Herbst brothers win San Felipe 250

Led by Las Vegas desert racing brothers Tim and Ed Herbst, local racers finished strong at the recent 15th annual Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 in Mexico.

Powered by their four-wheel drive Ford F-150, the Herbst brothers won the race for the third straight year in the featured Trophy-Truck division in the second round of the 2001 Duralast SCORE Desert Series. The Herbsts completed the rugged 208.8-mile course in three hours, 39 minutes, 20 seconds for an impressive average of 57.12 miles per hour.

Splitting the driving time in their 750-horsepower SCORE Trophy Truck, the Herbst brothers battled from behind to overcome the Chevy C1500 Trophy Truck of Las Vegan Brian Collins, younger brother Troy Herbst's Class I Ford-powered Smithbuilt and others.

"Troy really should have won this race. He was just smoking from the start," Ed Herbst said. "But we're happy to keep it all in the Terrible Herbst Motorsports family."

Tim Herbst, 37, drove the first 95 miles of the race while older brother Ed, 39, drove the second half.

"You couldn't run consistently hard because the course was so full of rocks and silt," Ed said. "We had two flat tires and lost the power steering after Troy had his problem, but our Ford F-150 was tougher than Baja once again."

Troy Herbst led on adjusted time for more than 170 miles until he lost the right rear wheel when the studbolts broke off. Herbst, 34, rallied to finish fifth in Class I and seventh overall.

Collins finished second in the Trophy-Truck division and fifth overall, with a time of 3:47:25.

Rob MacCachren of Las Vegas, the 1994 SCORE Trophy-Truck champion, won his second straight race in Class 1-2/1600, winning the 19-car class by more than 10 minutes in a VW-powered Fraley 1600cc race car.

Jimmy Stephensen of Las Vegas teamed up with Tim Neidhart and Eric Dollente of California on a Yamaha Raptor to finish first overall ATV and win Class 25 with a time of 4:41:45 (44.64 mph).

Of the 16 local racers who started the race, 10 finished, including Mark Hutchins of Henderson, who was second in Class 10, and Danny Anderson of Las Vegas, who placed seventh in the same class.

The third round of the SCORE Desert Series will be the 33rd annual Tecate SCORE Baja 500, slated for June 1-3 in Ensenada, Mexico.