September 2001 -- It's time
for the rock crawling community to converge upon the slick rock of
Farmington, New Mexico to settle the score and determine the
season's champion of the ARCA-sanctioned, Goodyear/Skyjacker
Extreme Rock Crawling Nationals. The showdown at Choke Cherry
Canyon in ARCA's innagural run was one to remember. For those of
you lucky enough to have witnessed the wrath and intensity that
crawler Chris Durham displayed in his bout with the Currie/Waggoner
team, know that this year, independents like Jason Paule have got a
shot at overcoming teams like Walker and Currie. Having been on
hand for all the excitement on B-7 last year, we can tell you this
- DON'T MISS THIS EVENT!!! Use your holiday vacation time,
sick days, any excuse you can think of to get out of work - just
get there somehow!  | |
Steve Rumore sits
24 back from the top. He'll be looking to gain some serious ground
piloting the Assassin. |
For those first-time spectators heading to
Farmington, you'll be happy to know that Farmington is as
spectator-friendly as rock crawling gets. It's not the jagged
terrain of Johnson Valley, nor is it the litter-box gravel of Las
Cruces. No, Farmington is pure slick rock that makes sitting for a
day of rock crawling action quite comfortable. Bring a blanket an
ice chest full of cold ones, a trash bag and some sun
screen.
All the crawling action will again
take place at Chokecherry Canyon, just a few miles outside of town.
Drivers and support teams should begin arriving early in the week,
unless they show up for the All Women's Rock Crawling event on the
previous weekend.
Log you're opinion here at Readers
Respond
At least one team, the team
of Kathy Crook and Renee LeBaron will be participating in both
events. Though only in their first year of ARCA competition, they
have shown that serious rock crawling is not a "man thing". They
surely must be the odds-on favorite to take the All Women's
Title. See what others had to say on Readers Respond
Look for the complete story on the All Women's event cominng up in
our October issue. But back to ARCA - Going into the final event of
the season, there are several teams that have a solid shot at
taking the overall title this year. With Chris Durham holding on to
the number ten spot in overall points standings, unless a miracle
happens, we will have a new champion this year. Which team will
come out on top to win the overall title? Will the
Currie/Waggoner team redeem themselves from last year's heart
breaking ending? As most of you know, Team Currie/Waggoner battled
hard last year only to break on the final obstacle, B-7, leaving
them to sit back and watch as Chris Durham successfully completed
the obstacle and take the overall. Can Currie/Waggoner come through
this year? Will they break again as last year, so close to the
title they could have almost reached out and touched it? They come
into Farmington in the number one position with a four-point lead
over Shannon Campbell. Which brings me to Shannon Campbell. Last
year's sixth-place finishers has shown tremendous improvement over
last year. Could it be because he has adopted the Chris Durham
"Kamikaze, Go-For-Broke, Mash-The-Gas, Throttle-Through-The-Floor"
driving style?
Check what went down at Cedar City Day 1_1 - Day 1_2 - Day 1_3 - Day 1_4 - Day 1_5 - Day 2_1 - Day 2_2 - Sky Off-Road.com's Burgers 'N Brew - Gallery 1 - Gallery 2
Very few drivers approach the obstacle in this
manner, and very few can. It takes nerves of steel to launch your
rig over car-sized boulders and come out unharmed (well, except for
a little body damage). The team of Shannon Campbell and Brett
Epperly have become the crowd favorites because of their driving
style. Few are more exciting to watch and you can usually find
these guys very easily by listening for the loud cheers and maximum
RPM's. Now, I don't want to appear to show favoritsm, but if I were
a betting man (and living in Las Vegas, I am), I'd put my money on
Campbell/Epperly for this year's overall. But don't count out Don
Robbins, either. He is currently sitting in the third spot and
could very easily sneak up on Currie and Campbell as they battle it
out for the title. If either or the two leaders makes a mistake,
look for Don to close the 10-point gap quickly. Include Walker
Evans and Jason Paule as possible winners, too. They currently sit
in fourth place, only 14 points out of first place coming into
Farmington. Walker took 16th overall last year and is now in the
hunt for this year's title. His hydraulic- front and rear steer
S-10 will be a great asset to him, but I think the current leaders
have been crawling too long to let the legendary desert racer take
the title away from them. Joel Randall rounds out the top five,
only 16 points back from first place. So who will win this year's
title? Your guess is a good as mine. Tell me who you think will win
the overall and why.
