UROC Extreme West Cedar City Utah

[RockMonkey]

I'm gonna try to post a few updates here on the event. I'll try to post some pics too, but I'm not very reliable about taking them, and Chicky's not here this event. Tech was today. I only took two pictures, and those were poser shots of my buggy to prove that it did once look good. :greg:

I managed to pick up an advance copy of Hammer Down 3 on my way to tech, and we watched it on Creighton's plasma screen on the outside of the Maxxis support rig. HD3 has a very different feel from any other rockcrawling video I've seen. It gives people a little deeper look at some of the competitors. There's not just gratuitous carnage footage. The video tells the story of the 2004 season through interviews with competitors mixed in with video of the events. Some will like it, some won't, but at least it's something different. Hammer Down 3 even features the video debut of Chicky.

All the usual suspects showed up to tech, including Jake Mecham with a still broken in half transmission, and Rick Beard in a nice-looking new modified rig. Creighton had an uber-bichen ekectric skateboard, and a sweet little cone course for it.

During the driver's meeting RJ Brown demonstrated his new remote ignition interrupter. It uses a keyless-entry remote, and worked flawlessly and quickly the one time it was demonstrated. This system worries me because the range of keyless-entry remotes seems to vary greatly with battery power and other conditions. My truck will work from a great distance, and Chicky's WJ will only work from a few feet away. RJ said it cost him about $150. Ranch said during the driver's meeting that these systems WOULD BE REQUIRED for the 2006 season. Hopefully we won't ever need to use one. Competition starts at 11:00.

Here's my poser pics: :greg:

 

[James K]

rig looks great

good luck.

 

[RockMonkey]

rig looks great

good luck.

Thanks. It prolly won't last long...

 

[James K]

Thanks. It prolly won't last long...

are you getting more comfortable in the seat on this new rig?

 

[RockMonkey]

are you getting more comfortable in the seat on this new rig?

No. I've only been able to drive it once since the last event. I'm probably going to get up early tomorrow and play around at three peaks for a while. I need to break in these tires a little anyway.

 

[James K]

No. I've only been able to drive it once since the last event. I'm probably going to get up early tomorrow and play around at three peaks for a while. I need to break in these tires a little anyway.

well then you can only improve

 

[JoeT]

Nice pics of the rig. What megapixel is your camera? Send me a couple taken at the highest setting. You know what I'll make with them. Anyone else down there wanting some posters of their photos? Hit me with large files at jeepinjoe@jeepinjoe.com. Got a 1 gig e-mail account. Free posters to any RME competitor, especially RockMonkey and the Underfed spotter. 7.2 cameras can make 30x42, I'll be doing 18x24's.

 

[RockMonkey]

My camera is 3.2 Megapixel. I'll try to get a pic tomorrow morning out on a rock somewhere, before it gets all wadded up.

Joe can make some nice posters. If anyone wants a cool poster of thier rig, shoot him an email.

 

[I Lean]

Ranch said during the driver's meeting that these systems WOULD BE REQUIRED for the 2006 season.

Keep the updates coming as fast as you have time to! :greg:

 

[Meat_]

That's purdy


With all your talk of messing up your rig it's kind of funny how my browser rendered your name in the first post

 

[Bart]

Keep the updates coming as fast as you have time to! :greg:

Anybody heard anything?

 

[I Lean]

Scores from Dustin Webster, copied from another site:

We shouldn't have to do this ourselves...but, for those that want to know:

Here's the scores as called in by Becca: UNOFFICIAL ALL THE WAY, but an idea of where people stand. Sorry about the spelling of some names, I am writing out of memory of how they should be but definitly have some wrong.

This is after one complete day of competition. It is raining now, so the courses will change overnight.

Rhino:
1. Hulinski – 105
2. Johnson – 110

Modified:

Exhibition
Bailey – 32

Series
1. Nielson (brown bronco?) – 43
2. Grady – 48
3. Ahern (with Krazy Karl spotting)– 51 seems the rolls I heard about didn't affect them too much, way to go guys!
4. Beard – 53
5. Ball – 54
6. Stumph (Dallas driving) – 56
7. Kemp – 76
8. Jaffee – 88
9. McNearny – 96
10. Mecham – 104
11. Fergason – 108
12. Hammon – 108
13. Egan – 138
14. Adams – 140
15. Bucher – 144
16. Brown - 152
17. Emilson – 164

SuperMod:
1. Waggonner - -15 yes, that's a negative score, 51 points in the lead!
2. Berger (not Mark, I assume Jason?) – 36
3. Little (Todd Driving, Jenn spotting) – 59
4. Tony K – 69
5. McKenney – 86
6. Thirion – 86
7. Johnson – 95
8. Ron Christensen – 98
9. Cook – 108
10. Anderson – 129
11. Nantz – 135
12. Greg Buter – 139
13. Hallenbeck - 150
14. Josh Berareau – 151
15. Hal Frost (w/ Trav “SuperSpot" leading the way) – 152
16. Blacky – 152
17. Everding and CTM Jack (Yargggg!!!!) – 157
18. Basworth – 165
_________________
RockOn,
Dustin Webster

 

[Herzog]

Go Braden! Whoo! wish I was there.

