This weekend in Laughlin, Nev.

Moss, MacCachren, Pfankuch, Carr, Collins, Tim Herbst lead
Multi class winners to 18th SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge

Entries from 15 U.S. states and six countries entered for Rounds 1 & 2 of 2012 SCORE Desert Series;
SCORE Trophy Truck qualifying Friday at 2 p.m. at Laughlin Events Park

LAUGHLIN, Nev.—Starting off the new year and new racing season like it has for nearly two decades, this weekend’s 18th Annual SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge is an extremely popular three-day event for fans and racers, but no racers enjoy it more than six drivers who have combined for 33 classes wins in Laughlin, Nev.
Launching its 39th year as the World’s Foremost Desert Racing Organization in 2012, Sal Fish’s SCORE International will hold the first major motorsports events of the year in the United States in Laughlin, 90 miles Southeast of Las Vegas.
With entries so far from 15 U.S states along with Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany and Mexico, Rounds 1 and 2 of the five-race 2012 SCORE Desert Series will be held Friday through Sunday along the banks of the Colorado River in the Southern Nevada resort destination of Laughlin. Competition will be held for 20 Pro and three Sportsman classes for race buggies and trucks.
For the first time in the history of the event, each day of the two-day Laughlin gathering (Saturday and Sunday) will be separate race events for purposes of championship points, prize money and trophies.
The course is 6.25 miles long with the classes divided into groups for five multi-lap races each day. The start/finish line area and main pits will once again be located at the Laughlin Events Park just off of Casino Drive in Laughlin. The day-long races will start each day at 7 a.m.
Leading the parade of multi-class winners in the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge entered this year is eight-time Class 3 winner Donald Moss of Sacramento, Calif. Las Vegas SCORE Trophy Truck racer Rob MacCachren has seven class wins in Laughlin while Adam Pfankuch, Oceanside, Calif., has six class wins and will be racing one of the two days in the unlimited Class 1 for driver of record Steven Eugenio, El Centro, Calif.
Returning this year with four class wins in Laughlin are San Diego’s Kevin Carr (Class 5) and Las Vegas racers Brian Collins (SCORE Trophy Truck) and Tim Herbst (SCORE Trophy Truck).
San Diego’s three-time winner Marc Stein returns in Stock Full while two-time class winners entered are B.J. Baldwin, Las Vegas (SCORE Trophy Truck), Vic Bruckmann, El Cajon, Calif. (SCORE Lites), Dan Chamlee, Carpenteria, Calif. (Class 7), Troy Herbst, Las Vegas (SCORE Trophy Truck), Justin Matney, Bristol, Tenn. (SCORE Trophy Truck and Class 1) and Gary Weyhrich, Troutdale, Ore. (SCORE Trophy Truck).
The featured SCORE Trophy Trucks, the marquee SCORE racing division for high-tech, 850 horsepower unlimited production trucks, and the unlimited Class 1 open-wheel desert race cars will both race eight laps on Saturday and Sunday with SCORE Trophy Trucks starting at 1 p.m. each day followed by Class 1 a 3 p.m. With vehicles starting one every 15 seconds in the elapsed-time race, all vehicles will have 85 minutes each day to complete their required laps to become an official finisher in each race.
The exciting event once again kicks off the 2012 desert racing season and the Martin Luther King birthday weekend.
The Laughlin event includes course practice sessions for all classes and qualifying for SCORE Trophy Truck on Friday followed by two separate and independent races, the first on Saturday and the second on Sunday.
Starting at 2 p.m. on Friday, SCORE Trophy Truck qualifying will see each entry making one timed lap over the course to determine Saturday’s starting positions. General admission is free to Friday’s SCORE Trophy Truck qualifying. Practice sessions will be held on the course Friday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Also on Friday, contingency and safety inspection of the entries will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in front of the Edgewater and Colorado Belle Hotels on Casino Drive in the heart of the Laughlin resort area. Racer registration will be held at the River Palms Hotel from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday. Media registration will also be at the River Palms on Friday, from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m.
