Local racer set for Baja run

Brian Collins goes for his third consecutive overall title Saturday in the SCORE Baja 500, which will start and finish in Ensenada, Mexico.

Collins will compete in the Trophy Truck division with co-driver Chuck Hovey of Escondido, Calif., when the 40th annual race begins its 441-mile trek along the Baja California peninsula.

The Collins Motorsports team, based in Las Vegas, began competing with Dodge trucks and engines this year. Collins drove solo to win overall and class titles in March at the SCORE San Felipe 250. It was the first off-road victory for a Dodge-powered truck since 1979.

Collins and Hovey then combined to win the overall title in the Southern Nevada Off Road Enthusiasts’ revival of the Mint 400 on March 29.

“We’ve just been consistent, doing our work and doing our prerunning,” Collins said. “We’ve done it for a lot of years, and we know how to prepare for a race.”

Collins is scheduled to drive the first 300 miles in the Baja race, with Hovey handling the last segment.

Las Vegan B.J. Baldwin leads the Trophy Truck season standings, with Bobby Baldwin, his father, fourth and Collins sixth after two of five SCORE events.

The team of Mark Post of Laguna Beach, Calif., and co-driver Rob MacCachren of North Las Vegas are fifth in Trophy Truck points.

Southern Nevada’s B.J. Richardson will start the race first in Class 1 buggy points.

One of the expected 300 racers will be NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Robby Gordon, who finished second to Collins in last year’s Baja 500. Gordon plans to race in a Hummer H3 instead of his customary Chevrolet Trophy Truck.

Matt Crafton, who won his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck race two weeks ago, will practice and qualify Gordon’s No. 7 Sprint Cup stock car today in Dover, Del., with Gordon expected to get to Dover in time to start Sunday’s race from the back of the field.

• CANDY TOSS — The annual Keith Danser Candy Toss night was rained out Saturday at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring and has been rescheduled for Aug. 2, which will be the first NASCAR All-American Series event at the track after a one-month hiatus.

• MOTOCROSS — James Stewart missed the Supercross season after having surgery in January to repair an injured knee. He returned Saturday to begin the AMA Outdoor motocross season by winning both motos at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, Calif.

• DIRT TRACK — The fourth annual Prelude to the Dream dirt late models race will take place Wednesday at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. The event is a fundraiser for the Tony Stewart Foundation.

Among the NASCAR stars expected to compete are Stewart, reigning champ Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Kyle Busch.

The event will be available live on HBO pay per view for $24.95, with all proceeds going toward a goal of $1 million to help build a new Victory Junction Gang Camp in Kansas.

Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247.