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SCORE MEDIA
December 29,
2006
Josh Baldwin in SCORE Trophy-Truck, Ashley-Class 1 draw first starts Among 202 early entries in 13th SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge Race-record final field of nearly 250 expected; Four-day Event includes $16,000 SCORE Laughlin Leap on Jan. 18 LOS ANGELES—Southern California’s Josh Baldwin and Arizona’s Bryon Ashley received the No. 1 starting positions in the top two classes in Thursday’s computerized draw for starting positions, by class, for next month’s 13th Annual SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge. Representing the second highest number in the event’s history, a total of 202 vehicles, in 17 Pro and 2 Sportsman classes, officially entered in time for the drawing held at the Los Angeles headquarters of SCORE International. It will be the first time either Baldwin or Ashley will start first in a SCORE race. For the 13th straight year, motorsports fans and racers from across the United States, Mexico, Canada and Japan will flock to Laughlin, Nev., the desert resort town near the shores of the Colorado River for the vastly popular SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge. The first major race of the year will be held Jan. 18-21, launching the six-race 2007 SCORE Desert Series, the world’s foremost desert racing series. When late registration is complete, a race-record of nearly 250 expected starters will compete for nearly $400,000 in prize money and contingency postings during the four day SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge. In 2006, there were a race-record 233 starters in Laughlin. A total of 17 different Pro and two Sportsman classes for cars and trucks will be split into seven groups in Laughlin, each running as part of one of separate multiple-lap races over the much-abbreviated 7-mile loop each day. Racing action runs from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day (Jan. 20-21). The marquee racing division is SCORE Trophy-Truck, featuring high-tech, 800-horsepower, unlimited production trucks along with the unlimited Class 1 for open-wheel desert race cars. Those two classes will run the final two races each day with Class 1 followed by SCORE Trophy-Truck. Las Vegas’ B. J. Baldwin (SCORE Trophy-Truck, Chevy Silverado) and Gary Weyhrich, Troutdale, Ore. (Class 1, Jimco-Chevy) are the defending SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge race winners. Josh Baldwin, 30, Newport Beach, Calif., a veteran SCORE desert racer whose older brother and 2004 SCORE Trophy-Truck season point champion Jason Baldwin died tragically in a 2005 airplane crash, will pilot the No. 86 Baldwin Motorsports Ford F-150. A total of 31 vehicles, second-most in the history of the race, have entered to date in the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division, including defending SCORE Desert Series Champion B.J. Baldwin, Las Vegas, in the No. 1 Chevy Silverado. Among the other SCORE Trophy-Truck entries are Las Vegas brothers Tim and Ed Herbst, the winningest team in class history with 11 career race wins and four SCORE Trophy-Truck season point titles in the No. 19 Terrible Herbst Motorsports Ford F-150. Bob Shepard, of Phoenix, the 2005 SCORE Trophy-Truck season point champion, will be the co-driver for new teammate Ryan Arciero, Foothill Ranch, Calif., in the No. 82 Arciero-Miller RacingChevy Silverado. Also entered in the featured SCORE division is Hawaii’s Alan Pflueger, third in last year’s point standings, in the No. 28 Fearless Motorsports Chevy Silverado, along with Andy McMillin, Poway, Calif., third