Four-day event includes $25,000 Jason Hunter Memorial Class 10 Race; $26,000 SCORE Laughlin Leap & SCORE Pit Crew Showdown

LOS ANGELES—Hawaii’s Alan Pflueger and Southern California’s Wayne Lugo received the No. 1 starting positions in the top two classes in Tuesday’s computerized draw for starting positions, by class, for next month’s 11th Annual SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge. A race-record 203 vehicles, in 16 Pro and 2 Sportsman classes, officially entered in time for Tuesday’s drawing at the Los Angeles headquarters of SCORE International.

For the 11th straight year, motorsports fans and racers from across the United States, Mexico, Canada and Japan will flock to Laughlin, Nev., the desert resort town near the shores of the Colorado River for the vastly popular SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge. The first major race of the year will be held Jan. 13-16, launching the five-race 2005 SCORE Desert Series, the world’s foremost desert racing series.
When late registration is complete, over 230 expected entries will compete for nearly $400,000 in prize money and contingency postings during the four day SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge.

A very special addition this year will be the $25,000 Jason Hunter Memorial Class 10 race, with the $25,000 bonus purse posted by Hunter Motorsports to honor the memory of the 2001 SCORE Rookie of the Year who was killed in an automobile accident on Jan. 4, 2004. Starting with $10,000 for first, the purse will pay down to seventh.
The race will also begin the chase for the $50,000 Kartek Off-Road bonus to be awarded to the top three 2005 SCORE Overall point leaders.
A total of 16 different Pro and two Sportsman classes for cars and trucks are split into seven groups in Laughlin, each running as part of one of seven races of two to five laps each over the much-abbreviated 11-mile loop each day. Racing action runs from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day (Jan. 15-16). The marquee racing division is SCORE Trophy-Truck, featuring high-tech, 750-horsepower, unlimited production trucks along with the unlimited Class 1 for open-wheel desert race cars.
Gary Dircks (SCORE Trophy-Truck) and Troy Herbst (Class 1) are the defending Laughlin race winners.

Pflueger, who won two races in the feature SCORE Trophy-Truck division during the 2004 SCORE Desert Series, drives solo in the No. 28 Pflueger Racing Chevy Silverado. The 2002 SCORE Rookie of the Year, Pflueger won the 2003 Protruck class championship before moving up to SCORE Trophy-Truck. Pflueger won his Protruck class in five races over two seasons before making the move to SCORE Trophy-Truck.

An event-record 26 vehicles have entered to date in the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division, including defending SCORE Desert Series Champion Jason Baldwin, Laguna Beach, Calif., in the No. 1 Baldwin Racing Ford F-150. Among the other SCORE Trophy-Truck entries are Las Vegas brothers Tim and Ed Herbst, the winningest team in class history with 11 career race wins in the No. 19 Terrible Herbst Motorsports Ford F-150 and NASCAR Nextel Cup regular Robby Gordon, Mooresville, N.C., who return from competing in the Dakar Rally to race in Laughlin.
Lugo, a SCORE regular from Chino, Calif., is still looking for his first victory in the unlimited SCORE Class 1 for unlimited open-wheel desert race cars. Lugo delighted a sellout crowd during last year’s pre-race SCORE Laughlin Leap competition by flying over the jump to a cascade of fireworks spraying out the back of his race car.

Class 1-2/1600 leads the way with a race-record 40 entries to date, followed by Class 1 with 33, Class 10 with 31, SCORE Trophy-Truck with 26 and SCORE Lite with 17. Drawing the first starting positions in those high-entry classes were: Tony Murray (Class 1-2/1600), Lugo (Class 1), Bekki Wik (Class 10), Pflueger (SCORE Trophy-Truck) and Jake Batulis (SCORE Lite).

Daily general admission tickets, good for grandstand seating, are $15 for each Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, children five and under are free. Daily VIP tickets are $35 each for three days, good for admission to the Laughlin Hospitality Chalet, including food beverage and special seating. The stadium seating area will include the immensely popular SCOREvision large-screen LCD display, showing live footage from various locations around the race course.
Advance tickets for the Laughlin Events Park are on sale at 800.308.2253. Tickets will also be available for two other designated spectator areas around the course at the event.
At a cost of $10 per vehicle, there is one area off of Nevada State Highway 163 adjacent to the racecourse as well as the popular ‘SCORE Hill’, which overlooks the infield, start/finish area and the main pits. Admission to these areas is on a first-come, first-served basis. Overnight camping is permitted at the 163 area with event pass, but no overnight camping is permitted on ‘SCORE Hill’. These areas will both have and public safety services available.