With general admission tickets available at the event, the three spectator areas for the event will be the start/finish line area at the Laughlin Events Park, the SCORE Hill overlooking the infield area of the start/finish line area, and the ‘Cougar Corral’ located adjacent to the west end of the course by Laughlin High School.
General admission, per person, per day, IS $10 for the start/finish and infield area, $5 for the SCORE Hill and $5 for the ‘Cougar Corral’.
While Southern California desert racer Cameron Steele received the first qualifying spot in the featured SCORE Trophy Truck division, SoCal’s Damen Jefferies got a nice New Year’s gift as he received the first starting slot in the unlimited Class 1 in the drawing for starting positions last Monday for the 2012 SCORE season-opener.
Steele, an ESPN TV action sports announcer who lives in San Clemente, Calif., has two vehicles entered in SCORE Trophy Truck and will be the first truck to qualify, driving his new No. 14 Geiser Brothers-built GMC Sierra.
Jefferies, of Apple Valley, Calif. and a three-time SCORE season point champion including the 1998 SCORE Overall point titlist, will start first on Saturday in Class 1 in his Chevy-powered Jefferies race car.
While the starting positions for the first race (Saturday) are based on the drawing (except qualifying for SCORE Trophy Truck), starting positions for the second race (Sunday) will be based of Saturday’s placement order for classes with less than 10 finishers. For classes with 10 or more finishers there will be a random drawing of the top 10 finishers on Saturday to determine the race two starting order on Sunday. The remaining participants after 10th place will start Sunday in the order they finished on Saturday.
With entries late entries accepted up to race mornings, among the desert racing stars entered to date are 15 of the 2011 SCORE class champions Bryce Menzies, Las Vegas (SCORE Trophy Truck), Justin Davis, Chino Hills, Calif. (Class 1), Moss (Class 3), Carr (Class 5), Rene Brugger, San Diego (Class 6), Chamlee, (Class 7), Rafael Navarro IV, Temecula, Calif. (SCORE Lites),West Bevly III, Corpus Christi, Texas (Stock Full) and Reid Rutherford, Montrose, Colo. (Class 7-2).
Entered in different classes this year, Justin Matney won the 2011 SCORE season point championships in both Class 11 and Stock Mini while his RPM Offroad teammate Clyde Stacy, Bristol, Va., is entered in different classes as well this year after winning the 2011 SCORE season point titles in Class 17 and Class 4. Luke Babb, Monrovia, Calif. (Class 9) and Peter Lang, Santa Rosa, Calif. (Sportsman Buggy) are also entered in different classes this year, Babb as a second driver in Class 1/2-1600 and Lang as driver of record in Class 6.
With a variety of drivers and co-drivers, RPM Offroad has a race-record eight official entries in this year’s SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge.
Last year’s SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge event overall winner, Menzies is entered as a second driver for Marc Ewing, Henderson, Nev., in the No. 68 SCORE Trophy Truck.
Returning to the desert for the first time in several years in a SCORE race is NASCAR driver Brendan Gaughan of Las Vegas. Gaughan, 36, of Las Vegas, is a veteran of all three of NASCAR’s elite series and this year has signed a deal to drive 10 NASCAR Nationwide Series races and eight NASCAR Truck races for Richard Childress Racing. In the 2012 SCORE Desert Series, he will be the driver of record in the Collins Motorsports No. 12 South Point Racing Dodge Ram150 with Las Vegas’ Brian Collins as the team’s second driver.
Tecate Beer is the title sponsor of November’s 45th Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 which will be a peninsula run starting in Ensenada, Baja California and finishing in La Paz, Baja California Sur.
Official Sponsors of the SCORE Desert Series are:
-BFGoodrich Tires, Official Tire
-Volkswagen of America, Official Vehicle
-Sunoco Race Fuels, Official Race Fuel
-Slime, Official Tire Sealant
-Symons Ambulance Company, Official Ambulance
-Bilstein, Official Shock Absorber
-Instant Mexico Auto Insurance, Official Mexican Auto Insurance
Official Sponsors of the SCORE Baja 1000 are:
-Coca-Cola, Official Soft Drink
-Volaris Airlines, Official Airline
-Lightforce Performance Lighting, Official Driving Light
Additional SCORE Sponsors are - Las Vegas Events, Proturismo Ensenada, Baja California Secretary of Tourism, COTUCO Mexicali/San Felipe, Blue C Advertising, SignPros, PCI Race Radios, McKenzie’s Performance Products and Advanced Color Graphics.
For more information, contact SCORE at its Los Angeles headquarters 818.225.8402 or visit the official website of the 2012 SCORE Desert Series at Score International - Off Road Racing.

