Collins struggles in ‘02 SCORE opener

Monday, Jan. 28, 2002 | 8:40 a.m.

LAUGHLIN -- The first SCORE International off-road race of the New Year, the eighth annual Laughlin Desert Challenge, was not kind to the defending champions in the featured classes.

Brian Collins of Las Vegas, who captured the Trophy-Truck division last year, had engine problems all day Sunday and limped to a third-place finish in the class, which was won by Dan Smith of Riverside, Calif.

Steve Sourapas of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., last year's overall and Class 1 champion, finished a distant fifth behind overall and class champions Dale and Mike Dondel of Hemet, Calif.

"We just couldn't get the truck to run down here for some reason," Collins said. "We just couldn't get the motor to pull (Sunday), which makes for a long four laps ... and (Saturday), we lost the transmission."

Brothers Ed and Tim Herbst of Las Vegas, who won the Trophy-Truck class in both 1999 and 2000, also battled transmission-related problems Saturday and finished only one of the required four laps.

With Tim handling the driving duties Sunday, the team had the third-fastest overall elapsed time, but was not considered an official finisher because it did not complete the required eight laps over two days.

"The truck ran good today and I think it's going to be pretty fun as the season goes along," Tim Herbst said. "At least we got four laps in -- which was better than (Saturday)."

The event was split into two days of racing on the 13-mile course. The finishing order in each class was based on the combined two-day elapsed time of each racer.

In Class 1, Dale Dondel held a 1-minute, 36-second lead over Troy Herbst after Saturday's portion of the event. With Mike Dondel driving Sunday, it took a flat tire by Herbst late in the race for the Dondels to regain the lead.

Herbst held a 45-second lead when he suffered a flat tire at the end of the third lap. When Herbst entered the pits to change tires, Dondel grabbed the lead, but then lost second gear. Dondel held off Herbst by one second in Sunday's four-lap segment.

"I knew we had a little cushion, thanks to my brother," Mike Dondel said. "When Troy pulled in for a flat, we started losing second gear so I decided to keep it in third and get it around the last lap."

The Dondels completed the race in a combined elapsed time of 1 hour, 33 minutes and 28 seconds for an average speed of 66.762 mph. Herbst was second overall in 1:35:03 and Smith, in Trophy-Truck, was third in 1:35:29.