[Tech Inspection]
[Day 1 Action]
[Day 2 Action]
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Day1 Scores
Score Sheet #1 Score Sheet #2
Day 2 Scores:
Score Sheet #1 Score Sheet #2
Final Standings
Update
7:43 AM PST
It is game day. The glitz and shine of the Tech is over. No more polishing the tires and smooth talking, it is all about the tires hitting the courses for the first time. What better way to start it all off than with a torrential downpour? Well that is what it seems like happened when I look out my hotel window as I prepare to head out to the courses. The lucky part about all this is that there won't be any flash floods to contend with nor will there be muddy pits that will change their consistency throughout the day. However, the cement will be a little slick so the day will be different than what we saw at SuperCrawl. How much different? Lets get there and see. We will see you at 11:00 Utah time.
We also want to take a quick moment before we start to thank our sponsors for this weekend's coverage. A big thanks go out to Superior Axle & Gear for making this all happen. For the strongest axles and gears in the industry, go to the best. Go to Superior.
Update
9:59 AM PST
Ok we are minutes away from a supposed start of this event. Our early morning rain surprise has not let go yet. It is now raining pretty good and is cold. This hasn't diminished the spirits of too many of the drivers, but it sure changes things up a bit. From what I hear, the WE Rock event down in Arizona had more rain, but we aren't far from here in Salt Lake City today. I anticipate an intersting weekend.
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| The morning started off with flooded pits, rain, and a chill that went to the bone |
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Currently the drivers are out on the course
Update
11:29 AM PST
Well it looks like the rain is taking its toll. Power is down here at the UROC site so we don't have any scores available at this time. We won't have access to printouts either if they don't get it going. We are switching to cell phone coverage here while we look for better internet connection.
In the meantime....
Tracy Jordan is out with his 4 wheel steer moon buggy today. His first course that he drew was the Matterhorn. This is the most feared obstacle that I hear people talk about. It is basically a wall that is approximately 30 feet high. The course is basically to drive over it in both directions. There is also a painted progress line on the hill that will get drivers bonus points for making it across that point if they can’t make it up and over. Tracy took several attempts at it going over the first time. He was able to make the jump up and over eventually. Even with the slick surface, the climb is still possible. On the other side, he lined up for his second climb over. The second climb is a little trickier with a good bump half way up that airs out the front tires. Only a hand full of people made this climb at SuperCrawl. Tracy backed up his rig to the banners to get the most out of his moon buggy. It appeared that the little guy just didn’t have the oomph to get up the wall before breaking momentum or bursting the tires into a vertical near rollover scenario. Team members on the side were giving him instruction to avoid the bump by hitting the hill sideways a bit. He took one test attempt and it looked good as he appeared to have a little more speed near the top. A couple more true attempts failed however. In a final effort, the crowd cheered him on giving him the hand signal to go even more sideways. He did, let loose all the power that little machine had and bounced sideways to an unfortunate topple to the earth. In the process he took out one of his rim on the hard landing. Though he didn’t finish the climb, he still gets a good score for making the initial climb.
Mike and Lance were on course #3. This course starts by having the drivers make a decent climb then go into a sidehill around the whole hill. Once on the opposite side of the hill, the drivers must make a nearly vertical ascent over the side angled ridge. The transition from the climb to the top is sharp and instantly hangs up anyone who tries to crawl it. Mike and Lance had just this problem. When they would prop their tires up near the top, the rig would want to flip backwards. Even when making it up, they still couldn’t get their belly up and over the top. They wound up not finishing the course.
Update
12:00 PM PST
It is wet out here. The rain has yet to let up and umbrellas fill the field.
On course #5, Team Howe and Lazelle, rig #8 are out with their brand new rear engined buggy. This home brewed tuber sports a Subaru motor pumping out 300HP. With only 2 hours seat time before the event, he was able to get comfortable in driving it through the course with a great score of 8 points. If he can keep up these kinds of scores all day, he may take home a victory check on their first run out.