 

[RockMonkey]

Wow. What a horrible day... Our day started with my starter motor failing (it would crank the motor over, but just barely). Luckily we had a spare. Got that one on and it wouldn't even turn. We put the original one back on while Megan went to buy a new one. The starter managed to start the motor for our first obstacle, and we swapped in the new one (which works great) between the first and second obstacles.

The first obstacle (number 4) had a nasty climb that got the best of a lot of rigs. We could not quite get up it. We found out later that our rear locker was not locking. During my assault on that stupid climb I managed to rip my skidplate off, too. Tom Ahern made a great run on this obstacle.

The second obstacle (number 1) was easy and we should have gotten a zero. Crappy driving (We had great trouble on a breakover because I didn't realize the front end was winched down), and crappy spotting (he drove me into a hole ), and no rear locker led us to a roll. Lots of bad driving (maybe a tight time limit?) led to a lot of people getting bad scores on this obstacle even though it should have been easy. Tom Ahern rolled on this one as well, right at the end gate. Seth Hammon (Rockrunner, on here) timed out right at the end gate. With 15 more seconds he would have had a great score on this obstacle.

The third obstacle for us (number 2) was a twisty coney thing with a climb up a big boulder, and a pivot around to the end gate. I didn't think there was any way we would climb it without a rear locker. We crawled our front tires up to the top, and the judge called time out on me for safety on a course next to ours. I couldn't wait where I was because my engine would have lost all it's oil, so I had to back down. When they restarted us I was a little pissed I had to repeat the progress we already made. Turns out we crawled the climb with no problems and finished the course with a 3 (first good score of the day). Clay Egan timed out climbing the big boulder because his engine had noe power at all. They've swapped everything they can think of the last two weeks and can not get the motor to run right. They were still working on it last I saw them at about 8:00. Carl Nielsen (Team Fred on here) finished up his day on this obstacle. They had a great day and are currently sitting in first place, closely chased by Ted Grady. I would love to see Carl win this event.

Obstacle 3 was probably the most troublesome overall for the day. RJ Brown (winner of the Salt Lake Extreme West Event) broke his transmission (in half, from what I hear ). Rhett Ferguson tried valiantly on this one but got rejected every time. It's a twisty approach followed by a trip up a crack just a little too wide to straddle. You had to hit the first part just right to make it, and then straddle a cone at the end of the crack, and just inch one tire through the plane of the end gate to finish the course. People were having all kinds of trouble all day, until Ted Grady showed the class how to do it. Once he exposed the line, it seemed like everyone was able to make a carbon copy of his run. Ted finished that course with three points. Rick Beard was able to complete it, as was Jett Jaffe (spotted by Tracy Evans). Jett was battling heating issues, a transmission that sometimes didn't work, power steering that wasn't working, and who knows what else. We were able to take the same line and score another three point run in three wheel drive.

So, the issue with my locker: There is a snap ring that hold the stator (the electromagnet thing) on the locker. When the locker is engaged the stator is pushed against the snap ring which puts pressure on the pins, engaging the locker. Well, my snap ring slipped off, and with nothing to push against the stator could not engage the pins. I'm pretty sure I could have gotten a new snap ring (or bent the existing one a little bit to tighten it up) and put it all back together and it would have worked fine. However, I didn't want to risk having it not work again tomorrow (ugh, it's tomorrow already), so I found a 35 spline open carrier and had it welded up and installed at a shop called Above All Auto Repair. The owner, Buzz, took pity on me and stayed late and got it all put together for way less money than he should have charged us. It was soooo much better than driving to Salt Lake to install a spool (my backup plan). We should be good to go tomorrow, and we managed to do well enough today that we're still in the hunt for the main event, and a podium finish is not out of the realm of possibility.

Sorry, I didn't really take any pictures, I was too busy trying (and failing) to keep the rig one piece. It's not pretty any more... :-\

 

[Greg]

Sorry about the run of bad luck Braden! Good luck tomorrow, I'm cherring for ya from here!

Nice report, BTW!

 

[chadschoon]

it starts at ten. anyone have any idea how long they last???

 

[Cody]

Buzz Bronsama is a cool guy. He's one of the ZJ pioneers---had a big ass built ZJ (1 tons, atlas etc.) like 6 years ago--before I even bought mine.

Cody

 

[James K]

thanks for the update.

its that learning curve and that damn murphy and his law

 

[RockMonkey]

Horrible day x eleventybillion. :-\

Scores now, pix and story after I take a shower and eat dinner.

 

[I Lean]

Horrible day x eleventybillion. :-\

Scores now, pix and story after I take a shower and eat dinner.

Can't be good news, but I still can't wait to read the full report. Musta been rough courses, eh? Lots of high scores there.....including two actual 40's from you, indicating you didn't even get far enough through to pass a progress gate? Breakage?