W.E.Rock Eastern National Series Hannibal, MO

Outside of the small town of Hannibal, MO is a place where only the brave dare to tread. For the second consecutive year the W.E.Rock Eastern National Series would kick the season off in the place where the brave dares to tread. This former limestone quarry has proven itself as a rockcrawling powerhouse.

One year ago, the weather was the story. The course was miserable. The opening day was marred by rain, snow, and very cold temperatures. The second day was the exact opposite with warm temperatures, big traction, and big runs. In the end, the shootout, would be the deciding factor. In the Unlimited Class, Brad Styles, held off a charging Jason Panozzo to take his third consecutive season opening win. The Pro-Modified class saw old rivals renew their past battles. Ken Blume would hold on by two points to take the win over, Rusty Bray. Derek West would hold off the challenge from Aaron Stapen to win his 9th straight Modified Stock event.

What a difference a year makes. The weather coming into today’s competition was perfect. Dry conditions were the name of the game for the 42 rigs that made the trip. Four classes would take time against the clock in the competition.

A year ago, the Formula Toyota class would only see John Scheidhauer making the trip to Hannibal. Today, three rigs would start the competition. John Scheidhauer would arrive in the former rig of Hobie Smith, and his brother James would take over driving duties in the familiar green F-Toy of John. Both Scheidhauer brothers would not only be drivers, but also the spotter for each other. The third team would be the Hendricks Motorsports Chassis F-Toy of Wes Harper. The Columbia, SC native would bring along Wes Prichard for his spotter.

The Formula Toyota Class would use the “C” Courses for their competition. On the long uphill climb of C1, Wes Harper would take the early lead. His score of 15 would out classify the Scheidhauer brothers, who both managed to score 38. On C2, a mostly loose climb and descent to and from a rock garden. Wes Harper would continue to set the pace with another low scoring run of 11 points. James Scheidhauer would not be far behind taking 15 points, but his brother’s woes in the new buggy would continue after taking 40. C3, a rough and very technical climb over loose boulders would become a fight for the F-Toy class. None of the rigs would complete the course and progression would be the key. In the end, leader Wes Harper would suffer the first set back of the day and would be forced to take 40 on the course. The Scheidhauer gang would both make it through the first gate and would both take 39 points. On C4, a long sweeping partial rock garden, loose dirt climb, and loose boulder field would allow for the best showing of the day for the F-Toy teams. However, it would be rookie James Scheidhauer becoming the low water marker after taking a spectacular score of 5. His brother John would take a cone on what was almost a copy of his brothers spectacular run. John would score 15 at the end of C4. Wes Harper would finish would a score of 23. When the dust settled, Wes Harper would be the leader by 8 points over James Scheidhauer, and would hold a 43 point lead over John Scheidhauer. With only a 43 point gap between the teams could, John Scheidhauer, make a charge for the win or could the other Scheidhauer brother be the one who steals the show, or is this the first win for Wes Harper?

The Modified Stock class would have twelve teams make the trip to Hannibal for the start. The class looked slightly different this season, with the noticeable absence of Derek West after he makes his move to Pro Modified for 2008. However, with Derek out of the picture, a new winner was guaranteed for the Modified Stock class. The loose climb of C1 would act like a brick wall against the bulk of the class. All but one team would take scores of 30 points or higher. Only Kurt Shramovich would complete the obstacle with a score of better than 30 points. His score of -12 would place him as the clear leader early on. He would be just one point from a perfect score of -13. The race for second though was anything but clear. Like something out of a wild west movie, two Jakes (Jake Good and Jake Tennis) would find themselves locked in a battle for second. Jake Good and his Geo-Tracker was making just a one off appearance this season, and was showing strong. He would take 30 points on C1. Jake Tennis would be right on his heels and would cross the line with a score of 31. However, the rest of the field would either point out nor not even complete the course.

