-mile time (miles per hour)
1. Robby Gordon, Charlotte, N.C., Chevy CK1500, SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK, 1 hour, 57 minutes, 54 seconds (50.891)
2. Cameron Steele/Justin Smith, San Clemente, Calif., Chevy Silverado, SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK, 2:02:07 (49.133)
3. Ed Stout, Santa Ana, Calif./Trigger Gumm, Mission Viejo, Calif., Chevy Silverado, SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK, 2:03:11 (48.708)
4. Danny Anderson, Las Vegas, Bunderson-Chevy, Class 1, 2:07:05 (47.213)
5. Adam Householder, Orange, Calif., Chevy Silverado, SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK, 2:08:32 (46.680)
6. Harley Letner, Orange, Calif., Alpha-Chevy, Class 1, 2:09:54 (46.189)
7. Randy Wilson, Lakewood, Calif./Rick Wilson, Long Beach, Calif., Jimco-Chevy, Class 1, 2:10:32 (45.965)
8. Ronny Wilson/Rick Wilson, Long Beach, Calif., Jimco-Chevy, Class 1, 2:10:53 (45.842)
9. Enrique Bujanda, El Paso, Texas, Porter-Chevy, Class 1, 2:12:53 (45.152)
10. Roger Norman, Reno, Nev., Ford F-150, SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK, 2:13:31 (44.938)
11. Greg Nunley, Tulare, Calif., Chevy Silverado, SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK, 2:14:16 (44.687)
12. Julio Herrera, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Jefferies-Chevy, Class 1, 2:17:20 (43.689)
13. Richard Boyle, Ridgecrest, Calif./Ron Brant, Oak Hills, Calif., Jimco-Chevy, Class 1, 2:19:14 (43.093)
14. Brian Parkhouse, Bell Gardens, Calif., Jimco-Chevy, Class 1, 2:19:33 (42.995)
15. Rick Romans/Jerry Bennett, Big Bear Lake, Calif., Jefferies-Chevy, Class 1, 2:24:28 (41.532)
16. Dale Lenk/Brett Lenk/Grant Lenk, Costa Mesa, Calif., Penhall-Chevy, Class 1, 2:25:41 (41.185)
17. Mark Post, Laguna Beach, Calif./Rob MacCachren, Las Vegas, Ford F-150, SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK, 2:25:50 (41.743)
SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge
All-Time Overall Winners
1995—Ivan Stewart, SCORE Trophy-Truck
Ed/Tim Herbst, Class 1
1996—Rob MacCachren, SCORE Trophy-Truck
Ryan Thomas, Class 1
1997—Ed/Tim Herbst, SCORE Trophy-Truck
Mark Post, Class 1
1998—David Ashley/Dan Smith, SCORE Trophy-Truck
1999—Troy Herbst, Class 1
2000—Gary/Mark Weyhrich, Class 1
2001—Steve Sourapas, Class 1
2002—Dale/Mike Dondel, Class 1
2003—Dale Ebberts, Class 1
2004—Gary Dircks, SCORE Trophy-Truck
2005—Dale Ebberts, Class 1
2006—B.J. Baldwin, SCORE Trophy-Truck
2007—B.J. Baldwin, SCORE Trophy-Truck
2008—Pat Dean, Class 1
2009—Robby Gordon, SCORE Trophy-Truck
SO-CAL Off-Road Radio Reported the big off-road racing stories on KCBQ 1170 AM 50,000 watts of terrestrial radio power today! BIG TIME RACE SMACK TALK BLASTED ALL OVER Southern California!
The Big Story at Laughlin Nevada Race
Lots of LIVE! race coverage, race results and interviews here at Baja Racing News.com, but the biggest story is what racers ARE NOT HERE.
SCORE is hurting when Volkswagen, Terrible Herbst, Riviera Racing, Alan Pflueger and many other of the 'Big Guns' of desert off-road racing don't show up to your race party in Laughlin. It's even worse when you put on your entry list, teams that never paid entry fees, simply to have them on the public list. False advertising to the fans who shell out upwards of $50-$100, just to see the event as a spectator.
Really, how low do you have to go, to announce desert off-road racing teams to the public, that didn't have any intention of racing this weekend, simply to get butts in the stands?
Baja Racing News.com
15th ANNUAL SCORE LAUGHLIN DESERT CHALLENGE
Round one of 2009 SCORE Desert Series
January 22-25, Laughlin, Nevada
Driver quotes after second round of races Sunday, January 25
SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK
ROBBY GORDON, No. 77 (First on Sunday, first in class and first overall. This was Gordon’s eighth career SCORE Trophy-Truck victory and his first since the 2006 Baja 1000.) – Yeah, we were (on cruise control). We’ve come here for many years and we’re normally fast here at Laughlin but we don’t win so this year, I came with a little different strategy. We’d sit and ride the first race. Laps four, five and six here, I backed off quite a bit. I knew I had a minute and 45 on B.J. (Baldwin) and I knew he was up on me by 30 seconds but I was cool with it because the most important thing for us to do is win with this Monster Chevrolet. It’s always fun to win – it doesn’t matter where it’s at. I’m glad we did it here at Laughlin and we’ll be back next year.
CAMERON STEELE/JUSTIN SMITH, No. 16 (Fourth on Sunday, second in class and second overall. Steele drove Saturday and Smith drove Sunday.) – Smith said: I had a great time out there. This is my first time ever in a Trophy-Truck this weekend. He had me qualify for him and we came out in sixth place and he got sixth place (Saturday) and here we are and hopefully we’re in the top three. I’ve always raced limited buggies and I’ve done my fair share of riding in Trophy-Trucks with Cameron and Clyde Stout and those guys. It was pretty nice. Clyde and I did some battling and he made a little mistake trying to push too hard and it feels pretty good to beat him to the finish line. I just tried to keep my mind off being nervous and on other things. (On lap 7, he was on the infield straightaway three-wide with Bill McBeath and Stout) I came on the inside of Bill McBeath and I didn’t even know that Clyde was coming. I knew he was there, but I didn’t know how close he was. He put some time on me when I slowed up from McBeath, trying to be polite, then Clyde came in and decided that he wanted to go three wide. I let Clyde go out there and get by us and then he bobbled in front of me and blew a corner and I got my chance to get back, so I took it. I was really excited for all my driving. I think I did a pretty good job. You’ve got all the big dogs out here and to come out and battle with all those guys, it’s awesome.
ED “CLYDE” STOUT, No. 13 (Third on Sunday, third in class and third overall.) – We had a good run. We finished eighth (Saturday) and our motor is about 620 to 630 horsepower. This one here, K Tech built it and Red Line tuned it and, man, they’re good guys. But I think we’re about 120 to 150 down in horsepower from these guys and we rattled them. This is an incredible truck. (On getting passed by Justin Smith in the No. 16 for second place) I was going down to this fast section where you kick it sideways and you drop it to second ... and on the last lap I came over and the edge grabbed and pushed my truck to the right so I had to pop over the berm and he got by me.
ADAM HOUSEHOLDER, No. 24 (Fifth on Sunday and fourth in class) – There was not one issue. In testing, we broke a motor and went to a small-horsepower backup motor and there was not one issue. We’re down probably 250-300 horsepower and it was tough passing people. We just had to carry more momentum than everyone else. I didn’t get passed too much. I let them work for it just like I had to. We saw people ahead of us and they were broke down and we just picked them off one by one.
ROGER NORMAN/LARRY ROESELER, No. 8 (Sixth on Sunday, fifth in class. Norman drove Saturday and Roeseler drove Sunday.) – Roeseler said: Roger had a heck of a run yesterday and we’re a team and we talked about it and he said, ‘It’s your turn to drive today.’ I wanted to make the team proud. Things started off pretty good but then we started having power steering problems about the third lap so it was pretty tough to manipulate this course without power steering. We had to stop and put about two quarts in it and oil was flying into our face. It was tough just to get those last few laps in. We’ve had rougher days, but to get all eight laps in on Saturday and all eight laps in on Sunday and leave here with a fifth-place finish ... we’re not out of it.
GREG NUNLEY, No. 11 (Seventh on Sunday, sixth in class.) – It was a little bit rougher than yesterday, a little soft in the back. We just wanted to finish – that was our goal today. We didn’t have any problems at all. We didn’t have to pull into the hot pit at all, not one time. It went really good today. We finished yesterday in 1:06 and today in 1:07 so we were pretty consistent. I had a really good time.
