In a rare off weekend
from his Nextel NASCAR Cup schedule, Robby Gordon
led his off-road race team to the Las Vegas Motor
Speedway in search of victory amongst the nation's
top off road desert racers.
Late Saturday night,
with a large Las Vegas crowd exceeding 8,000 fans
watching the action, Gordon dominated the final
race of the weekend 's festivities, crossing the
finish line with a huge 35 second lead over Hawaii's
Alan Pflueger.
Gordon arrived to
Las Vegas with his off road race team on Thursday
morning and set up race headquarters in the asphalt
parking lot, only several hundred yards away from
a very familiar Nextel NASCAR Cup track. As part
of his support efforts, Robby Gordon Motorsports
rolled out their Mercedes HUMMER/Jim Beam DAKAR
support, truck along with all the usual support
trucks, allowing fans to get up close and personal
and experience Robby Gordon Motorsports.
With fans perusing
through the pits on Friday and Saturday afternoon,
they had the opportunity to chat with the Nextel
NASCAR Cup team owner/driver and grab an autograph
or two.
However, when it
was time to race, the Red Bull /Toyo Tires sponsored
off road desert racer demonstrated his fierce competitive
spirit, as he charged the #83 Chevy C/K 1500 around
the 1.5 mile race course with a vengence.
SCORE, along with
tremendous support from the Terrible Herbst Motorsports
family, built a "chunk of Baja" at the
Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track that featured
a short strip of asphalt, transitioning the dirt
infield with the big whooped out backstretch. The
long backstretch was the only spot on the closed
race course where the field of SCORE elite Trophy
Trucks reached high-speeds while flying through
the big bumps.
The SCORE Trophy
Trucks ran two heat races before the final race
in the main event where Robby Gordon dominated the
race after starting the night in the front row.
He led from the start line, as his new 40"
Toyo Open Country M/T rockcrawling tires provided
him the traction above and beyond the competition.
He led the first lap and then checked out on the
competition, all the way to the finish line where
he gave Toyo Tires their second Trophy Truck victory
of the season. Gordon put his Hummer H3 Dakar vehicle
in victory lane at the Parker 425 early in the season.
Robby told DirtNewz,
"We struggled in Friday's races and didn't
get the hook up we've experienced with our Toyo's
in the past. I called and conferenced with the Toyo
Tire guys, Vandermark and Yama, on Friday night
and they got us a new 40-inch tire that they just
developed for rockcrawling and the rest is history.
The tires were great and made the difference in
this win."
Chasing down the
#83 Red Bull Trophy Truck was the Ed Herbst driving
the #19 Terrible Herbst Trophy Truck. However, Herbst
suffered a rear flat tire three laps into the race
that slowed him considerably. Not long after Herbst
suffered a rear flat, Friday winner, Marty Coyne
suffered a rear flat that took him out of the race.
Coyne won the 2006
SCORE Terrible's Cup inaugural race and was very
fast on Friday and Saturday. Being sidelined by
a flat tire in the 9.0 mile main event race was
disappointing for the off road racing veteran.
With the Herbst and
Coyne Trophy Trucks slowed by rear flat tires, it
didn't take long for the Flyin' Hawaiian, Alan Pflueger,
to move his Monster Energy Drink sponsored truck
into the second position for his chance to chase
down Gordon. Pflueger pushed his Hoffman Motorsports
prepped truck as hard as it would go, but to no
avail did he have a chance to catch the veteran
NASCAR driver, Robby Gordon.
Gordon later commented,
"We got beat up a bit yesterday, but I got
be honest, we came back today. I’ve raced
off-road… I think this year’s SCORE
Baja 1000 will be my 23rd year in Baja. It always
feels good to get a little dirty. It was just a
great run tonight for us. I‘m just really,
really happy. I’m happy for the guys at Red
Bull. They set up a tent down here and they had
a bunch of guests, so it’s great to come out
and play in front of all these off-road fans. The
track was good. It got pretty rutted out. Toyo brought
me great tires."