C2 would be different. The mostly loose climb and descent to and from a rock garden, would be nicer to the teams with 5 teams taking scores under 20 points. Kelly Young, the wild woman from Ohio, would be the low water marker on C2 after scoring 12 points. On her heels would be Kurt Shramovich at 13. Jon Terhune, and his mostly stock and bolt on kit Jeep, would take an awesome score of 14 points. Jake Good and Jake Tennis would finish the course, again a point apart with 17 (Good) and 18 (Tennis). The rest of the teams would either point out or not finish the course. Only Jon Terhune would make it to the finish on C3. He would take a score of 30 on the obstacle. However on C4, the focus would again be on Kurt Shramovich. The sophomore driver would again set a spectacular low water mark after taking just 1 point on the course. Kyle Bruso would finish with a score of 11 to take the second lowest score. Kelly Young looked strong again after another low scoring run and 13 points. Paul Hornung would take his Suzuki through with a score of 16 points, and Jake Good would also finish with a score of 20 points, and rookie Bill Durham would also make it through with a score of 28. The other four teams, Ricky Artes, John Terhune, Bob Jara, and Jake Tennis, would not finish but would collect progression points.

Kurt Shramovich would hold a 61 point lead over Kelly Young at the half way point. Jake Good would be right on her tail just two point behind her mark in third. Jon Terhune, Kyle Bruso, and Jake Tennis would round out the top 6. Positions 2-6 would only be separated by 24 points at half way. Could anyone make a challenge to take on the raging Shramovich or was the race now for the shootout? With weather a possible factor for tomorrow anything could happen.

The Pro-Modified Class grew by leaps and bounds over the off season. New teams, including Nick Campbell, Derek West, would make the change to the growing class that would also see four other teams joining the class including Mike Greenwalt, Mike Thompson, AJ Condon and Grady Ingram. The first obstacle, B1 would be a trip around the very familiar Prudential Rock, of Hannibal. Mike Cole would blank the obstacle taking a big 0. Rusty Bray would join him in the single digits with 8 points. Nick Campbell would show off his laid back driving style, and good timing. He would cross the line with 1 second left on the clock and would take a score of 11 points. Alan Rich would cross the line with a score of 12. Other teams that would cross the line would include, Ken Blume (21), Danny Roher (23), and Chris May (23). The rest of the field would either not finish or would point out.

B2 would see many low scores. Mike Cole would again be the leader with a score of 8 points. Rookie, Mike Thompson, and Alan Rich would be right on his heels by scoring just 9 points. Derek West and Lou Levy would show their hands and would put up 11 points. Rusty Bray and Ken Blume wasn’t far behind them at 12 points. Nick Campbell would find another smooth run and would score 13, and 15 points would go to Danny Roher and rookie A.J. Condon. Jesse Haines (21), Mike Greenwalt (23), and Chris May (33) would also cross the finish line. Gavin Lewis, Bunny Rose, Drew Goldie, and Grady Ingram would not make it across the line.

B3 would see the first negative scores of the season. The simple climb and descent would either give your team a very low score, or it would leave you taking a major hit in the points. Mike Thompson, Jesse Haines, and Bunny Rose would fail to make it through the first gate. A.J. Condon (16) and Grady Ingram (24) would finish, but would take on points. Nick Campbell, Gavin Lewis and Mike Cole would cross the line after taking a few backups and would finish with 8 points. Danny Roher, Chris May and Drew Goldie would cross the line with 1 point. Rusty Bray would have -1. Lou Levy, Mike Greenwalt, and Alan Rich would take -2, and the low water mark would be -3 and would go to Derek West and Ken Blume. Derek West and Danny Roher would destroy the field by being the only two drivers to hit under 23 points on B4. Derek West would be the low point scorer at 2 points, and Danny Roher would finish just one point off his pace at 3. Nick Campbell and Rusty Bray would take 23 and 25 points to take 3rd and 4th on the obstacle. Jesse Haines (32) and Gavin Lewis (35) would be the only other teams to cross the line. The rest of the field would run out of time and would either finish with scores of 38 or 39 points.

When the dust settled Danny Roher would hold the lead at half way over Rusty Bray (-2), Derek West (-6), Mike Cole (-12), Nick Campbell (-13), and Alan Rich (-15). With the points at the top being this close anything could happen. Cold Derek West break through and pick up his 13th straight W.E.Rock Eastern National Series win? Could Danny Roher hold on through the second half to take a win? Could there be another team getting ready to mount a charge to challenge and make the shootout? The field was close and any mistake could be very costly. The second half of this competition wasn’t shaping up to be a crawl to the shootout, it appears to be a race for the finish.

