W.E. Rock East - Hannibal, MO
Eastern U.S. Nationals Event #1, April 26-27, 2008
Story and Photos by Andy Johnson |
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[ SATURDAY ] [ SUNDAY ] [ PHOTO GALLERY ] [ HANNIBAL VIDEO ]
UPDATED 9:15AM SUNDAY
After a fun night in fantastic downtown Hannibal we are back here at Hannibal Rocks to start day 2! The beautiful weather we had yesterday disappeared and we are greeted with gray sky and drizzle. Hopefully the heavy rain will hold off. If it doesn't the courses could get really interesting.
With over a 60 points lead is anyone going to catch Kurt Shramovich in ModStock? What about the rest of the group? Who is going rise above and make the shoot out?
How about the Unlimiteds? Brad Styles seems to be in control but Jason Gochenour is only a few points back! Can he catch him?
The ProMods are going to be the group to watch today. They are all really close in points and it is going to be anybody's game. Who is going to keep their head on and come out with the win? Danny Rohrer only has a 2 point lead over second place and the rest of the guys are right there!
UPDATE 10:10AM
All the drivers have completed walking the slightly reconfigured courses and we are getting underway.
Derek West is over on B3 and looks to have cleared it with little problem and finished with a -3
Grady Ingram hung on A4 and not doing very well. Looks like he timed out.
Kyle Bruso is hung up on his belly on C3 and working it trying to free it up.
UPDATE 10:20AM
Mike Cole just finished up B3 with a zero.
Nick Campbell is up on A3 trying to make the difficult turn at the top.
Wayne Kidder is on B4. Is spotter is doing a little wiring diagnostic on the front winch and they seem to have it figured out and are continuing.
AJ Condon has his spotter under the rig looking at something. I heard a nice bang and it looks like they broke feet from the exit gate on B3.
Nick Campbell just finished his run with a -2.
UPDATE 10:30
WOW parts are breaking everywhere.
AJ broke on A4 and had to be pushed off the course.
Wayne Kidder blew something up in the his Unlimited Toy ax led buggy.
Jake Good just put his spotter work holding the back of his rig down as he dropped off the bonus line on C3.
Team Wombat is lined up on A3.
Drew Goldie's spotter is working hard stacking rocks as he works his way into A4.
UPDATE 10:40AM
Danny Rohrer just finished A3 with a very low score of 1.
James Scheidhaver completed C4 with an impressive 5.
Alan Woodson just put a nice throttle show on B3 making it up the climb.
Tom Campbell just shot up the wall on B4 and finished the course with a flat tire.
Seems at though Wayne Kidder broke and is done for the day.
Couple Scores from A4: Grady Ingram 39, AJ Condon 37, and Drew Goldie 37.
Looks like the the clouds are opening up because I can hear the rain on my tarp.
UPDATE 11:00
Bill Durham is bouncing off the rev. limiter fighting it with all the little Jeep has trying to get it up C3
Rusty Bray just finished up a nice run on A3
Over on A4 Chris May has his rig stuck and it waiting on the crane to pluck him out of the jam.
The beautiful orange Bronco of Grady Ingram is creeping his way over on A1
Tom Campbell just completed B1 with a score of 25
UPDATE 11:15AM
Looks like Bunny got her wheeled studs fixed up and is over on A4 giving it hell.
John Boring has wedged himself in B1 so tight the crane is going to have to lift him out.
After fighting the climb on B4 Carl Shortridge took the quick but wrong way off the hill and landed on his lid at the bottom of the hill!
Gavin Lewis is sliding around on A3 trying to get to the top of the hill so he can do the tight turn around.
UPDATE 11:30AM
The rain is really make these courses a whole lot different then yesterday or even from 2 hours ago. The crane has stopped moving in for the last ten minutes.
Over on A4 Lou Levy had an amazing roll and near recovery but ended up WAY down the hill and almost landed in the creek about 100 yards down the hill. Someone should have thrown him a pole so he could have caught lunch!
