Doherty Motorsports San Felipe 250 preview

Doherty Motorsports `Dream Team" to Take On San Felipe 250

Tucson, Arizona - February 23, 2004: Sporting a new Red and Yellow paint scheme and a completely reworked suspension, Mike Doherty is loading up his 2000 Chevrolet 1500 Pick-up and heading for the Tecate/SCORE `San Felipe 250' scheduled for February 27-28, within site of the historic Sea of Cortez. The 44 year-old Doherty, a plumbing contractor from Tucson, Arizona, is no rookie to the ranks of off-road truck racing. When he takes the green flag in San Felipe on Saturday, the event will mark his 24th year as a Class 8 truck owner and driver, having started his long and unwavering association with Class 8 Chevrolet Trucks in the 1980 SCORE `Riverside Off-Road World Championships'. More recently Doherty finished second at the 2003 SCORE `Hendersons Terrible 250'. Along the way he won a number of races including year end points championships in the Whiplash Motorsports Off-Road Series in 1996, 1997 and 1999.

Starting the race with Doherty will be the renowned off-road veteran Bob Bower of Lake Forest, Cali- fornia who will occupy the second seat. Bower brings a wealth of knowledge to this position having spent many years with the BFGoodrich T/A Pit Support program. Bob has also been co-driver in the past with a number of winning truck teams, including Veneble Racing's, Robby Gordon. He is no stranger to the winner's circle and has every confidence that the #806 Doherty Motorsports Chevrolet has an excellent chance in San Felipe. This will be Bower's 4th race with Doherty since the 2001 Baja 1000. At the midway point, Doherty will be handing off the truck to Billy Robertson, III, a highly regarded Class One driver out from North Hollywood, California. Robertson, who owns North Hollywood Honda, grew up in desert racing as a bike racer and has been very successful in desert racing on both bikes and in unlimited buggies. Together with Dave Ekins, his father, Bill, Jr. participated in the first known timed run down the Baja Peninsula on a pair of Honda 250's in 1962. This legendary event set the stage for the Baja 1000 as we know it today! Robertson will team with his regular co-driver, Tony Tellier, who is one of the more interesting personalities in off-road racing. A geologist and engineer (retired), Tellier was the recipient of the 1993 SCORE Journalist of the Year Award and has been active in off-road racing as a car owner and co-driver since the 70's. Robertson and Tellier are both long time members of the Checkers Off-Road Racing club, so the team will be utilizing the Checkers pit support network throughout the race. Collectively these four racers bring well over 100 years of quality experience to the Doherty Motorsports Class 8 entry.

Doherty has also consulted, at length, with Nick Vanderwey, Rick Geiser and Brett King in an effort to get the shocks set up properly for the terrain around San Felipe. After extensive testing he is very pleased with the result of this extra effort and believes the truck is ready for this race. When asked for his comments, Bob Bower had this to say: "There's no lack of experience amongst the members of this San Felipe Doherty Motorsports team. Everyone of us has won races and championships. But, Baja is Baja, and it is the master of everyone's experience in the past, and, no doubt, in the future. I can't wait to see what the green flag has in store. The real story starts there."

Win or lose, this is bound to be one of the most interesting stories coming out of the 2004 Tecate/ SCORE `San Felipe 250'!

- grt -