HUFFMAN CRUISES AFTER LAYOFF.

Byline: Tim Haddock Auto Racing

Coming off a broken collarbone he suffered racing shifter karts at a Channel Islands track, Chet Huffman of Westlake took fourth in his class Saturday at the SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300 off-road race.

Huffman, along with Greg Lewin of Simi Valley, races a Ford F-150 in the SS/Truck class in the SCORE Duralast Desert Series, but this was the first race for either driver in a few months. Huffman, 39, who has raced off-road on and off since he was 16, said the Primm race has always been one of the more challenging SCORE races.

``This is the roughest of any of the places we race,'' he said. ``We lose half the field in the first two miles. The attrition rate is always high.''

Out of 146 starters in 18 classes, only 82 vehicles finished the race.

``There's a lot of opportunity to run into things,'' said Huffman, a graduate of Agoura Hills High and Pepperdine. ``I was happy just finishing and driving fairly trouble-free for 300 miles.''

Huffman and Lewin did run into trouble during the first three stages of the race. During the first leg, with Huffman driving, he was hit from behind and lost his fuel filter.

``It was a miracle that none of the fuel came out,'' Huffman said.

After making repairs, Huffman had problems with the steering column in the second stage.

In the third stage, Huffman had carburetor problems. He eventually gave way to Lewin, who finished the race. Their time was 6 hours, 55 minutes, 44 seconds. The winner of their class, Bob Shepard of Phoenix in a Chevy C-1500, finished in 5:44:19, seventh overall.

Even though Huffman and Lewin had their problems in the Primm 300, the truck has seen success. After Huffman broke his collarbone, his brother, Lance, took the truck and won the pole in June at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey for an Ivan Stewart event that was run on both pavement and dirt.

Lance Huffman finished second at Laguna Seca.

``He has a lot of road-racing experience,'' Chet Huffman said. ``It worked out pretty good.''

Huffman says he, Lewin and his brother plan on running the Tecate SCORE Baja 2000, the fifth and final race of the SCORE Desert Series, from Nov. 10-16.

Other area finishers in the Primm 300 include George Seeley of Glendale, second in the Class 5 unlimited Baja Bugs; David Caspino of Woodland Hills, fifth in Class 9; and Ty Godde of Lancaster in the SCORE Lite class.

--Walker runs away: Ben Walker of Canyon Country won two races Saturday at Irwindale Speedway.

The 20-year-old driver took both NASCAR Super Late Model 50-lap features and has his sights set on winning the class championship.

``That's my main focus right now,'' said Walker, who has five feature wins this season. ``I want to win every race I go out in.''

Walker held off Greg Voigt of Goleta, who finished second in both races. Walker said his Ford Taurus needed only a slight adjustment between races.

``We didn't do much. We adjusted the rear shocks to give it more rebound. We went about two-tenths of a second faster,'' Walker said. ``After about four laps we started running away.''

In other action at Irwindale Speedway, Rip Michels of Mission Hills jumped back on the winning trail, taking the 30-lap NASCAR Grand American Modified feature, his seventh win of the season. Roger Carufel of Saugus finished second.

Deyon Young of Las Vegas won the 40-lap American Race Trucks feature.

--Hornaday returns to victory lane: It took Ron Hornaday Jr. 20 races to earn his first win of the 2000 season on the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series. It only took two more to win his second.

Hornaday, a former Saugus Speedway and two-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, won the Kroger 200 at Indianapolis Raceway Park on Aug. 4, making it the third race in a row won by a Busch Series rookie.

The next race is the NAPA Online.com 250 at Michigan Speedway on Aug. 19.

--NASCAR Southwest Series: The NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series will make its first stop in New Mexico on Saturday for the Sandia 125 at Sandia Motorsports Park, a 0.4-mile oval in Albuquerque.

Area drivers expected to compete include Sean Woodside of Saugus (third in points), Greg Pursley of Newhall (fifth in points) and M.K. Kanke of Frazier Park (sixth in points).