[Tech]
[Day 1 Action]
[Day 2 Action]
Click
here for our Photo Gallery
Course layouts for the Cedar City event
Update
13 May 2004 10:09 PM PST
We are back in Utah for round 3 of the UROC Pro National Series. This time we visit the middle of the state in the town of Cedar City. The rockscape resembles that of the Rubicon type rock, but with a yellowish tinge. The traction on the rocks is very very good which will either give us some amazing climbing shots or really tear the trucks up.
Before we get to that action, check out the Tech Inspection shots in our gallery. You can see them here:
Cedar City Gallery
I saw several rigs out there today. Most are unchanged from previous events while others have new rigs. Here is what I found:
Talking to Jon Nelson with the new Nelson and Nelson rig, he is feeling a lot more comfortable in the rig, but has a lot to learn. He rolled at the ProRock event which really gave him a reality of when the rig can roll over. He is looking to be a good contendor this weekend.
Larry McCrae is back in the drivers seat of Tiny for this round. This is the second round with him driving. Where's Jon Bundrant?
Charlie Melchner was all smiles today. Him and his wife are expecting a child with her at the 3 month mark. Congrats to them. A new wheeler is on its way. Charlie isn't grinning just for that reason. He loves wheeling and that is a good thing. He has 3 back to back trips coming up so he is going to have plenty of time to get behind the wheel.
Joel Randall has added a new attachment to his rig. The cage has a new front section, this time covering up the steering wheeling in order to add some more safety to the cage.
Ken Shupe said he hasn't changed anything but his underpants. I guess we should all thank him for doing that.
Ron Christensen made a few modifications which are untested at this point. He added a sway bar to eliminate some of the roll while also adding 3 inches to the front links to push the axle forward. His break over is hurt some, but the stance still looks pretty good.
Walker Evans is one with yet another new rig. This time it didn't come out of the Walker Evans racing shop. This one comes from the Campbell Enterprises production line. Still retaining the Walker baby blue color, however it is totally different than anything he has ever driven before. Its another moon buggy and will be another one to watch. He hasn't even driven it yet, so this weekend will be the test.
Mitch Guthrie, in the #28 rig, is only starting his 5th event with this rig. Its another moon buggy that has already proven itself to be a challenge to beat. There isn't really anything new with his rig this time around, though he is talking about switching to ARBs. He runs Detroits currently, but wants a little more maneuverability. He is more comfortable with the rig now and thinks he can manage some more switches which tend to screw up others. This time though, Detroits will be his pulling force.
Bailey in the #262 rig has modified his rig some since the last event. The chassis and body have been narrowed a lot along with lowering the hood for visibility. He runs the Maxxis tires which are of a street compound. He said they didn't work very well brand new, but as they wore in some, have really impressed him. The only other change to his rig is the addition of coilovers. Good luck to him this weekend.
Alan Ball is also one running the Maxxis tires. He pretty much said the same thing as Bailey. Currently Alan is in 6th place for the season. A huge rollover in his last event mangled up his front clip. So a whole new frame section, hood, and more have been installed. With that, he improved his approach angle.
Ken Blume is back out west with his yellow taxi. This time he has a set of 39s instead of his previous 37 incher tires. The ground clearance of the tires and that of the C303 axles should clear him over most obstacles. The only problem he has had is the Chrysler 3.5 liter doesn't appear to have the low end oomph of the other rigs out here. The motor really doesn't come to life until the higher RPMs, but when he has to make a quick launch, the thing just chugs. Ken has learned a few things with the rig and will battle the motor problem with a lower set of gears.
Shane Waechter in the #686 rig is back on hand and has made a leap of faith by swapping out his ARB for a Detroit. He likes the reliability of the Detroit and feels the steering won't be effected much by it. He took a 1st at ProRock and a 2nd at CalROCS in the last events. Lets see if he can keep up the great performance here at UROC.
Peter Wells will most likely be the competitor that everyone hears this weekend. He just added new header collector inserts which appear to be a lot louder than he anticipated. Lets just hope he can hear his spotter on the radios with all the motor popping around him.
Tracy Jordan did a rebuild of his rig. Nothing new, but it is all rebuilt. He did a complete tear down, repainted the chassis, and replaced all bolts. Its pretty tight and looks good. The only problem right now is that he has some air shocks on his ride that were only for testing. He wasn't going to run them this weekend, but he forgot his coilovers at home. So now he gets to learn how they work on the competition courses. What will be really interesting is how it works on course B3. Everybody has laughed at the insanity of this line. It is currently dubbed "Sackachusetts" for the balls needed to make the line. In fact, he had this quote. "If anyone makes B3 UROC line, I will kiss their hairy ass as long as their huge balls don't get in the way."
Matt and Kyle are out in the #59 Toyota powered buggy. They are one of the only teams out here using the Toyo tires and they are happy with them. The tires don't look wicked like the Krawlers, but I like the squared look to them. Lets see how well they do this weekend.
Dave Schneider in the #49 rig has made a few changes for this weekend. A usedset of 40" Krawlers are bolted up, a new 60 rearend, relocated coilovers, and some 35 spline outers up front to help him through the courses. He likes the grip of the Krawlers and hopes that and the extra height will help him through the weekend.
Well, that's it for tonight. We shall see you in the morning where action will start around 11AM.
