On July 9th and 10th I was in Donner, CA for the 3rd event of the Cal-Neva Extreme rock crawling series. The Donner Ski Ranch has been one of my favorite venues since my first event there in 2008. For one reason or another, the fans that come to the events at the ranch always seem to remember me and the crazy lines that I’ve pulled off at previous events. It’s a good feeling knowing that I’m a “fan favorite” at the Donner events, and I’ve had great success there.

This season, at all of the rock crawling comps I’ve been to it seems like we’re the team that’s going to go for broke and try all the bonus lines we can. This event was no different. The competition was super tight between the top 3 teams at the end of day 1 and we found ourselves a few points out of first. On the first obstacle of day 2 there was a bonus line set up to climb the huge wall that has been used at Donner comps for years. The difference this time was the fact that there was still 10+ feet of snow at the base of the wall. None of the competitors, including myself, thought the climb could be made out of the snow. I started looking at the other options available for getting through the bonus gates at the top of the 30 foot wall. I came up with a way to sneak around to the bonus cones by side hilling the top of the wall and making a 180 degree turn instead of attacking the climb from the bottom. When I told my spotter, AJ Seckman, my idea he thought I was crazy, and so did the judge on that course, the other competitors, the announcer, the spectators, ECT… I was confident that it was something we could do though!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8a8c6SXnAM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc0I4CIl_9Q

We pulled off what everyone else thought was impossible, and it was the highlight of the event for most who saw it. Our heroics on that obstacle put us in the lead, but the lead was short lived. On the 2nd to last course we had a weird rollover that took us out of contention for 1st.  We might have put on the best show of the weekend, but we would have to settle for 2nd place again.

As soon as the event at Donner ended I headed home to start getting my race buggy ready for the Rock Sports Challenge event in Tooele, UT the following weekend. Qualifying for the Ultra 4 race at Miller Motorsports Park began Friday morning, and we were still working on the car Thursday night….in Reno. We left Reno at 11pm Thursday night and got to the race with just enough time to get in a couple easy practice laps. Some of the other teams had been practicing at Miller since Wednesday. As soon as I came off the track the car started running poorly and a few people told me the motor was smoking. We spent the next 4-5 hours working on the motor and running around getting parts to fix it. At that point I was just hoping the motor would make it through the weekend. Qualifying ended at 4 and at 3:30 officials were calling us over to tell us we needed to make a run ASAP. I rushed over and lined up for my qualifying run. I took off, and it felt like I was making pretty good time through the short course off-road track and the man-made rock qualified 2nd out of 43 cars, only a few seconds behind Shannon Campbell! That gave me the top qualifying spot in heat #2.

The heats were 2 races with 10 cars, and the top 5 moved on to the semi-final races. The top 5 from the semi’s moved on to the finals. My goal going into the weekend was to make it to the finals. The heat races went about as well as I could have hoped. I battled a little with the #2 qualifier but I was able to hold him off and take the win in both races.

Despite winning both of my races I had to start 8th in the semi-final. I was a bit concerned about having to try to work my way through that much traffic. On the first lap of the race I hit the big table top jump and landed a little crooked. It took everything I had to regain control of the car, and in the process I hit the side of another car. Instantly my car started to miss and I found out later the impact knocked a plug wire off. I was only 2 turns into a 6 lap race and my motor was running on 5 of 6 cylinders. I didn’t think I’d be able to overcome the huge loss in power, but I just pushed it with everything the remaining cylinders had to offer. Fortunately for me I was faster than most teams in the rock section and I made up a ton of time there. When the dust settled I finished in 2nd place and secured a spot in the finals!