The Unlimited Class would see new blood entering the fold. Darren Casada made his debut in Jellico last season, and has made the move to run for Rookie of the year. Joining Casada in the run for Rookie of the year would also include Brian Millsap and Bill Barton. Jason Gochenour would have a new spotter for 2008. Casey Branham would step into the role vacated by Vince Gochenour. Brad Styles would bring back Ken Blume and Matt Deas would debut a new buggy.

The teams would tackle A1. A long sweeping run over a rock garden would greet the teams. Carl Shortridge would be the low water marker at 8 points. Ken Shupe would lead Brad Styles through the obstacle to take a score of 11. Alan Woodson and Tom Campbell would complete the obstacle with a score of 15 and 16. George Negron would be the last to make it through the course with a score of 32. The rest of the field would not finish or would point out.

On A2, Alan Woodson and Jason Gochenour would play it smooth with the throttle and would manage to eek out the low water mark with a score of three points. Brad Styles would take 5 and Tom Campbell would finish with a score of 16 points. All of the other teams would fail to complete the course.

On A3, Jason Gochenour would continue to take the lowest score. The charging Hoosier would walk away from the course with 1 point. Brad Styles would again not be far off the mark with his score of 4 points. John Boring would show his hand and would finish with a strong score of 5 points. George Negron would again show that he could be a contender after placing a run of 15 points. The rest of the teams would either run out of time, roll, or would point out.

On A4, Brad Styles would set the low mark at -5 points. Carl Shortridge would be able to put up similar numbers and the Wild Nut Express would steam ahead to -4 for the course. Alan Woodson would take 5 on the course. Tom Campbell and Matt Deas would both score 7, and Jason Gochenour would finish with a score of 15 points. The rest of the teams would fail to finish the course.

When the dust settled, Brad Styles was looking on form to take his 4th straight win in the season opening event. He would hold a 41 point lead over Jason Gochenour, 47 over Alan Woodson, 62 over Tom Campbell, 64 over Carl Shortridge, and 106 over Negron. With weather being a possible factor could the commanding lead that Brad Styles found himself holding on to fade away or would he take his 4th straight win? Could Gochenour make a run to the win? Could there be a dark horse lurking in the background waiting to make a move to the shootout? The teams would find out on the second day of competition.

It may have been dry on Saturday, but Saturday night brought some showers. Plus, Sunday had the constant threat of rain hanging over the event. If the rain makes an appearance, at Hannibal, the entire dynamic of the courses and event changes. The inside joke around the paddock is that on the east coast W.E.Rock actually is Weather Enhanced Rockcrawling. With the threat of rain ever present could this event change?

At the half way point the old adage: The more things change the more they stay the same, was playing out. Brad Styles was looking on form to still be the only driver to ever win the Eastern National Series opener. All of the talent in Pro-Mod was shaping up for an all out war. Formula Toyota looked to continue to put on a show, and Modified Stock was ready to crawl over everything in their paths.

A scoring correction from a mistake on Saturday re-adjusted the standings in Formula Toyota. Wes Harper held a 12 point lead over John Scheidhauer, and James Scheidhauer was sitting just 26 points back of the lead. The Formula Toyota and Modified Stock teams would find themselves facing the same course section (“C”), but would have to face the courses in reverse orientation than what they faced the day before.

Formula Toyota had an idea of what to do on their courses, and a race for the finish was under way. Even with the correction, the teams were unphased. The opening shots of the second half of the competition were fired off of C1. All three Formula Toyota’s would finish C1. James Scheidhauer would set the low water mark on C1 at 3 points. His brother John would take cross the line at 11, and Wes Harper would cross the line with 13 points. Wes Harper would continue to lead John Scheidhauer by 10 points and James Scheidhauer by 16 points going into the 6th obstacle.

Wes Harper would extend his lead after setting an impressive score on C2. He would cross the line with 24 points. Both Scheidhauer brothers would not finish. James would take 38 points, and his brother John would take 39. Harper would have a 25 point lead on John Scheidhauer, and 30 on James Scheidhauer. Was Wes Harper on his way to collecting his first win in the W.E.Rock Eastern National Series?

