Toyo Tires drivers take 1st and 2nd place in Mexico

June 10, 2013 

Toyo Tires drivers take 1st and 2nd place in Mexico

Robby Gordon has won the 501 mile Tecate Score Baja 500 in his Toyo Tires shod Chevrolet Trophy Truck. Gordon completed the incident packed race in a winning time of just 10 hours, 4 minutes and 36 seconds.

Qualifying first, Gordon led the field into the desert but an early spin nearly proved disastrous. Hitting a flooded section at nearly 90 mph, there was no chance of keeping the truck straight. However, with no damage to the truck, Gordon used his considerable skill to keep the car in contention, allowing him to capitalise on the mechanical woes of first Voss and then Menzies. The withdrawal of Bryce Menzies with transmission failure set up a titanic struggle with B.J. Baldwin with both drivers holding the lead alternately for several hundred miles.

The decisive point in the race came just before the final pit stop, 100miles from the finish where a small bolt holding the brake pedal assembly sheared, forcing Baldwin to slow before the pit and costing a few crucial extra minutes to repair.

“I can’t say enough about the Toyo tires and the race this weekend,” said Gordon. “To be able to win the race overall and have BJ finish second, and then on the other side, our other car Justin Matney of RPM Offroad.  We got the Overall, Trophy Truck, Class 1, Spec 8, Class 8… all on Toyo Tires.  It was a killer weekend.  I want to thank everyone from Toyo for taking a chance on the RPM team, and stepping up and letting them join the family.  We’re stoked to have another good winning partner on our hands with them… it was just a great weekend.”

Second place, after leading the race for more than five hours was taken by B.J. Baldwin, whose Chevrolet Trophy Truck eventually crossed the finish line with a nine minutes and 15 seconds gap to leader Gordon. Baldwin, winner of the 2012 Baja 1000, was upbeat after narrowly missing out on the win, commenting, “This year’s Baja 500 was so close to being a flawless victory ... My Toyo's performed perfectly. We had great traction and no tire failures during the entire Baja 500.”

Both drivers use Toyo Tires Open Country M/T.

Toyo Open Country M/T tires were also on the winning vehicles of the RPM Offroad racing team. Justin Matney drove his Offroad truggy to a decisive Class 1 victory with a time of 11hours, 16 minutes and 25 seconds. 

"We really just cruised all day, no issues and zero flats.  It is a real testament to Toyo Tires,” said Justin Matney of RPM Offroad.  “Our biggest problem today was the dust.  It was really dusty out there, but I am happy to be here, first with SPEED Energy, RPM and Toyo Tires. I can't thank those guys enough.  I’m really looking forward to the 1000 and to see if we can't capitalise there as well."

 In all, Toyo Tires winning weekend saw them take 1st and 2nd place Overall along with wins in Class 1, Class 8 and the Trophy Truck Special Class.