Herbst brothers lead locals in SCORE race

Monday, July 19, 1999 | 10:23 a.m.

BARSTOW, Calif. -- Racing like he owned the desert, Troy Herbst of Las Vegas scored a rare "three-peat" overall and unlimited Class 1 victory Saturday, crushing a field of 151 racers in the 28th SCORE Fireworks 250 in the desert south of Barstow.

Herbst, whose older brothers Ed and Tim Herbst finished second overall and won the featured Trophy-Truck division, muscled his hybrid Smithbuilt desert race car, powered by a Ford V8 engine, over the rugged 236-mile course under solid blue skies and unseasonably "cool" temperatures of just under 100 degrees in the Mojave desert.

Troy Herbst covered the four laps over the 59-mile desert loop in a relatively quick 4 hours, 19 minutes, 16 seconds, averaging an impressive 54.62 miles per hour.

The Herbst brothers led a significant group of 20 Southern Nevada racers to the start line early Saturday morning. In addition to the Herbsts, area racers picked up a total of five class wins as 11 of the 20 locals finished the race.

Troy Herbst's brothers, Ed, 38, and Tim 35, split the driving time in their Ford F-150 Trophy-Truck. They finished Round 4 of the six-race 1999 Laughlin SCORE Desert Series in 4:32:02 -- 12 minutes, 46 seconds behind their 33-year-old brother. It was the Herbst brothers' third Trophy-Truck victory of the season.

For Troy Herbst, his second victory of the season helped him increase his point lead in the unlimited Class 1 for open-wheel desert race cars, but his impressive win wasn't as easy as it appeared.

"We had three flats -- all driver error -- broke the front left brake rotor, battled dust and tons of slower race traffic and we didn't even have the fast lap of the race," Herbst said.

"But we did stay ahead of my brothers, and we did win our class and the overall, so we couldn't be happier. It was a Terrible Herbst Motorsports day in Barstow."

Finishing third overall and second in Class 1 was Damen Jefferies of Temecula, Calif., with a time of 4:34:14 in a Jimco, just 14 seconds ahead of third place in Class 1 -- Doug Fortin Jr., La Mesa, Calif., who drove a Chenowth.

Brian Collins and Dale White of Las Vegas were fifth overall and won Class 8 in a Chevrolet C1500 in 4:57:27. It was the third win of the season for Collins/White and their White Lightning Racing team.

Driving through slower traffic throughout the race, Troy Herbst drove consistent laps of 1:04:03, 1:06:06 and 1:05:30 before putting an exclamation point on his triumph with an exceptionally quick 1:03:37 final lap.

Las Vegas' Danny Anderson drove a Jimco to sixth overall and first in Class 10 in 4:58:24. Anderson drove solo in a Jimco to pick up his first win of the season.

Steve Olliges of Las Vegas teamed with San Diego's Robert Hayley to win the Stock Full class in a Ford F-150 for the third time in the popular summer classic.

The only female driver of record in the Laughlin SCORE Desert Series, Bekki Freeman of Henderson, finished third in Class 1-2/1600, which featured 24 starters.

Also in Class 1-2/1600, B.J. Almberg of North Las Vegas finished sixth, Rudy Cortez of Las Vegas finished ninth and Freeman's older brother Kenny Freeman Jr., finished 10th after running in third place after the first lap.

Charlie Townsley, who drove the first Class 1 vehicle to start the race, finished 11th out of the 26 starters in the unlimited class.

Henderson's Mark Hutchins placed fourth out of 18 starters in Class 10, 38 minutes, 34 seconds after Anderson won the Class 10 title.

B.J. Baldwin of Las Vegas, rounded out the area desert racers who made it to the finish line, finishing ninth out of 18 starters in the SCORE Lite class.