General Tire capped off its return to off-road competition with two class wins, two second place and two third place class finishes in the 2008 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000.
Marc Burnett, driving his Ford Ranger “Ironman-style” through the entire course, took the win in Class 6 with a time of 27:02:31 (23.35 mph). In Class 9, 1st place went to Cisco Bio and his co-drivers Jorge Martinez/Pancho Bio/Francisco Guerrero, with a time of 21:51:40 (28.88 mph). In addition, this team took 1st in Class in the same car that won the Baja 1000 in Class 9 in 1998.
The team of Mike Horner, Cory Susag and Ted Hunnicut piloted their General Tire/Synergy Motorsports Toyota Tundra to the 2nd place podium in Class 8, with a time of 24:57:05; and Kent Kroeker and co-driver Rudy Iribe took the General Tire/KORE Dodge Ram 2500 to a second Place podium finish in Stock Full.
Rounding out the third place position Ernie Negrete, Oscar Venagas and Gabriel Diaz-Peralata came in with a time of 20:52:27.
Honorable mentions include Trophy Truck PCI Racing Scott Steinberger and Mike Childress who displayed unbelievable heart to complete this race. Childress holding a fifth place position and closing in on the 3rd place podium spot hit a local man-made hole and flipped the truck end-over-end multiple times now coined “the mikey baja roll” courageously endured a possible broken sternum and a near death experience to fix the motor which took 4 ½ hours to complete and finish the race for General Tire. PCI Racing concluded the race in 15th position.
“We’re still reeling from such an exciting race, and we’re so proud of all of our teams – they helped show the desert racing community that General Tire is BACK, and we’re here to stay!” says Travis Roffler, General Tire. “This course was one of the toughest, most challenging Baja courses ever, and for these teams to power through all of that to the finish line speaks volumes about their dedication and skill behind the wheel.”
“This is the climax of an amazing SCORE race season for us,” he continues. “When we announced our return to off-road competition, we never imagined we would have the astounding results that our teams have brought home for us, and we want to extend our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to all of our drivers for a job well done!”
All of the teams raced on General Tire’s Grabber™ competition tire or the Grabber AT2 tires. Grabber™ competition is designed with a tough, three-ply Duragen™-reinforced body construction to stand up to the rigors of off-road conditions; the Grabber also features a newly-developed competition-specific tread compound. In addition, the Grabber name and General Tire logo are prominently featured on the sidewall in red and white letters. The Grabber competition tires are designed in size 37x12.50R17 for class 8 and trophy truck/trick truck and 35x12.50R17 for class 1, 6, 7, 7 S, stock mini and ProTruck.
General Tire also has a complete line of Grabber tires for the passenger and light truck market (hitting stores later this year), including the new Grabber DOT-approved off-road tire; the Grabber HTS, which delivers the perfect synergy of comfort, durability and performance; the Grabber UHP, which sets a whole new standard in performance and ride quality for SUVs, light trucks and crossover vehicles; and Grabber AT2, designed for aggressive all-terrain traction in all weather conditions.
For more information, visit www.generaltire.com.
