By Eddie
Perez PHOTO GALLERIES Day 1 photos Day 2 photos Day 2, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2001
The CalROCS finals began early Sunday morning as the obstacles on
day one separated the Top 10 drivers from the rest of the bunch.
Unlike other Rock Crawling events, the CalROCS promoters created 5
new obstacles for the final "shootout".
These 5 new obstacles were
much longer than Saturday's and much more extreme, filled with
steep drop-offs, vertical walls to climb and the occaisonal deep
water pool. 
The Day 1 course didn't appear to be too difficult at first glance,
but as it turned out, Saturday had more than its share of rollovers
and broken rigs.
Sunday's course, on the other hand, not only
looked extreme, some areas of the course looked down right
impossible. 
One
local spectator said this first-ever CalROCS event was the biggest
thing to ever happen at Lake Amador. "We have a big event on
Memorial Day weekend, but it's nothing compared to this. This is
huge" he said. Others agreed, hoping that more rock crawling events
would be held here.
The Northern California crowd was more
enthusiastic than most rock crawling crowds I've seen and their
cheers grew louder as the RPM's climbed higher and higher. 
Extreme machines are common up in NorCal, what with the Rubicon in
their backyard - can it get any better than that?
These rock
crawling fanatics build their rigs extreme - 5.0 engines, 454's,
just about any V-8 available, Rockwell 2-1/2 ton axles - the works.
They like to make them unbreakable, then see if they can break 'em.
Stacey Breckinridge, one of the local competitors, didn't break his
rig, but did perform some acrobatic rollovers for the crowd. Stacey
learned how to build his rigs from his dad Terry, who has a
photographic history of rock crawling on the walls in his shop in
Auburn, CA.
"Where did Stacey learn to drive?" is the real question. He has the
same stand-on-the-gas style as Chris Durham and quickly became one
of the crowd favorites.
Another NorCal local, Kelly Clifford, put
on a rock crawling show that had the boys and the crowd equally
impressed. Initially she made the cut for Sunday's shoot out, but
after a recount, she missed the cut by just a few points. Kelly
also participated in All Women's event last month in New Mexico and
finished in 9th overall.
The overall winner for the first ever
CalROCS "Put Up or Shut Up Shootout" was Mike Shaffer in his
white, tube-framed Suzuki. On the second obstacle of day two he
max'd out his 8,000 RPM rev limiter while being the first driver of
the day to successfully complete the steep climb and finish the
obstacle.
Chris
Durham, fresh off a wild Saturday in which he thrilled the crowd
with a full-throttle roll early in the day, began Sunday much the
same way - heavy on the throttle and tires in the air.
After a
shakey first obstacle, he quickly recovered, only to break a drive
line on the second obstacle. In the best "NASCAR Pit-Stop"
performance of the day, Chris and his spotter jumped under the Jeep
and worked feverishly to replace the drive line - they only had 4
minutes before timing out.
They didn't make it, but they sure gave
it one helluva try. 
Here's how Sunday's Top 10 finished:
