BFGoodrich® Tires Ready to ‘Krawl’ to Gravity-Defying Limits in 2008 with Its Krawler™ T/A® KX Tire

BFGoodrich^® Tires is once again gearing up for the 2008 World extreme Rock Crawling Championship Series (W.e.ROCK) and Xtreme Rock Racing Association (XRRA) seasons and remains poised for success. Since its introduction five years ago, the BFGoodrich^® KrawlerTM T/A^{® KX} tire has won more rock crawling, rockcross and rock racing events than all other tire manufacturers combined and it's no surprise BFGoodrich Tires-supported teams are excited to return. They ended last year by trouncing the competition in rockcross and rock racing with an outstanding 31 combined wins.

"We are very excited to represent our racers in these series' again," said Todd Steen, motorsports marketing manager for BFGoodrich Tires. "As proven over the past five years, BFGoodrich Tires' Krawler T/A^KX tire, paired with the talent found in our supported drivers is the perfect recipe for success."

The 2007 streak of wins for BFGoodrich Tires began during the XRRA eastern division series where BFGoodrich Tires-supported teams captured two victories and the eastern Division championship title. On the West Coast, BFGoodrich Tires' drivers and teams took home three XRRA wins; two of which were won by Shannon Campbell. BFGoodrich Tires' supremacy in XRRA competition was solidified by Roger Lovell who took home the (single event) XRRA Championship honors in Colorado Springs, CO. Throughout the season, BFGoodrich Tires-supported teams dominated in all three categories: Mod Stock, Pro Modified and Unlimited by recording an impressive seven wins!

The winning momentum continued into the 2007 W.e.ROCK series when BFGoodrich Tires drivers Derek West, Brian errea, and Shannon Campbell took home wins in all three categories at the (single event) W.e.ROCK Grand National Championship. Prior to the Grand National Championship event, the Western Pro Modified category was overrun as drivers Dean Bulloch, Jeff Mello, and Brad Lovell took home all the wins.The Unlimited category followed suit with Jason Paulie, Shannon Campbell, and Cody Waggoner sweeping the board. On the east Coast, Derek West brought BFGoodrich Tires the Mod Stock wins in all competitions with Shannon Campbell carrying the torch in the Unlimited category. BFGoodrich Tires also won all three classes at the UROC RockCross™ finals with Shannon Campbell taking the Unlimited class trophy, Brad Lovell reigned supreme in the Pro Mod class and Richard "Buzz" Bronsema won in the stock class. In the end, BFGoodrich Tires collected a whopping 31 victories and 11 championships in rockcross and rock racing for 2007.

Many of rockcross and rock racing's most talented drivers will again receive support from BFGoodrich Tires in 2008 and help continue its illustrious streak of wins. A few key BFGoodrich Tires drivers to watch this year include popular rock sports standouts Dean Bulloch, Tracy Jordan, Brad and Roger Lovell, Jason Scherer and Shannon Campbell, who will also be making his CORR off-road racing debut in the Pro-Lite ranks. These drivers will be flanked with a stable of talent led by Jeff Mello and includes Jason Paulie, Brian errea, Joachim Schweisow, Cody Waggoner, Derek West and the brother team of John and Nate Williams.

While the drivers truly own the podium, it wouldn't be possible without the equipment. The "^KX" in Krawler T/A^KX tire translates to "Key Feature: Xtreme," which describes the lengths BFGoodrich Tires went to in engineering the tire and the punishing, brutal and demanding terrain for which the tire was designed. The Krawler T/A^KX tire boasts a specially formulated tri-polymer tread compound, tuned for exceptional traction and toughness to help optimize grip and control, while large, deep lugs provide tremendous traction through rocks, mud and dirt. BFGoodrich Tires engineers gathered rock crawling pioneers to first test the tires and then used their feedback to tailor the tires' performance.

The BFGoodrich Tires Krawler T/A^KX tire also worked flawlessly when UROC announced the drastic change in the switch of its main focus from rock crawling to the newly created sport of rockcross. This new motorsport features head-to-head competition on a closed-course rock and dirt track, encompassing all of the excitement of supercross, with the adrenalin of bull riding. Rockcross is divided into three classes; Mod Stock, Pro Modified and Unlimited, with the top five competitors from each class moving on to the semifinals and then to the main event. For the novice fan, the Mod Stock class uses no larger than 35" tires; lift kits are allowed, but otherwise, the vehicles are relatively stock. The Pro Modified class consists of vehicles that exceed the Mod Stock class requirements, but still retain a stock frame and body, while the Unlimited class is comprised of everything else.The BFGoodrich Tires Krawler T/A^KX tire meets all the requirements for each class in rockcross competition.