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| The new moon buggy on the scene takes a huge point lead on its first run out |
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Jeff Mello, rig #888, was happy to see the top of course #8. He was struggling to get to the top of the bump climb. He got about mid way up the course when he proceeded to struggle a bit. Time was running close to the end when he finally got the rig hooked up. Once at the top he celebrated with a smile knowing that others will definitely have their work cut out for them.
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| Jeff Mello climbing up #8 |
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Rig #40, driven by Aaron Clough had a pretty good run on course #7. First you have to go up a hill, through a canyon, then drop down the other side to start another climb again. The course winds its way up the hill till you finish at the top. This was Aaron’s first course of the day and did exceptionally well with a score of -8. This of course was the best run of the day so far, but the day is long and many drivers are hunting him down.
Update
12:41 PM PST
Shannon Campbell in the past has been a crowd pleaser. Today he is continuing his traditional driving style with some wild vertical wheels up action. Course #3 seems to be the bugger with its high vertical challenge and sharp breakover. This throws the drivers into a funky motion that easily rolls them over or gets them hung up. Shannon made a few attempts at the climb with only air under his front tires. He just couldn’t get the front to come down. One attempt got him almost all the way over with his back wheels while his fronts were still high in the air. Though he didn’t make that jump, he was able to finally force it over. It appeared he lost his rear driveshaft, but he was able to finish the course with 4 points.
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| Shannon was all show and go with this display of power, traction, and balls |
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“I want to run it again” were the words that came out of Walker Evan’s mouth as he punished his blue #20 buggy over course #3. He made two attempts at the hill that many others had problems with. The first attempt looked good, but he hooked hard to the left and wound up rolling over. He was almost back onto his wheels, but it started to roll back onto the roof. With the edges of the tires on the ground still, he was able drive it out of the roll and back completely on his wheels. Whipping around, he took one more shot and flew over the top. Topping over, he rolled through a stoppie and finished the course with a great score of -17 points. He had 1:16 left on the course so I guess he could have had another run on the course.
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| Walker Evans on course #3 testing the side hill abilities |
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Update
1:13 PM PST
The sun is actually sneaking a few rays of light through the clouds right now. It isn’t any warmer, but things aren’t all doom and gloomy looking as they were at the start. These competitors are hardcore in pushing through the cold and wet. So for the crowd that has showed up, they are getting a great show.
So far we have seen the courses take their tolls on the rigs through rolls and parts breaking under severe loading. Troy Muse took a good vertical attempt on #3. On his missed attempt, he slammed back down ripping his front suspension link out which then shuttled him over backwards onto his lid. This course appears to be the equalizer this weekend. Troy does run a really long wheel base which may have hurt his pushover. Other courses also have their challenges. SuperCrawl III’s champion Randy Torbett took a little roll as he was twisting his way through course #2. Terry Howe had some mechanical failure on course #1 when attempting the Matterhorn also. Though he had a good run of 3 points, he didn’t make the wall and hurt the rig a little on the try. RedBull’s driver, Dustin Webster was trying to take the Matterhorn when he took a wicked bounce to the left which put him in a roll. It was a smooth rollover though with the added dirt embankments which cushion the falls. UROC has added several of these berms to aide in a cushioned tumble.
Speaking of Websters, Becca Webster drove through course #8 like she owned it and drove it every day. She did take a cone along the way, but in its muddy state, she slid through it quick. When she poked around to the bumpy hill climb, she took one shot at it and blasted over the top nearly taking out the cone at the top. We caught up with her at the end of her 9 point run. We commented to her that we were impressed by her single shot at the climb stopper hill and she said, “There is no time to mess around. She was smiling in her true Becca style.
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| Becca Webster. A little wet. A little muddy. But at the top of her course and smiling |
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Bruce Zeller, in the #181 rig took a hard roll when he had too much speed racing over the top of the Matterhorn. Most other rigs were having lack of traction, but the Scrapper buggy had way more momentum than others and cleared the top with ease. Unfortunately he had too much speed and nearly launched to the next city over. He wound up tipping forward off the top. With not enough wheel speed, he couldn’t recover the roll. Bruce walked away ok and will be back on the next course. Catching up with Bruce, he stated he wasn’t expecting what had happened. He thinks he may have slipped the tranny into reverse accidentally. He then proceeded to his next course where along the way, he got stuck in the mud. Go figure, the access roads are more challenging than the courses.
