Nearly 200 entries expected Saturday
11th Annual SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300 features 46 racers
With 83 combined class wins, including 9 of 10 Overalls

Brian Ickler, Justin Loftin back from oval track racing For Round 5 of the six-race 2006 SCORE Desert Series

LOS ANGELES—This weekend’s 11th anniversary of the SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300 has turned into a major desert racing reunion as part of the nearly 200 entries are 45 racers who have a combined 82 class wins in this race, including nine of 10 Overall victories, eight of 10 in the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division and all 10 of the previous unlimited Class 1 wins.

Round 5 of the six-race 2006 SCORE Desert Series will be held Friday through Sunday in Primm, Nev. With late registration going on until Saturday morning, the near race-record field represents 12 U.S. States and Mexico. Many of the drivers are second-generation and two are even third-generation desert racers as the sport enjoys the start of its fourth decade of existence.

Celebrating its 33rd season this year as the World’s Foremost Desert Racing Series, the SCORE Desert Series has returned to Southern Nevada for the third of its three annual races in the U.S.

The 11th Annual SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300 will feature 17 Pro and 2 Sportsman classes for cars and trucks in Primm, located 45 miles south of Las Vegas at the California border.

For the fifth consecutive year, the race will be split into two groups with the open wheel and VW baja bug classes starting at 6 a.m. on Saturday. The truck classes, including the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division along with the unlimited Class 1 open-wheel desert race cars, will start at 1 p.m. One vehicle will start every 30 seconds in the elapsed-time race, with an eight-hour time limit. The start/finish line area will be located 2.5 miles northeast of the rear of Buffalo Bill’s Resort in Primm. The faster classes will run four laps each over the 74-mile course, while the slower classes will once again race for either two or three laps.

Pre-race festivities on Friday for the SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300, including tech and contingency and the SCORE Manufacturer’s Midway, will be held from Noon to 6 p.m. behind Buffalo Bill’s Resort. The mandatory pre-race driver’ s meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Friday at the Star of the Desert Arena at Buffalo Bill’s. The post-race awards celebration will be held at the Star of the Desert Arena on Sunday at 9 a.m.

A total of 26 of the marquee SCORE Trophy-Trucks are entered to date, and the 800-horsepower unlimited production trucks will lead the afternoon group into the Southern Nevada desert.

In Class 1, for unlimited open-wheel desert race cars, a race-record 45 vehicles are currently entered.

Twelve of last year’s 17 class winners have entered so far, including all of last year’s top 10 overall finishers.

George Seeley, Glendale, Calif., and Eric Solorzano, Tijuana, Mexico, have the most class wins in the SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300. Both have won their respective classes in six of the first 10 years of this race. Seeley drives the No. 501 unlimited VW Baja Bug in Class 5 while Solorzano drives the No. 1100 VW Sedan in Class 11. Solorzano has won his class the six of the last seven years, while Seeley is one of four racers expected in the starting grid who won their respective classes in the first year of this race in 1996.

Besides Seeley, the other class winners from 1996 expected in Primm are Ron Brant, Oak Hills, Calif. (Class 1), Scott Steinberger, Cypress, Calif., who won Class 7S in 1996 and now races in SCORE Trophy-Truck and Kirk Kovel, Cascade, Colo. (Class 3).

Among the other racers entered who have multiple class wins in Primm are Las Vegas drivers Rob MacCachren, Ed Herbst, Tim Herbst, Brian Collins and Troy Herbst. MacCachren (SCORE Trophy-Truck and Class 1-2/1600) has four class wins in Primm while Ed/Tim Herbst (SCORE Trophy-Truck) and Brian Collins (SCORE Trophy-Truck and Class 8) have three wins and Troy Herbst (Class 1) has two victories.

Leading the group of multiple class winners from outside of Nevada, Mexico’s Eric Fisher, (Class 9) has four class wins while Hawaii’s Alan Pflueger (SCORE Trophy-Truck) and Donald Moss, Sacramento, Calif. (Class 3) both have three class victories in Primm.

Helping celebrate the 11th anniversary of this race with two class wins are Scott Steinberger (SCORE Trophy-Truck), Mike Julson, Descanso, Calif. (SCORE Trophy-Truck), Todd Wyllie (SCORE Trophy-Truck) Bob Lofton, Westmorland, Calif. (Class 1), Damen Jefferies, Oak Hills, Calif. (Class 1), Kory Halopoff, Orange, Calif. (Class 1), Larry Roeseler, Hesperia, Calif. (Class 1), Martin Christensen, Escondido, Calif. (Class 1), Mexico’s Gerardo Iribe (Class 1-2/1600), John Griffin, Mission Viejo, Calif. (Stock Full) and Mark Handley, San Marcos, Calif., (Stock Full).

Las Vegas-based Collins Motorsports team, with Las Vegas’ Brian Collins and Larry Ragland, Cave Creek, Ariz. as drivers, is back to defend the overall and SCORE Trophy-Truck titles in the No. 12 Chevy Silverado. Collins/Ragland won last year’s classic battle of hometown racers by 3 minutes, 30 seconds over the No. 19 Terrible Herbst Motorsports Ford F-150 SCORE Trophy-Truck of Las Vegas brothers Tim and Ed Herbst.

With Ragland as driver of record this year, Ragland/Collins will start fourth in SCORE Trophy-Truck this year after winning last year after also being the fourth truck off the starting line.

With one class win and three top five finishes, Las Vegas’ B.J. Baldwin has launched himself to the top of both the Overall and SCORE Trophy-Truck points after three rounds in the 2006 SCORE Desert Series.