Obstacle C3 would make the competition interesting. Both Scheidhauer brothers would take low scores. James would again take the lowest score at 3 points. John would take a couple of extra back ups and would cross the line with 5 points. However, the leader would fail to finish the obstacle. Wes Harper would take a damaging 40 points after failing to complete going through a gate. John Scheidhauer would make a late event pass for the lead. John would now become the leader going into the final obstacle over his brother, James, by 3 points, and Wes Harper by 10. With only one obstacle to go, and one cone the separation between first and last this was a race that appeared to go to the wire.

The final obstacle facing the Formula Toyota class would be obstacle C4. All that separated the teams and victory lane were two hair pins, a loose climb, and a long sweeping section. Wes Harper would see his chances at victory totally fade away after taking a score of 35. The battle for the win would be a sibling rivalry. James would take to the track knowing that a good finish could take the win away from his brother. He would cross the line with an awesome score of 5 points. For James to win, John Scheidhauer, would have to score more than 9 points. One cone would make the other Scheidhauer brother the winner. John Scheidhauer would also put up a clean run, and would cross the finish line. After the score was tabulated, John would score 4 points. By the skin of his teeth, John Scheidhauer, would take the win by 4 points over his brother, John and Wes Harper by 41 points.

The Modified Stock class was overrun during the first day of competition by a hard charging Kurt Shramovich. The Team Quadratec driver held a very spacious 61 point lead over Kelly Young. However, Kelly did not have the luxury that was afforded to Shramovich. Jake Good and his Geo Tracker were just two points off of Kelly. Jon Terhune and his very stock YJ were just 17 points back of 2nd, and the teams of Kyle Bruso, Jake Tennis, and Paul Hornung were not far off either. This race was on and the podium was wide open.

The teams would make their way to C1. Most of the teams would find their way through the course with no problems and scores would be low. Kurt Shramovich and Jake Good would set the low water mark at -2 points. Jake Tennis and Kyle Bruso would both take 1 point, and Jon Terhune would come in with just 2 points. Paul Hornung and Ricky Artes would both cross the line with nice scores of 12 and 13 points each. However, the day would not start off so nice for Kelly Young as she would fail to finish and would be forced to take 39 points. Shramovich would continue to hold a commanding 63 point lead over new second place runner Jake Good. An interesting battle was shaping up was for third place. Jon Terhune would move into third, but Kyle Bruso would be four markers off his pace and Jake Tennis would be in 5th just six points back of Terhune. Kelly Young would fall to 6th in the standings just 3 points ahead of the team of Paul Hornung.

On C2, most of the teams would hit a road block. Only Kurt Shramovich would finish the obstacle and would take 21 points. The battles for position would continue to be tight with Kyle Bruso managing to tighten the gap to third place, Jon Terhune, to three points. No positions would change hands after C2.

C3 would stop everyone but Jake Good. Most of the teams would be stuck with 40 points, but Jake Good took it easy on the throttle and pulled through with an impressive 6 points. Even with Kurt Shramovich taking 39 points on the obstacle, Good, would still be 47 points out of the lead. The distance between 2nd and 3rd would widen to 55 points. All battles for position would again stay tight, but no positions would change hands again.

Going into C4, the teams would have their final shot at making the shootout. The battle for the shootout would be between Kelly Young and Paul Hornung. Kelly would hold a slim 3 point lead over Hornung going into this final obstacle. Kelly would slip up on her run and would again fail to finish on the obstacle taking 39 points. For Paul Hornung to take over 6th position he would have to score 35 points or less. Hornung would put in a valiant effort, but would come up short by putting up just 38 points. Kelly Young would hold on and would make the shootout by just 2 points. Kyle Bruso would fail to finish and would have to take 38 points and would have to settle for 5th place going into the shootout. The battle for track position came down between Jon Terhune and Jake Tennis. Terhune would hold a six point advantage over Tennis coming into the obstacle. The battle would not only be a battle between the drivers but a battle of the spotters. Who could out spot each other, Rob Rugiero (Jake Tennis) or Mike Devore (Jon Terhune). Would it be experience or excitement? Terhune and Devore would wrangle their wrangler across the line with a nice score of 28 points. Even with the nice score on the obstacle the experienced team of Tennis and Rugiero would make up some serious ground after pushing their Suzuki to a low water mark of 13 points. Tennis and Rugiero would move to 3rd place in Modified Stock as Terhune and Devore would fall to 4th place just 9 points back of Tennis. Jake Good and Kurt Shramovich would continue to lead the field going into the shootout.

