PIRELLI KICKS OFF 2012 MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES IN ANAHEIM WITH JGRMX/ TOYOTA/ YAMAHA‏ 3

James “Bubba” Stewart sets fast lap of the night and wins first heat race on Pirelli’s Scorpion MX tires

Anaheim, California, January 8, 2012 ­–
Pirelli’s debut at the first round of the 2012 Monster Energy AMA
Supercross Championship Series with  the JGRMX/ Toyota/ Yamaha team
started off strong, with newest addition James “Bubba” Stewart setting
the fastest lap in qualifying and later winning his heat race. Both
Stewart and teammate Davi Millsaps race exclusively on Pirelli’s
Scorpion MX tires.

Both riders easily advanced to the main event with Stewart inside the top-10 and Millsaps 11^th.
At the halfway mark of the main event, Stewart found himself in a
podium position gaining on second place Chad Reed. On lap 16 Stewart
landed wide on a jump resulting in a tangle with a track barrier, which
partially tore the radiator shroud off his Yamaha YZ450F. Stewart
recovered, managing a sixth place finish. Millsaps fell on lap 18, and
finished 16^th overall. “Anaheim is the first race of a long
season,” said Pirelli North America Off-Road Manager Josh Whitmire. “It
was very apparent that we have the pace. We will continue to improve and
look forward to Phoenix next week.”

Over 75,000 fans at Angel Stadium of Anaheim were on hand to witness the 56^th Supercross
Class race gate drop – the most for any stadium in Supercross history.
This marks the first of 19 races this year for Pirelil’s continued
technical partnership with JGRMX. Pirelli had two technical engineers on
hand from the global headquarters in Milan, Italy to provide
instantaneous feedback and assessments for both riders.

The
next event will be held Jan. 14 at Chase Field in Phoenix, Ariz. Catch
the action live, or tune in to SPEED at 9:30 p.m. (EST).

Pirelli
Tire North America designs, develops, manufactures and markets tires
for passenger vehicles in both the original equipment and replacement
markets as well as markets and distributes tires for motorcycles and
motorsports. Located in Rome, Georgia, Pirelli’s Modular Integrated
Robotized System (MIRS) employs state-of-the-art technology to
manufacture tires for both export and domestic markets.  For more
information please visit www.us.pirelli.com.