B.J. BALDWIN, No. 1 (DNF on Sunday after finishing fifth on Saturday. Baldwin lost all forward gears early on his seventh lap and tried, but failed, to finish the final lap in reverse.) -- It’s all about persistence. I’ve heard it over the radio for the last 20 minutes that we are THE fastest truck at the Laughlin Desert Challenge in reverse, so I’m pretty proud of that. We gave it our all. It looks like we lost all forward gears in the family (father Bobby also DNF with gearbox woes). The only gears that worked were reverse and park. We did the best we can. I went as fast as I could in reverse for you guys to try to put on a show. I was going to get some momentum for the Leap but I didn’t even know it was coming up. We were making a little bit of time on Robby (Gordon). I think he was playing it a little conservative today, but we were really going for it. We did the best we could. I think we lost all forward gears. (What’s it like driving in reverse?) It’s entertaining – and weird. I’m going as fast as I can in reverse. You see all the other guys coming this way (toward you) and their wheels are working and they’re going just 110 percent trying to get around you. (Co-driver) Mike Lucey is telling me where to go and I’m peeking out (the window).
BRIAN COLLINS, No. 12 (Second on Sunday, but DNF because he finished only four of the required eight laps on Saturday.) – Yesterday we broke the front end off on the fourth lap and rolled the truck. It was really frustrating because we were running so well. I think we were even ahead of Gordon, time-wise. So we just recouped and tried to get it done today. The last two years I’ve had DNFs both days and that’s a tough way to start the season. When the truck runs, I don’t think there’s a better truck out there.
CLASS 1
PAT DEAN/DANNY ANDERSON, No. 109 (First on Sunday, first in class and fourth overall. Anderson drove both days for driver of record Pat Dean, who was unable to drive because of a shoulder injury.) – Anderson said: I’d have to say today old age and treachery overcame youth and skill. My plan was to let Harley (Letner, who was first on Saturday) go. I knew I wasn’t going to beat him by 50 seconds so I just let him go do his thing. About the third lap we come around and he had a flat tire and that was pretty much it. We just took it easy on the car and the car was awesome. Butch Dean and P.J. Flores are unbelievable prepping this Bunderson car. That’s two years in a row for these guys as champions. I knew I wasn’t going to beat him (Letner) by a minute if he had a clean run -- no way. The only chance I had was to let him do his thing and hope something happened to him and it worked. We just kept the same pace and tried not to tear up the car. We knew we were only racing Harley today and we had to get it around for eight laps. It was good.
HARLEY LETNER, No. 118 (Eighth on Sunday, second in class.) – It didn’t go exactly as I had planned. We had one flat, one setback, but a strong finish will keep us up there in points, hopefully. That was the only problem we had. It happened on the beginning of the second lap, about mile 2, and I had to just limp it in the rest of the way and trying not to bend the wheel over the caliper. We got it changed and I tried to make up some time but I don’t think I made up enough. The car was running real good. I was pushing it down a little further after I got my flat. I was quite upset, but I was just trying to keep it in one piece and make it to the finish line.
RANDY WILSON, No. 102 (Fourth on Sunday, third in class.) – It was a lot of fun. It’s great. All four (team) cars finished this weekend so we’ll go to San Felipe (for the 23rd Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 March 13-15) in the top 10 in points in all the classes, so it will be good. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season. (He and brother Ronny ran second and third physically most of the day, with Ronny finishing in that spot) My co-driver said, ‘They’re right behind you.’ He’s hunting me. I blew two or three turns. It’s easier to be the hunter. But they were going faster than I was. We worked on the cars a little bit last night. This really isn’t our forte, you know. These are good San Felipe cars. We had no hiccups. We were a little bit light in the front end yesterday, suspension-wise, we were bottoming out really bad. Today was better.
RONNY WILSON, No. 120 (Second on Sunday, fourth in class.) – We had a great time today. The cars ran great all day and I have to thank Mike Stapleton and Adam Wik and Fortin and BFG – we had no problems with the tires – and I can’t wait to go to San Felipe. The track is going away real bad, but SCORE did a great job and the flagmen out there are slowing people down out there. It’s great. We came here to finish and get the finishing points and get down to Mexico. It was a lot of fun out there today. We diced it for about three or four laps and it was just a lot of fun. It’s a great way to start out the season; we’re probably in the top five in points. We had no problems. Yesterday, I was just off my game a little bit and I just didn’t push it like I was supposed to. But that’s all right. We’ll be all right. You’re just supposed to survive Laughlin and we did.
ENRIQUE BUJANDA/HECTOR TRILLO, No. 113 (Fifth on Sunday, fifth in class. Bujanda drove both days but Trillo served as the spokesman for the team.) – Trillo said: Enrique drove both days and we had no problems at all. We had a real good race. The course was hard – very hard. Now we’ll go to San Felipe. We got fourth last year so we’re hoping to get first this year.
JULIO HERRERA, No. 121 (Ninth on Sunday, sixth in class.) – Our suspension was too soft and we were all over the place all the way around the course. The steering also was off. Yesterday, the course was a lot rougher. But, you know, it’s good for my first race, my first race with SCORE and the first time in Laughlin. I race a lot in Cabo (San Lucas), but this is my first time in Laughlin. The plan is to race the whole year with SCORE in Class 1 and teaming up with Damen Jefferies in a Trophy-Truck. We hope we can make it a whole season.
BRIAN PARKHOUSE, No. 107 (Third on Sunday, eighth in class.) – We were doing the last three laps in only fifth gear. We were fine all day and I don’t know what happened. I was in fourth and went to go down to third. It waned. I brought it back up to fourth and had fourth for a little while, then no fourth. We had a good time. The car ran good. It’s just about getting across the line here. I put the car on its side Saturday. It just tucked under on me and went over on its side. We still had a pretty good finish.
RICK ROMANS, No. 122 (Tenth on Sunday, ninth in class.) – I’m not too sure if the fuel is bad or what, but we didn’t run too well. We had a pretty good time. We had a lot of fun. Jefferies Racing put together a pretty nice car and we didn’t have any problems here today. We had a good run. No problems; just that the motor wasn’t running very good. But we got it here (to the finish).
CLASS 1-2/1600
ADAM PFANKUCH/STEVE EUGENIO, No. 1600 (First on Sunday, first in class. This was the fourth Laughlin Desert Challenge victory for Pfankuch, who also won in 2003 and 2005 in 1-2.1600 and last year in SCORE Lite. Pfankuch drove Sunday and Eugenio drove Saturday.) – Pfankuch said: We had the lead the first day and all we had to do was go out there and hold it. (Second-place Steve Burgess was on your bumper the whole day) Yeah, all you can do is turn around and smile because he couldn’t get by me. It made for a fun day. It’s good to be back. We had about a three-second lead on top of Burgess and we started side-by-side, so the strategy was just to stay right with him or stay ahead of him and it ended up being a pretty good cruise. I just got by on a couple of turns. He was a little slower in one turn, I carried some momentum and just got by him and then after I pulled ahead a little bit, just cruised. But it was pretty much hammer down all day. Not a bad way to start 2009.
BRIAN BURGESS/AARON HAWLEY, No. 1603 (Second on Sunday, second in class. Hawley drove Saturday and Burgess drove Sunday.) – Burgess said: This course has a lot of sharp edges and it’s really, really pounding. You feel it through the steering wheel; you feel it on your head and everywhere. I want to thank Aaron Hawley for doing such a good job yesterday (Saturday), and congratulations to Adam on the win. We fought a carburetor issue all weekend. We fixed it a little bit today, but it still wasn’t 100 percent and when you’re racing Adam you’ve got to have your game on top. When you’d get off the gas at start-finish it was stalling. I think this is rougher than San Felipe because of the sharp edges. There’s no way to set up a car for it. It’s just hold on and pound through it.
CODY ROBINSON/ROBERTO ROMO, No. 1616 (Seventh on Sunday, third in class. Robinson drove Saturday and Romo drove Sunday.) – Romo said: It went bad for me. We had a left-rear flat on the second flat and that cost us the race right there. That was the only problem we had. That cost us maybe a minute or so – it happened about race mile 3.5 and we went all the way to the pits. It only took them about a minute to change it. We are the first two-seater on the finish line. It’s way different between single-seater and two-seaters.
CLASS 3
DONALD MOSS, No. 300 (First on Sunday, first in class. This was Moss’ seventh Laughlin Desert Challenge victory in the past eight years.) – That was a pretty good run. It was a lot tougher out there today. We took it a little easier today; this thing just doesn’t do as well with the big holes and there was really nowhere to open it up. Our laps were a little slower today but it was still a lot of fun. This was our seventh win here. (What’s the key to your success here?) We just know the vehicle real and we don’t push it beyond its limits. We just basically take it easy and don’t tear it up. Take care of the equipment, that’s the main thing.
CLASS 5
KEVIN CARR, No. 500 (First on Sunday, first in class.) – It was nice today. It looked like they bladed a lot of the course so it was nice and smooth. It was really soft. I think we had a bit of advantage over Carlos because we’ve got more low-end torque and the big BFGoodrich tires in the back just helps a lot with sand. The car ran beautifully. It’s the second time we’ve won here and I’m high as a kite.