The highly-competitive SCORE Desert Series has 15 racers separated by just 30 points in the Overall standings after the 12th SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge, 20th Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 and 38th Tecate SCORE Baja 500 desert races. All three races had race-record starting grids, with 233 leaving the line in Laughlin, 341 starting in San Felipe, and an amazing Mexican-record 438 taking the green flag in Ensenada.

In a sport where there is no qualifying or open pre-running (in the U.S.), the drawing for start positions has added significance and No. 38 G&R Racing Ford F-150 SCORE Trophy-Truck, driven by Garron Cadiente, Mesa, Ariz., was selected randomly during the August 16th computerized drawing at the SCORE Int’ l headquarters in Los Angeles.

Starting first in Class 1 will be Mike Bilek, Tustin, Calif., who will drive solo in the No. 101 Bilek Racing Porter-Chevy.

The first vehicle to leave the start line in the morning portion of the event will be Class 10 racer Darren Hardesty, Ramona, Calif., in the No. 1001 AlumiCraft-VW.

Returning to the desert after completing the NASCAR Grand National Division season are Justin Lofton and Brian Ickler. Both are entered in Class 1 as Lofton finished his NASCAR season eighth in points with five top 5 finishes in nine series races while Ickler, who will split driving with Steve Sourapas, was 11th in the NASCAR divisional series with three top 5 finishes.

Once again pulling double duty in the SCORE Desert Series, TV action sports announcer Cameron Steele, San Clemente, Calif., who will race in the SCORE Lite division in the morning and come back in the afternoon action behind the wheel of the No. 16 Desert Assassin Ford F-150 in SCORE Trophy-Truck.

Several females entered in the race this year include Las Vegas’ Bekki Wik, Heidi Steele, Sigal Greenberg and the All-American Girl Racing Team.

Wik, a two-time SCORE class point champion, will return for the first time since the birth of her daughter Ava, on April 20th of this year. Wik will split driving time in Class 10 in a Jimco-Honda with her husband Adam, a noted desert racing engine builder. Adam is the defending Class 10 race winner, pinch-hitting for Bekki last year at the last minute after she learned just a few days before the race that she was pregnant with their first child.

Steele, who is married to Cameron Steele and was the 2005 SCORE Sportsman Car season point champion, is racing in Class 7SX this year in a Ford Ranger. She will drive the first vehicle off the line in her class on Saturday.

Greenberg, Desert Hills, Ariz., is a SCORE regular in Class 9 in a Safari-VW.

Racing in the Sportsman Car class in a Porsche-powered Lothringer Class 10-style open-wheeler, the All-American Girl Racing Team has Heather Bonanni as driver of record and along with three other drivers in sisters Robyn and Beccy Gordon and Kate Sutton. The Gordons are the sisters of NASCAR and SCORE desert racer Robby Gordon.

The 2006 SCORE Desert Series includes chase for the $50,000 Kartek Off-Road contingency bonus to be awarded to several qualified 2006 SCORE Class point champions.

The 2006 SCORE Desert Series also involves the hunt for the annual Toyota Milestone and $12,000 Toyota True Grit Awards. The prestigious Toyota Milestone Awards are presented to every racer who completes every required mile of every race in the 2006 SCORE Desert Series. The $12,000 Toyota True Grit purse is split among the SCORE season point champions who are also Toyota Milestone award winners in several non-factory-backed classes.

Current SCORE official 2006 sponsors are: BFGoodrich Tires-official tire, Sunoco Race Fuels/C.L. Bryant-official fuel supplier, Bilstein-official shock, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance-official Mexican auto insurance, American Racing-official wheel, Airstar America-official space lighting provider. Associate sponsors are: Tecate Beer, Coca-Cola of Mexico, Las Vegas Events, Terrible Herbst Inc., Kartek Off-Road, Centrix Financial, NAPA Chassis, Fram, Autolite, Prestone, Suzuki, SignPros, P.C.I. Race Radios, McKenzie’s Performance Products and Advanced Color Graphics.

Co-title sponsors for the 11th SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300 are Las Vegas Events and Primm Valley Resorts.

SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300
All-Time Multi-Class Winners
(thru 2005)

Driver, Years
 6 Time Winners
George Seeley --1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003
Eric Solorzano --1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004

4 Time Winners
Danny Anderson--1997, 1999, 2003, 2004
Eric Fisher--2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
Rob MacCachren--1997, 2001, 2004, 2005
Darren Skilton--1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
Craig Turner--1998, 2000, 2001, 2004

3 Time Winners
Brian Collins--1997, 1999, 2005
Ed Herbst--1998, 2002, 2003
Tim Herbst--1998, 2002, 2003
Donald Moss--2002, 2004, 2005
Alan Pflueger—2002, 2003, 2004

2 Time Winners
Victor Barajas--1996, 1997
Steve Barlow--1997, 1998
Cisco Bio--2000, 2001
Mark Bunderson--1996, 1999
Martin Christensen—1999, 2004
John Griffin—2002, 2005
Mark Handley--2003, 2004
Troy Herbst--1999, 2001
Victor Herrera Jr.—1998, 20052
Kory Halopoff--2001, 2002
Gerardo Iribe--1996, 2001
Damen Jefferies--1998, 2004
Mike Julson--1997, 2002
Bob Land--1998, 2001
Ernie Negrete—2001, 2005
Steve Olliges--1996, 1997
Larry Roeseler--1997, 1999
Dan Smith--1996, 2001
Marc Stein--1999, 2001
Scott Steinberger--1996, 2001
Cory Susag--1999, 2001
Dave Sykes--1998, 2003
Todd Wyllie—2004, 2005

For information contact:
SCORE International at its Los Angeles headquarters
(818) 225-8402 or visit
the official 2005 SCORE Desert Series website at:
www.score-international.com