One of the event's most popular features, the SCORE Laughlin Leap, revs up the fun and gets the weekend off to a roaring start at 6 p.m. on Thursday (Jan. 13). Drivers and pit crews will share the spotlight at the Laughlin Events Park, competing for a $16,000 purse and the honor of being the 2005 champions. The SCORE Laughlin Leap, a dirt ramp built into the middle of the stadium, challenges the most daring of drivers. This year’s competitors will be looking to break the event record set last year by Mark Post in the SCORE Laughlin Leap (160’6”).
On Friday (Jan. 14) at 4:30 p.m. at the Laughlin Events Park, the SCORE Pit Crew Showdown focuses attention on the entire racing team to compete for a $10,000 purse. Like other pit crew events, the vehicle must pull into the pit, have all four tires replaced, and then race out of the pit before the clock stops. But there's a twist. This competition doesn't take place on a level slab of concrete, and the unusual shocks required to compete in desert racing require that the vehicle be lifted several feet into the air. Challengers in this event will be hoping to break the standard set last year by Rob MacCachren’s crew in the SCORE Pit Crew Showdown (40.60 seconds).
The Events Park with grandstand seating, vendor’s village and food court is just minutes from the destination's nine resorts and includes an infield packed with switchbacks, woop-t-doos, minijumps and the Laughlin Leap.
The 11th annual SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge is sponsored by the Laughlin Tourism Committee, the Laughlin Visitors Bureau, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority in association with Las Vegas Events. The race is sanctioned and produced by SCORE International of Los Angeles.
Current SCORE official annual sponsors are BFGoodrich Tires-official tire, Centrix Financial, CL Bryant Racing Fuel-official fuel. Associate sponsors are: Herbst Gaming, Kartek Off-Road, Tecate Beer, Coca-Cola of Mexico, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance, Fram, Autolite, Prestone, Bilstein, Signpros, P.C.I. Race Radios, McKenzie’s Performance Products, and Advanced Color Graphics.
More event information is available at www.visitlaughlin.com or www.laughlinchamber.com.
For more information, contact SCORE at its Los Angeles headquarters 818.225.8402 or visit the official website of the 2005 SCORE Desert Series at www.score-international.com

11th Annual SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge
Official Entries (203--as of Dec. 28)

SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK (26)
28 Alan Pflueger
1 Jason Baldwin
3 Mark Post
4 Gus Vildosola
2 Pete Sohren
24 Bruce Friedman
19 Tim Herbst
86 Josh Baldwin
12 Brian Collins
80 Chad Ragland
97 B.J. Baldwin
77 Robby Gordon
96 Bobby Baldwin
11 Dale Dondel
82 Bob Shepard
6 Steve Sourapas
10 Michael Jakobson
17 Carl Renezeder
23 Gary Dircks
40 Chet Huffman
55 Luis Wallace
7 Scott Steinberger
5 Marty Coyne
15 Jim Beaver
18 Kyle Taylor
31 Travis Coyne

CLASS 1 (33)
101 Wayne Lugo
102 B.J. Richardson
103 Pat Dean
104 Brian Ickler
105 Mark McMillin
106 Randy Wilson
107 Shawn McCallum
108 Chuck Hovey
109 Dennis Boyle
110 Troy Herbst
111 Michael James
112 Martin Christensen
113 Richard Boyle
114 Damen Jefferies
115 Scott McMillin
116 Rick Romans
117 Kory Scheeler
118 Mark Weyhrich
119 Cam Thieriot
120 Harley Letner
121 Gary Weyhrich
122 Josh Rigsby
123 Andy McMillin
124 Ronny Wilson
125 Jeff Quinn
126 Dale Ebberts
127 Kevin McMullen
128 Brian Parkhouse
129 Keith Cunningham
130 Corky McMillin
100 John Marking
132 Rich Ronco
133 John Gould