CLASS 5/1600
ALONSO ANGULO, No. 552 (First Sunday, first in class. First career SCORE victory) – Muy bien! Perfecto! No problems today, no flat tires. It was pretty easy (today). We had some problems (Saturday) but nothing today. The course was harder today.
CLASS 6
HEIDI STEELE/ROSS SAVAGE, No. 601 (First on Sunday, first in class. Steele drove Saturday and Savage drove Sunday.) – Savage said: I just came aboard with the team Tuesday night. It was kind of a last-minute deal. Heidi drove the truck for her first time Friday; she did three laps. She drove (Saturday) and did a phenomenal job. Unfortunately, we lost an axle. We were able to finish and we were able to play a little bit more today. (Being the only car in the class) You’ve got to drive smart. You want to finish, you want to get your points, but at the same time you’re out there with the (class) 7s, you’ve got a reputation and you don’t want to have a bad lap time. It’s kind of a pride thing. You’ve got to find a happy medium. Don’t push it too hard, don’t take yourself out, but go out there and have fun and show them what the truck can do.
CLASS 7
DAN CHAMLEE, No. 700 (Second on Sunday, first in class.) – The BFG tires were really hooked up. We never had a traction problem. It was awesome. We collapsed a trailing arm (on the passenger side on the second lap). It was hitting hard out there because of it, but this truck never comes apart, it just keeps going. It was more of a miss that I was fighting with that made me slow down, and it was hitting real hard on the bumps and I didn’t want to break it. This old beater truck – I’m down on horsepower and it’s breaking and falling apart, but it just keeps going. This truck always gets me through. It’s the low-budget, never quits.
CHRIS TAYLOR/JOSH QUINTERO, No. 719 (First on Sunday. Completed five of six required laps Saturday and was a DNF in class. Taylor drove Saturday and Quintero drove Sunday.) -- Quintero said: We broke the center out of the wheel with a mile to go (on Saturday). He (Taylor) blew a turn and stuffed it and just broke the center right out. We put a new wheel on it and finished (but not within the time limit). We came out today and showed them we can do it. I think we took the overall for today. We pretty much figured we weren’t (in contention for an overall class win), but we came out for the fans, to redeem ourselves.
JOSE CANCHOLA JR., No. 703 (Third on Sunday, second in class. Canchola was first on Saturday and, despite getting stuck briefly on lap 2, was leading Sunday when he pulled into the hot pits on the last lap.) -- We didn’t know it was the last lap. We had a fuel pump problem. We changed it. We thought we had to make another lap. It was a mess. We had some problems with communications.
CLASS 7SX
JOHN HOLMES/MARK LANDERSMAN, No. 759 (First on Sunday, first in class. Holmes drove Saturday and Landersman drove Sunday.) – Landersman said (tongue in cheek): It was a tight race all day. We battled all day. It was tough. They had us at one point, but we pushed it pretty hard to get back in front and we brought home the first place, and we were the only ones in our class so it was a lot of fun. (Turning serious, he added:) We just took it easy and shook the truck down and it was all good. We just used it as a test. We tested a couple of different setups in the tire and a couple of different setups in the suspension and made some minor changes. This is a great opportunity under race conditions to see how everything handles and what you might not try normally you can try sometimes. John stopped every lap yesterday and took a look at it. I just cruised around and I don’t think the wheels ever left the ground.
CLASS 8
GREG ADLER, No. 802 (First on Sunday, first in class.) – The course was a little rougher today; it was pretty chewed up. We just kind of picked our way through after we built up enough of a lead. As we started getting further into the race, we knew we had a pretty good lead so we just didn’t want to break it. This was a good weekend for us. It was fun. (Are you going to run for the points title?) We’re going to figure that one out. This certainly gives us a good start. Hopefully, there’s enough competition at some of the other races, too, that makes it worthwhile to do.
CLASS 10
ROBERT McBEATH/JESSICA McBEATH, No. 1003 (Fourth on Sunday, first in class.) – I had a three-minute and 16-second lead coming in so my goal was just to keep the cars in sight and not break and bring the car home. That’s basically what we did. We gave up about 35 seconds to them and concentrated on not breaking the car. It looks like we lost our alternator but on a short course like this it’s not a disadvantage. We ran hard yesterday and did what we needed to do and today we just wanted to bring it home. There’s a strategy that’s involved: The guys that are behind have to race hard, push hard, to catch up and they’re more likely to break. We had a good time out there today.
MIKEY LAWRENCE, No. 1000 (Second on Sunday, second in class.) – I guess I did one thing well: I kept all four wheels down today. Yesterday, I was battling with Bryce Menzies and having fun and I came into a turn a little too hot and tipped it over. It took us a couple of minutes to tip it back over and we finished third. There were no problems, no flats, nothing (today). We lost a little oil, so we put a little oil in it this morning and that was it. It’s (Class 10) a tremendous class; I’m loving it.
SCOTT GAILEY/SCOTT WHIPPLE, No. 1004 (Third on Sunday, third in class. Whipple drove Saturday and Gailey drove Sunday.) – Gailey said: Scott Whipple’s stepson, Johnny, rode with me for the first time and did an excellent job. There were no problems, none at all. This is a new car, so it’s built to the new rules. We’re a couple hundred pounds heavier than the rest of the vehicles and we’re down on the Hondas in horsepower, so it’s a battle. You have to do everything you can with air pressure in the tires and make sure you’re on your game. Like we’ve always said: If you’re not there at the finish, you can’t win. We’re at the finish and we had an incredible weekend.
ADAM WIK, No. 1010 (First on Sunday but failed to complete all seven required laps on Saturday.) – We had a great day. Everything worked perfect for us today. Yesterday we had some issues. Yesterday we had a tranny get stuck in gear. We fixed that, then we had a power steering pulley break and that put us out. So we just decided to try and go through the whole car and get it ready for today and everything worked out great. No issues at all. Started dead last and just tried to pick my way through the pack and everything worked out good. (Wik is an engine builder. He said McBeath and Freemal in Class 10 were among 10 or 11 drivers using his motors here.) This is advertising, yeah, but we race. I love racing; that’s how I got into building engines. If anything, I’d rather be a racecar driver than an engine builder, but that just doesn’t work out sometimes, so I’ve got to build motors to pay for my racing.
SCORE LITE
RICK ST. JOHN/ADAM PFANKUCH, No. 1200 (First on Sunday, first in class. Fifth career Laughlin title for Pfankuch, who also won today in Class 1-2/1600. St. John drove Saturday and Pfankuch drove Sunday.) – Pfankuch said: It feels really good. I wish I could have gone a little faster because I had someone right on my tail but that’s how the (Class) 10 cars come and affect us in front of us. But I couldn’t ask for anything more than a 1-2 finish. (Vic Bruckmann was within seconds of you all day long. How was that?) I felt really good. Every time I turned around I saw them back there and then I’d get stuck behind a 10 car and he’d reel me in and then he had to deal with it, too. The last lap, I had to deal with one 10 car and he didn’t so he pulled a lot of time on me but it all worked out, so I’m happy. It was fun out there. The course was really chewed up today.
MICHELLE BRUCKMANN/VIC BRUCKMANN, No. 1206 (Second on Sunday, second in class. Michelle drove Saturday and Vic drove Sunday.) – Vic said: It got pretty rough. I wasn’t expecting it to be that rough but it was fun – a lot of fun. Michelle drove yesterday and finished third. I just drove as hard as I could today. The only problem I had today was the Class 10 cars, which should have been way faster than us. It was hard to get around them. Other than that, it was great.
DAN WORLEY/STAN POTTER, No. 1201 (Fifth on Sunday, fourth in class. Worley, who took last year off from racing, drove both days.) – It was rough. We tried to keep up with those young kids. We’re in it for the year so we had to finish today. If you start off with a DNF here, it’s hard to recover. We gave it all I had for the first couple of laps and then we held back a little bit and put it in cruise mode but then we had fuel issues on the last lap. We switched fuel pumps and fixed that. We haven’t driven in a year so this was the first time in a car in a year. It felt good, like an old comfortable friend. I’ll probably be a little sore tomorrow but I’ll start riding a bike and get back into shape.
BRENT PARKHOUSE/CHUCK SACKS, No. 1208 (Third on Sunday, third in class. Parkhouse drove Saturday and Sacks drove Sunday.) Sacks said: It was a good day. It was bit rough out there. We hunted our way through trying to find lines. It was pick and choose every lap, looking for something to smooth it out any way we could, and spent most of the day in the air. It was tough. It didn’t help at all trying to make up time. It was slim pickings for anything smooth out there at all. The car ran like a champ. I’d have liked maybe another 450 horsepower.
