A Show for the Ages

Three first time winners crowned. Bill and Chris Barton become first father and son in competition against each other to score podium positions. Shannon Campbell pulls two in a row in Pro-Modified with Derek West in tow. Jake Good stuns field, and Adam Brooks steals Formula Toyota win.

Hannibal, Missouri has been rocking the W.E.ROCK Pro-National East Series since the 2006 season.  The track better known as, Hannibal Rocks, even played host to the 2008 W.E.ROCK Grand Nationals and Cooper Tires All Stock Nationals.  For the 2009 season, Hannibal, would be the second stop on the Pro-National East circuit. 

At the season opener in Dayton, Tennessee, Brad Styles (#27 Southern Styles Team) continued his season opener winning streak for the fifth season in a row.  Shannon Campbell (#5AZ Monster Energy Drinks Volkswagen Beatle) came from behind to defeat Derek West (#200 BF Goodrich/Jimmy’s 4x4 Jeep) in the Shootout.  Ricky Artes (#407 Jeepers Den Jeep) became only the third driver in Pro-National East Series to take a win in Stock-Modified.  The Formula Toyota also greeted its second winner since the class was introduced in 2006 with David Wine (#512) taking the win.

However, those stories are now old news, and all eyes would be focused on Hannibal Rocks.  Some of the teams would be moving from full time to part time teams including the teams of Brad Styles, Bill Durham, Matt Deas, Alan Rich, A.J. Condon, Matt Happick, and George Negron.  Those teams would not make the trip to Hannibal, but the teams of Alex Vaughn (Unlimited), Dan Gables (Pro-Modified), and Jake Good (Stock Modified) would enter the competition.  Dan Gables and Jake Good are both Hannibal ringers and compete in the sportsman RROCK Series regularly. The RROCK drivers compete at Hannibal Rocks, and know what to expect on the rocks at Hannibal rocks.  The question on the minds of the drivers was could these two teams bring major upsets in their classes.  The other thing on the team’s minds was the weather.  Hannibal has been notorious for its rain during the events, but a favorable weather forecast looked to give a rare dry event at the Hannibal track. 

The Hannibal Rocks course is built inside of the remains of a former rock quarry, and offers many different types of terrain for the teams to drive on.  Everything from rock gardens, loose rock and dirt climbs, slick rock faces, and a gnarly clean 17’ vertical climb would face the teams this weekend.  The courses would vary from super technical courses with tight gates, to long courses with a little bit of everything, and full throttle gut checks.  For the teams to find victory here they would have to be able to keep all four tires on the ground, find the right line, and use a one gate at a time strategy to make it through the courses.  If a team can accomplish these keys; a podium finish may be in store for them. 

Formula Toyota

The Formula Toyota class would run the “C” courses with Stock Modified.  Adam Brooks would fire the opening shot in the competition, and would be the low scorer on C1.  On C2, Dayton winner, David Wine, would tie Brooks for the low score, but Brooks would continue to hold the lead in the overall standings.  Adam Brooks would take a score of 40 points on C3, and would lose the lead in the overall standings after David Wine sets the low score.  David Wine would assume the lead in the overall standings over Adam Brooks and Wade Sullens.  Marty Maret would close the first day of competition out on top of the standings for obstacle C4.  David Wine would finish just one point behind, Maret, for the obstacle.  Wine would also continue to lead the standings at the half way mark. 

Formula Toyota: Halfway Standings

David Wine would enter the second day of competition with a healthy 28 point lead over Adam Brooks, and a 57 point lead over first time driver Marc Zaboth.  The second day saw the team of David Wine with a target on his back, and the team of Adam Brooks with a mission, to mount a comeback charge to win his first Formula Toyota event. 

