NASCAR’s R. Gordon dusts SCORE Trophy-Truck field

Dean takes Class 1

NASCAR’s R. Gordon dusts SCORE Trophy-Truck field To Win SCORE Las Vegas Terrible’s Cup II at LVMS

July 29, 2006

LAS VEGAS – NASCAR team owner/driver Robby Gordon made an open weekend on the Nextel Cup schedule a profitable one for himself by running away with the final race in the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division of the SCORE Las Vegas Terrible’s Cup II Saturday night.

Robby Gordon

A near-capacity crowd of 8,115 turned out for the final night of the closed-course off-road event at the Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway despite the traffic problems created by a closure of the Interstate 15 freeway throughout the afternoon and early evening due to a fire at a propane storage facility.

Gordon rewarded their perseverance by dominating both his heat race and the main event and celebrating with victory donuts in his Chevy CK1500 that sent clouds of dust floating into the grandstand.

“The Red Bull folks asked us to come out here and play this weekend and that’s exactly what we did,” said Gordon, who began his racing career in desert racing and still competes, with Red Bull sponsorship, as his NASCAR schedule permits.

He had finished third and second in his two races Friday night and said, “We got beat up a little yesterday so we came out today with a vengeance. We wanted to dominate this thing and we did.”

Gordon, 37, won the opening 6-lap heat race by 35 seconds and the 6-lap main event by 23 seconds, the latter effort earning the team the $15,000 winner’s share of the $25,000 purse for the class.

Alan Pflueger, who commutes from his home in Hawaii to race in the desert, started fourth and finished second in his Chevy Silverado SCORE Trophy-Truck, with Pete Sohren of Glendale, Ariz., third in a Ford F-150.

Noted second-generation Las Vegas desert racer Pat Dean completed a slow climb up the finishing ladder in Class 1 with a wire-to-wire win in the 6-lap main event in a Bunderson-Chevy.

Bryan Freeman, 26, of nearby Henderson, Nev., added two wins on Saturday to his heat race win of Friday and captured the Class 1-2 1600 championship in a Fraley-VW.

Broc Ross, 41, of New River, Ore., reversed the order of Friday’s finishes and won the Class 7 title in a Ford Ranger by twice beating veteran desert racer Larry Roeseler, 49, of Hesperia, Calif. On opening night, Roeseler had beaten Ross twice in the 6-lap heats for open mini-trucks.

Tyler Fox, 33, of Ramona, Calif., won the 6-lap main event for stock mini trucks (Class 7S) in another Ford Ranger to spoil the weekend for Aaron Gomez, 36, of Fallbrook, Calif., who had won the other three races, and Perry McNeil Jr., 25, of La Mesa, Calif., swept the quartet of races in Class 7SX, for modified mini trucks in a Ford Ranger.

Arizona driver Ron Dalke, 41, erased the frustration of three second-place finishes to Darren Hardesty, 38, of Ramona, Calif., by winning the Class 10 main event in a Tatum-Honda, and television personality Cameron Steele swept three heat races and the main event in the SCORE Lite race in a Desert Assassin-VW.

Steele, 38, of San Clemente, competed in four classes here while commuting to San Jose to serve as the pit reporter for Sunday’s Champ Car World Series race on NBC

The 2006 SCORE Desert Series resumes on Sept. 8-9 with the 11th Annual SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300, in Primm, Nev.

SCORE LAS VEGAS TERRIBLE’S CUP II

at the Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

JULY 28-29, 2006

SATURDAY’S FINAL RESULTS

Attendance: 8,115

SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK

(two 6-lap heat races plus 6-lap main event

Main event – 1. Robby Gordon, Charlotte, N.C., Red Bull Chevrolet CK1500; 2. Alan Pflueger, Honolulu, Hawaii, Chevrolet Silverado; 3. Pete Sohren, Glendale, Ariz., Ford F-150; 4. B.J. Baldwin, Las Vegas, Chevrolet Silverado; 5. Ed Herbst, Las Vegas, Ford F-150; 6. Jesse Jones, Litchfield Park, Ariz., Ford F-150; 7. Cameron Steele, San Clemente, Calif., Ford F-150; 8. Bobby Baldwin, Las Vegas, Chevrolet Silverado; 9. Scott Steinberger, Signal Hill, Calif., Ford F-150; 10. Marty Coyne, El Centro, Calif., Ford F-150.

Heat 2 – 1. Herbst; 2. Pflueger; 3. Albert McMullen, Phoenix, Ariz., Chevrolet Silverado; 4. Steinberger; 5. Steele; 6. Huffman; 7. B.J. Baldwin.

Heat 1 – 1. Gordon; 2. Sohren; 3. Jones; 4. Bobby Baldwin; 5. Coyne; 6. Wyllie.

SCORE CLASS 1

(One 6-lap heat race and a 6-lap main event)

Main event – 1. Pat Dean, Las Vegas, Bunderson-Chevrolet; 2. Rich Ronco, Phoenix, Ariz., Tatum-Chevrolet; 3. Jeff Quinn, Anaheim, Calif., Jimco-Chevrolet; 4. Tim Herbst, Las Vegas, Smithbuilt-Ford; 5. A.J. Rodriguez, Orange, Calif., Baja Motorsports-Chevrolet; 6. Danny Anderson, Las Vegas, Jimco-Chdevrolet.

Heat race – 1. Ronco; 2. Anderson; 3. Dean; 4. Quinn; 5. Herbst; 6. Rodriguez; 7. Tieman.

SCORE Class 1/2-1600