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Greenville, S.C., March 16, 2016 - Justin Lofton powered his Ford Trick Truck consistently through the dust, rocks and silt and outpaced the field for his second consecutive overall win and BFGoodrich Tires' 27th overall title at the Polaris RZR® Mint 400 Presented by BFGoodrich® Tires last weekend held just south of Las Vegas.
Lofton crossed the line first and waited as Andy McMillin came charging hard but fell just 42 seconds short of the leader and settled for second place. Lofton experienced no flats on this BFGoodrich Baja T/A KR2 tires, as that tire captured its 20th overall desert race win since being launched in 2013.
BFGoodrich Tires proudly became presenting sponsor of the MINT 400 this year and used the race as a platform to entertain tire dealers and race fans at its Pit Stop Challenge during the race.
The entertainment on the course was just as great as racers battled the course and each other in one of the closest finishes in recent memory. BFGoodrich Tires claimed seven of the top 10 overall finishers and took home 16 class wins.
For the past three years, BFGoodrich® Tires has dominated the Mint 400, also known as "the Great American off-road race." The tire brand that invented the all-terrain tire category 40 years ago has claimed the last four overall race wins and 34 of the top 40 overall finishes in that span.
BFGoodrich Tires has claimed the overall win in 23 of the last 25 major North American desert races, including 18 of the last 20 in the Best In The Desert series.
While Lofton ran a solid, consistent race staying in the top three overall throughout the day, other BFGoodrich racers had problems late after leading for some time. Las Vegas native Bryce Menzies led on course much of the race after making a pass on the first lap before finding engine problems with less than 50 miles to go in the race. Similarly, Rob MacCachren, who was leading on time for a portion of the race, had trouble late with his brakes on the last lap leaving the battle between Lofton, McMillin and Jason Voss, who placed third.
BFGoodrich Performance Team member Roger Lovell entered in the Vintage Open class, supported by his brother Brad Lovell, driving a unique Ford Bronco sponsored by AMSOIL and BFGoodrich Tires and placed second in the class.
Nick Carolan of Tuscon, Arizona took top honors in the Mint 400 Limited Race, on 35-inch BFGoodrich Baja T/A KR2 tires, with an average speed of 53.146 mph, beating his nearest competitor across the finish line by nearly four minutes.
Cody Parkhouse of Long Beach, California took top honors in Class 1500 on BFGoodrich Tires, covering three laps in 5 hours, 56 minutes 42 seconds, beating out second place Sam Baldi by slightly more than five minutes, according to unofficial results.
In another class, the team of Greg Foutz drove the 2017 Ford Raptor through the race and won their class, all on BFGoodrich Tires All-Terrain T/A KO2 tires.
Overall BFGoodrich had just under 50 percent of the field running the race on its tires, ranging from the Baja T/A® KR and Baja T/A® KR2 race tire developed for multiple classes (Trick Truck, Class 1000, Class 1500, Class 6100 and the UTV class) to DOT-approved consumer tires like the Mud Terrain T/A® KM2 and All-Terrain T/A® KO2 tires in lighter vehicle classes.
TOP 10 OVeRALL FINISHeRS (BOLD indicated driver on BFGoodrich Tires)
1. Justin Lofton (Class 1400)
2. Andy McMillin (Class 1400)
3. Jason Voss (Class 1400)
4. Brett Sourapas (Class 1400)
5. BJ Baldwin (Class 1400)
6. Lalo Laguna (Class 1400)
7. Cody Parkhouse (Class 1500)
8. Luke McMillin (Class 1400)
9. Tim Herbst (Class 1400)
10. Derrick Sproule (Class 1400)
BFGoodrich Tires Class Winners
Trick Truck Justin Lofton
1500 Cody Parkhouse
6100 Christian Sourapas
7200 Troy Messer
8000 Chris German
2400 Nick Carolan
1000 Roger Starkey
5000 John Willard
1100 Brad Wilson
6000 Todd Jackson
3000 Reid Rutherford
Vintage Todd Richards
4400 eric Miramon
11 stock Bug Alex Alvarex
8100 Rich Voss
1200 Greg Foutz
About BFGoodrich
BFGoodrich Tires is dedicated to providing high performance tires for those who have a passion for driving in virtually any environment. Combining technical expertise with 50 years of motorsports experience, BFGoodrich delivers tires for a full range of driving experiences from ultra-high performance street to off-road terrain with one common theme – extreme performance. Come upgrade your performance with BFGoodrich and see where our tires can take you at BFGoodrichTires.com, BFGoodrichRacing.com, as well as on Facebook and Instagram at @BFGoodrichTires and TikTok at @BFGoodrich.