UPDATE 11:45AM
Darren Casada just did a fantastic back flip off of B3. He landed on his wheels but broke something and had to be pulled off the course.
Mike Cole is over on B4 backing down into the second set of gates.
Ricky Artes is just hammering on his rig trying to get up C3.
Well it looks like Lou Levy is back from his trip to the creek and is lined up on A3.
UPDATE 11:55AM
Nick Campbell is lined up to try his hand on A4.
Brad Styles is really using up time trying to avoid the first 2 gates on B4
Jesse Haines is using some of the natural surroundings to fix a minor diff leak.
UPDATE 12:00PM
I don't know if Nick is trying to go give the video guys up on the hill an autograph or just trying to get a better line, but he is way up hill!
Carl Shortridge is over working his way around B1.
Bill Durham is on C4 working that nice orange Jeep through the course.
Jake Tennis is bouncing his short wheelbase Zuk up the hill on C3. His spotter is stacking all the rocks he can find to try to get the little rig up the hill.
Ken Blume is up on A4 to see if he can his Maxxis tires to hook up on these rain soaked rocks and gummy clay.
UPDATE 12:10
Jake is just flopping the piss out of his rig, bouncing, jumping, and slamming down on the rocks doing all he can to get up the ledge. I can't believe the rig is holding up to attempt after attempt.
Poor Bunny Rose just isn't having a good weekend. She is perched at the top of A1 waiting on the crane to come pull her off.
Couple of scores from C2 John Scheidhaver 39 James Scheidhaver 38 Wes Harper 24
UPDATE 12:20PM
The current ProMod leader, Danny Rohrer is up on A4 trying to keep their lead.
Mike Greenwalt just rolled over on A2. Good thing he didn't go down to the creek like Lou Levy.
Speaking of Lou. He just rolled over again on A3.
Kyle Bruso is up on C2 clawing their way through the muddy course.
Paul Hornung nearly launched his rig up the hill onC3. With a heavy right foot his was able to pop up the first part of the obstacle that has been denying teams all day.
UPDATE 12:45PM
Here are your complete standing:
FToy
StockMod
ProMod
Unlimited
Alan Rich just rolled over on A2
Rusty Bray is now up on A2 spitting mud all over the place
Drew Goldie is working the wheel back and forth doing all he can trying to grab some traction to get up the hill on A3.
UPDATE 1:00PM
The Unlimited shoot out is set:
Brad Styles 46
Jason G 84
Carl S 141
Tom C 143
Alan W 147
John B 220
Ok they are moving my perch down by the shoot out course so I will be back shortly.
UPDATE 1:30PM
Well they moved me down the hill. The drivers have walked the course and John B is lined up and ready to go.
UPDATE 1:32PM
If this course wasn't difficult enough John only has three wheel drive. Seems as though he has no front locker! He jumped right up the first ledge but is really pushing trying to get up the next climb. He has no chance to move up in the points so he is really just doing this for fun.
UPDATE 1:40PM
Wow not only did John not have a front locker he broke the riverside front axle. Even though the driver front was basically locked up he still gave it hell and made the final climb. It was a great effort but John timed out and finished the course with a 37..
UPDATE 1:45PM
Alan Woodson is up next here on the shoot out course. He says he little Echotech is on its last legs so we'll have to see what he can do.
UPDATE 1:50PM
With a really loud rod knock Alan gave it a shot but called it a day instead sending Echotech parts flying every where.
UPDATE 1:55PM
Tom Campbell is off and trying to catch those in front of him. Uh no he is turtled very first rock. He is working the front and rear winch and his front and rear steer. Finally, he gets it of the rock.
UPDATE 2:00PM
Oh no Tom just rolled off the big drop after making a masterful run up the climbs and around the backside. It looked like he had his winches sucked all the way in and when the rig bounced the suspension just couldn't soak it up and pitched him up and over like an old school monster truck. He was able to put a little pressure on Carl to make at least a couple of gates.