STOCK MINI
GAVIN SKILTON, No. 779 (First on Sunday, first in class.) – The course was a lot rougher today, but another great day. Sal (Fish) always puts on a great race with SCORE. Laughlin is really great because everyone gets to see so much of the action, the crews get to hang out and see the action; they’re not driving all night across thousands of miles of desolate roads. It was a fun day. The weather was great and the Ridgeline performed smooth as ever and absolutely no problems all weekend. The course definitely gets a lot rougher it was a good day of racing. We were running consistent lap times – believe it or not, a little faster than yesterday, which is shocking. My team did a great job ... we didn’t really turn a wrench on the Ridgeline all weekend. It’s been a really nice, pleasant weekend for the team, so we had a lot of fun. We’re going to be here for the whole series. We’re chasing a championship and the Milestone and just trying to show people how tough this truck really is.
FIRST DAY RACE RECAPS - Saturday, January 24, 2009
NOTE – Racers divided into five different groups, by individual class, to race three, five, six, seven or eight laps over a 6.25-mile desert course. The competition starts and finishes with a stadium-style course in front of grandstand seating. Combined with the hillside viewing, the event VIP tent, and a one outlying spectator area, more than 7,000 spectators were on hand for the first of two days of racing (according to Laughlin Tourism Commission Officials). Racers had one-hour, 20 minutes (80 minutes) time limits from the time each started to complete the required laps each day to be an official finisher for that day. The event finishing order, by class, will be based on the combined two-day elapsed time of each racer and in order to be a finisher, the racer must finish all required laps both days. Sunday’s start order will be in the same order as they finished Saturday, except for those classes that had 10 or more finishers on Saturday. The top 10 finishers from each of those classes will have a drawing to determine their start order for Sunday. Because they qualified for starting positions, SCORE Trophy-Truck will start Sunday in the order they finished Saturday.
GROUP #1...Classes 1-2/1600 (6 laps), 5/1600 (6), SPT Car (6), 23 Total Starters, 20 Finishers
· CLASS 1-2/1600 (6 laps, 37.5 miles, 18 Total Starters, 17 finishers) - Eighteen (17) of the 19 entries started Saturday with 17 finishers led by Adam Pfankuch (1600, Carlsbad, Calif. with Steven Eugenio, El Centro, Calif., Mirage, 51 minutes, 31 seconds ,43.675 miles per hour), the 2008 SCORE Desert Series Class 1-2/1600 season champion with two event wins. Pfankuch finish third in the 2008 Laughlin Desert Challenge Class 1-2/1600 race. Brian Burgess (1603, Riverside, Calif. with Aaron Hawley, Las Vegas, Seagrove, :51;33 (43.646 mph) was second followed by Cody Robinson (1616 with Roberto Romo, El Centro, Calif., Curry, :52:16, 43.048 mph). Pfankuch was down seven seconds to Burgess after four laps and tied his rival after five laps to post a two-second advantage on the sixth and final lap. The Boyers (1612, Rick Boyer/Cory Boyer, Bakersfield, Calif., Lothringer, ;56;42, 39.682 mph), the defending Laughlin Class 1-2/1600 champions and second-place finishers to Pfankuch on the season list, were 14th Saturday by being over five minutes behind the leader.
· CLASS 5/1600 (1600cc VW Baja Bugs, 6 laps, 37.5 miles) - With only two entries, two racers started Saturday with one finishing as Alonso Angulo (552 with Roberto Escobedo, Ensenada, Mexico) completing the required six laps in 1 hour, 5 minutes, 52 seconds (34.160 miles per hour). Angulo was third on the 2008 SCORE Desert Class 5/1600 points list.
· SPORTSMAN CAR (6 laps, 37.5 miles) - All thre entries started Saturday with only two finishing Saturday’s six-lap, 37.5-mile circuit. Louie Serna (1403, Flagstaff, Ariz., Tatum-Chevy, 51 minutes, 3 seconds, 44.074 miles per hour) led from the start to best Rory Ward (1401 with Tracy Ward, Mohave Valley, Ariz., Chenowth-Chevy, :53:48, 41.822 mph). The Wards are the defending Laughlin Sportsman car champions. Peter Lang (1400, Santa Rosa, Calif. Homebuilt-Chevy), the 2007 and 2008 SCORE Desert Sportsman car champions did not complete a lap Saturday.
GROUP #2... Classes 8 (6 laps), 6 (6), 7 (6), 7SX (5), Stock Full (5), Stock Mini (5), Class 3 (5), SPT Truck(5)
... 23 Total Starters, 19 finishers
· CLASS 8 (Full-sized two-wheel drive trucks, 6 laps, 37.5 miles) - With two entries, both starters Saturday finished the required six laps with Greg Adler (802, Manhattan Beach, Calif., Ford F-150, 50 minutes, 35 seconds, 44.481 miles per hour) finishing first followed by Clyde Stacy (801, Bristol, Va. with Justin Matney, Bristol, Tenn., Chevy Silverado, 1:10:31, 31.907 mph). Adler placed third in the 2007 SCORE Desert Series Class 8 point standings and did not complete the required two-day lap total in the 2008 Laughlin Class 8 competition.
· CLASS 6 (Unlimited, production mini trucks, 6 laps, 37.5 miles) - With only one entry, Heidi Steele (601, San Clemente, Calif. with Ross Savage, Huntington Beach, Calif., Ford Ranger, 1 hour, 16 minutes, 16 seconds, 29.540 miles per hour) completed the required six laps. Two miles into the last lap, Steele’s car broke an axle and Savage completed the last four miles as the driver as the vehicle finished nearly four minutes ahead of the course cut-off.
· CLASS 7 (Open mini trucks, 6 laps, 37.5 miles) - With seven entries and six starters, four racers finished the required six laps as Jose Canchola Jr. (703, Mexicali, Mexico, Ford Ranger, 52 minutes, 5 seconds, 43.200 miles per hour) holds a one minute lead over A.J. Rodriguez (704, Perris, Calif., Ford Ranger, :53:05, 42.386 mph). Dan Chamlee (700 with Tom Chamlee, Carpenteria, Calif., Ford Ranger, :54:00, 41.666 mph) finished the first day in third-place. Chris Taylor (719, El Centro, Calif. with Josh Quintero, Imperial, Calif., Ford Ranger) had a 1 minutes, 43 second lead after five laps before breaking a spindle on the last lap. Chamlee is a four-time SCORE Desert Series Class 7 champion (2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008). Taylor placed third for the season in 2008 with Rodriguez fifth.
Round 1, 2009 SCORE Desert Series
15th SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge
FIRST DAY RACE RECAPS - Saturday, January 24, 2009, Page 2
GROUP #2...Classes 8 (6 laps), 6 (6), 7 (6), 7SX (5), Stock Full (5), Stock Mini (5), Class 3 (5), SPT Truck(5)
...23 Total Starters, 19 finishers
· CLASS 7SX (Modified, open mini trucks, 5 laps, 31.25 miles) - With only one entry, John Holmes (759, Olivenhain, Calif. with Mark Landersman, Temecula, Calif., Ford Ranger, 54 minutes, 12 seconds, 34.594 miles per hour) completed the required five laps. Holmes has finished fourth and second in the 2007 and 2008 SCORE Desert Series Class 7SX standings. He won the 2007 Laughlin Class 7SX title and did not complete the required laps in 2008.
· STOCK FULL (Stock, Full-sized trucks, 5 laps, 31.25 miles) - With only one entry, Justin Matney (861, Bristol, Tenn. with Clyde Stacy, Bristol, Va., Dodge Ram 2500, 1 hour, 4 seconds, 31.215 miles per hour) completed the required five laps. Co-driver Stacy was third on the 2008 SCORE Desert Series Stock Full standings for the season. Matney and Stacy did not complete the required Laughlin laps in 2008.
· STOCK MINI (Stock, Mini-sized trucks, 5 laps, 31.25 miles) - With one entry, Gavin Skilton (779, Anaheim, Calif., Honda Ridgeline, 58 minutes, 50 seconds, 31.870 miles per hour) completed the required five laps Saturday. Skilton placed second to Rod Hall on the Stock Mini 2008 SCORE Desert Series standings for the season.
· CLASS 3 (Short Wheelbase 4X4, 5 laps, 31.25 miles) - Donald Moss (300, Sacramento, Calif. with Ken Moss, Marysville, Calif., Ford Bronco, :51 minutes, 23 seconds, 36.490 miles per hour) was the only entry in the class. He is seeking his seventh Laughlin Class 3 title (2002-2006, 2008). He captured the 2008 Class 3 SCORE Desert Series point’s title.
· SPORTSMAN TRUCK (5 laps, 31.25 miles) - Eight of the 10 entries that started Saturday finished the required five laps led by Gary Messer (1506 with Mike Simpson, Kingman, Ariz., Trophy Lite 2008-Chevy, 45 minutes, 46 seconds, 40.968 miles per hour) with a one second lead over Jonathon Libby (1502 with John Libby Jr., Dillingham, Alaska, Toyota Tundra, :45:47, 40.954 mph). Rob Anderson (1503, San Clemente, Calif., Ford Ranger, :49:23, 37.968 mph) was third. Libby held a 54-second lead after the first lap, 75-second edge after two laps and 76 seconds after three laps. Messer made up the deficit on the fourth lap to take a five second lead with Libby making up four seconds on his final lap.
