W.E. ROCK :: World Extreme Rockcrawling

W.E.Rock Pro-National West Series

Round 1: Tucson

Recap

The War over Tucson ends with four victorious

By: Aaron C. Campbell

W.E.Rock Live, Editor-in-chief

A long winter’s break has come to an end. With the dawning of the spring comes the renewal life. The flowers begin to bloom, and the spring winds begin to blow. Ah spring, that wonderful time of year when the harshness of winter comes to a close. With the start of spring, the W.E.Rock nation comes out of hibernation. The rigs that will do battle across the rocks either thaw out from winter, or are new creations of the souls that want them to be on the rocks. The hibernation has come to a close, and the teams find that the start of the Pro National West Series begins on the new track at Pima Motorsports Park in Tucson, Arizona.

The new Pima Motorsports Park Rockcrawl Arena is a state of the art facility located on the outskirts of the city of Tucson. The facility sits in an area that is known for speed. Tucson Raceway Park, which was on the original NASCAR Camping World Truck Series tracks, is directly across the street. Tucson Raceway Park held the third ever race for the then, NASCAR Super Truck series in 1994. Right down the street from Pima Motorsports Park is Southwestern International Raceway, which hosts NHRA sanctioned drag racing events. Also, Pima Motorsports Park is a state of the art motocross facility with its own local series.

The new facility at Pima Motorsports Park is a man made facility, unlike any other man-made facility ever constructed. The new course was constructed over four areas, inside of a bowl. The bowl would allow spectators a bird’s eye view of all the action taking place from all angles. The construction would still consist of the normal gunite concrete like the other man made facilities. The way the concrete was sprayed and then smoothed out in sections would allow for a lot less traction than what was previously available at other facilities. Plus the sculpting of the ground would allow for more natural shapes to be developed on the course. In addition to the course having the concrete shaped more with a natural feel, the addition of fill dirt through out the course would really deliver an unpredictable surface for the teams.

The festivities would kick off with, Media Day, on Wednesday. The teams of Mike Klensin, Brad Lovell, and Todd McCullen would take to the track to give the television cameras from, Tucson ABC Affiliate, KGUN and reporters Jake Knapp and Joel Waldman the ride of their lives. Then the circus would move down to Desert Rat Off-Road Center for technical inspection, and over to Chuy’s Mesquite Broiler for the Starting Lineup Draw Party. The Unlimited Class would see Brent Bradshaw, Cody Waggoner, Matt Messer, and Todd Young take the top spots in the draw. Hal Frost, Buzz Bronsema, Jason Willis, and Nicole Johnson would be the top draws for the Pro-Modified Class. Justin Hall would be the pole sitter in Stock Modified, and Brian Ellinger and Jeff Mello would be the leaders off the line for Formula Toyota.

Both Formula Toyota and Stock Modified compete on the same courses.

The Formula Toyota class would kick off their 2009 season with a war of top talent. The field would consist of just three teams after the DNS of the Mitchell Burke team. C1 John James would deliver the opening shot and would sit as the early leader after a brilliant run on C1. He would take -1 points, which would put him just two off of a perfect score, and 9 points ahead of closest challenger, Jeff Mello. On C2, the teams would struggle. Scores would soar, and it would come down to who made the less mistakes. Jeff Mello would just eek out the low score, 35 points, over John James who put up 35 and Brian Ellinger who took 38. John James would still hold an 8 point lead in the overall standings going into the 3^rd obstacle of the competition. Obstacle C3 would show that anything could happen. A minor mistake would knock, John James, down the standings. His score of, 19 points, would leave him vulnerable in what was a tight race. Jeff Mello would take up the call, and would deliver super smooth run. Mello would put up just 8 points, and would take the provisional lead by 3 over, John James. However, the story of the obstacle was the one who had lurked in 3^rd for the first half of the day. Brian Ellinger would be the low-water marker with an almost flawless run, and a score of just 1 point. Ellinger would sneak past James for 2^nd place overall, and would just be 1 point off the lead going into the final obstacle of the day. Who was going to exit day 1 with the lead? All that lay in front of the teams was Obstacle C4. Jeff Mello would make just minor mistakes, and would take 11 points. Brian Ellinger would cross the line ahead of Mello and would take just 3 points, but John James would reclaim the top spot for the second time of the day and would take just 1 point. John James may have been the driver with two low scores, but it was the consistency of Brian Ellinger that would give him the lead at half way. Brian Ellinger would lead John James by a point, and Jeff Mello would only be 7 markers off the pace in the overall scores. With a race this tight at halfway the race could fall to anyone. Which driver would come out on top at the end of the second day of competition? The teams would have to ponder that till the next morning.

