Baja 500: Yokohama event report

Heidi Steele Battles Baja 500 for 2nd Place Finish on Yokohama Tires
Off-road champion finishes punishing 438-mile course on off-the-shelf Geolandar M/T+0x00ae tires

FULLERTON, CA. -- (June 8, 2010) -- Yokohama Tire-sponsored off-road champion Heidi Steele battled the toughest SCORE Baja 500 course in her career yet still managed to claim second place. The 42nd running of the event was held in Ensenada, Mexico on June 5.

"This year's Baja 500 was one of the toughest courses I have experienced in my six years of racing," said Steele, the defending SCORE Class 6 champion, who completed the course on off-the-shelf Yokohama Geolandar M/T+0x00ae tires. "We battled and finished with a solid second place finish just over 12 minutes out of first. Third place was well over six hours behind us."

Steele, in her customary Ford Ranger, raced the first half of the course (from Ensenada to Borrego) and her co-driver and Desert Assassins teammate Rene Brugger finished the race. Last year the two teamed-up for a second place finish as well.

"Thanks to the Geolandar tires, our Yokohama-Lucas Oil-Monster Energy race truck conquered the gnarly 5,000-foot Summit, which is known for its giant boulders and rocky hill climb," said Steele. "With the recent storms, the entire course had challenging obstacles, including exposed boulders, treacherous rain ruts, which could swallow a vehicle, and huge wash outs. This made it the most difficult course in recent history. Our Yokohama tires proved to be awesome with no flat tires over the 438 miles of wicked terrain."

Celebrating its 40th anniversary in the United States, Yokohama Tire Corporation is the North American manufacturing and marketing arm of Tokyo, Japan-based The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., a global manufacturing and sales company of premium tires since 1917. Servicing a network of more than 4,500 points of sale in the U.S., Yokohama Tire Corporation is a leader in technology and innovation. The company's complete product line includes the dB Super E-spec0x2122 - the world's first tire to use orange oil to reduce petroleum -- as well as tires for high-performance, light truck, passenger car, commercial truck and bus, and off-the-road mining and construction applications. For more information on Yokohama's extensive product line, visit www.yokohamatire.com.

-source: yokohama