Kumho driver Chad Hord picked up another off-road racing championship, claming the 2007 World Series of Off Road Racing (WSORR) Pro Light title to go with his 2006 Pro Light title in Championship Off Road Racing (CORR). Hord’s win gave Kumho its second professional championship in off road racing

At the season-ending “Showdown in the Show-me State” on Sept. 22 and 23 in Wheatland, MO, Hord took a second place and a win to take the title by ten points over Jeff Kincaid. Driving his Nissan Motorsports/BOSS Snowplow/Kumho Tires Nissan Frontier, Hord finished the season with five wins in 13 races, as well as a pair of second place and a pair of third place finishes.

Following the Wheatland races, Hord headed West to Chula Vista, CA, to compete in the Championship Off Road Racing event on September 29 and 30. This was Hord’s first appearance of the season at a CORR event, and he picked up a win and third place finish in the two races. “To go to Chula Vista and get a win at our first CORR event of the year showed that last year wasn’t a fluke,” said Hord.

“This was our first year running on the new Kumho MT tire, and it proved to be really good,” he noted. “We pulled two hole shots at Crandon with the new tire, and we didn’t have any tire failures all year.”

Kumho driver Mike Oberg finished as the runner-up in the WSORR Pro2 championship. Oberg racked up one win, four second place finishes and two third place finishes in his Amsoil/Kumho Tires Chevrolet Silverado. In Pro4, Scott Douglas grabbed two wins, three second place finishes and one third place finish.

“A class championship in Pro Light and race wins in Pro2 and Pro4 add up to another great year of off-road racing for Kumho,” said Ed Cercek, Kumho’s principal engineer for light truck tires. “Outside the obvious benefits related to engineering and product development, we race to build credibility for the brand and to prove the quality of our products. Our wins are definitely helping us accomplish our goals.”

In the WSORR tire manufacturer’s season championship, Kumho won the class championship in Pro 4 and Pro Light over five over tire manufacturers. Cercek pointed out that while Kumho’s Pro2 and Pro4 drivers race on special versions of the company’s Road Venture tires, the Pro Light drivers race on the same tires that consumers can buy. “With new plants coming online next year, we’ll have a lot of light truck tires to sell,” added Cercek. “That’s good because our success in off road racing proves that we have a great product.”

NOTES:  At the CORR event in Chula Vista on Sept. 29 and 30, Kumho driver Dan Vanden Heuval scored a class win Pro2…Larry Webster, technical director of Car and Driver magazine, drove a Kumho-shod Pro Light truck at the Chula Vista race for a story that’s slated to appear in the February 2008 edition of the magazine.