The Formula Toyota and Stock Modified would share the concrete in Tucson. However, the closeness of the race in Formula Toyota would not translate over to the stock class. Justin Hall would dominate on the day. He would set the low score on all 4 obstacles by a healthy margin, and would hold a major lead over Larry Karver and Giovanni Lopez going into the second day of competition. At the halfway point, the race would be Hall's to lose. However, could the second day of competition spell something different for the stock class?

Pro-Modified would roll into Tucson with the largest field in competition, 19 teams, on the new Pima Motorsports Park Rock Crawl Arena. The diverse field would find them staring down the “B” obstacles for day 1, and would also find themselves with many major bonus opportunities on their courses. Obstacle B1 would start off with a bang. Of the 19 rigs, 15 teams would finish with a score of, 13 points or lower. Included in that high percentage of low scores a super tight race for the lead had formed. Tracy Jordan and Troy Bailey would set the low score at -12 points, just one point off of a perfect run. Brian Errea and Brad Lovell would put up a score of -11 to tie for 3^rd place, and 4 teams; Shannon Campbell, John Hall, Bill Kunz, and Dana Verdoorn would take -10 points and would tie for 5^th. Obstacle B2 would provide the first shock of the day for the Pro-Modified teams. John Hall would dominate the obstacle with a score of -8. His score of -8 would be just 5 points from a perfect -13, and would put him solidly in the lead. Mike Klensin, Shannon Campbell, and Brad Lovell would also go into negative territory on B2, and would take -1 points for their runs. Early leaders, Troy Bailey and Tracy Jordan would stay tied after taking 6 points for their run on B2. In the overall score, John Hall would find himself with a 6 point lead over, Brad Lovell, and 7 points ahead of Shannon Campbell and Brian Errea.

John Hall's great day would fall apart on Obstacle B3. The early leader would find him under heavy pressure, and would not hold. His run of 38 points would be disastrous for his effort in the early running of the event. Not to be outdone, Shannon Campbell, and his new VW Bug would also fall victim to gremlins while out on course, and Shannon would take a disappointing score of 36. However, B3 would be a disaster for all but 5 teams. Troy Bailey would survive the obstacle with a score of 9 points, and would take the low score for the obstacle over Tracy Jordan who would put up 10 points. Buzz Bronsema would take 3^rd after a run of 18 points, and Brad Lovell would match Bronsema on the score charts. Brian Errea would survive to take 5^th for the obstacle at 22 points. A dog race was beginning to get underway at the top. Troy Bailey would reclaim the top spot. Tracy Jordan would be just 1 point off of Bailey's pace, and Brad Lovell would be just 3 markers off the top spot. Brian Errea and John Hall would round out the top 5 going into the halfway obstacle.

The race for the top spot would again take another interesting turn on B4. Teams may have struggled on B3, but on B4 the field was back on their “A” game. A total of 9 teams would put up scores in the negative territory and 13 of the 19 teams would finish with scores lower than 10 points. Buzz Bronsema and Shon Wilson made their presence known to all by putting up a perfect run of -23 points on B4. Tracy Jordan would follow right behind them at -20 points. Shannon Campbell, Troy Bailey, and Todd McCullen would put up a run of -12 points. Becca Webster and Brad Lovell would put up -11, and Brian Errea and Dana Verdoorn would put up -9 points for B4. When the dust settled after B4, Tracy Jordan would find himself in the lead at halfway by 7 points over Troy Bailey. Brad Lovell would be 11 points off of Jordan's pace. Brian Errea, Shannon Campbell, and Buzz Bronsema would make up the rest of the top 6. Going into the second half of the event the question on everyone's mind was could anyone pull away from the rest of the competition, would was this going to be a knock down drag out street fight in Tucson for a spot in the shootout? There were 19 teams there and only 6 were going to make it to the shootout.

