Herbst brothers’ efforts highlight SCORE event

Friday, Sept. 17, 1999 | 9:58 a.m.

His third victory of the season in last weekend's SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300 helped Troy Herbst increase his point lead in the unlimited Class 1, but he used a different race strategy than normal -- starting slow and finishing fast.

Herbst, whose older brothers Ed and Tim Herbst finished third overall and finished second in the featured Trophy-Truck division, powered his hybrid Smithbuilt desert race car over the rugged 72.3-mile course to his second straight overall and unlimited Class 1 victory.

Troy Herbst covered the four laps in a very fast winning time of 4 hours, 59 minutes, 34 seconds and averaged an impressive 57.92 mph.

Troy Herbst's older brothers, Ed and Tim, finished Round 5 of the six-race 1999 Laughlin SCORE Desert Series in 5:18:46 -- 19 minutes, 12 seconds behind their 33-year old brother.

Las Vegas' Brian Collins was sixth overall and won Class 8 in a Chevrolet C1500 in 4:57:27. It was his fourth win of the season and second straight.

Another Southern Nevada racer to use his "home-desert" knowledge was Danny Anderson of Las Vegas, who won Class 10 in 5:31:21 in a Jimco, also placing seventh overall while winning his class for the second straight race.

Southern Nevada racers picked up an impressive four class wins as car builder Mark Bunderson of North Las Vegas won Class 9 in the Bunderson vehicle he built himself.

Besides the four class wins and the Herbst brothers' second in the Trophy-Truck division, locals also recorded another second, one third, a pair of fourths and one fifth-place finish.

Brad Maurer of Las Vegas split driving team in Class 1-2/600 with Rick Paquette of San Clemente, Calif., and finished second while Henderson's Bekki Freeman, the only female regular in the SCORE Laughlin Desert Series and the defending class point champion, salvaged a fourth-place finish.

After leading for the first half of the race in Class 1-2/1600, Freeman slipped to fourth after the skid plate nearly came off the bottom of her Jimco midway through the third lap after being crushed by flying rocks.

In the unlimited Class 1, John Gaughan finished a SCORE personal-best fourth and Kory Scheeler recorded a ninth-place finish after leading the first lap.

The final event of the six-race Laughlin SCORE Desert Series will be the 32nd Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, Nov. 4-7, in Ensenada, Baja California.