RROCK 8-19-2006

Just a week after the W.E.ROCK Eastern Finals in Hannibal, Missouri we returned for the third of four competitions making up the RROCK series. Team Rock Assualt made up of driver Bill Bailey and spotter Jason “Tolly” Tollison was fighting to keep in the top 3 in the series. I attended as a competitor this time around. Travis Waldher of Team Rockwild needed a spotter as his spotter had been injured a few weeks before the competition. I volunteered to help out and do the best I could. Travis has a Toyota truck which is much longer than any other vehicle in our class. This makes it much harder to navigate the tight turns and complete the course with no penalties. Helping Travis meant I had to compete against my friends but I did it anyways!

I studied his vehicle to be better able to judge tire placement on the course and where we would be at risk of getting stuck. It was a really wet weekend with heavy rainfall the day prior. We got ready for a day of heavy throttle needed to climb the wet rocks.

We started on the course where Team Rock Assault had broke the week before. We had a little trouble making it up the incline after the start gate but eventually made it.

After that it was slow going. Stacking rocks, backups, and tire spin. We ended up getting hung on the trucks skid plate and were unable to get the vehicle to break loose. That led to this sad scene.

We had a few hangups on other courses, and I nearly got runover when we had a radio malfunction. Travis and I decided we needed to winch through part of a course and then speed through the last section. I was trying to unhook the winch cable from where we anchored it so it would not stop us from exiting the course. Our radios stopped working right and Travis did not hear me when I told him to wait. He got the signal from the judge that we had 15 seconds left and floored it. I was able to get the winch cable unhooked and jump out of the way in time to save myself. It was a great day. Here are a few other pictures from the weekend.

One of my favorite drivers is Ken Blume. He competes in the “Unlimited” or “Super Modified” class but when he is done he lets his son drive as an exhibition in the “Legends” class. His son is 12 years old but is an excellent driver and a great kid. Here are a few pics of him competing.