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- General Tire unleashes at 2008 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000
General Tire capped off its triumphant return to off-road competition with a stellar showing in the 2008 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, the company reports. When the dust finally settled on the unbelievably grueling 631-mile desert course, General had scored two class wins, two second place and two third place class finishes.
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, first placewent 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 First 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 second 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 third 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 4½ hours to complete and finish the race. 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 the company’s Travis Roffler. “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,” he adds.
“This is the climax of an amazing SCORE race season for us,” Roffler 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’s Grabber competition tire or the Grabber AT2 tires.
The company also has a line of Grabber tires for the passenger car 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, Roffler reports.
For more information, visit www.generaltire.com.
