Thursday, Sept. 11, 2003 | 9:25 a.m.
IF YOU GO
Dale Ebberts is poised to accomplish something in the SCORE Desert Series that no other driver has been able to pull off in the past six years.
Ebberts, a 33-year-old resident of Canyon Lake, Calif., is attempting to break Las Vegan Troy Herbst's unprecedented six-year stranglehold on the SCORE Class 1 championship. Ebberts holds the points lead in the class going into Saturday's Las Vegas Primm 300 after winning the first two races of the season and posting podium finishes in the other two.
"If we can pull that off this year, that would be really exciting," Ebberts said of breaking Herbst's streak. "Troy and (co-driver) Larry (Roeseler) are outstanding drivers and the vehicles are pretty tough to beat and their effort is pretty tough to beat.
"When this season started, that was about the biggest prize you could win in off-road racing -- to try to end their streak. I don't think there's anything tougher you could try for so if we could do that, that would be really exciting."
In fact, the last person to win a SCORE Class 1 championship other than Herbst was Ebberts, who teamed with Brent Grizzle to capture the 1996 title.
"I think this is my third attempt at trying to snap (Herbst's streak)," Ebberts said. "I was able to put together a Class 1 effort in 1998 and then last year, so this is my third attempt."
This also may prove to be his best chance. After four rounds of the six-round SCORE Desert Series, Ebberts and co-driver Ernie Castro Jr. have been the models of consistency in the deserts of Nevada and Mexico.
They opened the season with class victories in the Laughlin Desert Challenge and the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 and took the early points lead. Ebberts and Castro finished third in the Tecate SCORE Baja 500 and followed that with a runner-up finish at the SCORE Henderson's Terrible 250 in July and hold a 24-point lead over brothers Mark and Gary Weyhrich. Herbst sits in third place in the class, 27 points behind Ebberts and Castro.
Ebberts said his team's consistency is a result of being together for two seasons -- a luxury Ebberts hasn't enjoyed throughout his off-road racing career.
"One of the reasons I was so excited about this year is that this is the first season I've ever had where I've been able to put a team together and then be able to race a second season with the same people, the same car," Ebberts said. "Everybody on the team knows what they're doing and you're not retraining people.
"I've won two championships before, with different configurations of team, but those were done in our first season and we never got the opportunity to come back for a second season in any effort. That really has made a big difference."
Despite the confidence he had coming into the season, Ebberts said he never envisioned having the type of season he is having -- or being in a position to dethrone Herbst as class champion.
"We had high hopes going into the season and it has turned out real well -- better than expected," he said. "We always go in with a certain amount of confidence and think that we're capable of doing what we've done, but we've never been able to be this consistent before.
"It is a surprise, but I think you go into every race thinking you can win it and then something goes wrong, you have troubles, and you end up disappointed. In off-road racing, so many things can go wrong with the vehicle that I think it's amazing that we have not had to get out of the car at all for any mechanical trouble for the whole season."
Ebberts obviously is hoping that trend continues this weekend in Primm, but he admitted that the 35-mile course at the Nevada/California border is not one that suits his Jimco-Toyota racecar.
"It's one of the worst courses for us because it's real high speed, real open, and not a lot of tight turns," Ebberts said. "We're down quite a bit on top speed; we're capable of running somewhere between 105 and 110 miles an hour top speed and some of the vehicles are 120 or more."
With that in mind, Ebberts said he is placing a premium on finishing Saturday's race.
"Our thought is to do everything it takes to win and not really try to purposely shoot for points and take it easy," he said. "We're going to push real hard but if anything goes wrong, we want to be able to solve the problem quickly and make sure we can finish.
"The win would be nice but the championship (is the priority). I've worked on the points ... and if we can finish third or fourth in this race and either third or fourth in the (season-ending Baja) 1000, then that would be enough to win the (championship)." .. and if we can finish third or fourth in this race and either third or fourth in the (season-ending Baja) 1000, then that would be enough to win the (championship)."
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