W.E. ROCK :: World Extreme Rockcrawling

::W.E. ROCK Grand National Championship::
The ROC :: Columbus, OH

Marty Hart On His Way to Naming "Hart-Attack"

The 2005 W.E.ROCK National Championship Season was one to remember with memories that will last the test of time, proving that the end result was worth the battle. Hitting eight events over seven different states to determine a true national champion is not an easy task for any team, let alone eclipsing the best teams in the nation for bragging rights and the W.E.ROCK National Championship. With over 161 different competitors throughout the 2005 season, the eyes of national coverage, and the chance to represent the United States in a battle for the World Championship; the fight has been long and tough with very few able to accomplish the great feat.

Teams showed up in full force to a rainy tech and registration, setting the stage for a slick battle on the formidable rock arena. The courses were tough to begin with, adding rain and mud would make things interesting for viewers and teams alike.

The name of the game at this event wasn’t based on scoring every bonus line in the competition, more on surviving every course and coming out without pointing out or timing out. Teams that accomplished this were able rock right into the finals.

Firing up the scoreboard on the first day for the Super Modified Class was Marty Hart and Jeff Jones making a hard push into the top seeds with World Champion Randy Torbett and Eric Nixon. Others fighting in the top were Bruce Zeller and George Poston in Scrapper and the very quiet team on Jesse Haines and Brian Howard from Badlands, Indiana. Scores raised and dropped like an elevator all weekend as 40’s where added to every score but Haines and Howard. The duo played a very smart, consistent game all weekend and it paid off placing them in the final shootout against the top six Super Modified teams in the nation. Others that made a huge impact in the most advanced class were Rick Dermo and Rick Gersch from Colorado, and the Team Rockstomper group of Scott “The Technician” Ellinger and Shawn Pagan also from Colorado.

In the Legends class, Dean “Iceman” Bullock and “Crazy” Karl Mumford dominated the entire field going into the finals with an amazing 100 point lead. The battle was really for second through fourth as the spread was only 5 points. Becca Webster and Lance “Fat Bastard” Clifford navigating the “RedBull Rock Her” made a strong push for a podium finish and slid into that fourth place spot behind Team 775 Mike Hale and Carl Headlee, and Team 094 Mike Cole and Lee Cline. Clawing their way into the finals and fifth place were Paul and Chuck May, and right behind in sixth place was Larry Zager and Dave Cole from Arizona.

On the other side of the spectrum of super extreme that the two upper classes provided, the Modified Stock Class showed the technical and strategic side of the sport with stock vehicles battling on crazy courses compared to the tracks wheeled on prior to the Grand Nationals. After four courses Derek West and Ritchey Keller figured on taking home first place for the eastern seaboard with a stand-out lead of 34 points. But regardless of the first day, every team knows that two days complete the insane weekend. No one realized this as much as the Maxxis Sponsored Dan Patterson and Bob Roggy in the ’92 Jeep YJ. With the biggest come-back in Rock Crawling history, the duo made up 123 unanswered points and squeaked into the finals with a flawless day two in first place.
Day two created a ton of drama as all the teams were striving for rock crawling excellence and national supremacy and the media was there to catch every minute of it. Speed Channel, Spike TV, The Outdoor Channel, and various other media outlets were capturing every minute of the action-packed weekend. As far as magazines that attended, Dirtsports, Crawl Magazine, Xtreme Off-Road, and Wickedmag.com were just a few. And the infamous Pirate4x4.com was covering the event live in typical pirate fashion.

The final, on the other hand, is where everything that the teams battled for boiled down to. The way the finals work is the top six teams move on after all the courses are done, and a single “Finals Course” is devised out of the most extreme terrain available.

For the Super Modified Class the stage was almost picturesque. Three teams from the east coast, three from the west, three with rear steer and three without, three front engines and three-rear engines made up the field with a possible –57 points for the lowest score. Made up of two twenty-point bonus’, one of which had never been completed, and one ten point bonus, along with progression gates and the spotter bonus. First to enter the course was sixth-place Scott Ellinger and Shaun Pagan whose run was cut short due to wedging the vehicle in the massive crack and blowing up the rear axle. Second was fifth-place Rick Dermo and Rick Gersch who wasn’t able to complete the first twenty pointer but pulled off the ten pointer and then tried but was not able to get the insane second twenty point climb. Next was fourth-place Marty Hart and Jeff Jones who were able to complete every bonus including the massive second twenty pointer now named "Hart-Attack" after driver Marty Hart. Hart was able to make up 47 points, shooting him into first place. Next were Bruce Zeller and George Poston in third-place. The duo was able to complete the ten-point bonus but because of a flat tire was not able to attempt the other two bonus lines. Then the underdog team of Jesse Haines and Brian Howard were up who only needed to finish with the ten point bonus to take first. This left one last competitor as World Champions Randy Torbett and Eric Nixon lined up to start. The 215 Team of Torbett and Nixon only had to finish the course to claim the title, but a rock outcropping two feet from the finish line threw Torbett’s vehicle into a flip causing him to not complete the course and crowning Haines and Howard as W.E.ROCK Super Modified National Champions.

The Legends class wasn’t as dramatic for the title as Bullock and Mumford didn’t even have to try the finals course in order to take the W.E.ROCK Legends Class National Championship Title even though the team still did and pulled out a great score. Regardless, the battle continued with Zager and Cole in sixth place and ruled out of the chase with a broken transfer case and the May brothers taking a solid 5th place sitting 80 points behind the tight fight for 2nd place. Becca Webster and Lance Clifford had a flawless run on the finals course but missed the podium by only one point behind Mike Cole and Lee Cline who had a bad run but carried enough to slide into third, 4 points behind second place Mike Hale and Carl Headlee.

The stock class was dominated on day two by Patterson and Roggy as not only did they pull of the largest deficit in history but also the National Championship for the Modified Stock Class. Second was Eastern Nationals winner West and Keller. Third was taken by Egger and Stanley beating 4th place Gardner by 48 points and leaving 5th place Bailey and Sharp by 58 points.