GROUP #3...Class 10 (7 laps), SCORE Lite (7), Class 5 (7), 19 Total Starters, 14 finishers
· CLASS 10 (Single or two-seaters to 1650cc, 7 laps, 43.75 miles) - With nine entries, only four of the nine starters completed the required seven laps Saturday led by Robert McBeath (1003 with Jessica McBeath, Las Vegas, Jimco-Honda, 59 minutes, 1 second, 44.478 miles per hour). McBeath was fourth after the first three laps and gained the lead when Larry Job (1007, Las Vegas with Bryce Menzies, Henderson, Nev., Jimco-Honda) could not complete the final lap. Job held a 51-second lead entering the last lap over McBeath. Scott Gailey (1004 with Patrick Gailey, Norco, Calif., GET-VW, 1:02:17, 42.146 mph) finished second followed by Mikey Lawrence (1000, Sunset Beach, Calif., Lothringer-VW, 1:02:25, 42.056 mph). Lawrence won the Class 10 SCORE Desert Series points standings in 2008. Brian Freemal (1005, Las Vegas with Dave Deatley, Mohave Valley, Ariz., Jimco-Honda, 1:18:09, 33.589 mph) held 75 and 98 second leads over Lawrence and McBeath after the first three laps, but had mechanical problems on his fourth lap where he posted a time of 28 minutes, 29 seconds.
· SCORE LITE (VW-powered, Limited single-1776cc-or two-seaters-1835cc, 7 laps, 43.75 miles) - All eight entries started and finished Saturday’s required seven laps. Rick St. John (1200, Encinitas, Calif. with Adam Pfankuch, Carlsbad, Calif., Duvel, 1 hour, 5 seconds, 43.689 miles per hour) hold a six-second edge over Dan Worley (1201, Encinitas, Calif. with Stan Potter, San Marcos, Calif., Jimco, 1:00:11, 43.616 mph). Michelle Bruckmann (1206 with Vic Bruckmann, Lemon Grove, Calif., Lothringer, 1:00:42, 43.245 mph) is third. Jake Jones (1203, Aliso Viejo, Calif., Henry) held a 40 second lead over St. John entering the seventh lap, but did not finish the last lap. Entering the last of seven laps, St. John was only one second ahead of Worley, who had led Saturday’s winner through five laps as both racers were trailing Jones. St. John was the 2008 SCORE Desert Series Score Lite champion as he opened the season by winning the Laughlin race. Worley and Potter were the 2007 Laughlin Score Lite champions.
· CLASS 5 (Unlimited VW Baja Bugs, 7 laps, 43.75 miles) - Only two of the three entries and starters finished Saturday’s seven required laps. Kevin Carr (500, San Diego, 1 hour, 2 minutes, 31 seconds, 41.988 miles per hour) led from the start to become the first day leader over Carlos Albanez (501, Calexico, Calif., with Luivan Voelker, Mexicali, Mexico, 1:03:59, 41.026 mph). Carr was the 2008 SCORE Desert Series Class 5 champion as he won three races last season, including the Laughlin Desert Challenge title.
Round 1, 2009 SCORE Desert Series
15th SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge
FIRST DAY RACE RECAPS - Saturday, January 24, 2009, Page 3
GROUP #4...SCORE Trophy-Truck (8 laps), 19 Total Starters, 14 finishers
· Nineteen of the 22 entries started the race Saturday with 14 finishers led by Gus Vildosola Jr. (4 with Gus Vildosola Sr., Mexicali, Mexico, Ford F-150, 58 minutes, 32 seconds, 51.253 miles per hour) followed by Robby Gordon (77, Charlotte, N.C., Chevy CK1500, :58:45, 51.063 mph) and Justin Lofton (20, Westmorland, Calif., Chevy Silverado, 1:00:06, 49.916 mph). Gordon led for the first six laps with a 10-second edge over Vildosola, who gained the advantage on the seventh lap by posting a seven minute, 20 second lap as compared to Gordon’s :07:41. While Gordon has won seven SCORE Trophy-Truck races, Vildosola is seeking his first SCORE Trophy-Truck title. His father won once in 2003 at San Felipe. Roger Norman (8, Reno, Nev., Ford F-150, 1:06:54, 44.843 mph) and Brian Collins (12, Las Vegas, Dodge Ram1500, completed four laps) posted the best lap times of seven minutes, two seconds. Both Norman and Collins were tied for the lead after three laps, with Norman leading after four laps with a 14 second edge over Gordon. Vildosola Jr. was also the first day leader at the 2008 Laughlin Desert Challenge, but failed to finished the required laps the next day. Two-time Laughlin winner B.J. Baldwin (1, Las Vegas, Chevy Silverado, SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK, 1:00:31, 49.573 mph) was fifth after Saturday’s racing. Baldwin, who finished second in Laughlin last year after capturing titles in 2006 and 2007, was the 2008 SCORE Desert Series Trophy-Truck points champion. Vildosola Jr. was 15th last season while Gordon was 24th.
GROUP #5...Class 1 (8 laps), 19 Total Starters, 14 finishers
· With 21 entries, 19 racers started Saturday with 14 finishing led by Harley Letner (118. Orange, Calif., Alpha-Chevy, 1 hour, 2 minutes, 5 seconds, 48.322 miles per hour) with Pat Dean (109 with Danny Anderson, Las Vegas, Bunderson-Chevy, 1:02:56, 47.669 mph) 51 seconds behind. Armin Schwarz (104, Germany with Martin Christensen, Escondido, Calif., Jimco-BMW, 1:04:57, 46.189 mph), who struggled with a broke spindle on the left front wheel near the finish line) was third. Letner was 12th on the 2008 SCORE Desert Series Class 1 standings. After Letner led the first lap, Dale Ebberts (114, Wilton, Calif. with Danny Ebberts, Canyon Lake, Calif., Jimco-Chevy, 1:05:31, 45.789 mph) led for the next six laps as he built a 17 second lead. However, Ebberts posted an :11:35 time on the last lap, driving the last three-quarters of a mile in reverse because he lost all gears except reverse. Dean, who was seventh overall last season in Class 1, is the defending Laughlin champion. Ebberts was sixth overall last season in Class 1 while Schwarz was third.
Driver quotes after first of two days -- Saturday, January 24
SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK
GUSTAVO VILDOSOLA JR., No. 4 (In first place after Saturday) – It feels good, although we learned last year not to count our victory before it’s actually done. I think we got Robby (Gordon) today by a couple of seconds so we’re happy going first tomorrow. We’ve just got to keep it going. Last year, we were in the same situation but this year I think we’re a year older and a little bit wiser. It was an amazing race and as the race went on, the course got a little bit tougher and I had to deal with different issues. We repeated last year’s Saturday run and we just need to duplicate it tomorrow. I decided early on that we were just going to take it easy and run the first five or six laps and see how everything was shaking down and then hammer down at the end.
ROBBY GORDON, No. 77 (Second) – I didn’t have anybody to pace off of. I’ve got to be honest: I was half-throttle the whole time. I’m telling you, I idled around. Even the first lap, we just idled around. The truck is really good. It got really rough out there. Laughlin has always been a survival race. We came out here last year, Carl (Renezeder) and myself, and we were the two fastest by a long ways. Today, we just wanted to survive. The guys do a great job working on the truck. They’ll go back and put in a new drive shaft, gear and transmission, rear gear, and cross our fingers that it lives tomorrow. The track is horrible. It’s not even any fun.
JUSTIN LOFTON, No. 20 (Third) – We lost fuel pressure right from the get-go in the race. We just kind of fought it the whole race and did what we could. It probably actually worked out better that way. We’ll go back and rebuild it. We got in the first turn and it started missing and everything else. This is a hell of a race for a Trophy-Truck; this is what it’s all about. We had lots of passing and a lot of good, fun racing. B.J. Baldwin is a blast to race, and Gustavo (Vildosola Jr.) and everybody else. It was just a lot of fun. Our body is kind of torn up but we’ve got a body guy in the camp with us, so we’ll be all right. Tomorrow, we’re going to do the first two laps and kind of see how everybody is going and see how the truck is handling and then we’re going to let it rip.
ROBBIE PIERCE, No. 35 (Fourth) – The first lap we lost the brakes and the first lap I lost communication with my co-driver. So we did a lot of thumbs-up deals. All you can do is just keep going and just work the best you can with no front brakes. We had absolutely no front brakes; I think only the left rear was all I really had and it was really spongy. All you can do is work with what you have and try to check up as much as you can. The transmission is done, using second and first gear to brake. The hardest part was getting stopped for the finish.
