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[Tech Inspection] [Day 1 Action] [Day 2 Action]

Update 9:45 AM PST

We are up and running!!! With a little rub on the dish, our satellite rose to the occasion and we are live and happening. We are currently about 15 minutes from the start of the event. There are still several things for the UROC staff to finish up before we go live with the action.

The weather is also warming up some. I expect to see 100+ weather again today, but clear skies throughout the event. Either way it looks to be a great day for the rock crawlers. The weather is least of their concerns. The courses look brutal with a lot of undercut and steep climbs. There is a bonus line on A3 which is only a 20 pointer, but if a rig rolls of that one, it may cost them more than just points.

The camp here has also been a hustle. Dave Schneider had some unexpected repairs this morning, but he is back in it again and ready to go. The RP Films crew is also relaxing and getting ready to capture what looks to be some of the sickest action this year. All this footage can be seen in the upcoming Haulin or Crawlin II sponsored by Rockcrusher Diffs.

We will see you shortly as we bring you the 5th Pro Series event for UROC.

Update 11:19 AM PST

Yes for sure it is hot out there today. People are taking shade where they can. The weather is calm though which is making for a relaxing morning and start to the event. This event has changed a little. There are only 4 courses on each side of the field. So 4 A courses and 4 B courses. This will allow the competitors to finish the day much faster. On the final day of competition though, the top seats will battle it out for a final shootout.

Starting the day was Dean Bulloch in the #9 rig over on B2. B2 has an optional line for the Modified class which takes them up a steep wall. Horsepower and traction are needed to make that climb. Dean pumps out nearly 200 HP, but that still wasn't enough to make it over the top of that hill. He almost had it on his first attempt, but it just wasn't there for him. He opted to no take any more points and took the standard route through the course to finish with 0 points for the course. At the finish line, Dean said, "My brakes weren't holding him on the hill. They might need to be rebled."

Dean getting the first start on B2

At the same time, Ron and Russ in the #249 green machine were dropping into a very off camber B3 course. As they were attempting to go around a cone on a steep section, the sidewall just couldn't hang onto the rim and he began to push air out. By the time he got around the cone, the tire had unseated and they wound up taking the cone anyway. This was unfortunate because the rest of the course was uphill climbs. Struggling for traction, they were able to jockey up the twised slope, but took 2 more cones along the way. We caught up with Russ after the run, "We just got the rig back together this morning. We would have done better if we didn't lose that tire."

Ron with a flat right rear tire trying to make a loose climb

Ken Blume was all smiles as he crested over the top of B2. Because he is in the SuperModified class, he is required to take the steep line that Dean Bulloch couldn't make. Fortunately for Ken he just had enough muscle in the yellow rig to make the call. He said this, "I wasn't sure we were going to make it up on that. I think the V8 guys are going to have a much better time up that one." With 5 minutes left on the 10 minute course, Ken can pat himself for a good 2 point score.

The #723 Mount Logan Off-Road rig teamed to Wiliams and Garrett was first up on course B4 where a small controversy and confusion followed their run. The two made a good attempt on the course, but his a gate and had 9 backs along the way. They finished with 19 points. The confusion arose because of a very tricky obstacle where they have a very TIGHT pivot. The drivers all wanted clarification of what was deemed out of bounds on those gates. A Marshall stopped by and cleared it up to ensure that there were always at least 2 tires in the gate to call it good. However, it appears Williams and Garrett hit the course marker as called out by one of the competitors. He wanted to ensure that since the judge didn't call that one, that he wouldn' call it on anyone else. Well, the judge wasn't in a position to see it, so he couldn't call it. If they truly hit the course marker, they got lucky this time. The next competitors won't be so lucky though as the judge is now aware of it.

When looking over a cliff, a spotter is very handy

Update 11:50 AM PST

It looks as though course A3 is going to be a good one to watch today. The bonus line is worth 20 points. Very enticing to the points leaders. Epperly in the #82 Nelson racing buggy decided to test it out. While lining up for the climb, he was setting his rear into position, but lost traction. In an instant, the ultra low weight buggy was sliding off the ledge and flipped over all the way and back onto its wheels again. He was able to finish the course by going up the normal route, but this will put more of an edge on the people to follow. Do they attempt and risk a roll or just go around?