UPDATE 2:10PM
Carl is up and hung up on the first rock just like Tom. He has to make at least 3 gates to keep his 3rd place finish.
UPDATE 2:15PM
After getting off the first rock Carl just walked his way through the shoot out course like it was nothing!!
UPDATE 2:23
Jason has to be completely frustrated. He spent a good 5 minutes perched on top of the rock and when he finally got off he put his rig on its side. After working the rig on it side for a minute he finally had to call it a day.
UPDATE 2:30PM
Brad Styles and Ken Shupe just made it look like they ran the StockMod shoot out course instead of the Unlimited course!! They finished the course with five minutes on the clock, taking one cone and one back up. Congratulations on winning the Unlimited class opening round of WEROCK East!!!
UPDATE 2:45PM
We started the Stock Mod shoot out with Kelly leading off. She is taking her time picking her way through the course.
We also have the ProMod shoot out ready to kick off as soon as the Stock guys and gals finish up. For the ProMod shoot out we have:
1. Derek West
2. Rusty Bray
3. Mike Cole
4. Danny Rohrer
5. Nick Campbell
6. Ken Blume
The ProMod guys are really close with only a 18 point separating 2-6.
UPDATE 2:50
Kelly gave a nice try but ended up pointing out before she could finish the course.
Up next is Kyle Bruso.
UPDATE 3:00PM
Kyle just did a very nice job finishing the shoot out course with a 15. They really put some pressure on the rookie team of Jon Terhune.
UPDATE 3:10
The ProMod shoot out has started. Ken Blume is the first up to see what he can do with the shoot out course. It only looks like Little Rich moved one cone a foot or so. Oh my looks like Ken did the same mistake as the Unlimited rigs and turtled it on the first rock. Well he got off but he broke a rear shock in the process. Crazy, Ken just broke a rear shock but is still going!!! The rear shock turned out to be a real killer because it ended up coming up and smacking a fuel line and ending his run.
UPDATE 3:20PM
Nick Campbell and Jason Berger really did a great job this weekend and finished up by putting a heck of run in the shoot out. Just like all weekend they used great mix of throttle and finesse. They finished up the final course of the day with a 9.
UPDATE 3:40PM
Jake Good and Scott Angell just put down a very nice run finishing with a score of 1.
Danny Rohrer and Chad Rolfert are up on ProMod side and trying to see if they can gain a couple spots.
UPDATE 3:50PM
Team Wombat just laid down a very nice final run. They jumped right up and over the first hill, up the second hill climb. It didn't start looking hairy until he went to back down the big drop and he was a little off line. He bounced around a bit, but the rig came to rest at the bottom with out a problem.
UPDATE 4:00PM
Congratulations Kurt Shramovich and Chris Walton on your first place finish in Stock Mod. They secured their win with a energetic final course scoring a 24. I think all the NOS they have been drinking this weekend got them a little tweaked.
UPDATE 4:05PM
Mike Cole is up now. He just did a nice nose stand over the first big obstacle and run right up the hill like it wasn't there. I don't know how he saved it coming off the big drop but Mike some how got it come settle down just fine. Mike Cole just pulled out the exit gates and it looks like he will hold his lead over team Wombat. They finished the course with a 19.
UPDATE 4:20PM
Wow what an amazing run Rusty Bray just put down!! His spotter Josh Wilson literally lifted the rear of the rig up and off the big start boulder!! After spending a lot of time on the start Rusty had to really move it to get through the rest of the course. He was flying around the course. Unfortunately when came off the big drop he broke a passenger side front axle which made it very difficult for him to finish the run cleanly. He punished the rig, dragging the passenger front through the rest of the course.
UPDATE 4:30PM
Derek West just completed his last course of the day with a decent 25. It wasn't the best score but it was enough to give Derek and Ritchie Keller enough to secure the win here in the ProMod class!
UPDATE 5:10PM
Final weekend scores:
[ SATURDAY ] [ SUNDAY ] [ PHOTO GALLERY ] [ HANNIBAL VIDEO ]
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