Just next to Bruce, Tracy Jordan took his second roll of the day on #2.
Update
1:30 PM PST
Just to let you know, we have not forgotten about the scores. Unfortunately due to the power outage here on site, we are not able to retrieve those at the moment. The
Bart Jacobs took a couple runs at the Horn and was able to come alive with a clean run up and over the top. The sun is out, that might have been his motivation
Jason Paule just craaaaaaawled up and over the #3 wall. So many others throttled it where he diagonally climbed it slow and precisely. See, there is more than one way to tackle a course and his was the smooth method. Great job to Jason.
Update
2:30 PM PST
We just uploaded a few pictures from earlier today. They are up now in the gallery. Check here for them:
Day 1 Photos
Bob Standage in the #999 rig is out here this weekend with his newest Shaffer creation. Fresh out of Shaffer’s off-road shop, the fiery red buggy is completely different than what he drove last year when he was in the modified class. This year he stepped up to the Super Mod class and is sporting the rear engine chassis that he hopes can take him to the podium. On course #4, there is a tough ledge to clear like on course #3, just not as high. Bob took the line but couldn’t make it over without taking a cone in the process. He was able to gingerly move through the rest of the course and stay in the running for the trophy.
Matt Woolley in the silver #59 rig was making excellent time on #3 when he had to face the wall. Let me tell you, Matt is not afraid of using that throttle from what I have seen. He is also not afraid of beating the truck into complying to his wishes. He stuffed that throttle to the floor and made valiant attempts to get over the ridge. However, the ridge was more persistent than he was and kept him from going. It also wound up taking out his front drive. He was able to get the rig planted up on top of the flat, but without the front spinning, he couldn’t get the rears to hook up enough to get him unstuck. Time eventually ran out and he had to call it quits for that course. A good run, but not enough to make it to the end.
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| Matt Woolley giving the crowd a little something something to cheer for |
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Curt Hildebrand is out here with the new wacky creation. The #26 rig is weird in that it has a centrally pivoting suspension for the rear, and no suspension for the front axle. That means he attached the chassis solidly to the front axle giving only one pivot location and one suspended axle. How well does it work? We still don’t know actually. He is making it through courses, though he had some problems on the Matterhorn. While trying to run up and over the top, he made a few attempts with the last ending in a reverse roll over to passenger side of the vehicle. They will continue to dial in that rig and we will catch up with them later to get some feedback on the design.
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| Curt gets upside down in his newest creation |
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Randy Torbett in the tractor axled SuperCrawl champ buggy, had a hard luck run on course #4. He was trying to get over the lip of one of the climbs when his underbelly caught him. This forced his buggy into a side hill straddle motion which drove him towards the drivers side. This nearly took out his spotter and the judge while in motion. At the end of the ride he tumbled right into the canyon upside down. It took them more than 10 minutes to figure a way to get the rig out. Ultimately they dragged it out via two rigs, but it still wasn’t easy.
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| Randy Torbett lands in the vehicle swallowing crack |
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Joachim Schwiesow and Brian Errea are having a good day so far in the #001 Paule built rig and were continuing their push with a -9 points on course #5.
Update
2:35 PM PST
Tracy Jordan just took another roll for the day. Trying to get over the wall of denial on course #3, Tracy slid sideways in what looked to be off course. Time was then called as they discussed situation. Time continued and Tracy drove over the top right side down into the crevice. Shortly after, time was called. The moon experience doesn't look good for him thus far today.
Shannon just made the Horn and is attempting the other side. Oooohh.... he just took a good tumble on over. He speared across the hill side to try to get better motion over, but the hill denied him the glory. He wound up rolling off the near top onto his lid. Subsequently, when they tried to flip it back over, some oil hit the hot turbo and caught fire. It was a minimal fire that went out quickly. He pulled a -18 points for that course. Walker and his spotter were walking by and mentioned that Shannon made it look easy.
