Round 5 of 2003 SCORE Desert Series
Veteran Steve Sourapas draws first start in Ford F-150
SCORE Trophy-Truck for 8th SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300
SCORE's 30th anniversary year continues with nearly 150 entries expected,
Sept. 12-13, in Southern Nevada

LOS ANGELES (August 18, 2003 )-- Veteran driver Steve Sourapas, who has been winning SCORE races since 1982 and is finishing his first full season this year in the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division, has drawn the coveted first starting position for next month's 8th Annual SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300 desert race. Round 5 of the six-race 2003 SCORE Desert Series will be held Sept. 12-13 in Primm, Nev.

In a sport where there is no qualifying or open pre-running (in the U.S.), the drawing for start positions has added significance and Sourapas' No. 6 Corona Extra Ford F-150 SCORE Trophy-Truck was selected randomly in last Friday's computerized drawing at the SCORE International headquarters in Los Angeles.

Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year as the World's Foremost Desert Racing Series, the SCORE Desert Series stays in Southern for the last of its three U.S. races.

The 8th Annual SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300 will include nearly 150 vehicles competing in 17 Pro and 2 Sportsman classes for cars and trucks in Primm, located 35 miles south of Las Vegas at the California border.

The 315-mile race will be run as a five-lap race over a desert course of 63 miles. As it was last year for the first time, it will be split into two groups with the open wheel and VW baja bug classes starting at 6 a.m. and the truck classes, along with the unlimited Class 1 open-wheel class, starting at 2 p.m. One vehicle will start every 30 seconds in the elapsed-time race, with an eight-hour time limit. The start/finish line area, the primary spectator area and main pits will be located in the special events compound behind Buffalo Bill's Resort in Primm. The slower classes will run three or four laps.

A total of 11 marquee SCORE Trophy-Trucks were entered in time for the start draw, and the 750-horsepower unlimited production trucks will lead the afternoon group into the Southern Nevada desert.

Sourapas, 45 of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., won the SCORE Class 9 season crown in 1982, the Class 2 title in 1989 and the Class 10 championship in 1985 and 1992. During the 1992 season, Sourapas won three individual races while earning the 1992 SCORE Overall Point Championship.

Sourapas will not only be looking for his first win in SCORE Trophy-Truck, but also his first SCORE class win since he captured Class 1 in the 2001 season-opening SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge. Most recently prior to that, Sourapas won Class 1 in the 2000 SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300, his only victory in this race. "Starting first is always great, but finishing first is even better," said Sourapas, who is an executive in his family-owned Crest Beverage Company-the Coors beer distributor for San Diego County. "Our SCORE Trophy-Truck was built by Porter Race Cars in Orange County (Calif.) and is the most incredible desert racing vehicle I have ever driven. We have some first-season kinks we're still working out, but the race truck has loads of potential."

Always known as a model of consistency, in addition to his four SCORE season titles, Sourapas also has finished second several other years including 1993 and 1994 in Class 10 and in 2001 in Class 1.

The first vehicle to leave the start line in the morning portion of the event will be Class 10 racer Brandon Aymar, 24 of Santee, Calif., in his Honda-powered Elite Off-Road Engineering race car.

Twelve of last year's 15 class winners have entered, including eight of last year's top 10 overall finishers.

George Seeley Jr., Glendale, Calif., has the most class wins of anyone in the history of this race, having won five Class 5 races in the first seven years in his unlimited No. 500 VW Baja Bug. Eric Solorzano, Tijuana, Mexico, returns in Class 11 with four Primm wins in his stock VW sedan.

Mike Julson, Santee, Calif./Bob Lofton, Westmorland, Calif., are back to defend their overall and unlimited Class 1 titles in their No. 116 Jimco-Chevy. The pair won last year's race by a mere one second over SCORE Trophy-Truck winners Ed and Tim Herbst of Las Vegas. With Tim as driver of record this year, the Herbst brothers return in their No. 1 Terrible Herbst Motorsports Ford F-150.

