Friday the 13th
doesn't go over very well for rock crawlers in Cedar City, Utah.
The rocks are rough, but when the Sheriff's department is on the
prowl, it's an instant sobriety check - even if you're chugging
Diet Cokes like they're going out of style. ORC's Eddie "Paco"
Perez drove no more than 100 yards from the soda pop stand with the
Diet Coke can in his hand when Deputy "Dan" came blasting through
the dust. We were parked at ORC headquarters when the deputy kicked
open the door of his cruiser. "I saw you drinking a beer," he said.
"No, I was finishing off my Diet Coke," Eddie replied flipping over
an empty Diet Coke can lying in the back of the YJ. "Look, it's
still cold." Holding the chilled can, "Well, someone up there
called me and said they saw you drinking a beer." It appeared to be
a quick cover up of his backside. Despite the lack of tack he
displayed, we treated him with the respect law enforcement should
deservedly receive.
ORC jefe Pat Chicas caught the same wrath,
being dealt a sobriety test that he walked away from with a sour
taste of soda pop in his mouth. Others along the road back into
town suffered the same test of sobriety, supposedly as a thanks for
the tourist dollars that have rolled in over the weekend.
Friday's
competition began beneath sunny skies. As of publication time,
official results had yet to be completely tabulated. But from the
looks of it, Walker Evans tops the charts of Course A's competitors
with a 95 on the day.
The blue skins of Walker's Chevy were
virtually unscathed early until the panels bit the rocks, as he
crawled into today's top slot. For Course B, Jason Bunch appears to
be up in front of the pack with his coil sprung YJ with a 76 for
the day. His woes at Johnson Valley seemed to be behind him now.
Also up in front for the day is Shannon Campbell in his rock buggy
with a 68. Joel Randall drove his coil-sprung Currie-backed CJ to a
smooth and deliberate 93 for the day. Joe Shaff and spotter Chris
Warner logged the first rollover of the weekend in their '95 YJ.
The Cedar City rocks of Course "A" stirred the crowd into an
early-morning frenzy. JP Offroad's Dave Knight spent some time on
his lid attempting to scale A-6 and then broke his rear-end on A-7,
- not a very good first day showing. He'll definitely have his work
cut out for him tomorrow as he tries to make up lost ground. Neil
Lillard and spotter Steve Fotion steered into the rear-steer woes.
"I thought we could turn around it," Neil said. "You know, one
thing I realized is that the rear steer does some weird things when
you use it. It tends to push the front end around a bit. I really
thought that rear steer was a good thing until I saw what it was
doing." The pair timed-out on obstacle B-7 before Steve realized
their steering problems could be attributed to the YJ's ram
steering. "I guess our ram is screwed. I suppose that's why our
steering wasn't working so well. We need a wrench," said Steve.
More than a handful of rollovers riddled the rocks and some
impressive driving overcame some even more impressive obstacles.
Stay tuned for more extreme rock crawling action on day 2 as
Off-Road.com's coverage of the Goodyear Skyjacker Extreme Rock
Crawling Nationals in Cedar City, Utah continues…
More
Unofficial Results for Friday the 13th:
Total score for day 1, Obstacle A (Note: Not all teams have
completed each obstacle as of this update.)
Crook, Kathy 217
Kulesza, Ryan 240
Harmuth, Mike 167
Sisson, Garett 190
Brown, R.J. 165
Berikoff, Al 182
Dalaire, John 184
Roggy, Bob 183
Milner, Mark 240
Campbell, Kerry 232
Jacobs, Bart 161
Faber, Troy 175 Total score for day 1,
Obstacle B (Not all obstacles have been completed at the time of
this update.)
Flath, Kevin 200
Hawkins, Kevin 131
Faber, Jeremy 164
Stumph, Craig 137
Tharp, Jason 156
Bulloch, Amy 171
Bunch,Jason 76
Adams, Tim 147
Burkett, Matt 135
Weaver,Michael 102
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