The Modified Stock Shootout would sit on obstacle C1. The teams knew the terrain, but could they survive this final obstacle and possibly take over a position in the final standings? Kelly Young and spotter Aaron Selway would tackle the course first. The team would put in a valiant effort, but time was not on their side. They would fail to finish the obstacle and would settle for 6th place in the final standings. Next up would be the team of Kyle Bruso and Kyle Holland. The team from Lavaca, AR would cross the line with an impressive score of 15 points. Their very strong run on the obstacle could put them on the podium if the teams of Jon Terhune and Jake Tennis both have problems on their shootout runs. Jon Terhune felt the pressure from Kyle Bruso. The team would fail to finish and would take 37 points for their effort. Terhune would fall to 5th in the final standings. Could Kyle Bruso make it to the bottom step of the podium? For Bruso to make the podium, Jake Tennis and Rob Rugiero would have to fail to finish the obstacle and take a score of 38 points or worse. Bruso and Holland would have their fingers crossed. The Suzuki team would not only pull off the finish, but would cross the line with a better score than Bruso with just 14 points. Jake Good and Scott Angell were guaranteed their 2nd place finish, and would go on to show the field how to crawl the obstacle. He would push he Geo across the line with a score of just 1 point. Kurt Shramovich was ahead by over 60 points after Jake Good took his run. This run was a victory lap for Kurt Shramovich. The Quadratec team would cross the line with 24 points, and would cap off their spectacular win with a victory celebration at the finish line. For the first time in W.E.Rock Eastern National Series someone other than Derek West was a winner. Kurt Shramovich’s margin of victory over Jake Good would be 40 points. Jake Good would put up an impressive finish in his only start of the season. Jake Good will make the trip in September to face off against all of the stock teams again in the All Stock Nationals at Hannibal.

The Pro-Mod Class would be locked in an all out war. The top six teams were just separated by just 15 points. While the top of the field was close in position, the teams in position 6-10 were in need of some luck to have a shot at the shootout. Ken Blume was in 7th place 12 points behind 6th, Lou Levy would be 29 points out of 6th, and Chris May would be out of 6th place by 38 points. Could any of these drivers mount a challenge to enter the shootout? With the top of the field as tight as it is entering the second half of the competition could anyone break away from the field to establish themselves as the clear leader in Pro-Modified?

The opening shots of the event would be inconclusive. The majority of the teams would finish the obstacle, but scores would be all over the place. The low-water mark would be 8 points set by Rusty Bray and Ken Blume. Rusty Bray would take over the lead from Danny Roher by one point. Roher would post a run of 11 points. Nick Campbell and Derek West would be tied for third place, 13 points, out of the lead. Mike Cole and Allen Rich would both drop in position. Mike Cole would cross the line with 19 points and would fall from 4th to 5th in the standings. Allen Rich would also fall from 6th to 7th in the standings. Lou Levy would continue to hold on to 8th place just 10 points away from Rich. Chris May would fail to finish and would begin to fade away in 9th place.

The race was tight and one mistake would be costly on A2. Only 5 teams would be able to cross the finish line. Derek West would set the low water mark at 11 points, and would move into a tie for the lead after Danny Roher put up 26 points. Rusty Bray would fail to finish and would take 39 points and would fall from the lead to 3rd in the standings. Ken Blume and Mike Cole would both finish the obstacle and would assume the 4th and 5th positions. Blume and Cole would both pull within 8 points out of 3rd place after their successful runs. Nick Campbell would fail to finish and his score of 37 points would drop him to 6th in the standings. Of the teams outside the top 6, only 12th place, Jesse Haines, would be able bring his rig across the line with a score of 14. The rest of the teams would fail to finish.