Pre-race festivities on Friday, Sept. 12, for the SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300, including tech and contingency and the SCORE Manufacturer's Midway, will be held from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. behind Buffalo Bill's.

Despite a third-place finish in July's SCORE Henderson's Terrible 250 ending their three race winning streak, San Diego County youngsters Eric Allen and Adam Pfankuch continue to lead Class 1-2/1600 and the overall point standings after four of six races in the 2003 SCORE Desert Series. The lead in their K.I.T. Racing VW-powered Jimco 1600cc open-wheel desert race car in the overall point standings, however, has been cut in half to just 14 points.

SCORE points are determined both on final finishing position and number of vehicles which started the race within the individual class.

After finishing second in the season-opening SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge, winning in San Felipe, and finishing third both in Ensenada and Henderson in the marquee SCORE Trophy-Truck division, the team of Gus Vildosola, of Mexicali, Mexico and Rob MacCachren, of Las Vegas, are holding onto their lead in the division for 750-horsepower, high-tech, unlimited production trucks.

Behind Vildosola/MacCachren (who are 7th in overall points with 250) in SCORE Trophy-Truck points are Las Vegas brothers and defending season champs Tim and Ed Herbst (Ford F-150) with 242 and Laughlin winners Mark Post, San Juan Capistrano, Calif./Jerry Whelchel, Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. (Ford F-150) with 196 points.

With their victory in Henderson, Tim and Ed Herbst became the winningest drivers in the 10-year history of SCORE Trophy-Truck, capturing their 10th race in the 60th SCORE Trophy-Truck event. The Herbst brothers have won the SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300 twice (1998 and 2002). The Post/Whelchel team earned their first SCORE Trophy-Truck victory in Primm in 2000.

After four of six races in the 2003 SCORE Desert Series, Allen/Pfankuch have 303 points to lead Class 1-2/1600 and the SCORE Overall point standings.

Second overall with 289 points is Class 1 point leader Dale Ebberts, Canyon Lake, Calif., who masterfully won the first two races of the SCORE season, finished third in Ensenada and second in Henderson in his unlimited Toyota-powered Jimco. He drove solo in Laughlin and starting with San Felipe, is splitting wheel time with Ernie Castro Jr., Newport Beach, Calif. Castro finished second to Allen/Pfankuch in Class 1-2/1600 in Laughlin before merging with Ebberts' Inland Truss Racing.

Third in SCORE overall points, 15 points behind Ebberts and 29 behind Allen/Pfankuch, is SCORE Lite leader Brian Ickler, Poway, Calif. (Jimco VW) at 274 points. Just 17 years old, Ickler, who moved up to a faster class this year after finishing seventh last year in Class 1-2/1600, drove solo while winning his class in the first two races, split the driving with veteran Brian Ewalt in Ensenada to earn his third straight class win and then drove solo again in Henderson, finishing second.

Second in Class 1 and fourth in overall points are brothers Mark and Gary Weyhrich, Troutdale, Ore. (Jimco-Chevy) with 265 points. The Weyhrichs have two seconds, a fourth, and a fifth in Class 1 so far this season.

Rounding out the top five overall, and third in Class 1, just three points behind the Weyhrichs, is Las Vegas' Troy Herbst, who has won a record six straight SCORE Class 1 season point crowns in his Smithbuilt-Ford.

Troy Herbst, 36, the youngest of the three brothers, won in Primm in 1999 and 2001.

SCORE official sponsors for 2003 are: BFGoodrich Tires-official tire, Southern California Ford Dealers-official vehicle, 76 Racing Fuel-official fuel and Rental Service Corporation-official equipment supplier. Associate sponsors are: Tecate Beer, Coca Cola of Mexico, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance, Bilstein, Signpros, P.C.I. Race Radios, McKenzie's, Off Road Innovations and Advanced Color Graphics.

The title sponsors of the SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300 are the Primm Valley Resorts and Las Vegas Events in association with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

For information contact:
SCORE International at its Los Angeles headquarters
(818) 225-8402 or visit
the official Optima SCORE Desert Series website at:
www.score-international.com

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