Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: MacCachren to compete in 2 classes at Terrible 300

Thursday, Dec. 2, 2004 | 9:09 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Three 2004 SCORE Baja 1000 champions, including Las Vegas' Rob MacCachren, are among the early entries for Saturday's Henderson's Terrible 300 desert race, which is being promoted and sanctioned by the Best in the Desert Racing Association.

MacCachren, who earned his fourth career Baja 1000 victory last month, will be competing in two classes this weekend. He will start the race in his Class 2000 buggy before turning over the driving duties to Danny Anderson midway through the race. MacCachren then will attempt to finish the race in his Class 7300 Ford Ranger, taking over for co-driver Steve Olliges.

MacCachren and Anderson teamed to win Class 1-2/1600 last month in Baja.

"I always like racing as much as I can -- that's what I'm all about," MacCachren said. "The logistics are going to be my problem -- getting out of the buggy after three laps and then going to a different pit location and getting in the truck."

Larry Roeseler, who was part of the Baja-winning Class 1 team headed by Las Vegas' Troy Herbst, will compete this weekend in Class 7200 for unlimited mini and full-sized trucks. American Honda teammates Steve Hengeveld and Johnny Campbell, who won the overall motorcycle title in Baja, will compete in the Open Pro motorcycle class this weekend.

MacCachren's double duty on Saturday should be a snap for the veteran off-road racer, who competed in three different classes in the season-opening SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge. In that event, MacCachren, 38, won in both Class 1-2 /1600 and SCORE Lite classes and finished second in SCORE Trophy Truck with co-driver Gus Vildosola.

The Henderson's Terrible 300 kicks off this afternoon with time trials from 2 to 6 p.m. Pre-race tech inspection and contingency, a manufacturer's midway and concerts will be held on downtown Henderson's Water Street from 4 to 9 p.m. Friday and the race will begin at 7 a.m. Saturday. All events are open to the public at no charge.

The start/finish line for the race will be off Highway 95, south of the Railroad Pass exit in the Eldorado Dry Lake Bed.

The Henderson's Terrible 300 will be the final round of the six-race Best in the Desert series.

ON COURSE: The Henderson's Terrible 300 will use a 65-mile course that winds through the McCullough Mountain range for the car and truck classes and a 35-mile loop for motorcycles and ATVs. The start/finish line for both courses will be positioned so that spectators can view both races simultaneously.

SCORE POINTS: For the first time in nearly a decade, Southern Nevada racers were shut out in the final points championships in the 2004 SCORE Desert Series -- but there were some close calls.

MacCachren finished four points behind the team of Brian Jeffrey and Adam Pfankuch for the overall and Class 1-2/1600 titles, Troy Herbst came up six points shy in his bid to capture his seventh Class 1 championship and Henderson's Mark and C.J. Hutchins finished just two points behind Steve Myers and George Erl in Class 10.

SCORE AWARDS: SCORE International will hold its annual awards banquet on Saturday, Dec. 11 at the Primm Valley Resort with a reception at 6 p.m. and dinner at 7:30.

SCORE also will host a viewing party the same day, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Primm Valley Resort, of the NBC telecast of this year's Baja 1000.