LAS VEGAS -- A racer was killed in the crash of an off-road racing vehicle at the start of the SCORE Terrible's Primm 300 during the weekend in the desert south of Las Vegas, race organizers and police said.

Eric Morales, 33, of Ensenada, Mexico, was fatally injured when the open-wheel unlimited Class 1 Chevrolet HMS race vehicle crashed on its nose, tumbled end-over-end and landed on its roof after becoming airborne on a jump shortly before 2 p.m. Saturday, police and SCORE officials said.

Race medical personnel and spectators freed Morales and the driver, Eddy Gonzalez of Chula Vista, Calif., from the No. 115 race vehicle, where authorities said Morales and Gonzalez were restrained by five-point safety harnesses and were wearing helmets.

Gonzalez, 32, was treated for a back injury at University Medical Center in Las Vegas and released, police and race officials said.

"This is an extremely unfortunate incident and our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Mr. Morales,'' Sal Fish, president and chief executive of Los Angeles-based SCORE International desert racing, said in a statement.

Las Vegas police said Fish requested police involvement at the scene, but SCORE was handling the investigation.

SCORE said 182 cars and trucks competed during the weekend in the fifth round of the six-race 2007 SCORE Desert Series race in Primm, near the California-Nevada state line 40 miles south of Las Vegas.