Saturday Day 1 Notes and Quotes For Robby Gordon


Laughlin, NV (January 24, 2009) – On Friday afternoon, Robby Gordon put his No. 77 Monster Energy Toyo Tires Trophy Truck on the pole for Saturday’s 15th annual SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge, the first of five races in the SCORE International Series. Gordon posted a time of 6 minutes, 43.72 seconds around the 6.25-mile lop, nearly nine seconds faster than his 2008 qualifying time.

Gordon commented moments after posting the fastest lap of the trophy truck qualifiers. “I knew we were running fast, but this was even better than I had anticipated. We are really looking forward to this weekend’s race.”

The Laughlin Desert Challenge is known for its unique racing format, which comprises two days of racing action. The first day of racing commenced today, and the trophy truck class had 8 laps around the 6.25-mile track. Gordon started on the pole and consistently ran up front until he was passed on Lap 7 by Gus Vildosola Jr. He was still able to pilot his No. 77 Monster Energy Toyo Tires Trophy Truck to a second place finish, just 13 seconds behind Vildosola Jr.

The race is scheduled to conclude tomorrow. After the final 8 laps of competition are completed, the winner of the 15th annual SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge will be determined and Gordon hopes to reign victorious.

"The truck is really good. Laughlin has always been a survival race. Today, we just wanted to survive and we did that by finished second. The guys did a great job prepping the truck for this race and working on it since we have gotten here. They'll go back and put in a new driveshaft, transmission, and rear gear. We will cross our fingers and hope that we win tomorrow. It would continue to show the world how competitive our team is if we could win tomorrow, especially after our recent third place finish in the Dakar Rally," commented Robby Gordon on the first half of the Laughlin Desert Challenge.