Pre-race action Friday includes SCORE Trophy-Truck qualifying at 1:30 p.m., Simmer Down concert at 4:30 p.m. $16,000 SCORE Laughlin Leap at 7 p.m.
Tickets on sale at www.visitlaughlin.com or 877-840-0457
Racing Saturday & Sunday
LAUGHLIN, Nev.—As a prelude for this weekend’s season-opening 17th Annual SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge, pre-race festivities Friday include a Manufacturer’s Midway, qualifying for the premier racing division, a concert and the popular SCORE Laughlin Leap contest.
For the 17th straight year, motorsports fans and racers from across the United States, Mexico, Canada, Denmark and Germany are convening in Laughlin, Nev., the desert resort town near the shores of the Colorado River for the popular SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge. The first major motorsports event of the year in the United States will be held Friday through Sunday, launching the five-race 2011 SCORE Desert Series, the World's Foremost Desert Racing Series.
One of the event's most popular features, the SCORE Laughlin Leap, revs up the fun and helps get the weekend off. The SCORE Laughlin Leap will be held at 7 p.m. on Friday. The SCORE Laughlin Leap will include a fireworks display.
Drivers will enjoy the spotlight at the Laughlin Events Park, competing for a $16,000 purse, the SCORE Laughlin Leap, a dirt ramp built into the middle of the stadium portion of the race course, challenges the most daring of drivers. This year's competitors will be attempting to break the event record in the SCORE Laughlin Leap of 161' 6" set in 2009 by Larry Roeseler in the Norman Motorsports Ford F-150.
For the fourth straight year, qualifying for starting positions for the marquee SCORE Trophy-Truck division will be held on Friday from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. SCORE Trophy-Truck qualifying will feature each truck being timed over one solo lap of the 6.25-mile course to determine the start order in that class for Saturday’s first half of the race.
Friday's pre-race activities will start with the SCORE Manufacturer's Midway and vendor’s village from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the heart of Laughlin. SCORE Contingency, which includes each vehicle being pushed down the lanes in front of the displays, will be held in front of the Edgewater and Colorado Belle Hotels on Casino Drive.
Adding to the festivities Friday afternoon, Las Vegas classic rock band Simmer Down will be playing starting at 4:30 p.m. at the Laughlin Events Park.
Tickets are on sale through the visitlaughlin.com website with three designated spectator areas and a special VIP section as well. Three-day passes are also available.
The Laughlin Events Park, with grandstand seating, vendor's village and food court is just minutes from the destinations eight resorts and includes an infield with switchbacks, whoops, minijumps and the SCORE Laughlin Leap.
Daily general admission tickets, good for grandstand seating, are $20 each per day for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, children 10 and under are free. Daily VIP tickets are $40 each per day for the each day, good for admission to the Laughlin Hospitality Chalet, including food, beverage and special seating.
Facing the infield stadium seating area will be a video monitor, showing footage from around the race course.
Tickets, priced at $5 each per person, will also be available each race day (Saturday and Sunday) for 'SCORE Hill', which overlooks the infield, start/finish area and the main pits.
The Laughlin Tourism Commission is also selling three-day general admission passes for $50 and three-day VIP passes for $100.
The newest spectator area, dubbed the Cougar Corral, opened in 2008 adjacent to Laughlin High School off of Cougar Drive, allows entry at $10 per person, as space allows for vehicles as well as walk-in spectators, to the backside of the course with a view of much of the 6.25-mile loop. Tickets for the Laughlin High spectator area will be available only on each day of racing (Jan. 15-16) at the entrance off of Cougar Drive.
Gates at Laughlin Events Park will open at 12:30 p.m., Friday and remain open through the conclusion of the Laughlin Leap. Gates at all three spectator areas will open at 6 a.m., Saturday and Sunday.