in the 2005 Class 1 points with his father Scott, and fourth in last year’s SCORE Trophy-Truck points driving for NASCAR team owner/driver Robby Gordon. This year, Andy McMillin, who won last year’s Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 with Gordon, will team again with his father Scott in the No. 31 McMillin Racing Chevy CK1500. Garron Cadiente, Mesa, Ariz., the 2006 SCORE Rookie of the Year, will also be in the SCORE Trophy-Truck field in his No. 38 G&R Racing Ford F-150 along with his father-in-law and teammate Ron Whitton, Maricopa, Ariz., in his No. 39 G&R Racing Ford F-150. Cadiente, who won last year’s Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250, was ninth in season points while Whitton, 62, was fifth in the final 2006 SCORE Trophy-Truck season point standings. This year, Gordon has announced that Team Gordon’s driver of record in the No. 77 Chevy CK1500 will be Travis Coyne, 27, El Centro, Calif. Gordon’s NASCAR schedule provides him with the opportunity to race in the Tecate SCORE Baja 500, the SCORE Las Vegas Terrible’s Cup III and the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. Coyne’s father Marty Coyne drives the No. 5 Coyne Motorsports Ford F-150. Mark Post, San Juan Capistrano, Calif., who was the overall Laughlin winner in 1997 and the SCORE Trophy-Truck winner in 2003, has announced that his new teammate for 2007 is Las Vegas’ Rob MacCachren, a three-time AARWBA All-America racer with five class wins in the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge. The pair will split driving time this season in Post’s No. 3 Riviera Racing Ford F-150. TV motorsports and action sports announcer Cameron Steele, San Clemente, Calif., will be the driver of record in four classes, including the No. 16 Desert Assassins Ford F-150 in SCORE Trophy-Truck. Steele, whose wife Heidi Steele drew the first start in a Ford Ranger in Class 7SX, will also be the primary driver in Class 1, Class 10 and SCORE Lite. Steele will split driving duties in Class 1, Class 10 and SCORE LIte with fellow second-generation desert racers Darren Hardesty in Class 1 and Kash Vessels in Class 10 and SCORE Lite. Starting second and third in SCORE Trophy-Truck behind Josh Baldwin will be a pair of key executives from MGM Mirage Resorts of Las Vegas. Bill McBeath, President and CEO of the Bellagio Resort, will make his SCORE Trophy-Truck debut, driving the No. 91 Chevy Silverado while Bobby Baldwin, President of MGM Mirage Resorts and father of 2006 SCORE Trophy-Truck season point champ B.J. Baldwin, will drive the No. 96 Chevy Silverado. Both SCORE Trophy-Trucks are prepped by and crew support provided by Las Vegas’ Collins Motorsports. Besides the three SCORE Trophy-Trucks piloted by Bill McBeath, Bobby Baldwin and B.J. Baldwin, the fourth SCORE Trophy-Truck entry from Collins Motorsports will be the No. 12 Chevy Silverado driven by teammates Larry Ragland, Cave Creek, Ariz., and Brian Collins, Las Vegas. Collins has four class wins in this race, the most recent when he won the SCORE Trophy-Truck class in 2001. Bryon Ashley, 52, of Litchfield Park, Ariz., will drive a Chevy-powered Tatum open-wheel desert race car as first off the line in the unlimited Class 1. Class 1 leads the way with 44 entries to date, followed by SCORE Trophy-Truck with 31, Class 1-2/1600 with 28, SCORE Lite with 21, and Class 10 with 20.
Drawing the
first starting positions in those high-entry classes were Ashley (Class
1), Josh Baldwin (SCORE Trophy-Truck), Aaron Hawley, Las Vegas (Class
1-2/1600), Randy Ross, Oak Hills, Calif. (SCORE LIte) and David Reyes,
National City, Calif. (Class 10).