The teams may have struggled on A2, but on A3 the teams excelled. A total of 9 of the 17 teams would score under 5 points. The race at the top of the field was in negative territory. Rusty Bray and Josh Wilson may have stumbled on A2, but they got the combination right on A3. Their impressive score of -3 would be the best on the obstacle, and would pull them to just 14 points out of the lead. Leader Derek West would cross the line with a score of -2 points, but the team that they were tied with in the standings, Danny Roher and Chad Rolpert, would take 1 point, and would fall behind by 3 points. Ken Blume and Mike Cole would both pull a score of 0 and would continue to hold 4th and 5th place. Nick Campbell would copy Derek West’s marks and would cross the line with -2 points to pull within 5 points of Blume and Cole. Lou Levy would have problems on his run and would fall out of contention for the shootout. Only Allen Rich would have a mathematical shot at making the shootout. Rich would be 33 points out of 6th place going into the final obstacle of the day. He would need the Monster Energy Drink rig of Nick Campbell to falter to make the shootout. Could the stock-car champion (Allen Rich) make a run at the shootout, or was he too far off the mark? Could Derek West hold on to the slim lead he found himself in to take the regulation win? Could Rusty Bray make a challenge for the win?

The Pro-Modified teams would tackle A4 for their final regulation obstacle. A4 would be rough on the Pro-Mod class. Only four of the teams would cross the finish line. Could Allen Rich mount his challenge to make the shootout? Allen Rich had a streak of three straight Pro-Modified shootouts in the Eastern National Series, but this event would put that streak to an end. Rich would fail to finish and the #03 would have to load up on the truck and call it an event. The real question would be track position during the shootout. Ken Blume entered the course in 4th place, but a score of 37 points would send him to 6th place in the shootout. Nick Campbell would finish the course with 26 points and would finish 5th in regulation. Danny Roher would have problems and would take 37 points. The winner of the first W.E.Rock Hannibal Rocks event in 2006 would have to start the shootout in 4th place. Mike Cole would be the big winner on the obstacle. Coming into the final regulation obstacle the Greenville, SC native and spotter Justin Blair would be sitting in 5th place, but a well placed series of rocks by Justin would propel his driver to a tie for 2nd going into the Shootout. Rusty Bray would also recover nicely going into the Shootout. He would cross the stripe with 25 points and would be tied with Mike Cole going into the Shootout. Derek West would be the man who would have the final spot in the shootout. His score of 24 points would give him the win in regulation. The real question was could Derek West and Ritchie Keller pick up where they left off and take their 13th straight win, (12 wins in Stock Modified and first win in Pro-Mod)?

The first Pro-Modified Shootout of the year could be one of the best ever assembled in the Eastern National Series. The Shootout would kick off with the man who pulled out a victory in this event one year ago. Ken Blume would take to the track, but a massive shock failure would cut his run short. The 2007 champion would not finish and would take 39 points in the Shootout. Next up would be Nick Campbell. Impressive in his first start, the driver of the Monster Energy Drink Pro-Mod, would put on a nice show in the shootout. His score of 9 points was astonishing. Could Nick move up in the standings, or did the other teams take the right notes? Next up would be Danny Roher. The first winner here in Hannibal took good notes, but an extra cone would give him a score of 19 points. Even with his score of 19 points, Roher would just eek out at least 4th place by just 2 points over Nick Campbell. Mike Cole and Justin Blair would also take an extra cone from Nick Campbell’s awesome run and like Roher would score 19 points. Mike Cole would finish with a guaranteed place on the podium by just 1 point over Roher. The real question was what could Rusty Bray do? The run started off good until the Lexington, KY native found himself hung. Spotter Josh Wilson tried everything he could, but it would take gravity to pull Rusty off the rock. Rusty’s run would gradually fall apart from there. A couple of mistakes would give Bray devastating points, and when the NOS Energy Drinks Grand Cherokee crossed the line he would take 23 points. Those 23 points would drop Rusty from 2nd to 5th. The question now was could Derrick West pull off his first Pro-Mod win in his first start? Derrick would have to score under 33 points to win the event. With the pressure on Derek and Ritchie delivered. When they crossed the line they had only 25 points and a slim 9 point victory.

The event would fall for the second year in a row to a high profiled defection into the class. Last season the event fell to Ken Blume. This time it would be the driver who has a history of being a winner and champion. For Derek West, this was his 6th consecutive win in the W.E.Rock. He has not lost a W.E.Rock sanctioned event since the 2006 W.E.Rock World Championships in Las Vegas. This would also be his 13th consecutive Eastern National Series win.

