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Rockcrawling
extremes
The California Rock Crawlers Association "Ultimate Rock Challenge"
had an exciting start this last weekend at the Wooden Nickel Ranch,
located in beautiful Southern California. This was the first of
a three-part series that will conclude in March of 2003. For those
not familiar with the C.R.C.A., much like RCAA, they hold extreme
rockcrawling competitions where competing four-wheelers attempt
to negotiate a relatively short, but very difficult rock course.
The C.R.C.A.,
rather than scoring by points, uses a time-based scoring system,
where the faster and farther the competitors go, the higher their
ranking. Competitors are given a 30 second time penalty for each
gate knocked down, where a gate is a flag or cone, with a 15 second
penalty for gates that are simply touched. This event had a new
addition, which was an optional 3 minute bonus time for those in
the Pro class who chose to take an alternate, and a more-extreme
course entrance.
The event was
divided into three classes; Stock, Modified and Pro, with the top
five competitors from each class moving on to the semifinals for
the main event. Essentially, the stock class had tires no larger
than 35", lift kits were allowed, but otherwise, they were
relatively "stock" vehicles. The Modified class took on
the vehicles that exceeded the stock class requirements, but still
retained things like a stock frame and body, for example, while
the Pro class was comprised of everything else, such as Team All
Pro's VW-powered rock buggy, driven by Jon Bundrant with Chris Geiger
acting as spotter.
For complete rules and class divisions, please see the official
CRCA website.
She'll Be
Comin' Round the Mountain
The
competitors each had a different route to follow based on which
class they were in and no one had it easy. One thing that was drastically
different this time around was that, overall, the drivers seemed
to have slowed down quite a bit from the last event, which had its
share of high-speed thrills. This time we saw some incredibly skilled
drivers and spotters negotiating their way through the course as
quickly and efficiently as possible, and those that managed not
to panic did the best in the end. It didn't take long for drivers
to realize that a lead foot out there will only rip things apart.
The standard
route took the teams through a fairly wide opening to the course
with an optional obstacle to the right of the entrance, that if
attempted would earn the team a 3 minute bonus. But due to the extreme
nature of this particular obstacle, only Pro class Team All-Pro
even attempted it, and to the absolute approval of the crowd they
drove over it like it wasn't even there.
Once past the
entrance, the courses split depending on which class theywere in
with a very challenging Stock course, a quite difficult Modified
course and a Pro course that got the comment, "This is
a little extreme for me" more than once. This type of
extreme course is just the sort of thing that attracts a big crowd
and big names.
This was just
the beginning. As the course opened up it got harder from there.
Once the stock class made it over the collection of rocks they had
to work their way up the same hill-climb that threatened the Modified
class. This was assuming that they could manage to get through the
variation on the stock course that not only added some interesting
twisty sections, but a nice off-camber area that put the Jeep below
on its side. Through quick planning and careful execution, this
driver and spotter team managed to flip this Jeep back rubber side
down and kept on motoring!
Note the location of the rock sticking in the driver side
door opening
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Pay attention to how the winch is hooked up around the rock
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Finally, the Jeep is rubber side down and ready to wheel.
What damage?
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The
fun doesn't end there, however, as once the stockers and the Modified
class teams made it past that tight little squeeze, they had to
deal with a rather nasty hill climb that managed to prevent a good
deal of the drivers from making any progress past it. Thanks to
a very soft, silty, sand area at the bottom of the climb, there
were a few Jeeps that threw a rooster tail or two into the crowd.
You knew who the real hardcore fans were, as they were still standing
there covered in dirt once the Jeeps made it out, cheering the whole
time.
But
the hill climb only lead them up to something even more fun, called
"Hell's Kitchen." This obstacle was named back in February
where it claimed a variety of undercarriage wares, yet this time
managed to take less of a toll than before.
For
this event, it was the new Pro course obstacle "Carnage Canyon"
that did the real damage. Here we see Ron Schneider with Team Purple
from the Off Road General store down in the trenches of Carnage
Canyon. Be sure to check out to photo
gallery for complete coverage of this insane new course
and the vehicles that tried to make it through.
And That's
Just the First Obstacle On the Pro Course
Once
out of the Canyon, the Pro course dumped its teams right into the
middle of Hell's Kitchen. While the stock course after exiting Hell's
Kitchen had essentially a rocky trail with some off-camber sections
to clear on their way out, the Modified course took drivers down
a very steep drop on their way out. But to make things really fun
and challenging for all, the Pro course took drivers out the stock
route and upthe nasty drop that the Modified drivers had to go down.
Take a look at some of these pictures to get an idea of what happens
after Hell's Kitchen.
The
final official standings from the day are: |
STOCK
- Drivers |
Final
scoring |
Carey
Steiner |
Adjusted
Final Time: 8:50.00 |
Don
Gardner |
DNF |
Bart
Dixon |
DNF |
Kevin
Howard |
DNF |
Scott
Waterbury |
DNF |
MODIFIED
- Drivers
|
Final
Scoring
|
Cody
Waggoner
|
Final
Time: 3:12.00
|
Garry
Hall
|
Final
Time: 3:33.00
|
Laura
Munroy
|
Final
Time: 14:36.00
|
Tommy McElmeel
|
DNF,
after running a 2:52 in the qualifying round.
|
Doug
Lowrey
|
DNF
|
PRO
- Drivers
|
Final
Scoring
|
Team
Purple
|
Final
Time: 7:45.00
|
Team
Extreme Image : Joel McClure
|
DNF
|
Team
All Pro
|
DNF
|
Bart
Dixon
|
DNF
|
Kathy
Crook : Red Bull Jeep
|
DNF
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The two big
upsets for the day were Team All Pro's DNF (Did Not Finish) after
a very impressive start and Tommy McElmeel's DNF after a qualifying
run of 2:52! Best of luck to both of them at the next competition.
But
the action doesn't stop there!
Here are a few more preview shots from the gallery. Check out our
two Gallery Pages here:
GALLERY 1
GALLERY 2
Big tires, huge
lifts, clever engineering and some of the best off-road drivers
in the sport were the running theme for the weekend. The C.R.C.A.
Ultimate Rock Challenge series is something any four-wheeler that
can, should check out.
For
more information please visit
the official C.R.C.A. website.
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Tony
Bothwell is a photojournalist for ROCKCRAWLER.com and resides
in Los Angeles, California.
Contact
Tony at tonyb@rockcrawler.com
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