Bret Epperly flipping off the bonus line on A3

Update 12:33 PM PST

Dave Schneider is currently sitting at +3 after 2 courses. On course B4 Dave was able to complete the course and go for the bonus 20 points. After 4 or 5 tries with the motor stalling out at the top, he finally got enough burn to get up and over the top. Thanks to that bonus, he was able to grab a -2 for the course. Jason Paule wasn't so lucky on the same course as he wound up hitting the banner on the pivot giving him an instant 40 points. Hopefully this doesn't hurt him too bad today since he is currently in 3rd place in the series.

Tracy Jordan in the #112 rig is our current series points leader. He was also the lead in driver for course A4 which is the money line. This course has the drivers drop into a severely undercut wall, make a u-turn, and climb back up the same way they came down. Tracy had no one to follow and watch the proper line so he was at a disadvantage. Skills are in his blood because he took a few backs to get the proper line. With a little run at it, he popped up and finished the course cleanly.

Tracy twists it up after successfully climbing the fall on A4

Chris Durham in the #36 crawler wasn't so lucky on A4. He followed after Tracy and showed how to roll on that course. First he dropped off the wall backwards to limit the possibility of a roll over. Once he got down, he made an attempt at the hill but got sideways and rolled completely over back onto his wheels again. Repositioning, Chris made another attempt at it with time running out. Once again, he flipped the rig over knocking the hood off in the process. A final attempt prove useless though as the clock ran out.

Durham mid rollover on A4

Update 12:50 PM PST

A clarification for the event. Usually the competition runs 5 courses per day. At this event, it was planned to run 4 courses per day with a final shootout of 2 courses for the top finishers. Well, that appears to have been protested against and changed back to the normal 5 per day with no shootout. This morning we weren't aware of that change and the courses hadn't been set up when we walked the courses.

Update 1:08 PM PST

Some current scores:

Update 1:24 PM PST

New pictures have been posted to the Gallery. Check them out by going here:
Farmington Photos

Also, if you haven't heard, the sport is growing and fast. Inside Edition is out here today with cameras on both Dustin and Becca Webster's vehicles. They will be covering their every moves as they capture footage for the show. Dustin and Becca are the biggest promoters out there for our sport and brings the media wherever they go. I would follow them too because they put on some of the craziest shows.

Update 2:11 PM PST

Jennifer Little was out earlier on B1 in her #64 portaled Samurai. This was her 2nd obstacle of the day and she was having a good time. She said this, " We drew poorly. we are first on all obstacles today as we follow the Modified guys. That's ok thugh as we are running our own game."

Jennifer Litttle twisting it up hard on B1

Nick Sessions had a very hard day. On their first course out, they broke the rear output yoke on their Atlas case. Without spare parts to fix it, they had to try and limp the remaining courses, but they were only able to pull in the max of 40 points. They found a replacement, but their first day scores are littered with 40 points for each course. Hopefully they can make a comeback of some type to save their series points. They were in 12 place coming into the event today.

Walker Evans has no fear and was wearing the biggest grin on his face as he took a -22 score on A3. Walker opted for the bonus line that Epperly flipped on earlier in the day. Without fear, he charged up it and finished the course with nearly 6 minutes left on the clock. When asked about the course and his thoughts, he said, "I loved it, it was fun." As for the day he was just as excited. "I am having a great time out here today. I think we are at about 28 points after 4 courses."

Mike Shaffer and Pete Mazzoni, standing in for Lance Clifford today, started their day off awesome with a 0 score on A2 followed up with a -20 on A3. The A4 Money Pit course however caused them a little problem. They dropped in backwards onto the course and down the Money Pit wall. They were able to drive back up the wall with little to no effort. It was the left hand corner crack climb after that that gave them problems. So when they went up they layed the rig over on its side, but with a wall there, they didn't go over anywhere. They were able to get back on line and drive up. It was an easy cone that caused them issues. A small mistake took them into the cone and added 10 points to their score. Those 10 points gave them an overall 11 points for that course.

Back over on B3, Curt Hildebrand took 8 points for the course and said this, "Basically the courses got a lot tougher over the year. Technically there are 2 to 3 different types of rock crawlers out here. You have to decide with your kind of vehicle, where you can go and not where everyone else is driving anymore. It's gotten a lot tougher now. You are going to give up points somewhere and make them back elsewhere."

