Friday, June 14, 2002 | 8:53 a.m.
On the strength of his overall and class victories in the recent Baja 500, Troy Herbst of Las Vegas has assumed the overall points lead in the SCORE desert racing series.
The youngest of the three brothers on the Terrible Herbst Motorsports team, Herbst has forged an unparalleled SCORE desert-racing record. Since 1997, the 36-year-old Herbst has won the unlimited Class 1 five consecutive years and the overall points championship in 1997, 1998 and 2000.
By finishing second in the season-opening Laughlin Desert Challenge, third in the San Felipe 250 and first in the Baja 500, Herbst has increased his Class 1 points lead while taking over the top spot in the chase for the SCORE overall point crown.
SCORE points are determined both on final finishing position and number of vehicles which start the race within the individual class.
"We are in the midst of an incredible run in the desert," Herbst said. "If a player in one of our casinos was having as much success as we've had in SCORE races the past five and a half years, we'd have to give them the deed to Terrible's."
With a strong 23-vehicle field in Class 1 at the Baja 500, Herbst -- with the help of some driving assistance from Baja racing legend Larry Roeseler -- impressively won Class 1 by more than seven minutes. He now has 183 season points and leads second-place Steve Barlow of Temecula, Calif., who races in the Protruck class, by 21 points.
Allan Gregory of Alpine, Calif., (Class 5/1600) is third overall with 160 points, Kash Vessels of Tucson (Class 1-2/1600) is fourth with 149 points and Nick Vanderwey of Buckeye, Ariz., (Class 8) is fifth with 148 points.
Among the other 2002 SCORE car and truck class points leaders after the Baja 500 is Mark Hutchinson of Henderson (Class 10).
Leading the featured motorcycle class and the overall motorcycle point leader is the team of Steve Hengeveld of Oak Hills, Calif., and /Johnny Campbell of San Clemente, Calif., in Class 22.
Las Vegas Jimmy Stephensen and his co-rider, Mike Cafro of Carlsbad, Calif., lead Class 25 and are the overall ATV point leaders.
The next event on the SCORE schedule is the SCORE Henderson's Terrible 250, which will be held July 13 near the base of Black Mountain.
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