Portland, OR — Subaru Rally Team USA dominated the Oregon Trail Rally to win the third round of the Rally America National Championship held in Portland and Hood River, Oregon on May 3-5.

The British duo, David Higgins and co-driver Craig Drew, never relinquished their lead from the start and drove a masterful race to establish a 2 minute window over their competition and enough breathing room to drive the last day without difficulty. However, the team nearly ended their event when Higgins struck exposed bedrock at high speeds that tore through their Subaru Impreza WRX STI suspension on stage 16. Higgins gingerly drove through the last stage of the day as the car severely pulled to one side and just made it back to service for repairs.

Salem, MO — The sudden arrival of winter ice and snow conditions could not prevent Subaru Rally Team USA’s David Higgins and Craig Drew from winning the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood held on February 22-23rd in Salem, Missouri. The hard fought victory gave Higgins his first 100 Acre Wood Rally victory in three attempts at one of the more slippery events in recent memory.

On the first day Higgins and Drew fell behind early to Hoonigan Racing’s Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino and to Rockstar Energy Drink Rally Team’s Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard until a fateful stage 6, the first nighttime stage. Block suffered frontend damage and L’Estage retired from the event with overheating issues that left Higgins with the overall lead.

It was a disappointing withdrawal for L’Estage who hoped to build on his Championship points lead after winning the Michigan based Sno*Drift Rally in late January.

GREENVILLE, S.C. – BFGoodrich Tires recently announced its 20-member lineup for its 2013 Team BFGoodrich roster.

Created in 2008, Team BFGoodrich comprises an elite group of motorsports superstars, key industry partners, market influencers and enthusiasts who all share the BFGoodrich Tires passion for driving and for everything on four wheels.

This diverse group of auto enthusiasts represents various aspects of the automotive industry, including on- and off-road racing, rock crawling, custom car building and engineering. Working together, Team BFGoodrich members will bring their experience and enthusiasm to the brand while BFGoodrich Tires continues to advance its product line to help further improve their driving performance.

Randy Slawson was the co-driver for John Reynolds on the winning team the first year of the event, referred to as the OG13 in 2007, but in 2013, Slawson came across the finish line in the driver’s seat to earn the title of King of the Hammers for 2013.

“I don’t know what to say,” Slawson said at the finish line, the racer still coming to grips with the fact that he won the race. “It was a fun day, not a lot of traffic. It was windy so the dust wasn’t too bad. We were able to just run our own pace and, I don’t know, everything just came together for us.”

Slawson held off two-time winner Shannon Campbell to earn the victory. Campbell explained after the race that he got lost at one point, and then on his way toward the finish line on the third lap while chasing Slawson he tipped over on the “Elvis “ section and was pushed off the pace.

Colorado Springs, CO 2/1/13 – The Lovell Brothers are on their way to the first event in 2013 that is also the biggest rock race of the year – King of the Hammers. The newly minted #1 AMSOIL Rock Racer has been refurbished and outfitted with the latest innovations from the best brands in the business.

Lovell Racing welcomes back their group of dedicated team sponsors for their rock race program including AMSOIL, Torchmate, BFGoodrich, 4 Wheel Parts, and Spidertrax. “It’s pretty cliche to thank sponsors for their support,” comments Brad Lovell, “In our case we would not be racing without them. They aren’t supporters of the team, they are the team.” The brothers also welcome several new sponsors including Method Race Wheels, Magnaflow, and Ron Davis Racing Products.

Atlanta, MI — Rockstar Energy Drink Team’s Antoine L’Estage from St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec and co-driver Nathalie Richard from Halifax, Nova Scotia completed a stunning come-from-behind victory at the Sno*Drift Rally held January 25-26th in Lewiston, Michigan.

Snow and ice often create large gaps between rally cars at Sno*Drift, however, L’Estage and Richard were locked in a fierce battle with Subaru Rally Team USA’s David Higgins from Trefeglwys, Wales and Craig Drew from Forest of Dean, England, which turned into a classic battle between Mitsubishi and Subaru. Higgins and L’Estage swapped the lead twice on Friday with Higgins leading the first four stages, then L’Estage took the lead through stage 7, and Higgins gained an overnight lead of .5 seconds on the final stage of the first day. Higgins retained that lead all through the second day of Sno*Drift leading by as little as .4 seconds after stage 12 and as much as 21.3 seconds after stage 18. L’Estage took back 19.9 seconds on the penultimate stage setting up an epic finale! With 6 miles of slippery roads to go, both drivers gave it all they had. L’Estage won the stage by 7.6 seconds for a final margin of victory of 6.2 seconds over Higgins.

JOHNSON VALLEY, CA:  In the ongoing effort to Save the Johnson Valley OHV area, a new campaign has emerged to raise national awareness regarding the expansion of the 29 Palms Marine base onto public lands. Volunteers have created a petition on the White House.gov site (http://petitions.whitehouse.gov) with the hope of receiving formal recognition from the White House regarding The Johnson Valley OHV area.  The White House has committed to responding to any petition that receives 25,000 or more signatures within a 30 day time frame.

After 14 days of racing and more than 8000 km covered, Willy Alcaraz and the team Nicolas Du-clos / Sébastien Delaunay are among the 67% of competitors who completed the race! They finished respectively 40th and 56th in the overall ranking.

But that’s not all they achieved….

For his second Dakar race alone in his RZR, Willy Alcaraz does it again, winning both the T3 and SOLO Car classes. He also improved his position by two ranks overall versus 2012.

Red Bull-sponsored teams have claimed victory in the truck and bike categories during this year’s Dakar Rally.

Cyril Despres battled his way through the early stages of the 2013 event, in which buggy, bike, quad and lorry drivers took on 8,500 kilometres of harsh terrain in South America, and managed to claim his fifth Dakar victory.

Riding a KTM, the Frenchman gained his second consecutive win in the rally, despite suffering a penalty after he was forced to change engines mid-way through the race.

“Of course every win at the Dakar is special but this one stands out for me because it is the first time I have been able to defend my title. Winning the Dakar two years in a row is rare and nobody has done it since Fabrizio Meoni ten years ago,” he said of the win.

SANTIAGO, CHILE – Toyo Tires racers captured six stage wins and a total of 13 podiums during the running of the 2013 Dakar which completed its final stage this past weekend.  Running from Lima, Peru to Santiago, Chile, the roughly 5,000-mile 14-stage rally wound its way south along the Pacific Coast, while sweeping inland through parts of Argentina.  Competitors were challenged with extreme off-highway conditions which included huge sand dunes, rock strewn desert roads, deep river crossings and treks through high mountains.

In addition to Team Toyo’s Robby Gordon, two past Dakar champions Carlos Sainz and Nasser Al-Attiyah also took on the Dakar using Toyo Open Country M/T-R tires.  Immediately, Sainz captured Stage 1 with his American-built #303 Team Qatar Red Bull buggy.  Al-Attiyah then responded by winning Stages 3, 4 and 6 with his #300 Team Qatar Red Bull buggy.