Readers
Respond Whatever happens between September
27th and 29th, know this - ORC will be there covering all the
action and posting daily updates. If you can't make it to
Farmington, come back to Off-Road.com to find out how your favorite
team is holding up under the pressure of a possible championship.
Recipe for a championship:
Nerves of Steel
A cool head
Extreme Driving Skills
One great spotter Stay tuned for the best Rock Crawling event
ever...
| | | Johnson | Las | Cedar | | Total | | Name | Vehicle # | Valley |
Cruces | City | Farmington | | 1 | Waggoner, John/Currie | 2 | 128 | 132 | 136 | 0 | 396 | 2 | Campbell, Shannon | 6 | 140 | 126 | 126 | 0 | 392 | 3 | Robbins, Don | 22 | 118 | 134 | 134 | 0 | 386 | 4 | Evans, Walker | 20 | 120 | 122 | 140 | 0 | 382 | 4 | Paule, Jason | 108 | 124 | 138 | 120 | 0 | 382 | 5 | Randall, Joel | 7 | 136 | 136 | 108 | 0 | 380 | 6 | Shaffer, Mike | 213 | 126 | 128 | 122 | 0 | 376 | 7 | Gilleland, John | 4 | 132 | 118 | 124 | 0 | 374 | 8 | Hudson, Rich | 5 | 138 | 86 | 132 | 0 | 356 | 9 | Ellis, Randy | 56 | 134 | 106 | 114 | 0 | 354 | 10 | Durham, Chris | 1 | 112 | 82 | 130 | 0 | 324 | 11 | Burkett, Matt | 49 | 98 | 140 | 84 | 0 | 322 | 12 | Shupe, Ken | 30 | 130 | 112 | 72 | 0 | 314 | 12 | Jordan, Tracy | 112 | 140 | 108 | 66 | 0 | 314 | 13 | Bunch, Jason | 204 | 60 | 124 | 128 | 0 | 312 | 14 | Bernier, Don | 8 | 120 | 74 | 116 | 0 | 310 | 14 | Harmuth, Mike | 40 | 114 | 98 | 98 | 0 |
310 | 15 | Wilson, Gene | 46 | 122 | 96 | 88 | 0 | 306 | 15 | Dallaire, John | 127 | 110 | 116 | 80 | 0 | 306 | 16 | Berikoff, Al | 143 | 104 | 104 | 90 | 0 | 298 | 17 | Copsey, Charlie | 9 | 108 | 78 | 110 | 0 | 296 | 18 | McNeil, Curtis | 142 | 100 | 88 | 106 | 0 | 294 | 19 | Price, Jeff | 136 | 102 | 120 | 68 | 0 | 290 | 20 | Guthrie, Mitch | 208 | 136 | 116 | 32 | 0 | 284 | | | | Johnson | Las | Cedar | | Total | | Name | Vehicle # | Valley | Cruces | City | Farmington | | 21 | Stumph, Craig | 87 | 90 | 92 | 100 | 0 | 282 | 22 | Shaff, Joe | 64 | 116 | 84 | 78 | 0 | 278 | 23 | Weaver, Michael | 139 | 128 | 56 | 86 | 0 | 270 | 24 | Rumore, Steve | 3 | 0 | 130 | 138 | 0 | 268 | 24 | Lillard, Neil | 115 | 56 | 100 | 112 | 0 | 268 | 25 | Hildebrand, Curt | 26 | 118 | 80 | 64 | 0 | 262 | 26 | Liljeblad, Ian | 34 | 72 | 114 | 74 | 0 | 260 | 27 | Bundrant, Jon | 218 | 48 | 110 | 96 | 0 | 254 |
28 | Brown, RJ | 103 | 54 | 72 | 118 | 0 | 244 | 29 | Roggy, Bob | 50 | 66 | 94 | 82 | 0 | 242 | 30 | Dunaway, Dan | 24 | 34 | 100 | 104 | 0 | 238 | 30 | Brown, Dan | 140 | 88 | 90 | 60 | 0 | 238 | 31 | Mattingly, Lee | 145 | 96 | 92 | 46 | 0 | 234 | 32 | Off, Harold | 59 | 128 | 54 | 50 | 0 | 232 | 33 | Palmer, Mike | 119 | 70 | 62 | 92 | 0 | 224 | 34 | Hawkins, Kevin | 220 | 118 | 0 | 102 | 0 | 220 | 35 | Knight, David | 113 | 86 | 76 | 48 | 0 | 210 | 35 | Jacobs, Bart | 141 | 88 | 64 | 58 | 0 | 210 | 36 | Sisson, Garret | 32 | 78 | 60 | 70 | 0 | 208 | 37 | Chadwick, Nolan | 105 | 106 | 48 | 52 | 0 | 206 | 38 | Monk, Chip | 48 | 94 | 44 | 60 | 0 | 198 | 39 | Faber, Troy | 207 | 74 | 34 | 82 | 0 | 190 | 40 | Crook, Kathy | 219 | 76 | 48 | 56 | 0 | 180 | 40 | McCullen, Todd | 222 | 62 | 76 | 42 | 0 | 180 | | | | Johnson | Las | Cedar | | Total | | Name | Vehicle # | Valley | Cruces | City | Farmington | | 41 | Lebaron, Ted | 58 | 50 | 76 | 40 | 0 | 166 | 42 | Bills, Eric | 202 | 84 | 0 | 76 | 0 | 160 | 42 | Bruce, Jerry | 203 | 32 | 66 | 62 | 0 | 160 | 43 | Campbell, Kerry | 205 | 82 | 52 | 22 | 0 | 156 | 44 | Trim, Larry | 123 | 64 | 58 | 28 | 0 | 150 | 45 | Faber, Jeramy | 206 | 28 | 68 | 44 | 0 | 140 | 46 | McNicholas, Steve | 116 | 46 | 38 | 54 | 0 | 138 | 47 | Wood, Jeff | 125 | 80 | 50 | 0 | 0 | 130 | 48 | Peterson, Matt | 212 | 0 | 102 | 26 | 0 | 128 | 49 | Nantz, Steve | 54 | 52 | 70 | 0 | 0 | 122 | 50 | Bullock, Amy | 211 | 26 | 0 | 94 | 0 | 120 | 51 | Tharp, Jason | 215 | 28 | 42 | 36 | 0 | 106 | 52 | Adams, Tim | 200 | 36 | 0 | 66 | 0 | 102 | 53 | Gordin, Pat | 90 | 92 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 92 | 53 | Kulesza, Ryan | 210 | 0 | 58 | 34 | 0 | 92 | 54 | Milner, Marc | 88 | 42 | 24 | 24 | 0 | 90 | 55 | Baucom, Cathy | 227 | 0 | 38 | 46 |
0 | 84 | 56 | Baucom, Jeff | 221 | 32 | 24 | 20 | 0 | 76 | 57 | Melchner, Charlie | 217 | 68 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 68 | 58 | Steele, Zach | 137 | 38 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 66 | 59 | Hall, Garry | 209 | 58 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 58 | 60 | Johnson, Brandon | 133 | 0 | 26 | 30 | 0 | 56 | | | | Johnson | Las | Cedar | | Total | | Name | Vehicle # | Valley | Cruces | City | Farmington | | 61 | Johnson, Casey | 225 | 0 | 32 | 20 | 0 | 52 | 62 | Oxwang, Paul | 226 | 0 | 30 | 20 | 0 | 50 | 63 | Purdy, Sam | 223 | 0 | 46 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 64 | Barton, Ron | 25 | 44 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 64 | Wretberg, Rick | 229 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 0 | 44 | 65 | Williams, Nate | 63 | 40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 65 | Norris, Pete | 118 | 0 | 40 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 66 | Rowlette, William | 230 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 0 | 38 | 67 | Breinholt, Bodin | 38 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 68 | Bettio, Jack | 102 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28
| 69 | Graham, Chris | 214 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 69 | Flath, Kevin | 228 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 26 | 69 | Baily, Mike | 231 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 26 |
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