Last year SCORE brought Baja to Las Vegas with the SCORE experience in front of the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center and it’s back and better than ever this year, qualifying again at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The Trophy Trucks were on display and would be for the duration of the week, one down side of having the trucks on display is losing out on crucial testing time. We spoke with Mike Smith of Terrible Herbst Motorsports about qualifying, “It takes a lot of planning to come here and qualify. With the trucks having to come back and sit at the show, it turns them into almost sitting ducks if anything happens in qualifying.”

It was great to see the number 19 and 91 truck out at the show after seeing them less than a week ago. “The trucks are heavy and not suited for this type of qualifying. The new trucks that are being built will be more suited for this type of qualifying,” Smith continued. “It is amazing the way technology has progressed, with heat treating and hardware the new Trophy Trucks will be lighter and just as strong as the current trucks.”

The starting lineup for qualifying was announced with four groups of racers. The first group was made up of the two Class 1 trucks, then each of the next three groups are trophy trucks. In the second Trophy Truck group was the Herbst, the last group of Trophy Trucks to qualify include Bryce Menzies, Robby Gordon, and qualifying last was Rob MacCachren.

Some talking going on between Bryce Menzies and Pete Sohren, better known as “Pistol Pete,” at the SCORE experience at the SEMA Show

One of the highlights of qualifying was the parade of Trophy Trucks to the Speedway, they left the convention center and headed up Las Vegas Boulevard being escorted by the Las Vegas Police Department.

Qualifying brought the trucks out of their elements with a short-course track and pavement. The course took over the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and went out on to pavement outside the track, ultimately bringing the trucks back into the short-course track.

The trucks went one by one with only one truck qualifying at a time. As the trucks made their way through the field the number 19 Terrible Herbst Motorsports truck stopped action for some time due to a roll over outside the bullring. All the trucks qualified, but no one knew the standings. The positions would be announced the next day.

When all was said and down the Top 10 qualifiers were:

1. Ricky Johnson
2. Gus Vildosola Jr.
3. Bryce Menzies
4. Rob MacCachren
5. Robby Gordon
6. Carlos Lopez
7. Luke McMillin
8. Jesse Jones
9. Eduardo Laguna
10. Cameron Steele

Ryan Arciero driving the number 91 Terrible Herbst Motorsports truck qualified in 18th position, with Larry Roeseler taking a DNF (Did Not Finish). The Herbst finished right were they thought they would like Mike Smith told us earlier in the day, minus the rollover.

With Qualifying over it was time to load the trucks back up and head back to the Silver Lot at the SEMA Show to go back on display. We headed out to the lot the next morning to check out the trucks hoping to see the umber 19 truck and visually see any damage that it had taken, but it was not there.

The Baja 1000 bug is now upon us with contingency day a little over two weeks away. We will be down in Baja for the race, so keep it locked on Off Road Xtreme for more updates from South of the Border. Be sure to check out our full gallery below!