Adam Brooks would begin the day by scoring the low water mark on Obstacle C1.  David Wine would be right on his heels, but Brooks would gain 8 points on Wine in the standings.  David Wine would continue to lead in the overall standings with three obstacles left to go.  David Wine would begin looking at victory lane after taking the low score on obstacle C2.  He would beat Adam Brooks by 1 point on the obstacle, and would extend his lead by 1 point in the overall standings.  Adam Brooks would trail David Wine by 21 points in the overall standings with just two obstacles to go in the competition.  Marty Maret would take the low score on C3, but it would be the DNF of leader David Wine that would change the competition.  Adam Brooks would assume the lead in the overall standings by just four points over David Wine going into the final obstacle.  Wade Sullens and Marc Zaboth would cap off the event with a tie on the final obstacle, C4.  However, it would be Adam Brooks edging out David Wine on the obstacle that would be the event decider.  Adam Brooks would come from behind with just two obstacles left to go to win the Formula Toyota class at Hannibal Rocks.  This would be Adam Brooks’s first victory.  David Wine would come up short in his bid for two in a row, and Wade Sullens would edge out Marc Zaboth for the final spot on the podium.

Formula Toyota: Final  Standings

Modified Stock

The Stock Modified Class would see the first of the two RROCK ringers, Jake Good, in the running.  Jake Good and his Geo Tracker have given the W.E.ROCK teams a challenge in the past, W.E.ROCK Hannibal 2008 and the Cooper Tires All Stock Nationals, both podium runs.  The teams were on notice for the Rubber Belly Racing team.  Ricky Artes and rookie Duane Garretson would fire the opening shots by tying for the low score on C1.  Jake Good would be the only driver to finish C2, and would storm to the overall lead.  Giles Verheecke would put a resurgent Team Digger on top of obstacle C3 by edging Ricky Artes by one point.  However, Jake Good would continue to hold the overall lead.  Ricky Artes would take the low score on C4 after putting up a perfect run.  However, his perfect run would not catch Jake Good who would be the overall leader by just one point over Artes at the halfway mark. 

Modified Stock: Halfway Standings

Jake Good would take command of the first obstacle of the second day.  Good would edge, Ricky Artes, by 10 points on C1.  Jake Good would begin to pull away from Artes with three obstacles left to go.  Could the Rubber Belly Racing team be on the verge of pulling a major and historic upset?  John Terhune would come through on C2 to take the low score by one point over Jake Good.  Ricky Artes would take a DNF on the obstacle, and would lose a ton of ground to leader Jake Good.  John Terhune would move to third place in the overall standings.  Jake Good would set the low water mark on C3.  With this run his advantage going into the final obstacle would be 67 points over John Terhune.  As long as Jake Good can keep his Geo running, victory would be his.  John Terhune would cement his second place run, and would edge Jake Good for the low score by one point on the final obstacle C4.  However, it would be Jake Good, the RROCK ringer, which would be in victory lane.  For the first time in the W.E.ROCK Pro-National East Series multiple drivers would find victory lane in the Stock Modified Class in the same season. 

Modified Stock: Final Standings

Pro-Modified

The highly competitive Pro-Modified class would find the second of the RROCK ringers, Dan Gables.  Gables comes in with the credentials to be a total dark horse when the dust settles at Hannibal rocks.  Gables has defeated Derek West in the RROCK Pro-Modified Class in the past, and looks to be an upset in this event. 

Ken Blume would open the competition with a low score on B1.  Derek West, Danny Roher, and Dan Gables would follow Blume in the standings.  Shannon Campbell would put up the low score on B2 followed by Danny Roher, and Mike Hale.  Danny Roher would become the new overall leader followed closely by Derek West and Shannon Campbell.  Shannon Campbell and Danny Roher would tie for the low score on obstacle B3 with Bunny Rose nipping right on their heels just two points off the mark.  Danny Roher would continue to lead the overall standings over Shannon Campbell and Derek West.  Shannon Campbell, Derek West, and Danny Roher would all tie for the low score on obstacle B4.  Mike Cole would pull up just one point shy of the low water mark for the fourth obstacle.  Danny Roher would be the leader at half way with Shannon Campbell, Derek West, Mike Cole, Ken Blume and Dan Gables making up the top 6 in the standings. 

Pro-Modified: Halfway standings

The Shootout would be on many of the team’s minds entering the second day.  Not to mention a close race was underway for the win.  Four obstacles would set the field for the shootout, but the win comes down to the all important final shootout.  The Pro-Modified teams would switch to the “A” courses for the second day of competition. 