Daily general admission tickets, good for grandstand seating, are $20 each for each day (Thursday, Saturday and Sunday), children five and under are free. Daily VIP tickets are $40 each for each of the three days, good for admission to the Laughlin Hospitality Chalet, including food beverage and special seating. The stadium seating area will include the immensely popular SCOREvision large-screen LCD display, showing live footage from various locations around the race course. Advance tickets for the Laughlin Events Park are on sale at 800.308.2253. Tickets are also on sale for the only other spectator area for the event, the popular ‘SCORE Hill’, which overlooks the infield, start/finish area and the main pits. The SCORE Hill will have grandstands and standing room areas along with vendors, concessions and other public safety services available. One of the event's most popular features, the SCORE Laughlin Leap, revs up the fun and gets the weekend off to a roaring start at 6 p.m. on Thursday (Jan. 18). Drivers and pit crews will share the spotlight at the Laughlin Events Park, competing for a $16,000 purse and the honor of being the 2007 champions. The SCORE Laughlin Leap, a dirt ramp built into the middle of the stadium infield, challenges the most daring of drivers. This year’s competitors will be looking to break the SCORE Laughlin Leap record set in 2004 by Mark Post in the No. 3 Riviera Racing Ford F-150 (160’ 6”). The Events Park with grandstand seating, vendor’s village and food court is just minutes from the destination's nine resorts and includes an infield packed with switchbacks, woop-t-doos, minijumps and the Laughlin Leap. The 13th annual SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge is sponsored by the Laughlin Tourism Committee, the Laughlin Visitors 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. Current SCORE official annual sponsors are: BFGoodrich Tires-official tire, Sunoco Race Fuels/Bryant Petroleum-official fuel supplier, Bilstein-official shock, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance-official Mexican auto insurance, American Racing ATX Series-official wheel, Airstar America-official space lighting provider. Associate sponsors are: Tecate Beer, Coca-Cola of Mexico, Las Vegas Events, Terrible Herbst Inc., Blue C Communications, Kartek Off-Road, Fram, Autolite, Prestone, Bendix, American Suzuki, SignPros, P.C.I. Race Radios, McKenzie’s Performance Products and Advanced Color Graphics. More event information is available at www.visitlaughlin.com. For more information, contact SCORE at its Los Angeles headquarters 818.225.8402 or visit the official website of the 2007 SCORE Desert Series at www.score-international.com. 13th Annual SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge Official Entries-202 (as of Dec. 29) (By Class Starting Order) PRO CARS & TRUCKS SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK (31) 86 Josh Baldwin 91 Bill McBeath 96 Bobby Baldwin 51 Kory Scheeler 1 B.J. Baldwin 3 Mark Post 7 Scott Steinberger 15 Jim Beaver 17 Carl Renezeder 21 Roger Gray 28 Alan Pflueger 31 Andy McMillin 39 Ron Whitton 55 Luis Wallace 56 Todd Arthur 64 Albert McMullen 82 Ryan Arciero 90 Tony Murray 5 Marty Coyne 19 Tim Herbst 38 Garron Cadiente 58 Frank Thing 2 Pete Sohren 85 Todd Wyllie 29 Richard Boyle 40 Chet Huffman 22 Damen Jefferies 