Las Vegas, NV (April 29,2008) — It was a perfect weekend for racing at this year’s Terrible’s “250” at Primm for the record shattering 262 race teams that showed up to take on the challenging course that Casey Folks and his crew had laid out. Temperatures were mild and the wind kept the track clear for some intensely tight and fast racing. Saturday featured a new two race format that was adopted for this event to split the classes up into two groups and help reduce traffic and increase safety on the 84 mile loop.
The morning race got underway at 5:30 am for classes 1100, 2000, 8100, 7100, 4100, 3700, 7300, 3100, 5000, 3000, 1700, 1800 and 1900. The highlight of the day for this group saw Rod Hall’s Team Hummer capturing first place class finishes in Stock Production Full-Size Truck, Stock Production Full-Size SUV and Stock Production Mini or Mid-Size SUV.
At approximately 1:00 pm classes 1400, 1500, 1200, 8000, 1000 and 7200 took off from the starting line located just behind the Buffalo Bill’s Casino in Primm. Having won Thursday’s Time Trials, Bill Gasper charged off the line to lead the huge field of open class buggies and Trick Trucks. Behind him quickly turned into a fierce battle of very fast racers trying to reel him in. In particular, were the Trick Trucks of “Pistol” Pete Sohren and Todd Wyllie. The two kept pushing each other until they had put a great deal of distance on the rest of the Trick Trucks and most of the 1500 class cars. But, as can often happen in desert racing, the rabid pace started taking its toll. At about the 79 mile mark on his second lap, Todd Wyllie encountered transmission failure leaving clear running and sizeable lead for “Pistol” Pete. Then, with the finish line just a mere 4 miles in front of him, the rear end blew on Pete’s truck. Pete was able to repair the damages and ended up taking a 9th place class finish, 39th overall.
In the mean time, Steve Croll had worked his way to the overall lead in his Ford powered class 1400. Closely behind him was his brother Shawn Croll in another Ford powered class 1400 car. Steve ended up taking the coveted first overall race win and along with it, the big purse and Terrible’s Herbst bonus money. Shawn Croll came in second overall, incredibly only 25 seconds behind his brother. 3rd overall and first Trick Truck was the Ford truck of Will Staats, handing Ford the top overall three spots.
Chuck Hovey finished 4th overall and 3rd in class as he continues to march towards repeating his 2007 class championship. 5th overall went to Randy Wilson. Rick D. Johnson brought his Ford Trick Truck in for a respectable 6th. Coming in at the 7th spot was the TSCO sponsored Ford-Powered Trick Truck of Mark and Gary Weyhrich. Charley McDowell brought his 1500 car in for a 8th overall finish while Mike Julson capture 9th in his new Jimco Trick Truck. Finishing out the top 10 spot was the 1500 car of Sam Berri.
Other notable finishers included Curt LeDuc as he captured the class 8000 win in his Ford truck and class 1200 Protruck winner, Ryan Staats in yet another Ford truck. Also, Jonathan Swift won class 7300 for modified mini-trucks in his Ford Ranger.
Next on tap for Best In The Desert’s car and truck classes is the TSCO “Vegas to Reno” race, “The Longest Off-Road Race In The United States”. Don’t miss this historic event, mark your calendars now for August 21 thru 23, 2008.
Off-Road Racing’s Best-Run Series … Best In the Desert!