B.J. BALDWIN, No. 1 (Fifth) – We had problems right off the start. We built a new floor on the truck. We took three inches out of the floor and put it right down on the skid pad so we could build a longer brake pedal. When we were behind Robby we would get rocks in the cab and rocks would get underneath the throttle pedal, so we were dealing with that all day. We stood it up on its nose and we ran on the bumper on the backstretch. It’s (the race course) more of an attrition deal; whoever can survive the longest. A lot of the stuff out there is square-edged; it’s like two curbs, and that’s really hard on equipment.
CAMERON STEELE, No. 16 (Sixth) –It was a little bit of a crash course. I was chasing (Brian) Collins and he threw like a picnic table at us and it gave us a flat tire, so we had to stop in the hot pit and change the tire. I don’t know what it was but it looked like a folding table (laughing). After we changed the tire, we made a conscious decision to make sure we got to the finish line but we still wanted to run some fast laps. Our times we really good and I’m excited because we got to pass a lot of trucks. I’m not coming back tomorrow – I’m only here for four hours today.
BOBBY BALDWIN, No. 96 (Seventh) – This was our first race on the General Tires and they were fantastic. The front gripped so good that I continually came up short in some of the turns. They have a very aggressive tread and a lot of bite -- the tire is fantastic. I landed on a few rocks and the tires survived so I liked that part of it, too. The course was the usual – choppy and hard – but we had great visibility because of the rain last night.
ED STOUT, No. 13 (Eighth) – It’s 48 miles of pure rough that just tears that truck apart. It’s like going 250 miles at San Felipe. We got one flat and that put us back. We actually had a light fall down in my footbox and I blew two corners. Other than that, we had a real fantastic race. A lot of sharp edges are being created (on the course). Today as far as I’m concerned is just a qualifying day. Tomorrow is the race.
DAMEN JEFFERIES, No. 22 (10th) -- It was OK. We fought it today; a brand-new truck. We lost our steering. The steering got real tight at the tail end of the first lap. We’d keep rolling the scrag on the shift from first to second and losing the transmission the rest of the day. The last five laps I had to go first-third, first-third. It made it difficult. Luis Ramirez is scheduled to drive tomorrow (Sunday).
LARRY ROESSELER, No. 88 (11th) -- It’s an engine heating issue. We knew at qualifying we had some high oil temps and high water temps. The engine got a little hot testing one time so maybe we’ve got a little water issue. It’s hard to say. It seems to me it’s got air in the system, in the water. With the heat exchanger, it shares the temperature. If the water goes up, the oil goes up. We got some really high temps so I just had to take my foot out of it and just idle along to get the temps to come down and try to keep it alive and not melt it down. My goal was to at least get the eight laps in and get and finish. Now tonight we can regroup and hopefully tomorrow I can run a little harder. The other truck (Norman) just had a right rear shock go.
ROB MacCACHREN, No. 3 (14th. Driver of record Mark Post will drive Sunday) -- It’s tough (to just drive around). We weren’t even going to be here to race until earlier this week, when the call was made. We had to get some points so we had no choice but to bring the Protruck out. We needed to get the points. That’s what we came here to do and that’s about it. The first couple of laps was OK, but the more it went on it got so rough it was beating this truck up pretty good. We wanted to make sure we finished. The whole key for us was to finish.
CLASS 1
HARLEY LETNER, No. 118 (First) – I was waiting to see cars pulled over when I got here (to the finish line) because it was so rough out there. (Were you keeping track of what was going on with the cars wrecking in front of you?) Absolutely not. When I came in, I saw all these cars and I started thinking we didn’t do that well and then Danny (Anderson) said he was the only one that finished and I thought, ‘Maybe I got him on time.’ It feels good (to be leading) because I had four seconds last year and I wanted to finish and hopefully get a win to start the year off right. I’m going to try to pick it up a couple of notches tomorrow and see if I can put some time on him so I can relax a little bit. It’s hammer down tomorrow. There were no issues whatsoever today. I was probably running about 95 percent just to try to get a good finish for today and we’ll get the real racing going tomorrow and try to take a win both days. I might have to do a little shock rebuild tonight to get ready for tomorrow.
DANNY ANDERSON, No. 109 (Second) – That was a lot of fun. We thought we had won but Harley got us by 51 seconds. The course is really rough. We’re the last race of the day and everybody’s chewed it up and I think it’s going to be worse tomorrow. We’re going to have to go hard tomorrow. We’re down 51 seconds already so we have to run hard tomorrow. You can’t play it safe – not here, especially, because the race is so short. I’ve got to thank P.J. Flores for riding with me. He prepped this thing, and Butch Dean. I’m so happy you can’t even imagine. P.J. told me ‘watch out, watch out, he’s (Schwarz) got a broken spindle,’ and I almost blew it there (coming off the leap on the final lap). I got a little excited and got into the back of him a little bit. He did a good job to get it in here. The course is beat up terribly, with all the trucks. But we got the car stiff and it was perfect for this course. There were no issues whatsoever. It was flawless. (On driver of record Pat Dean possibly competing Sunday for the points) No, he can’t even get into the car. I’ll be driving it tomorrow.
ARMIN SCHWARZ, No. 104 (Third. Drove the final mile with a broken front suspension part and dragging the left-front wheel.) – It happened a mile too early. I’m lucky to get it here (to the finish line), very lucky. (On leaving the course and hitting an ambulance parked in the infield) I think it was parked in the wrong place. I tried not to hit it but I just had to get the wheel around again otherwise I couldn’t turn in. It was my only chance to get to the finish. That was the only problem all day. A very, very good finish considering. The car was handling brilliant, very good, and a failure like that could happen – it should not – but the car was handling brilliant. Martin (Christensen) will drive the car tomorrow.
DALE EBBERTS, No. 114 (Fifth. Drove the last three-quarters of a mile in reverse after a transmission failure.) – I was in the hot pit area and all of a sudden, something went wrong inside the tranny. I pulled in the pits and they looked at it and said the axels are fine so I tried reverse, made a U-turn and just came down the rest of the way in reverse. We’ve got to figure out how to fix the transmission before we worry about tomorrow. It is (disappointing), but it could work out good because that problem could have happened one lap into tomorrow and we would have been done. Now we have a chance to fix it and see what we can do. I guess they know what it is and we’ll get it going. Everything else was fine today. The course was rough like usual but I was able to find some good lines and cross over from one line to the next and pick the best spots.
ENRIQUE BUJANDA, No. 113 (Sixth) -- There were no problems. It was all very good.
RONNY WILSON, No. 120 (Seventh) – The car just ran great. It feels like we just finished the 1000, though. It was a lot of fun. I can’t wait until tomorrow. It feels like we just did a little triathlon. It’s so rough out there; you just can’t get a rhythm. There were no problems. The car just ran great, flawless. It was just starting in the back and going through the other cars. It was a lot of fun.
JOSH RIGBY, No. 101 (12th) – We had a blast. It’s a rough course, man, but it always is, every year. There were no problems. Our shocks aren’t stiff enough. We’ve got to stiffen them up a little bit. We almost had to stop for the Leap. It was killing the car and killing us.
CLASS 1-2/1600
STEVE EUGENIO, No. 1600 (First. Driver of record Adam Pfankuch will drive Sunday.) -- It was good. I had some problems getting the car into first gear. We changed the tranny out for the gearing yesterday and I think the linkage needs to be adjusted. There was quite a few times I kept missing shifts and almost had to stop to get it back in gear. Other than that, it was a great day. Beautiful weather and beautiful conditions. No dust. We’re at a desert race with no dust. You can’t beat that.
AARON HAWLEY, No. 1603 (Second. Driver of record Brian Burgess will drive Sunday.) – At the end of the sixth lap I started to make some mistakes But it was a good run. The car stayed out front, the Yokohama tires were great. We just had a few mistakes there toward the end but, you know what, I love this race. I finished third here two years in a row and I want to do better than that this year. Brian Burgess should do a good job for us tomorrow.
DAVE CASPINO, No. 1604 (Fourth) – I’ve got to thank my girlfriend, my crew and the man upstairs for giving me a really good, solid race today with no problems. The course was great. They graded it last night and it was real flat, no problems. Hopefully, they’ll grade it again tonight – that would be really awesome.
JUSTIN DAVIS, No. 1602 (Fifth. Davis is 15½ and is driving at Laughlin for the first time. He will drive both days. He said he has driven in other desert and short-course races.) -- It was fun. It’s like a big (short-course) race, just a little bit longer, a little bit rougher.
MARIO GASTELUM, No. 1606 (Sixth) -- It was very good. The track was nice and level for today. It was very good. We had a lot more fun today than pre-running yesterday because everything was a little smoother, we got the turns a little faster. The only thing I didn’t like was waking up early. (The strategy) was just get it to the finish as fast as you can, with no errors or anything.
