Yokohama off-roaders battle bruising Baja 1000

The SCORE Baja 1000 is off-road
racing's toughest test. Yokohama Tire-sponsored racers took the
challenge, with three-time SCORE champion Heidi Steele leading the pack
with a third-place finish in Class 6 for unlimited, production mini
trucks.

Driving her customary Ford Ranger, Steele, the two-time defending Class
6 champ, and her co-drivers and Desert Assassins teammates Rene Brugger
and Pat Dailey, finished the grueling 1061.69-mile course on Yokohama
Geolandar M/T+ tires in 27:43:10.

Japan's Ikuo Hanawa, another Yokohama-sponsored racer, drove the entire
race solo, finishing 14th in Class 1 (unlimited single or two-seaters)
in 34:13:15. "I think it's a major accomplishment," said Trophy Truck
class veteran Cameron Steele, who is also Heidi's husband. "He went
1,061 miles in 34 hours with no sleep holding on to 500 hp with no one
else in the car? Amazing. He may have been the only solo guy in the Baja
1000 with no navigator in a car or truck."

 Like Heidi Steele, Hanawa ran on Geolandar M/T+ tires. In July, he set
a world record for electric vehicles at the Pikes Peak International
Hill Climb.

"It was a battle, and in the end, the No. 600 truck with Heidi, Rene and
Pat brought home a podium finish and completed the season in second
place," summed up Cameron Steele. 'Heidi was looking to defend her Class
6 championship and win her fifth championship overall. There were some
bottlenecking problems on the course caused by other trucks, though, and
they got stuck in the chaos that is the Baja."

"The Geolandars performed perfectly," Heidi Steele said. "Zero flats on
a mean course like the Baja 1000 is a true testament of their
toughness."