The Unlimited Class was finding itself under the stranglehold of Brad Styles. The driver from South Carolina was sliding through every obstacle with ease. Could Brad Styles be on his way to taking his 4th season opening victory, or do Jason Gochenour, Carl Shortridge, Allen Woodson, or Tom Campbell have anything up their sleeves to pull of the victory?

The teams would face the tight run around the Prudential Rock for their first obstacle of the day. Only five teams would be able to finish. Rookie Darren Casada from Bowling Green, KY found himself in 8th place coming into the second half of the competition. He knew he needed to finish obstacles to get seat time, and the young driver took his very large moon buggy across the line to finish B1 with a score of 23 points. He would move within 15 points of 6th place, George Negron, after that run. Tom Campbell was simply having a career weekend. The Springfield, OH team was finishing obstacles consistently, and were putting up descent scores to go with those finishes. The team would again finish with a score of 24 points. Alan Woodson is the quiet man of consistency on the circuit, but a mistake would cost Woodson dearly. Alan would collect 40 points on this run, and would fall from 3rd to 4th. Carl Shortridge would bring his rig across the line with an impressive score of 15. Jason Gochenour would continue to shine after his run on A1. The charging Hoosier would deliver the best run on the obstacle of 14 points. He would continue to hold onto 2nd place by 24 points over Shortridge. Brad Styles and Ken Shupe would just sweep through the obstacle with 15 points to continue to lead the event by a whopping 40 points.

Obstacle B2 was where things got interesting. There were two distinctly different battles going on. There was a tightly contested fight for 3rd place shaping up between, Carl Shortridge, Alan Woodson, and Tom Campbell. However, that fight was not as tight as the four way fight for the final spot in the Shootout. Brad Styles would set the low water mark on the obstacle with 6 points. Jason Gochenour would cross the line with 13 points, but it was when Carl Shortridge crossed the line with 14 points that things got interesting. Both Alan Woodson and Tom Campbell knew that they had a fair amount of padding on 6th place. The gap between Campbell and Negron was 61 points entering the obstacle. So both teams took risks, and both would pay off. Woodson would cross the line 8 points placing him just two points off of Shortridge’s pace, and Campbell would take 9 points placing him just 5 points from 3rd place. With two obstacles left before the Shootout, any little mistake could be costly in the standings for any of those three drivers. Their battle was tight, but at least they looked almost locked in to the shootout. The real battle was for the final spot in the shootout. George Negron would enter the obstacle in 6th place, and a score of 40 on his run was not helping him. John Boring knew he could take over 6th win a nice run, but problems would stop his run cold at 38 points. He could only tie Negron in the standings. Darren Casada would also have problems with maneuvering over the rocks and would also take on 38 points, but another rookie was showing his had in an attempt to make the shootout. Bill Barton was a rookie on a mission. The Middlesboro, KY native was on course to score a very impressive 10 points. He would jump from 10th to 8th just four points out of the Shootout. The battle for 6th was going to be a classic. Negron, Boring, Barton, and Casada were separated by just 14 points going into the final 2 obstacles. Only one of these teams would make the Shootout, but the question was who really wanted to be in the shootout?

The teams would head to B3. This obstacle was simple. It was a full throttle climb that was rewarding to the teams. A total of 4 teams would tie for the low water mark on this obstacle. Brad Styles, Carl Shortridge, Alan Woodson, and Bill Barton would all take a score of -3 points. Jason Gochenour would not be that far off their paces at -2 points. Tom Campbell would cross the line with 5 points, and John Boring would cross the line with 7 points. However this obstacle would spell the end for Darren Casada. A nasty end over end would destroy this transmission. George Negron would not be able to find the groove up the hill and would have to take 40 for his run. Negron would fall to 8th in the standings 39 points out of 6th place. This would knock George out of contention for the Shootout. The battle for the Shootout would come down to Bill Barton who would take over the 6th position and John Boring who was 6 points behind him in 7th. The race for the podium was shaping up to be a close one too with Carl Shortridge holding 3rd place by 2 points over Alan Woodson and 13 over Tom Campbell.

