SCORE desert racers gear up for Primm event

Friday, Aug. 13, 1999 | 10:21 a.m.

Despite a season-low fourth place in their most recent race, the three straight victories in Class 1-2/1600 they started with this season have kept San Diego's Vic Bruckmann and Jason Hatz as the team to beat in the 1999 Laughlin SCORE Desert Series.

Closing the gap in the hunt for the overall championship are Southern Nevada racers Bekki Freeman of Henderson, Troy Herbst of Las Vegas and Rick Ellison, Selma, Calif.

Keeping the heat on the tandem team, Freeman is second overall and second in Class 1-2/1600 to Bruckmann and Hatz. Herbst, who leads the unlimited Class 1, is tied for third overall with Ellison, who is the Class 10 point leader.

Bruckmann/Hatz have 252 points in their VW-powered Chenowth desert race car while Freeman has 227 in a VW-powered Jimco. Herbst, who drives a Ford-powered Smithbuilt and Ellison are tied with 219 each in America's foremost desert racing series.

SCORE desert racers are preparing for the 4th Annual SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300, to be held Sept. 10-11 in Primm.

After racing separately last year until the season finale, Bruckmann and Hatz have teamed up this year to lead the overall and Class 1-2/1600 point standings after four rounds with impressive season-opening class wins in Laughlin (Jan. 23-24), San Felipe, Mexico (March 20), and Ensenada, Mexico (June 5-6). Bruckmann and Hatz, who split the driving time, slipped to a fourth place finish in July's SCORE Fireworks 250 in Barstow, Calif.

Freeman, the 28-year old Southern Nevada racer, drives solo and is second in Class 1-2/1600 and in overall points after winning the Class 1-2/1600 season title last year as a SCORE rookie. She finished third in Barstow, ahead of Bruckmann and Hatz.

After winning the overall and Class 1 titles for the third consecutive year at the SCORE Fireworks 250, Herbst moved back on top of the class he has won the last two years and into a tie for third in the overall chase with Ellison.

Las Vegas brothers Ed and Tim Herbst, Troy Herbst's older brothers, continue to lead the featured Trophy-Truck division with three wins in four starts and Brian Collins and Dale White of Las Vegas continue to lead Class 8.