Curt Hildebrand making a turn on B3

Ken Shupe is was in 3rd place in the UROC point series coming into Farmington. Trying to improve his score to catch the leaders, he opted to take the super bonus line on A4. He dropped into the course backwards and headed over to the big wall. With several attempts at it, he made no progress. The only thing he got from attempting that wall was less time on the clock to finish the course. Realizing this, Ken raced over to the normal Money Line wall and tried to get up the course. A bad line sent him over onto his side where he wound up running out the clock to give him 40 points on that course. Both Jason and Ken are on Tracy's heels in points, but they now have both pulled in 40 points. If Tracy holds it together today, he will pull much further ahead in the scores.

Ken Shupe getting a wheels up run at the Wall on A4

Jason Bunch had some misfortunes yesterday. He broke while practicing and wasn't able to make the event until mid day. He finally got it back together and out onto the course. He probably missed 3 courses today, but he is here to push the buggy now. We will hopefully get some good action shots of the new moon buggy.

Update 2:44 PM PST

Some current scores:

As you can see by the scores, Johnny G is ruling the B side of the courses with a -2 score. John Gilleland is the only driver on the B side currently with a negative score. On the other half of the courses, Tracy Jordan was sitting behind Mike Shaffer and Pete Mazzoni. An unfortunate 22 points on A5 knocked them back to 16 points. Tracy finished his day with a very impressive finish on both of his last two courses. With a -15 and -27 on A2 and A3 respectively, he has just set the bar for tomorrow's group. Jason Paule and Jon Bundrant both fell off hard from their chase of Tracy this weekend. Despite the problems there is always a chance that they can make it back up.

On the Modified side Errea/Schwiesow are in the lead with -4 and team Sisson hot on their tail with 0 points on the A side. On the B Side Chris Holley is barely hanging onto first with Becca Webster and Dean Bulloch just 2 and 4 points behind. That one is gonna be close.

Update 3:42 PM PST

As the day winds down, the drivers and spectators are looking beat from the sun. We are still pressing on though catching great footage. In fact, new pictures are up.

Check them out by going here:
Farmington Photos

Also, this just in. Becca Webster took a really hard tumble. Becca Webster in the RedBull RockHer rig was out on B4 when things turned upside down for her. Here was her account of the roll. "I rolled two times. Actually about 2 and 1/4 rolls. That was my first multiple roll over right there and it wasn't too bad. I got the first roll done and I put it in neutral so that I don't torque anything and just held tight onto the steering wheel and kept my elbows in tight. Kind of went into that fetal position and kinda went with the roll. We were coming down in a real off camber situation right there. We were trying to burn the rear to get it to slide down the hill. It was tetering a little too much and we couldn't hold it anymore and it went." The vehicle suffered som suspension damage, but they should have it all fixed to finish out the event. Her vehicle is still sitting on its side now in fear that when its rolled over, it may damage the shock since the suspension broke.

Becca rolling hard down B4

Becca Oooing up at the course she just rolled down

Update 4:28 PM PST

Scores:

The scores aren't complete yet. UROC is still trying to gather up the scores from all the judges. Until then, here is the update.

It looks as though Mitch and Tracy are going to lead off tomorrow battling for the win. With a -35 and -25, they are leading the rest of the field by a good margin.

Just in, Team Shaffer just got a -8 on their last course. This puts them down at for 6 points for the day. Can they make up some ground on the leaders? Pete Mazzoni had this to say, "Driving is way easier. You get to listen to the spotter. I felt our day went pretty good. We hit two cones that we probably could have avoided. It's the way it goes sometimes. We are still in the game. I am happy with the way we finished for trying to fill in Lance's shoes. Mike seemed pretty happy, so I am happy." Pete was stepping in for Lance Clifford at this event.

Update 5:30 PM PST

The final day scores are in. How did your favorite driver stand up to today.

It appears that the B side courses were a lot more difficult than the A side. We look forward to tomorrow's event to find out how the scores level out. Also, the pictures from today are all up so take a look at Becca's super roll over that everyone out here is talking about. Lucie caught a great series of shots of her going down the hill.

Until tomorrow, these are your Heat Stroke Pirate reporters logging out.