The final regulation obstacle would be one that would decide the Shootout for one team, and would decide the running order for the Shootout. Brad Styles would make the huge climb at the end look easy. He would take 13 points, and would have a sizable advantage. However, only Jason Gochenour would be the driver that would decide if Brad Styles would be the winner before the shootout. Gochenour would have to deliver a finish under 6 points to take a mathematical chance at victory into the shootout. Gochenour faced the wall, and knew that one simple mistake and his chances at pulling an upset win would be over. Gochenour would nail the throttle and would stick the climb. He would advance past the climb and through the finish gate and would take 3 points. Going into the Shootout the gap from 1st to 2nd would be 38 points. Carl Shortridge would roll on his descent from the ledge and would take a damaging 36 points. However, Alan Woodson would also have problems and would take 40 on his run, but Tom Campbell made the most of it. Tom Campbell knew that he had a chance to make a race going into the Shootout, and that is exactly what he did. With a flat tire Campbell used the throttle correctly. He would take 25 points on his run putting him back in 4th place just 2 points off of Shortridge. The gap from 3rd to 5th going into the shootout was just 6 points. The race for the podium was on, but while that race would play out in the Shootout, there was a race for the last qualifying spot. John Boring knew this was it and he had to deliver, and deliver he did after posting a run of just 12 points. A low score like that would put all of the pressure squarely on Bill Barton. The rookie had to take a score of less than 5 points to secure his spot in the shootout, but rookie mistakes would take Bill Barton out after he failed to finish the obstacle with a score of 38 points. John Boring was in the Shootout, and Bill Barton was done after putting up an impressive second day of competition.

The Shootout field was set. Brad Styles would go last with a 38 point lead. Jason Gochenour was guaranteed at least 2nd with a gap of 57 points over 3rd. The race was for 3rd place with Carl Shortridge holding a slim 2 point lead over Tom Campbell and just 6 points off of Alan Woodson. John Boring was just in the Shootout 73 points off the pace of 5th place Alan Woodson. The Shootout course was long, wide, difficult and interesting. It would require a steady throttle, a great spotter, and nerves of steel. John Boring would be first up. Boring knew he couldn’t make up any ground and put on a show, but called it early and took 37 points. Alan Woodson would enter just 6 points off the podium, but an ailing motor would derail his run at 3rd, and he would stop his run and would take 38 points. Tom Campbell would be up next. He would find himself just 2 points off the podium. With the pressure off he knew he was guaranteed at least 4th. Campbell would make easy work of the bottom section of the course. He would nail the climb at the top, but the descent off the ledge would be his downfall. He would lose control of his buggy and would roll over ending his run at the podium with a score of 36. With attrition being the story of this shootout, Carl Shortridge would be next up to the line. For Shortridge to take 3rd he would have to finish the obstacle. If Shortridge failed to finish and took 37 or more points he would lose 3rd place. With that in mind Carl was off. He made it all look easy. He climb was almost flawless and his descent was perfect. He would finish the obstacle, and would only take 10 points for the finish. Jason Gochenour knew that if he wanted to put himself in position to win he had to run the obstacle perfectly, but a mistake at the start would be his downfall. Gochenour would come off the first gate boulder with the wrong line and would put his buggy on it’s side. Gochenour would fail to right his buggy and would take 39 points. He would take 2nd but would hand the win to Styles. Brad Styles was the winner, but wanted to put on a good show to close out the event. He would put on that show. Like Shortridge, Brad Styles, was flawless in his climb up the hill and his descent was awesome. Styles would cross the line with 11 points, and his margin of victory was 66 points over Jason Gochenour.

Brad Styles would continue to be perfect in his appearances in the season opening events in W.E.Rock competition. For the 4th consecutive year Styles would pull into victory lane. This would mark the 6th time he would go to victory lane in W.E.Rock competition, and would give him the points lead going into the new course in Dayton, TN. With the unexpected at the next event in Dayton, could we see new faces going to victory lane or could the new event in Dayton be a place the veterans would want to call home? The teams will find out the weekend of May 31st and June 1st, as the inaugural Tennessee Grand Prix of Rockcrawling will kick off at the new facility in Dayton, TN.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND WORDS BY AARON CAMPBELL
americancrawlers.com