Day 2, courses 1-4 looked better—UROC reworked the courses on this half for the second day’s run, plus we were now last in line instead of first.
We started on #2, which looked to be an easy run up a wedge. We decided before even seeing anybody drive up, that this would be a “spotter ride” run. The first two rigs up took out a cone on the way, and the second guy got an additional penalty for spilling fluids. 6 points and 16 points for those two. We picked out our line, and with Kurt (in the passenger seat) telling me where my tire was placed in relation to some landmarks we’d picked out in advance, we easily cleared the cones, ran straight to the finish with no backs, no points, and a great score of negative 11. We completed that one in about a minute and a half, which was a huge contrast to the day before where time was tight on every single run.
#3 had a slick climb leading to a steep wall that looked very intimidating, but other teams made it look easy. I didn’t get as far to the right as I needed on the initial climb, which put me in the wrong spot for the steep stuff, resulting in a near-rollover and a reverse-out save. Kurt told me to get higher up for the next attempt, and we got up to the top easily. Here’s where it went wrong: Kurt said “come a little more forward, then burn the rear”…I said “No, I can do a front dig right here”. I was right, the front end came around nicely….but now the rear tire wouldn’t come up where I wanted it to, and I was perched sideways on top of the downhill we needed to dive off. (That’s what I get for second-guessing my spotter…other teams that did the rear burn were set up for the downhill nicely) We got down without rolling, but took two cones on the way, then had to back through the finish gate since we were so screwed up. 28 points on one that could have been another good score. Couple pics from that one, showing me teetering precariously on top of the descent I'd rather be driving down straight, rather than falling off sideways:
But we got it turned far enough to make it down safely:
#4 was an easy first bit, with a steep bonus line and a huge drop to the finish. As we watched other cars navigate it, we came up with our plan—but it required exact tire placement to pull it off. On the bonus wall, we wanted to “hook” the front tires through the bonus gate, so we’d get the negative 20 points. The “hook” is a loophole in the rules allowing you to pass any two tires through a set of cones to get credit for that gate, in this case without actually completing the climb. It would mean taking out the cone, but that’s 10 points, so we’re still ahead. We drove up the rock into position, steep enough I couldn’t really see anything. This obstacle was one of those that was 90% spotter. Burned the rear and it moved sideways perfectly. Moved the front just a bit, and backed down clear of the cone, exactly as we’d planned on. Move on to the drop, Kurt lined me up until I was able to see the finish gates, and I slid gently down the drop on my belly. Perfect, couldn’t have asked for better. Negative 17 points, the only better score so far that day was Dean Bulloch, who did the same sort of thing but with the spotter riding for an extra bonus.
#1 was one some will be familiar with….over a lump, and up the wall that was the “money pit” several years ago. (Von climbed it easily that time, and Braden broke his Tcase….) The wedge to the left of it was part of an available bonus. We were confident in this one, enough to do another spotter ride. Over the first lump we got stuck a bit, and had to back up for a “bump”. Got past the sticky spot and were a little sideways on top, as was normal—the rear tires always got close to the cone as it slid downhill, so I gave it a bit of gas to skip past quickly. As we bounced onto the sand, the rear went sideways, took the cone after all, and we were well on our way upside down. I cranked the wheel left, smashed the gas, and pulled out of the impending roll. I know we would have rolled, and the crowd cheering the save confirmed that. Moved on toward the bonus line, intending on performing another “hook” as we’d seen others do. It was a tricky spot, threatening to toss you off onto the side, but we were able to slide sideways and get close to where we wanted to be for the big climb. Tried once, got partway and stopped…bounced a bit, tried again, getting close to a cone, now the front is sliding sideways toward another roll. Quick reverse and stab the gas, pull out onto the sand again. As long as we just got a reverse penalty, we may as well make the best of it: we back up a loooong way, to get positioned exactly where we want to be. Make another high-RPM run up, and eventually get the front to fall into a crack that pulls us to the top. (Should have used 2nd gear again, but it worked) Negative 10 for that obstacle, and negative 10 for our entire day’s score, which reduced our event score to 112.
We felt really good about how we’d done, then found out we’d actually slipped down to 8th place, well out of the running for the “main event”. (Just the top 6 teams)
Overall, it was fun! We got through with zero breakage, zero body damage, and as always, Vernal provided a good event site with tough challenges. The Trepadors hooked up well, and will only get better as they break in further. If I hadn’t screwed up hitting the start gate on #6, the easy cone on #1, and the two on #3, we would have been in the running for sure. HUGE thanks to Kurt for his awesome spotting as usual, one of these days I’ll get good enough to have our finish reflect his work and input.
I’m looking forward to the Supercrawl, in Las Vegas!