Shannon Campbell would knock off the low score on A1, but would be followed closely by Derek West, Danny Roher, and Mike Cole who would all be just one point off the pace set by Shannon Campbell.  Danny Roher would barely hang onto the lead in the overall standings.  Shannon Campbell would inch one point closer to Roher in the standings.  It’s starting to sound like a broken record, but Shannon Campbell would again set the low-water mark on A2.  Shannon would not be alone; Derek West, Ken Blume, and Mike Hale would also tie the mark set by the Arizona driver.  Danny Roher would finish two points off of Shannon’s pace, and would lose the overall lead to Shannon Campbell.  On A3 the same story would happen as four teams would again tie for the low score on the obstacle.  Shannon Campbell, Ken Blume, Ron Lind, and Derek West would all tie for the low score after putting up -13 on the run.  Danny Roher and Dan Gable would finish just one point off of their pace.  Shannon Campbell would begin to pull away from Danny Roher in the standings, but a two point advantage going into the final regulation obstacle would mean this was still a wide open event.  The final obstacle would see no less than seven teams tying for the low score.  Shannon Campbell for the seventh time would be the low scorer, but would have to share that mark with Derek West, Danny Roher, Mike Cole, Mike Hale, Ken Blume, and Dan Gable.  Shannon Campbell would finish the regulation competition, but with the shootout looming, could Danny Roher or Derek West make a charge to win the competition?  In the shootout, Danny Roher, and Derek West would both make valiant efforts, but Shannon Campbell would hold on to take the win by just six points over Derek West. 

Pro-Modified: Final Standings

Unlimited

The Unlimited class would begin their event off with a bang, and a tie for the lead.  Nothing surprising about that, but who was battling for the lead was surprising.  Carl Shortridge and Tom Campbell would be the drivers tied for the lead going out of obstacle A1.  Rookie driver, Alex Vaughn, would make short work of obstacle A2, and would be the low scorer.  Carl Shortridge would gain a small two point lead over Tom Campbell in the overall standings.  Obstacle A3 would see a three way tie for the low score with the father and son team of “Wild Bill” and Chris “Chicky” Barton, and Brian Milsap coming off the obstacle with the low score.  Tom Campbell would make up the ground to tie Carl Shortridge in the overall standings.  Like obstacle A3, obstacle A4 would again see the Barton’s in a three way tie for the low score on the obstacle.  Tom Campbell, would complete the three way tie, and would find himself with the lead at halfway. Carl Shortridge would be right on his fenders just one point out of the lead.  Chicky Barton and Darren Casada would make up the top four after day one.

Unlimited: Halfway standings

For Tom Campbell, day one was exactly what the team wanted.  However, day two would start off with a DNF.  Tom Campbell would take a score of 38 points as Bill Barton would kick off the day with the low score on obstacle B1.  Carl Shortridge would assume the overall lead from Campbell, with Chicky Barton and Darren Casada making up the rest of the top three.  Chicky Barton would follow in his father’s footsteps and would be the low scorer on obstacle B2.  This would allow Barton to make up ground on Carl Shortridge in the overall standings.  Shortridge would continue to be the leader by just six points over Chicky Barton, and Darren Casada would continue to hold third.  Tom Campbell would show the field that he was still alive in the competition by setting the low score on obstacle B3. Chicky Barton would be able to blast by Carl Shortridge in the overall standings.  Shortridge would who would face mechanical gremlins would fail to finish B3 and would score a damaging 38 points.  Bill Barton would show that he had a smoking hot rod under him, and would close out the second day of regulation competition the way he began it, with low score. “Wild Bill” Barton would set the low score on obstacle B4.  His son would be the driver to close out the regulation on top of the standings.  Chicky Barton would go into the Shootout with the lead over Carl “Wild nut Express” Shortridge, “Wild Bill” Barton, Darren Casada, Tom “Major Rock” Campbell, and Alex Vaughn.  In a shootout that would go down as one with a lot of action for the unlimited class, Chris “Chicky” Barton would manage to hold off a hard charging Carl Shortridge and his father Bill Barton to pick up his first career win.  For the first time in W.E.ROCK history, father and son teams, who are competing in class against each other, have made it onto the podium.   

Unlimited: Final results:

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