Somehow I had to start in the 8th spot again for the finals. The finals featured the best of the best in Ultra 4 racing. Early in the race there was a huge rollover on the short course. Everyone headed to the rock section and at one point the top 6 cars were within 30 feet of each other. The 2nd place car rolled and I tried to crawl up and around another car but got cut off. Once he was past I took off and another car rolled trying to pass me! The race went under yellow while the 3 rolled cars were recovered from the course. On the restart I was near the front of the pack and I was able to hang with the 1st and 2nd place cars for the next couple laps. I was making up a bunch of time in the rock sections and as I made the last turn on lap 5 I came to the realization that I was actually in the lead, about to take the white flag! Right before I hit the start/finish line the car started to sputter and almost came to a complete stop! I thought I was done, but just as quickly as it died, the car came back to life. Unfortunately it cost me a bunch of time and another car blew by and took the lead. I followed him into turn 1 of the final lap and again the car sputtered and almost died. I slowed down so quickly that the 3rd place car rear ended me as he passed. The car came back to life and I took off just hoping I would make it to the finish line! A few turns later the 2nd place car was having his own issues and it looked like I might actually have a chance to catch him. We went into the final turn side by side and it looked like I would be a drag race down the final straightaway. Not even 20 feet later my motor was cutting out again and the car barely coasted to the finish line in 3rd place.

Going into the weekend I never expected to be disappointed with a 3rd place finish, but it was a bit of a bummer to have issues like that at the end of the race. After the race I realized that the car was low on fuel and the jumps were pulling the fuel away from the pick-ups at the bottom of the tank. Between races was always hectic and the crew from Maxxis was there the whole time to help make repairs to the car. I was worried I might be getting low on fuel, but during the chaos it was something that got overlooked. All in all, I was very happy with how the weekend went. I didn’t honestly believe I could keep up with the best guys in the Ultra 4 series, but I did! The 3rd place finish actually moved me up to 4th in the Ultra 4 series with 2 races remaining.

The day after the Utah race we were loaded up and headed east toward Indiana. We arrived at the Badlands Offroad Park in Attica on Tuesday afternoon. I figured I would take the car for a quick drive. I didn’t make it 10 feet before I found 2 pretty serious issues. The transfer case wouldn’t shift out of low and the rear output seal in the transmission was dumping fluid. Not only that, the outside temperatures were unbearable. The news was referring to this as “deadly heat”! I spent the next couple days in a friend’s shop getting everything fixed and ready for the We-Rock competition.

On day one of the event the heat was once again pretty intense. Temps were in the mid 90’s with a ton of humidity. Despite the heat, a good size crowd filled the rock quarry. The terrain on the east coast usually features lots of dirt and loose rock and the Badlands is no different. Big climbs and drops were found on nearly every course. At times the extra wheelbase of my Ultra 4 car was a huge help, but once in a while the car’s size was a hindrance. The competition was extremely tight at the end of day 1, but I was able to hold on to a 1 point lead half way through the event.

On day 2 Speed TV was at the event filming for Lucas Oil - On The Edge, and I was one of the featured drivers. We were able to get 1 course in before the clouds rolled in, and it started to pour. The mud and wet rocks made the already difficult courses nearly impossible. By the time we got to course B3 it had not been completed by the previous 11 teams that attempted it. A jagged wall littered with dirt and mud had already denied numerous teams. After a handful of full throttle attempts my car reached the top as the crowd cheered in approval. With little time left on the clock we flew through the remaining gates. After driving through the last gate and out the finish the judge informed us that we drove through the 4 gate in the wrong direction and were DQ’d. Earlier that morning the cones were incorrectly marked, and I failed to double check the course map. Unfortunately that ended up being the course that decided our fate as the next unlimited class car made the climb and finished the course after seeing what happened to us.

Although we didn’t win, I still had a great time at the event we put on a great show for the fans and the Speed TV cameras. It made me miss the great people of the east coast and the terrain I learned to rock crawl on. I’ll do whatever I can to get back east for another event next year!

Next weekend is the We-Rock western series finals at Donner Ski Ranch. At this point I’m out of contention for the series win, but I’ll definitely be looking to prevent a series sweep by Team Trail Tough! Just 2 weeks later I return to Donner for the Cal-Neva finals. A win at that event will give us the chance to compete in a 2 course tie-breaker that will decide the series winner!