BRIAN WILSON, No. 1609 (Seventh. Sammy Ehrenberg will drive Sunday.) -- It was awesome. We just went out there and tried to keep calm and run our own pace and leave everybody alone and keep it on all four wheels. That was a huge goal for us today. We’re 4 (rollovers) for 6 so far. We figured we’d come out, finish this one, keep it on all four wheels, no flat tires. It was an awesome run. The car ran flawless. There’s no dust. It was a little soft and muddy and you kind of feel the car wanting to suck into the ground a little bit, but the BFG tires hooked up great.
CLASS 3
DONALD MOSS, No. 300 (First) -- It’s always a lot of fun out here. It was a nice course today; no dust. We went first (in pre-running) and by the time the Trophy-Trucks got done with their qualifying it really got tore up. It will look completely different again tomorrow. Those holes will be very big. (Is it harder or easier being the only one in your class?) Probably not harder. You definitely have to keep your head on. These things are pretty tricky, with the short wheelbase, and it’s pretty tall and heavy, so it takes a lot just to keep it between the course markers.
CLASS 5
CARLOS ALBANEZ, No. 501 (Second) – It was a lot of fun and that’s what it’s all about. We had no problems. I think I hit a little bit too hard on the first (jump) but other than that, I think we did OK. Luivan Voelker, my co-driver, will drive tomorrow. We’re going to go out and try to do the same thing tomorrow. There were a lot of ruts out there but outside of that, I think we did very, very well and we had a good race.
CLASS 5/1600
ALONSO ANGULO, No. 552 (First) – The course was OK out there. We had one problem; a spark plug came out. It just came out but we got it screwed back in and it was OK. We’re here (at the finish) and that’s good.
CLASS 6
HEIDI STEELE, No. 601 (First) – Everything went good. I drove the first four laps and somewhere on the fifth lap, we broke an axle so one of the wheels wasn’t spinning. Once we got out to that sand area, it was difficult to get traction because it’s getting so deep out there. We had a difficult time getting traction and we actually had to get out and try to push it and get going. Ultimately, we changed drivers because it’s Ross Savage’s truck and it was my first time driving the truck. Ross drove the last lap from like mile two to the finish so we could get the finishing points and first place. Tomorrow, I’m going to drive my truck in (Class 7) so Ross is going to drive this truck tomorrow.
CLASS 7
JOSE CANCHOLA JR., No. 703 (First) – We had a good race and we’re in a great battle with Chris Taylor and here we are. Viva Mexico! The course was real tough but it was a great race. Let’s see tomorrow. We had no problems but I think we’re out of fuel. But we made it.
A.J. RODRIGUEZ, No. 704 (Second) -- It was great; a little rougher than I expected, but we had a good time. No problems. I just think I needed to adjust my suspension differently for the roughness of the track. It was too soft. (Rodriguez said he saw early class leader, No. 719 Chris Taylor, down with what appeared to be a broken spindle.)
DAN CHAMLEE, No. 700 (Third) – It was fun. The course was better than it was in reconnaissance. I really liked it. This course always has been rough but it’s always a lot of run. We were a little down on power this year so we’re at a little bit of a disadvantage but we still brought it home for third so we’re happy with that. It’s a finish – for today – and we’ll see how tomorrow goes. We had no problems other than just going around some slower trucks. BF Goodrich tires really hooked up for us today. The rain made the course just perfect. We were down on power but we never lost traction.
CLASS 7SX
JOHN HOLMES, No. 759 (First) -- It was rougher this year than last. We took it pretty easy. We didn’t want to break anything. The first day is all about just saving the truck for the second day. We stopped in the hot pit a couple of times to check the rear end. I thought we had a flat tire and I did not. It was just rougher out there than we’re used to. (Is running by yourself harder or easier?) You’re really tempted to go race against the other classes and you have to harness yourself in and just keep the truck together. I see the other trucks and want to pick it up and race with them, but I have to say ‘no, that would be stupid. There’s no reason to break.’ It takes a lot of self-control. (Co-driver was son Ty, 15, who was in his first race. Holmes said Mark Landersman probably will drive Sunday, but there’s a possibility Ty could drive instead.)
CLASS 8
GREG ADLER, No. 802 (First) -- When he came through the infield on the first lap No. 801 was on its side in the left-hand sweeper. Adler said: From there on it was just really cruising and taking it easy. The Mopar truck ran great; the guys prepped it awesome, the BFG tires held up, no flats or nothing, no problems. It was great. We’ll run tomorrow in this truck and then run with the Coynes in their Trophy-Truck. The course was starting to get chewed up a little bit more, but it was fun, a fun course. The last few laps, different areas almost looked like a different course, in a way. (Is running by yourself harder or easier?) It’s a little of both. It’s not super easy because you’re trying to be careful, be safe and not do anything stupid. But you jump out of your normal lines, you’re a little out of your groove. It’s not as much fun, but it was great to go out and play.
CLASS 10
ROBERT McBEATH, No. 1003 (First) -- It was a great race. The course is in great condition. There are a lot of fast guys out there, but the course is really rough and it took its toll. After the second lap my throttle kept sticking wide open. I had to pull into the hot pits and they sprayed it with WD40 and got it working again and got me back out. Once that happened there were no other problems. Bryce Menzies on the last lap broke his driver’s side rear axle off. He was very fast. It feels great. I’ve been second and third a lot so it may just have been our day, our time.
SCOTT WHIPPLE, No. 1004 (Second. Driver of record Scott Gailey will drive Sunday) -- We had no problems. It was a great course. It started getting a little torn up, but it was pretty fast. The corners are pretty tough corners, but we took them at pretty high speeds. We almost flipped it on the lid a couple of times, but luckily we didn’t. All in all it was a great track and great competition. This is our first time out here at Laughlin and this is my first year to drive the car, so to get a podium at the first event, we’re more than happy. (Team also is involved with an NHRA Fuel Funny Car with Jim Dunn, Kawasaki Team Green in Supercross, and is building a Trophy-Truck.)
MIKE LAWRENCE, No. 1000 (Third) -- We were battling for the first position. The green car got by me and then the Menzies car was behind me. We were going back and forth having a good time and I came into a turn too hot and rolled it on its side. It was a little flooded, but it started back up and it was fine. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll do well.
SCORE LITE
RICK ST. JOHN, No. 1200 (First) – It’s amazing how rough it gets out there. It’s just loamy sand and it doesn’t take too many cars to go through it to just start building up a lot of holes, a lot of deep, deep berms but all in all, it’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of excitement for your one hour of driving. Adam Pfankuch will drive it tomorrow.
DAN WORLEY, No. 1201 (Second. Stan Potter will drive Sunday) -- It was a lot of fun. I hadn’t driven this car in a year. We came back and put it together, Stan and I. I thought I’d drive it today and see what developed, tried to save the car, take good lines and don’t hit the big holes, try to save it for tomorrow. We took a year off for financial reasons. We’d chased a championship for like five years and ended up second four of those years and it just took its toll. You’ve got to regroup and recharge the batteries. We plan on doing the whole year. The car was just sitting in the garage up until like two weeks ago. This car is tried and true, it’s a competitive car. I think it’s eight years now we’ve been racing it. Everything’s figured out on it so it’s just up to the driver now.
JAKE JONES, No. 1203 (Eighth. First vehicle in class to finish, but was assessed a start/finish violation and dropped to last in class.) – I have to apologize (for the violation.) I’m just thankful nobody got hurt. It was awesome out there, just unbelievable. This is one of the most fun races of my life. Racing is just fun in general. Just knowing that I have tomorrow to race, too, is great. Tomorrow, I’ve got to keep the car on all four wheels and just stay consistent – do the same thing I did today. I’ll be behind the wheel again tomorrow.
STOCK MINI
GAVIN SKILTON, No. 779 (First) – It was a beautiful day. Thanks for the rain last night, it made the course a lot softer today and it was a lot of fun. We didn’t have any problems. I was out there on my own, just cruising around. The Honda Ridgeline has been doing good in the desert and we’ve got a good team going together with BF Goodrich Tires – they’re the best things out there. We’re just running a good, small, tight team and just getting out there and racing all the time and we’re getting good results. It’s a good truck. People don’t believe it, but it is. You’ll see the Honda Ridgeline with BFG tires ripping up the SCORE Desert Series this year.
STOCK FULL
JUSTIN MATNEY, No. 861 (First) – The track was good. We had a little inner cooler boot issue that we’re going to fix here in just a minute. We had a small pinhole leak or a tear and we just couldn’t boost more than 20 psi so we didn’t really have much power there with two laps to go so we really had to back it down. We couldn’t run it like we were doing the first few laps. We just want to make the truck live, really. Come out here and have fun this weekend and get ready for the San Felipe race.
Vildosola Racing Report:
""After one day of intense battle, Mexicali Driver Tavo Vildosola, leads the race in the inaugural event of the 2009 season, the Laughlin Competition. Vildosola’s Ford F-150 sporting the legendary #4 started the race on the fourth row, with Roger Norman on his side.
