Mother wins in Primm

PRIMM -- Bekki Wik last tried to race in the SCORE Terrible's Primm 300 desert race in 2005.

The plan was for the two-time former SCORE season champion to split time with her husband, Adam Wik, in their desert buggy.

The plan went awry when she became ill during practice earlier in the week. The Las Vegas native went to her doctor, who informed her she didn't have a serious illness but she was going to have a baby.

That curtailed her racing for a couple of years, but she returned to Primm on Saturday and teamed with her husband to win the Class 10 title. She drove the first two laps on the 72-mile course and handed a 10-minute lead to her husband, who drove the last two.

The 37-year-old Bekki was delighted to take the checkered flag again.

"Adam had a flat on his last lap, and other than that we had a perfect day," she said. "After I got around the first car, I started driving kind of hard, and I thought, 'You don't (want) to stop with a flat. It's too early to be driving hard.'

"I backed off, and because I was first and I didn't have any dust, it was easy."

This was her third race this year and first in SCORE. She raced in the Mint 400 and Midnight Special in the Southern Nevada Off Road Enthusiasts series.

Desert races in Southern Nevada usually become Freeman family reunions, and this time the former Bekki Freeman shared the winner's circle with her nephew, Bryan Freeman, the winner of the Class 1600 1-2 title that he shares with co-driver Aaron Hawley.

"It was really, really rocky out there, but I'm from here, so I knew how it was going to be," said Freeman, who drove the last two laps.

Hawley was the driver of record, so he was declared the official winner. That didn't bother Freeman, who has won eight of 10 of titles this year in the Single Buggy category for Las Vegas-based Menzies Motorsports in the Championship Off Road Racing series.

It was not such a great day for B.J. Baldwin, the SCORE overall and Trophy Truck points leader. The 29-year-old Las Vegan finished 10th in the Trophy Truck pack to tighten the championship race that will be settled Nov. 20 to 22 in the SCORE Baja 1000.

Baldwin started the race with a 21-point lead over Mark Post of Laguna Beach, Calif., and co-driver Rob MacCachren, but that team also had a sub-par seventh-place overall finish.

Brian Collins, another Las Vegan, started fourth in overall points but unofficially has moved to second and trails Baldwin by 18.

Collins took second overall, 1 minute, 48 seconds behind winner Roger Norman and co-driver Larry Roessler. The winning time was 4:50:20 at an average speed of 59.52 mph.

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