Round 2, SCORE Desert Series
Ragland in SCORE Trophy-Truck, Feldkamp in Class 1 draw
First starting slots for 18th Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250
Hengeveld/Campbell receive first motorcycle start as over 250 entries
expected in February 28 desert race

LOS ANGELES (February 9, 2004) -- Veteran Larry Ragland and second-generation desert racer Buddy Feldkamp received the pole positions in the top two divisions in the computerized drawing for starting positions held Saturday for the upcoming 18th Annual Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250.

Round 2 of the five-race 2004 SCORE Desert Series will be held Feb. 28 in the tiny fishing village of San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico.

With over 250 entries expected to compete in 23 Pro and 5 Sportsman classes, the green flag will drop at 6 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 28, for the motorcycle and ATV classes, followed by the car and truck classes two hours later at approximately 8:30 a.m. The start and finish line area for the 227.79 loop course will once again be the landmark San Felipe arches on Highway 5 on the outskirts of the village. All vehicles will have a nine-hour time limit in the elapsed time race and vehicles will start in 30-second intervals.

Following January's season-opening SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge, America's Foremost Desert Racing Series will visit Mexico for the first of three times in 2004.

Ragland, 60, of Phoenix, is a three-time class winner in San Felipe and he will be the driver of record in the No. 12 Collins' Motorsports Chevy Silverado, splitting time behind the wheel with team owner Brian Collins, of Las Vegas, who is also a three-time San Felipe winner.

With 19 entries so far in the class for 750 horsepower, unlimited production trucks, Ragland will lead a strong field in SCORE Trophy-Truck that features many of the world"s top desert racers.

Feldkamp, 25, of Redlands, CA, who will graduate in June from the medical school at Loma Linda University in Southern California, will be at the front of the class for unlimited open-wheel desert race cars in a Chevy-powered Penhall. Receiving the top starting position for the first time in his racing career, he will split driving time with his father Bud Feldkamp, 59, who owns a dental practice in Redlands and is one of the legends in the sport of desert racing.

With 35 entries to date, Class 1 is the largest in the race, followed by Class 1-2/1600 with 29, Class 10 with 22, SCORE Trophy-Truck with 19 and SCORE Lite with 18.

Drawing the first starting position in the motorcycle division was the American Honda team of Steve Hengeveld, Oak Hills, CA, and Johnny Campbell, San Clemente, Calif. With three consecutive San Felipe victories, Hengeveld and Campbell, who his six San Felipe wins including five straight, will ride a Honda XR650R.

Besides Ragland/Collins, the stellar SCORE Trophy-Truck field includes Dan Smith/David Ashley, both of Riverside, CA, who have 13 SCORE San Felipe wins between them, Las Vegas brothers Ed and Tim Herbst, with eight combined San Felipe victories, and NASCAR Nextel Cup regular Robby Gordon.

"This is really exciting for me to be the first off the line in the largest field in the race," said Feldkamp, whose previous highest starting position was second in last year"s Tecate SCORE Baja 500. "It"ll be great to be out of the dust of all those Class 1 cars, but this course is very, very tough, but fast, so you can"t let up on your concentration for a minute. But, hey this is what racing is all about. It gives us a bit of an edge and we do have a great car and my dad is a get driver, so we do have a realistic opportunity to get a huge victory."

McMillin Racing, the prominent three-generation racing team from San Diego, will be the first family in SCORE racing history to field four separate cars featuring four different family members.

Family patriarch Corky McMillin, 75, will race in Class 1 as will his grandson Andy McMillin, 16, (who will also have his father Scott McMillin, 43, driving) and his oldest son Mark McMillin, 47. Daniel McMillin, 16, Corky"s other grandson and Mark"s son, will drive in Class 1-2/1600. Corky McMillin will drive the No. 123 Chenowth-Chevy, Andy McMillin and his father Scott McMillin will drive the No. 115 Jimco-Chevy, Mark McMillin will drive the No. 103 Jimco-Chevy while Daniel McMillin will be the driver of the No. 1606 Jimco-VW.

Among the other racers to draw first starting position in their respective classes were: Travis Fletcher, Westminster, Calif. (Class 1-2/1600, Baja Shop-VW), Steve Myers, Newport Beach, Calif. (Class 10, Jimco-Toyota) and James Golden, Costa Mesa, Calif. (SCORE Lite-Jimco-VW).

Veteran racers Troy Herbst and Rob MacCachren of Las Vegas have used season-opening victories at the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge to claim the top two overall point positions early in the 2004 SCORE Desert Series.

After Round 1 of the five-race 2004 SCORE Desert Series, Herbst, 37, and MacCachren, 38, lead their respective Class 1 and Class 1-2/1600 point races as well.

Both earned class wins in the season-opening 10th SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge, Jan. 17-18, to put pressure on the rest of the SCORE racers for not only 2004 class titles, but the coveted SCORE Overall point championship as well.

With the $10,000 Kartek bonus also awaiting the 2004 SCORE Overall point champion, a total of just 13 points separate the top 11 overall point leaders after the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge.

In Laughlin, Troy Herbst, the youngest of the three Herbsts brothers that comprise Terrible Herbst Motorsports, overcame a blown engine in practice two days before the race to earn his 14th SCORE Class 1 win since 1997 as he begins his quest for his seventh SCORE Class 1 season point title in eight years and his fourth SCORE Overall point crown. He drove solo in the season-opener in his Smithbuilt-Ford open wheeler.

MacCachren, who has won seven SCORE Class point titles in five different classes (including the 2001 SCORE Overall point crown), had a career weekend at the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge. MacCachren not only won Class 1-2/1600 in his Fraley-VW, his team used the same chassis with a larger motor and different transmission to help MacCachren win the SCORE Lite class as well. He capped his incredible weekend by leading the first half of the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck race. After turning the Vildosola Racing Ford F-150 to driver of record Gus Vildosola, the Mexican team owner/driver held on to bring the team a second place finish for the weekend. He is the first double-winner in the history of the Laughlin race.

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

In San Felipe, Troy Herbst will start eighth in Class 1 and MacCachren will start 15th in Class 1-2/1600

Pre-race festivities at the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 will include the colorful SCORE Midway and tech inspection on the Malecon beachfront in downtown alongside the azure waters of the Sea of Cortez from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.

At 9 p.m. on Saturday (Feb. 28), the awards celebration will be held on the Malecon across from The Beachcomber Night Club.

Also on Friday (Feb. 27), at the Hotel Las Misiones, driver/rider registration will be held from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., followed at 7 p.m. by the mandatory pre-race driver/rider briefing.

SCORE official sponsors for 2004 are: BFGoodrich Tires-official tire, Southern California Ford Dealers-official vehicle, CL Bryant-official fuel supplier and Rental Service Corporation-official equipment supplier. Associate sponsors are: Tecate Beer, Coca-Cola of Mexico, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance, Fram, Autolite, Prestone, Bilstein, Signpros, P.C.I. Race Radios, McKenzie"s, and Advanced Color Graphics.

Associate sponsors for the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 are the Tourism and Convention Bureau of Mexicali/San Felipe, Cotuco, El Dorado Ranch, and Hotel Las Misiones.

The race annually provides a greater economic impact to San Felipe than the entire month-long "Spring Break".

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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