CLASS 1-2/1600 (40)
1601 Tony Murray
1602 Travis Fletcher
1603 Aaron Hawley
1604 Joseph Sheble
1605 Rick Boyer
1606 Chuck Cone
1607 Frank Wagner
1608 Joe Heger
1609 Billy Skinner
1610 John Murphy
1611 Arden Dennington
1612 Rob MacCachren
1613 Sammy Ehrenberg
1614 Bobby Altamirano
1615 Keith Ayers
1616 Paul Keller
1617 Rob Maingot
1618 Andrew Rusich
1619 Jay Kirchmann
1620 Matt Gumz
1621 Gary Stairs
1622 Mario Gastelum
1623 Ken Tapert
1624 Scott Wisdom
1625 Hiram Duran
1626 Brian Burgess
1627 Ed Stout
1628 Mike Leung
1629 Adam Pfankuch
1600 Brian Jeffrey
1631 Eli Yee
1632 Randy Jones
1633 Kevin Graves
1634 Rodrigo Ampudia Jr.
1635 Eddy Gonzalez
1636 John Krempp Jr.
1637 Arturo Gutierrez
1638 L.J. Kennedy
1639 Daniel Folts
1649 Ray Files

CLASS 3 (3)
301 Salvador Cervantes
302 Tyler Stone
349 Ken Leavitt

CLASS 5 (2)
500 George Seeley
502 Kevin Carr

CLASS 5/1600 (7)
551 Billy Gereghty
552 Jeffrey Holmes
553 Ruben Garcia
554 Steve Landis
555 Jeffrey Sack
556 Hector Garcia
579 Marcos Nunez

CLASS 7 (8)
701 Victor Herrera Jr.
702 Larry Roeseler
700 Dan Chamlee
704 Barry Karakas
705 Jason McNeil
706 Scott Brady
707 John McComb
708 Hector Salazar

CLASS 7S (5)
721 Brian Cavitt
722 Tim Braden
723 Jason M. Hutter
720 Ted Moncure
739 John Holmes

CLASS 8 (5)
801 Josh Klenske
802 Dave Raimonde
803 Jeff Stowers
800 Todd Wyllie
805 Robby Fallers

CLASS 9 (2)
901 Heath Mitchell
902 Sigal Greenberg

CLASS 10 (31)
1001 Bekki Wik
1002 Martin Christensen
1003 Mark Landersman
1004 Ron Dalke
1005 Tom Ridings
1006 Eduardo Gonzalez
1007 David Kordonowy
1008 Kash Vessels
1009 Mark Hutchins
1010 Rick Ellison
1011 Travis Brookshire
1012 John Cooley
1013 David Scaroni
1014 Will Higman
1015 Dennis Kordonowy
1016 Sam Berri
1017 Rusty Harling
1000 George Erl
1019 Lobsam Yee
1020 Kory Halopoff
1021 Darren Hardesty
1022 Shawn Croll
1023 Jim Anderson
1024 Brandon Aymar
1025 Clay Flippin
1026 Rudy Cortez
1027 Mark Weger
1028 P. Finch
1029 C.J. Hutchins
1030 Chris Muller
1031 Charles Lathrem

SCORE LITE (17)
1201 Jake Batulis
1202 Stan Potter
1203 James Golden
1204 Ken Stroud
1205 Mark Kyle
1206 Vic Bruckmann
1207 Mike Belk
1208 Jim Greenway
1200 Tom Watson
1210 Arturo Honold
1211 Chuck Sacks
1212 Mitch Mitchell
1213 Robert Naughton
1214 Sammy Ehrenberg
1215 Randy Ross
1216 Ty Godde
1249 Matt Klenske

CLASS 11 (3)
1101 John Nightingale
1100 Eric Solorzano
1149 Brian Thompson

STOCK FULL (3)
860 John Griffin
861 Terry Henn
862 Jim Beaver

PROTRUCK (14)
227 David Scaroni
288 Jim Nuckles
225 Eric Hardin
204 Gustavo Vildosola Jr.
222 J.R. Stanley
269 Mike Bilek
236 Rick L. Johnson
213 Greyson Smith
200 Matt Scaroni
226 Al Hogan
262 Mike Voyles
221 Charlie McDowell
? Craig Smith
223 Jeff Dickerson

SPORTSMAN

SPT CAR (2)
1401 Tony Robles
1499 Rory Ward

SPT TRUCK (2)
1500 Mark Growe
1501 Matt Torian