During the drag race at the start, Norman was fighting with Tavo all the way down the first left hand side turn, later on during the race the red & white Trophy truck #4 edged Norman and never looked back. The race strategy was an important part of the event, after some changes and a good qualifying position, a good result was expected for the first day of competition.
Lap after lap, Tavo was gaining time, good laps around 7 minutes gave Tavo a good cushion from his competition, in the front of the pack, racers started to develop some issues and Tavo’s pace was steady and fast. Around lap 6 of 8, the Vildosola Racing Red Bull/Ford F-150 was at mere seconds of the lead time imposed by Robby Gordon, Tavo knowing we still have one more day to compete, pushed only enough to keep the pace of the Nascar superstar.
“We know at the end of Lap 7 we have the lead of the race, that gave me the confidence to continue running at the same pace we did at the start of the race, the track was awesome, some rough spots here and there to worry about. Our mission was to finish and tomorrow we start from zero again and we hope we can keep going and carry this all season long” Tavo stated.
Now the team is working to check the truck, inch by inch, side by side, preparing for every possible scenario for tomorrows race, we have a lot work to do, this race is only half way finished.""
Earlier Class 1 Race:
Mayhem at the Laughlin midway, Ebberts going around the track in reverse after tranny fails, Armin Schwarz hits the ambulance trying to finish the race! Timed results for todays Class 1 should be interesting! Harley Letner announced as the Class 1 winner by Charlie, just announced that Letner took the win by 51 SECONDS! Kory Halopoff co-drove with Letner today.
Cammy Steele (no dress) had two Yokohama FLATS that really put a damper on things. His wifey Heidi, ran in Class 6 and finished in a field of one in the class. Heidi. Ross Savage in the Camburg Mini Trophy Truck teamed with honey Heidi. The DA 7sx team moved the 7sx up to 7 open and with co-driver Renee Bruger at the wheel they got 3rd! Nice work with a much smaller engine (stock) and a leaf spring rear end. Heidi will be driving the 7sx in 7 open tomorrow. Bean will be making his TT driving debut from 5th place in the #16 TT.
BREAKING NEWS!
Robby Gordon will have 4 hummers at DAKAR next year. Robby will be at San Felipe 250.
Group 1 Results:
Class 1-2/1600
Adam Pfankuch/Steven Eugenio 51:31
Brian Burgess/ Aaron Hawley 51:33
Cody Robinson 52:16
David Caspino 52:29
Justin Davis 52:44
Mario Gastelum 53:12
Brian Wilson 53:24
Eric Duran 54:26
Arturo Velazco 55:07
Justin Smith 55:17
Hiram Duran 55:28
Rick Boyer 56:42
Mike Simpson 56:43
Justin"Bean" Smith 57:03
Sparky Wilbur 59:09
Samuel Araiza 1:00:19
Brad Wilson 1:08:05
Eric Hefley DNF
Class 5/1600
Alonso Angulo
Brent Shermak DNF
Sportsman Buggy
Louie Serna
Rory Ward
Peter Lang DNF
Another Justin Smith (1600) interview, lost rear brakes today.
An equipment problem with the DA...too funny.
Then rolled it! With no rear brakes. Burgess and Pfankuch in top 2 in 1600.
He'll be taking the #16 out for practice, then Cammy Steele (in a dress?)will run.
Report from Friday, Last Night:
Interview #2
Driver in #113
Herman Motorsports Class 1. From El Paso Texas.
Interview #1
Bean with the DA
Cameron called and tipped the Trophy Truck to Bean.
Qualed sixth. First time in TT qualifying, second tiome ever.
(what does that say about desert racing) E-Z!
(what does that say about SCORE right now...SUCKS!
Bruce Frailey builder of the 16 car for Justin Smith.
Frailey built Rob Macs previous 16 car.
His former nickname was "Mr. Bean", loves bean burritos.
Started with 16 cars with the DA, since 2000. "Rubbin' the Buddha", for race luck.
#1649-The destroyer, "either he kills them or they kill me".
Bean 101 feet in a 16 car, new record, breaking Rob Macs record.
Baja Racing News.com Reports:
NASCAR’s Robby Gordon qualifies his No. 77 Chevy CK1500 fastest
To earn pole for Saturday’s first day of SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge
LAUGHLIN, Nev.–NASCAR Cup team owner/driver Robby Gordon earned the pole
position for the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge Friday as he powered his No. 77
Team Gordon Chevy CK1500 to a fast time of 6 minutes, 43.72 seconds during
qualifying for SCORE Trophy-Trucks averaging 64.6 miles per hour around the
abbreviated 6.25-mile loop.
The season opener of the five-race 2009 SCORE Desert Series, is being held
near the banks of the Colorado River in Laughlin, Nev.
The unique race, split into two parts, will start Saturday and finish
Sunday, running from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. with the 17 classes divided into five race
groups running multiple laps each day. The featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division
will race at 1 p.m. each day followed by the unlimited Class 1 cars at 3 p.m.
Both classes will run eight laps each day.
Gordon, who ran nine seconds faster than his 2008 Laughlin qualifying time,
will lead a field of 113 official entries, which includes 22 vehicles in the
marquee SCORE Trophy-Truck division for high-tech, 800 horsepower, unlimited
production trucks.
With plans to run the entire 2009 SCORE Desert Series while continuing to
run his full NASCAR season, Gordon, of Charlotte, N.C., easily outdistanced the
17 SCORE Trophy-Trucks that started in the special one-lap qualifying session.
Defending SCORE Trophy-Truck season point champion B.J. Baldwin of Las
Vegas was the second-fastest qualifier, covering the single lap in 6:56:41 in
his No. 1 Baldwin Motorsports Chevy Silverado.
“I knew we were running fast, but this was even better than I had
anticipated,” said Gordon afterwards. “We are looking forward to this weekend.
We have plans to run the entire 2009 SCORE Desert Series and our truck appears
ready to dominate on this race course.”
Rick Geiser suffered from a compressed back vert after his messup on Friday. "I hit the front of the truck, maybe I hit the jump wrong, or too fast".
Top 15 Qualifying in Laughlin Nevada
Qualifying Friday:
1. 77 Robby Gordon, Charlotte, N.C., Chevy CK1500, 6 minutes, 43.72 seconds (64.6 miles per hour)
2. 1 B.J. Baldwin, Las Vegas, Chevy Silverado, 6:56.41
3. 20 Justin Lofton, Westmorland, Calif., Chevy Silverado, 7:03.27
4. 5 Travis Coyne, El Centro, Calif., Ford F-150, 7:03.37
5. 12 Brian Collins, Las Vegas, Dodge Ram1500, 7:04.78
6. 16 Cameron Steele, San Clemente, Calif./Rick Geiser, Desert Hills, Calif., Chevy Silverado, 7:05.86
7. 8 Roger Norman, Reno, Nev., Ford F-150, 7:06.45
8. 4 Gus Vildosola Jr. /Gus Vildosola Sr., Ford F-150, 7:06.90
9. 88 Larry Roeseler, Huntington Beach, Calif., Ford F-150, 7:12.66
10. 54 Jesse James, Sunset Beach, Calif., Chevy C1500, 7:21.08
11. 22 Damen Jefferies, Apple Valley, Calif./Luis Ramirez Jr., Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Chevy Silverado, 7:28.08
12. 35 Robbie Pierce/Mike Julson, Santee, Calif., Chevy Silverado, 7:28.24
13. 13 Ed Stout, Santa Ana, Calif./Trigger Gumm, Mission Viejo, Calif., Chevy Silverado, 7:34.70
14. 96 Bobby Baldwin, Las Vegas, Chevy Silverado, 7:38.52
15. 11 Greg Nunley, Tulare, Calif., Chevy Silverado, 8:04.61
16. 89 Rusty Stevens/Chad Quarrells, Pampa, Texas, Ford F-150, Did Not Finish (No terminó)
17. 91 Bill McBeath, Las Vegas, Chevy Silverado, DNF
18. 19 Tim Herbst/Ed Herbst, Las Vegas, Ford F-150, Did Not Qualify (no quiere decir que no vayan a correr, sino que no quisieron participar para calificar)
19. 44 Robert Ross, Chula Vista, Calif., Ford F-150, DNQ
20. 3 Mark Post, Laguna Beach, Calif./Rob MacCachren, Las Vegas, Ford F-150, DNQ
21. 51 Kory Sheeler, Las Vegas, Chevy Silverado, DNQ
22. 24 Adam Householder, Orange, Calif., Chevy Silverado, DNF
All the rest DNF
Last Night:
#88 at 166 feet. New Leap Record
Roesler at 161 feet 6 inch. Jumped this length twice!
BJ Baldwin at 153 feet and 89 MPH.
Ambulance going to Rick Geiser truck, possible neck back injuries, heading to the hospital.
BLAST FROM THE PAST LAUGHLIN 2008 CLICK HERE
Baja Racing News.com LIVE!