With 19 classes of cars and trucks divided into five groups, the single race is divided into multi-lap segments split over two days. Starting at 7 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, each group will race a pre-determined amount of laps each day over the fan-friendly 6.25-mile loop. The featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division will run 8 laps over the 6.25-mile course at 1 p.m. each day followed by the unlimited Class 1 open-wheel desert race cars that will run their 8 laps at 3 p.m. each day.
The combined elapsed time and number of laps completed from both days will determine the final finishing position for each vehicle. Two vehicles will leave the start line every 15 seconds.
Over 125 expected entries, from 14 U.S. States, Canada, Denmark, Germany and Mexico will compete in 19 classes for cars and trucks for nearly $300,000 in prize money and contingency postings during the three-day SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge.
On Saturday night from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., Harrah’s Hotel will be hosting a Saturday night meet and greet party with two Red Bull-sponsored SCORE Trophy-Truck race teams and SCORE’s CEO/President Sal Fish. Available for autographs and photos at the Baja Blue Outdoor Patio at Harrah’s will be Las Vegas’ Bryce Menzies, driver of the No. 70 Menzies Motorsports Ford F-150, and Mexico’s Gus Vildosola Jr., winner of the 2010 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 in the No. 21 Vildosola Racing Ford F-150.
Two-time champion B.J. Baldwin along with former champions Robby Gordon, Rob MacCachren and brothers Mark Weyhrich and Gary Weyhrich return to the banks of the Colorado River this week to lead a stellar field of 29 SCORE Trophy-Trucks entered in the popular desert race.
Baldwin, of Las Vegas, won the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge in 2006 and 2007 while NASCAR Cup team owner/driver Gordon, Charlotte, N.C., won in 2009, Las Vegas’ MacCachren won the crown in 1996 and the Weyhrich brothers, Troutdale, Ore., teamed to capture the checkered flag in 2000. While Baldwin, Gordon and MacCachren all won in SCORE Trophy-Trucks, the Weyhrichs won in an unlimited Class 1 open-wheel desert race car.
Baldwin drives the No. 97 Chevy Silverado, Gordon pilots the No. 77 Chevy CK1500, MacCachren drives the No. 20 Ford F-150, Mark Weyhrich will be behind the wheel of the No. 9 Ford F-150 and Gary Weyhrich will be driving the team’s newest SCORE Trophy-Truck, the No. 98 Ford F-150.
A total of 19 different classes for cars and trucks are split into five groups, each running as part of multiple-lap races over the much-abbreviated 6.25-mile loop each day. Racing action runs from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. The marquee racing division is SCORE Trophy-Truck, featuring high-tech, 850-horsepower, unlimited production trucks along with 29 entries so far and the unlimited Class 1 for open-wheel desert race cars with 26 entries to date have the largest entry fields in the race. The other classes with the largest entry fields are SCORE Lite with 12 and Class 1-2/1600 with 10.
More event information as well as ticket availability visit at www.visitlaughlin.com or at www.racelaughlin.com. Phone orders are accepted at 877-840-0457.
17th Annual SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge
Thru Sunday, Laughlin Events Park
(NOTE: QUALIFYING ORDER: Friday, 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.-Laughlin Events Park)
SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK
78 Jesse Ashcraft
18 Clyde Stacy
56 Marc Burnett
2 Pete Sohren
66 Harry Hepler
51 Kory Scheeler
24 Adam Householder
21 Gus Vildosola
91 Bill McBeath
97 B.J. Baldwin
48 Jimmy Nuckles
96 Bobby Baldwin
20 Rob MacCachren
10 Ken Losch
8 Roger Norman
37 Tommy Greer
65 Lloyd Sproule
84 Nick Vanderwey
30 Robbie Pierce
70 Bryce Menzies
95 Scott Whipple
23 Mark McMillin
16 Cameron Steele
9 Mark Weyhrich
98 Gary Weyhrich
77 Robby Gordon
1 Jesse Jones
42 Will Staats Jr.
74 Rob Bruce
SCORE MEDIA CONTACT - Dominic Clark, 702.735.7123, dominiccnv@aol.com