WeRock East Coast Rock Crawling Competition #3: July 5-6, Jellico, TN

The weekend of July 5 and 6th marked the 3rd WeRock east coast rock crawling competition in Jellico, TN.

Day 1

Following our arrival and subsequent tech inspection, we were all set and ready to rip through another competition!

Unfortunately, the weather had other plans. Similar to our previous event in Dayton, TN, Jellico looked to be just as soggy when we awoke that morning, with the rain intensifying as we headed to the course.

Our 7:30 a.m. start time was pushed back to 11:00 a.m., at which time the rains stopped and the sun came out, giving us the green light to finally get started!

Course C1:

Rain typically made the courses more difficult for everyone, but lucky for us, the first obstacle on course C1 faced towards the east, giving us a good bit of sun to dry it out by the time we were ready to go.

The line for the first course had a large rock right out of the start gate, then a raised 3-foot ledge to the first set of cones. After stacking some rocks just to get into the course, we made it to the ledge with about 5 minutes to get through. It took some skinny pedal throttle and working the Flaming River steering wheel for some added traction, but we made it up the ledge.

Next up, we made it through the second gate came after a muddy patch, then a rocky hill with a huge rut right were the passenger tire was. Afterward, we got the rig turned around to head back down, but we ran out of time on the course.

Of all 7 Stock Mod competitors, we made it the second farthest with a score of 38.

Course C2:

C2 wasn’t looking much better for the Mod Stock class, as the skies had barely opened up when we were beginning our run.

This course consisted of a bunch of loose rock and mud at the start, followed by a slick uphill, then 180 and back down between gates 1 and 2, followed by another uphill for gate 2, then a side hill over to gate 3.

The entire stock modified class, us included, never made it through gate 1, as the terrain was too slick or steep to traverse with the weather.

Everyone scored a 40 on this course.

Course C3:

This particular course had given us trouble 2 years ago with a nasty roll that smashed in the entire passenger side of the rig, so we were going to play it as safe and sound as possible. It was a giant S shaped course, which led us along the tape line on the passenger side, around to the left through gate 1, and then turning right for a nasty uphill.

We made it to the uphill climb, but with the conditions as they were, even the Pro Comp Xtreme M/T’s were not going to make it.

Our score here was a 39, as well.

Course C4:

Finally, course C4 gave us a bit of a break, as it appeared to be the flattest course of the day.

It consisted of a quick uphill, then a swing to the left through gate 1, then down and back up a rocky/muddy ledge. After that was a left across some rocks, pivoting to the right through gate 2, across more rocks straight to gate 3, then back out next to the start gate.

We, like most of the rest of the field, made it through gate one to the downhill. The uphill proved to be grooved so that all the Jeeps with our wheelbase had some nice holes worked in. We tried about 7 or 8 times to will the Jeep through, but we ended up timing out.

Score of 39 again.

Our Saturday total was 156, which was good enough to end the day in second place, tied with one other competitor.

However, there was a 20 point gap between first place and 2nd, plus a 3 competitors tied for 3rd place with a score of 157, then a 2-way tie for 4th with a score of 158.

If the scores for the day were any indicator, we might as well have looked at Sunday as if it were the first day of competition and we were all at zero.

Day 2

We began day 2 with far better weather: overcast skies with some light fog that got a little thicker as we made our way to the mountaintop. Following the awards ceremony, where we were awarded a 3rd place trophy from the Dayton event, we were set to give the courses another run.

Course C1:

The cones here had moved, so the large rocks at the beginning were gone with a slick uphill climb to the top of the rocks in their place.

Once on top, we went through gate 2, and then back down and across parallel to the entrance. Gate 3 was downhill, which we traversed with ease, and then out through the finish gates.

We scored 2 on this course.

Course C2:

C2 was dried up considerably from the day before, so we had no trouble getting through the start gates and slightly uphill to gate 1.

Gate 2 proved to be quite a challenge, as we had to plow across loose, large rocks then make a hard left uphill and pivot around a large outcropping rock to drop hard back downhill to gate 3.

We made it almost to the top of the course to pivot, but the loose rock below took its toll on time, and we ended up timing out.

Score 39.

Course C3:

Course C3 was still in the back of our minds from two years ago, so I made sure my Mastercraft harnesses were fastened as tightly as possible just in case.

We had two choices of lines after starting the course from the top of the hill: swing around hard right to get to the first gate, or take the bonus line down the sheer face of the rock wall. Of course we took the bonus line!

The Jeep started fine down the face of the rock wall, but just as we hit the midsection, the rear end got very light, and even hitting the gas pedal to the floor couldn’t keep the Jeep from going over on the roof.

After a quick safety check to make sure everyone was ok, we tried starting the Jeep and running it on its side to see if we could right ourselves. That wasn’t happening. So we had to end the course early to get the Jeep righted again.

Moving it out in to the spectator area, we discovered we had pulled the power steering rubber line off of the hard line. We added some Royal Purple fluid and we were good to go. We also lost some transmission fluid as well, so we topped that off, and went to course C4.

Course C4:

C4 was the exact opposite of the day before, with the addition of a bonus line that took the place of the first gate from the day before.

We ran almost clean up to the final gate, but as we headed on the quick downhill, the motor in the Jeep went out. We tried to get it fired up, but ended up timing out. We were very close, and if we could have gotten it running, we would have easily finished the course.

Score on C4 was 38.

Our total score for Sunday was 118, and our total for the weekend was 273, which put us in 5th place for the event. Right now, we are sitting in 3rd place overall for the series.

I want to send out a huge thank you to my teammates, Aaron Selway and Aaron Schwab and Matt Peters of Peterson Off-Road.

One of our biggest fans, my mom, lost her battle to cancer on June 19th. The guys took it upon themselves to get the rig ready for the competition so that was one less thing I had to worry about during this time. For that guys, thank you. I could not have gotten everything I needed to get done to the rig without your help.

Thanks for the support to all of my sponsors:

4Wheel Drive Hardware, Full Traction Suspension, Solid Axle Industries, DB Signs and Designs, Poison Spyder Customs, Be Cool, Mastercraft Seats, Pro Comp Tires and Wheels, Peters Off Road, Davey’s Jeeps, Flaming River, Advance Adapters, Superior Axle and Gear, ARB, CTM Racing, Mechanix Wear, JE Reel, Kilby Enterprise, Bestop, Painless Wiring, Warn, TNT Customs, AGR Performance, Royal Purple, Bilstein Shocks, Wilwood Brakes, Stull Automotive and Crown Automotive.

Click here to view all of the pictures from this event.

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