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Not to be outdone, Chris Durham pulled to the obstacle next. Durham powered his vehicle onto the Table Top, and missed the cone at the top of the obstacle, proving once again why he was in contention for the top spot. However, his entrance to the obstacle proved damaging as he brushed a couple of cones and took four backup points. Shupe had extended his lead on Durham.
Bray turned in great scores on his first two obstacles of the day but also struggled with the entrance to Table Top and suffered a total of 28 points on the obstacle.
Meanwhile, Bryan Hamilton was slicing and dicing the obstacles in his '76 Model Toyota Land Cruiser and was gaining fast on Bray, the rookie driver from nearby Lexington, Kentucky. The trio of Bray, Durham, and Shupe headed to Battleship, where Shupe would further his lead even more. Bray attacked the obstacle first, and a near flawless performance yielded him only one point and still had him in the running for a second or third finish in the event. Shupe confined his spotter to the passenger seat and the pair tackled Battleship, a large rock that gives the appearance of an old sunken battleship lying on its side. Shupe took a -4 on the obstacle after he was forced to backup one time and was well on his way to victory lane. Once again, however, Durham was not going to give up easily, and he, too, ordered his spotter to get in, buckle up, tighten your chin strap, and hold on. The team worked flawlessly together and when the dust settled from Chris's 37" Goodyear tires, he had successfully claimed Battleship as his obstacle, taking a -5, the lowest score possible on any obstacle in the event. It was time for the trio to move onto their 5th and final obstacle of the day - Triple Winch.
At the start of Triple Winch, the order of the day was still the same. Rusty Bray was still in control of third place, while Chris Durham was clinging onto second, and Ken Shupe had a commanding lead on the field and had 1st place sewn up. Meanwhile, Hamilton and his spotter were still putting on an exhibition in their Land Cruiser. Bray bounded into the obstacle with determination. After struggling at the entrance of the obstacle, Bray had a stroke of unfortunate luck and got the vehicle high-centered on a large rock. After repeated attempts to free the machine from the clutches of the obstacle, Bray instructed his spotter to pull cable, earning a 30 point penalty for the team. Bray continued on after freeing the vehicle, but another unfortunate twist of fate found him unable to navigate over a large boulder toward the end of the obstacle, and he "pointed out" on his attempt. The overall assessment was that Bray had suffered a large enough penalty to knock him out of the money, much to the excitement of Bryan Hamilton, who had taken over 3rd place, and possibly a second if Durham suffered the same doom as Bray. Shupe entered the obstacle next and worked it well. Offering just enough juice to the 37" BFGoodrich Krawlers when needed, but the right amount of finesse to keep him in good graces with the obstacle and to earn the lowest score for the obstacle during the event. Durham entered the obstacle next and needed to run it in under 5 points in order to maintain his 2nd place position. Durham and spotter, Barton, had great communication with one another, and really gave the obstacle a work over. The crowd was eating up the excitement and you could tell Durham was really feeding off the applause. Durham pointed his rig toward the end of Triple Winch and got on the juice to ease the rig up and over the last large rock of the obstacle. Chris had taken four backups on the obstacle and had insured his place as the 2nd place finisher in the inaugural ERoCC event.
The Top
10 at the conclusion of the event was as follows: Click here for complete results. The Top 10 drivers were given invitation to attend the 2002 World SuperCrawl Finals to be held in Farmington, New Mexico, October 9 - 12. Furthermore, they were given ERoCC Series Points, which help determine who the ERoCC Series Champion will be. The Series Champion gets his/her entry fee into the UROC World SuperCrawl paid for by the ERoCC. ERoCC
has three more events planned for this season. After seeing the intense action and thrills at the inaugural event, you can rest assured that the upcoming competitions are only going to be that much more exciting for everyone involved. For more
information on the ERoCC Series of Events, please contact: Trail Keepers
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