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SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
– The “Primm 300” is the roughest, most brutal race in the
SCORE series. Hundreds of miles of rocks, sand and
cross-grain pit drivers not only against each other, but
against the terrain. Angered by a 3rd place
finish at “Vegas to Reno” only two weeks prior, Team KORE
worked non-stop, completely rebuilding the Power Wagon in
record time.
“Primm is gnarly,” said
Team Manager John Zambie. “In the short time allotted, we
did everything we could to get the truck ready. Didn’t
sleep much – finished prep the morning of the race – but we
got it done.”
A 6am start from the back
of the pack forced driver Kent Kroeker to fight tremendous
dust while driving into the rising sun.
“A rear start is a huge
disadvantage at Primm. The visibility was so bad we had to
take a lot of chances to get past everyone. When we finally
got behind Griffin, I hit him hard. Then it was a
game-on for the rest of the race.”
An all-out death battle
ensued between John Griffin’s Ford and Kroeker’s Dodge.
Swapping leads numerous times throughout the race caused a
lot of nail biting in the pits. Both teams had to stop to
refuel and each time the lead changed. For the entire
second lap, both trucks remained within seconds of each
other, going all out for the win.
With only 20 miles to go,
Kroeker was in the lead. Then the motor stalled and Griffin
got by, forcing Kroeker to drive inside his dust, all the
way to the finish.
“They started 30 seconds
in front of us, so I knew I could finish behind him and
still win on corrected time,” said Kroeker, “His dust was so
bad, a lot of the time, I couldn’t see anything. I had to
flog our truck as hard as I could to stay with him and rely
on my co-driver to navigate from the GPS.”
With zero visibility, two
miles from the finish, Kroeker hit a rock, exploding the
right rear tire.
“There was no time to
change it – no time to even think of that. I just kept it
pinned and hoped most of it would stay on the wheel.”
The crowd cheered as Kent
Kroeker and co-driver Frank Martinek powered down the final
mile with a mangled bumper, crumpled bedsides and a shredded
tire, flapping on the wheel.
When they reached the
checkered flag, KORE had the win by 16 seconds.
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For more information
contact: KORE
P.O. Box 2628
Valley Center CA 92082
760-749-8687
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