BARSTOW, CA. Troy Herbst picked up his first win of the year taking the overall victory in the 26th annual SCORE Fireworks 250. In only it's second appearance in a SCORE event, the Class 1 vehicle, which has picked up the nickname "Truggy", maintained a furious pace throughout the race.

Unusually cool temperatures and a light breeze greeted the racers and spectators for the 6:00 AM start. The 62 mile course, which zigzags through the Stoddard Valley OHV Area, was the same as last year's event. The Ford of Ed Herbst led off the Trophy Trucks. Herbst had every intention of keeping his Ford out front and proceeded to burn off the fast lap for the Trophy Trucks at 1:08:31 average speed of 54.39. Herbst looked to be on the way to victory but mechanical gremlins on the last lap caused some down time, dropping them to third. The Ford clocked in at 5:57:06 with an average speed of 41.75. Brian Coats took advantage of the misfortunes that plagued the other teams and took his first Trophy Truck win. Coats, driving a Chevy, recorded four quick, consistent laps and finished with a time of 5:44:50 with an average speed of 43.23. Ivan Stewart, fresh off his impressive run at the Baja 500 was poised to steal the show in the V8 powered Toyota. Stewart started out fast but a collision with Jeff Lewis caused both drivers some down time. The Toyota also suffered some electrical problems resulting in more time in the pits. Stewart's second place time was 5:49:59 with an average speed of 42.59. Current Trophy Truck points leader Curt LeDuc was in Lake Geneva driving a Ford in the SODA event. The entry list shows John Beca as co-driver, until I hear differently lets assume John Beca was driving. Whoever was driving the Jeep Grand Cherokee managed to finish fourth with a time of 7:53:58 average speed of 31.45.

Jeff Lewis was the last Trophy truck to finish. The Chevy squeaked in under the 10 hour time limit at 9:31.44 with an average speed of 26.07. Lewis had the misfortune of getting into a couple of collisions during the race. One incident happened as Ivan Stewart left his pit and re-entered the racecourse ahead of Lewis. A large ditch forced Ivan to slow rapidly, causing Lewis to plow into the back of the Toyota damaging both vehicles. Class 5 driver Dave Cua complaining of severe neck, back, and rib pains after being hit by the hard charging Chevy. Reports said both the Baja Bug and Trophy Truck were immobile after the accident.

In Class 1 a couple of Jimcos put the pressure on the Terrible Herbst "Truggy". Kory Scheeler of Las Vegas, who was last year's Class 10 winner, pushed hard on the last lap, making the final go around quicker than Herbst. Unfortunately for Scheeler the last lap dash wasn't enough to bridge the gap. Scheeler finished second in Class 1 with a time of 5:05:13 average speed of 48.84. Third place went to Ronny Wilson. Wilson, of Long Beach CA, finished with an average speed of 47.43 and a time of 5:14:18.

Dave Westhem of La Jolla CA, picked up where he left off last year. Westhem put the Class 8 Chevy in front and stayed there all day to get his second consecutive win at the Fireworks 250. The Chevy crossed the finish 12 minutes ahead of its closest competitor with a final time of 5:20:07 average speed 46.57. Next in Class 8 was the Chevy of Brian Collins. Collins, of Las Vegas, managed to run one lap quicker then Westhem but couldn't maintain the pace of the rival Chevy. Collins finished in 5:32:21 average speed of 44.85. Dave Ashley's spoiled a 1-2-3 sweep for Chevy by placing his Ford third in Class 8. Ashley finished with a time of 5:41:36 with an average speed of 43.64.