18th SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge
Rounds 1 & 2 of five-race 2012 SCORE Desert Series
Jan. 13-15 -- Laughlin, Nevada
Total Entries--90
(from 15 States, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany & Mexico) (as of 1/10/12)

SCORE TROPHY TRUCK (Unlimited Production Trucks)--
(Starting order for SCORE Trophy Truck to be determined by Friday’s pre-race qualifying)
2 Pete Sohren, Glendale, Ariz., Ford F-150
9 Mark Weyhrich, Troutdale, Ore., Ford F-150
10 Greg Nunley, Tulare, Calif., Chevy Silverado
12 Brendan Gaughan/Brian Collins, Las Vegas, Dodge Ram1500
14 Cameron Steele, San Clemente, Calif./Cody Stuart, Capistrano Beach, Calif., GMC Sierra
15 Armin Schwarz, Germany/Martin Christensen, Escondido, Calif. (Denmark), Chevy Silverado
16 Cameron Steele, San Clemente, Calif./Cody Stuart, Capistrano Beach, Calif., GMC Sierra
18 Juan Carlos Lopez, Tecate, Mexico/Justin Matney, Bristol, Tenn., Chevy Silverado
19 Tim Herbst, Las Vegas, Larry Roeseler, Boulevard, Calif., Ford F-150
20 Rob MacCachren, Las Vegas, Ford F-150
30 Robbie Pierce, Santee, Calif., Ford F-150
34 Ken Losch, Tempe, Ariz./John Pickett, Tulare, Calif., Chevy Silverado
35 Jason Voss, 25/Rich Voss, 54, Cupertino, Calif., Ford F-150
47 James Bult, Monee, Ill/Jacob Bult, Sand Point, Idaho, Dodge Ram2500
65 Lloyd Sproule/Derrick Sproule, Canada, Ford F-150
68 Marc Ewing, Henderson, Nev./Bryce Menzies, Las Vegas, Ford F-150
84 Nick Vanderwey, Phoenix/Larry Vanderwey, Litchfield Park, Ariz., Chevy Silverado
94 Steven Strobel, Clarks, Neb., Ford F-150
95 Scott Whipple/Scott Gailey, Norco, Calif., Ford F-150
96 Bobby Baldwin, Las Vegas, Chevy Silverado
97 B.J. Baldwin/Bobby Baldwin, Las Vegas, Chevy Silverado
98 Gary Weyhrich, Troutdale, Ore., Ford F-150

SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge
All-Time Multiple Pro Class Champions (thru 2011)
Total Driver, Years
8
Donald Moss-2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011
7
George Seeley Jr.-1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007
Rob MacCachren-1996, 2001, 2004(2), 2006, 2007, 2010
6
Adam Pfankuch-2003, 2005, 2008, 2009(2)
4
Kevin Carr-2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Brian Collins-1996, 1999, 2000, 2001
Ed Herbst-1995, 1997, 1999, 2000
Tim Herbst-1995, 1997, 1999, 2000
John Holmes-1995, 2005, 2007, 2009
Eric Solorzano-1998, 1999, 2004, 2006
3
Danny Anderson-2000, 2001, 2009
Jeff Dickerson-2003, 2004, 2005
Dale Dondel-1998, 2002, 2005
Dale Ebberts-2000, 2003, 2005
Manny Esquerra-1997, 1999, 2000
Dr. Macrae Glass-2000, 2001, 2002
Brian Jeffrey-1995, 1996, 1997
Scott Pellerin-2002, 2003, 2005
Darren Skilton-1997, 1998, 1999
Dan Smith-1997, 1998, 2002
Marc Stein-1996, 2001, 2003
Steve Williams-1995, 1996, 1997
2
David Ashley-1997, 1998
B. J. Baldwin-2006, 2007
Victor Barajas-1996, 1997
Steve Barlow-2001, 2002
Vic Bruckmann-1999, 2002
David Callaway-1997, 1998
David Caspino-2010, 2011
Dan Chamlee-2009, 2011
Mike Dondel-1998, 2002
Eric Fisher-2004, 2005
Todd Gattrell-1995, 1996
Allan Gregory-2001, 2002
Rod Hall-2007, 2008
Elias Hanna-2010, 2011
Chris Harrold-1999, 2008
Jason Hatz-1996, 1998
Troy Herbst-1999, 2004
John Herder-1998, 2007
Carlos Iribe-1997, 1999
Gerardo Iribe-1997, 2004
Jason Jernigan-2004, 2007
Rick D. Johnson-1995, 1998
Jeff Lewis-1999, 2000
Justin Matney-2011(2)
Jim Nuckles-2003, 2005
Mark Post-1997, 2003
Joel Stankavich-1999, 2001
Rick St. John-2008, 2009
Dave Sykes-1998, 2002
Ryan Thomas-1996, 1997
Craig Turner-2002, 2005
Andrew Wehe-1996, 1997
Gary Weyhrich-2000, 2006
Chris Woodward-2000, 2001