Update
4:00 PM PST
Brad and Roger Lovell have been having a tough day. We caught up with them on course #8 when they were finishing up. They finished the course with a 25 point score. The beginning of the course has been turned into a mud pit which has caused many drivers some issues. So much for the man made course staying consistent throughout the day. They said that it’s definitely different than SuperCrawl was due to all the mud. The weather has a big impact on all the courses especially around #1. They say the dirt is getting dug out really bad over there. They said that that their day started off quite rough, but they are having a blast.
Bart Jacobs on the other hand pulled off a great score on his last run. With a -17, the #22 rig should be in good position on total points.
More pictures are up in the gallery while we wait for scores to be generated by UROC. The power outage really left them in the stone ages when it came to updating the points. They are still fussing with paper and pencil. We are supposed to see scores any time now.
Update
4:53 PM PST
We caught up with Johnny G after they finished course #2. They have been doing pretty good today on the courses. They were going to go for the bonus on course #2, but they didn’t make it and just finished out the run with 10 points. They have just one course to go which is course #3. When asked if they had a quote for the Pirate4x4 fans, Johnny said “We love Pirate. We always send the link for the coverage out to our family”
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| Johnny G on his second to last run |
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Nick Socha, spotter for Pete Mazzoni, stopped by and talked of his experience. Nick of course was caught in a life changing accident last time he was here in Salt Lake City when the #415 rig rolled on top of him. Many months have passed and he is back where it all started. We caught up with him to see how he is doing and dealing with the demons that would haunt anyone. We asked Nick how his day went so far. “It started out really well. We got a roll on our second course, but we have been trying to stay consistent throughout the day. I think consistency will win this weekend since everybody is getting 40s out here.” When asked about what he is feeling looking at the place, he said, “Its not scary but it is eerie. It definitely has its stigma about it. I haven’t had to get on the rope today luckily. I am not as good with the rope or the rocks right now. This man made course is sort of a good thing for us right now. It’s actually both the problem and the solution. It’s definitely an easy course on the spotter.”
The scores are in… finally. Check them out here:
Score Sheet #1
Score Sheet #2
Update
5:20 PM PST
Onto course #5, Dean Bulloch was just finishing up his run when we pulled him aside. He finished this course with a total of -9 points. He had this to say, “We are doing good today. Overall, we felt we only hit one cone that we didn’t have to which was on course #8”. They just didn’t see it which happens from time to time. “We do prefer sunny weather, but we don’t mind the rain at all. It’s the same for everyone, so it’s not like anyone has an advantage.”
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| Dean is the master of the Modified class and shows us why with his -9 points |
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Earlier in the day, Randy Torbett was one in the spotlight as he was the first to take the Matterhorn both directions. Up to that point, most everyone that attempted it ended in a roll. Torbett took the charge and the challenge and cleared it to the roar of the crowd. It was impressive to watch.
Last on course #2 right now is Walker Evans who has 7 minutes to get it done. The crowd has thinned out now as the day is pretty much over. The first day back has been a blast and a huge challenge for all out here. We will grab the final scores of the day and post up the rest of the pictures soon.
Update
8:35 PM PST
Well the first day has ended and we are washing off the mud from our pores. You can’t expect to come back to a perfect world after you have been out for a while. That is exactly what happened across the board for everyone so it seemed. From a huge power outage for UROC systems, harsh weather conditions, vehicle failures that are unexplainable, and even our painfully inconsistent internet connection. All this gets everyone down, but it only means we can all get better from here or so we hope. Tomorrow is a new day, and the weatherman is calling for snow. It will be interesting to see a competition held in the snow which will help some and hurt others. The technical courses will be come a bigger challenge if there is ice keeping the tires from gripping. All in all, it was a good day. To me, 8 courses is the way to go and benefits most everyone. The day is shorter and allows the event to have hiccups without pushing into really late hours. I wouldn’t mind seeing the events shorter, but others may disagree because now you have 2 less courses to make up technical points that may have been robbed by a simple small mistake.
The day starts earlier tomorrow at 10:00AM. The teams are back at the pits licking their wounds and contemplating their next move. It’s a whole new day and we will see you there once again to deliver most if not all the action :)
Oh, take a peak in the gallery, new photos were added.