77 Travis Coyne 12 Larry Ragland 54 Jesse James 16 Cameron Steele CLASS 1 (44) 101 Byron Ashley 102 Ronny Wilson 103 Adam Pfankuch 104 Vincent DeJong 105 Cesar Fuentes 106 Jamie Campbell 107 Mark McMillin 108 B.J. Richardson 109 Mark Levrett 110 Mike Bilek 111 Mark Weyhrich 112 Brian Parkhouse 113 Gary Weyhrich 114 Bill Gasper 115 John Herder 116 Dale Ebberts 117 Harley Letner 118 Dave Mason 119 Dale Lenk 120 Eddie Gonzalez 121 Pat Dean 122 Cameron Steele 123 Randy Wilson 124 Jeff Quinn 125 Alex Danze 126 Dan Myers 127 Steve Sourapas 128 John Harrah 129 Josh Rigsby 130 Eric Chase 131 Shawn Croll 132 Steve Sullivan 133 Chuck Hovey 134 Damen Jefferies 135 Enrique Bujanda 136 Robert Ross 137 John Gould 138 James Scott 139 Cam Thieriot 140 Mike Julston 141 Brian Kirby 100 Larry Roeseler 158 Max Thieriot 159 Jennifer Clemison CLASS 1-2/1600 (28) 1601 Aaron Hawley 1602 Leonardo Navarrete 1603 Cody Freeman 1604 Brent Parkhouse 1605 Tony Green 1606 Adam Pfankuch 1607 Ryan Chamberlain 1608 Lorenzo Rodriguez 1609 Dave Caspino 1610 Andrew Neal 1611 Curt Geer 1612 Layton Bowles 1613 Daniel McMillin 1614 Eliseo Garcia 1615 Gerardo Iribe 1616 Billy Skinner 1617 Arturo Velazco 1618 L.J. Kennedy 1619 Adam Ashcraft 1620 Trevor Streech 1621 Matt Gumz 1622 Byron Ziegler 1623 Hiram Duran 1624 Rick Boyer 1625 Sammy Ehrenberg 1626 Ray Files 1627 Brian Collins Jr. 1628 Bob Mathews CLASS 3 (3) 301 Salvador Cervantes 302 Chris Raffo 303 Ken Leavitt CLASS 5 (5) 500 George Seeley 501 Chris Bowman 502 Victor Cesena 503 Michelle Bruckmann 519 Luivan Voelker CLASS 5/1600 (7) 551 Mike Simpson 552 Scott Pellerin 553 Mario Reynoso 554 Raul Solano 555 Chad Mayernick 556 Brent Shermak 557 Larry Negrete CLASS 7 (6) 701 Barry Karakas 702 Chris Taylor 703 Larry Roeseler 704 A.J. Rodriguez 700 Dan Chamlee 706 Shannon Dierkop CLASS 7S (3) 721 Aaron Gomez 720 Mike Horner 739 Aaron Dodson CLASS 7SX (7) 741 Heidi Steele 742 Noe Sierra 743 Jesse Rodriguez 740 John Holmes 745 Rich Severon 746 Gerardo Novelo 759 Kurt Youngs CLASS 8 (4) 800 Nick Vanderwey 801 Greg Adler 802 Todd Wyllie 803 Rodrigo Ampudio CLASS 9 (2) 901 Joe Castrey 902 Forest Creasy CLASS 10 (20) 1001 David Reyes 1002 Mark Hutchins 1000 Darren Hardesty 1004 Will Higman 1005 Shane Brown 1006 Shawn Croll 1007 Eli Yee 1008 Sean Kennedy 1009 Victor Orellana Jr. 1010 Mark Weger 1011 Cameron Steele 1012 Adam Wik 1013 Michael Deardoff 1014 Dale Dondel 1015 Kevin Derby 1016 Brian Burgess 1017 Matt Loiodice 1018 Chris Harrold 1019 Lonny Hart 1020 Robert McBeath SCORE Lite (21) 1201 Randy Ross 1202 Scott Wisdom 1200 Tim Noe 1204 Kelly Ross 1205 Kevin Derby 1206 Stan Potter 1207 Cameron Steele 1208 Hector Garcia Jr. 1209 Richard Garavito 1210 Chuck Sacks 1211 Brent Gustin 1212 Randy Jones 1213 Bill Hernquist 1214 Mike Halliday 1215 Jeff Kawell 1216 Matt Cullen 1217 Ty Godde 1218 David Callaway 1219 Brian Burgess 1220 Rob Martensen 1221 Gary Johnson CLASS 11 (1) 1100 Eric Solorzano STOCK FULL (2) 861 Josh Hall 860 Terry Henn STOCK MINI (1) 761 Steve Kovach PROTRUCK (7) 245 Richard Voss 252 Mike Johnson 207 Alan Levinson 235 Jason Voss 203 Dave Creagan 202 Wade Kelson 299 Jim Wasson SPORTSMAN SPT CAR (4) 1401 Bryan Carr 1402 Dan Myers 1403 Glenn Smith 1449 Richard Boyett SPT TRUCK (6) 1501 Mike Jenkins 1502 Mark Growe 1503 Robert Anderson 1504 Marquis Pulido 1505 Andrew Leavitt 1549 Dan Vance |