The Unlimited class would find itself facing down the “A” courses for the first day of competition. The “A” Courses would be setup more straight forward, and with little bonus opportunity, the teams that wanted to find themselves at the head of the pack would need to deliver very technical crawling. Obstacle A1 would be the first one for the teams to tackle. A 10 point bonus would be up for grabs for the teams. They could finish the regulation obstacle and go after the bonus with the time they would have remaining. However, if a team would attempt the bonus they could not use their winch on the bonus. When all was said only 4 of the 9 teams would finish the obstacle. Cody Waggoner would come out with the low water mark of 9 points. Jason Paule would cross the line with 12 points. Jesse Haines, who was looking for his 5^th consecutive in the Pro-National West Series, would cross the line in 3^rd with 14 points, and Rick Mooneyham would cross with 20 points. Most of the teams would make it through just three gates: Brent Bradshaw, Matt Messer, Todd Young, and Nate LaRusso. They would take a score of 37 for the run, and Andrew Paulson would only make one gate and would take 39 points. Obstacle A2 would offer no bonus, and the progression points up for grabs would be important in the very tight races that were forming on the track. Brent Bradshaw and Matt Messer would recover from their wobbles on A1, and would be the low scores on A2. Their score of -2 was breathtaking as they were just 2 points off of a perfect score. Like A1, four teams would match scores, but instead of only getting three progression gates, the four teams would finish with 1 point. The four teams taking just 1 point were: Cody Waggoner, Jesse Haines, Jason Paule, and Todd Young. Andrew Paulson would recover from his run on A1, and would finish A2 with just 9 points. Nate LaRusso would bobble on the course and would cross with a score of 31 points.

At the top of the standings a race was underway. Cody Waggoner would continue to lead the overall, but lurking just 3 points behind him was, World Champion, Jason Paule. Former Grand National Champion, Jesse Haines was in third just five points behind Waggoner. Rick Mooneyham was would hold 4^th, and a tie for 5^th was between Matt Messer and Brent Bradshaw.

The teams would move on to A3, and again the teams would find no chance for a bonus on the course. However, a tough course would face the teams. Out of gate 1 the teams would have to hang an almost 90 degree turn across some nasty terrain. From there the teams would head down to a tough double gate section. The teams would have to head down and hang a 360 degree turn to go through gate section two, and would cross back over and through gate section three. From there the teams would have to hang another 90 degree turn to find the exit gate. Nate LaRusso was not having an event to remember. His first two runs were high scoring affairs, and this would only set LaRusso on fire. Nate would fire out of the gate and would show the teams exactly how to do the obstacle. LaRusso’s score of just 4 points would give him the low-water mark for the obstacle. Jesse Haines would get his first opportunity to make a break for the lead after finishing the obstacle with just 5 points. Brent Bradshaw would cross the line in third with 12 points for the obstacle as the #12 team started it’s recovery from it’s slow start on A1. Overall leaders, Cody Waggoner and Jason Paule, would find themselves sitting mid pack with runs that were not up their standards of performance. Waggoner would cross the line with 23 points, and Paule would cross with 25 points. The rest of the teams, Paulson, Messer, Mooneyham, and Young would fail to finish the obstacle.

In the overall standings, Jesse Haines would assume the lead over Cody Waggoner by 13 points. Jason Paule would fall to 3^rd overall, 18 points behind Haines. Brent Bradshaw would move into a comfortable spot in 4^th place. Rick Mooneyham would fall to 5^th overall, and Nate LaRusso would jump to 6^th just one point ahead of Matt Messer.

The major worry for teams when it comes to the man made courses is with the availability of traction. Too much traction could cause drive train parts to build up so much pressure that the metal snaps. This would be a major problem on A4. Over half of the field would break in the same area, and would fail to finish. The deadly obstacle would take overall leader Jesse Haines. A mechanical failure would give Haines a score of 38, and would cost him the overall lead. The other teams taking 38 points for the obstacle would include: Matt Messer, Todd Young, Nate LaRusso, and Rick Mooneyham. Andrew Paulson would cross the finish line in his rig, and would take 26 points for his effort. Brent Bradshaw would again finish 3^rd on obstacle A4, and would sneak ahead of Paulson with 24 points. However it was the two that would dominate the obstacle that were impressive. Jason Paule and Cody Waggoner would destroy the field after using the available traction to their advantage. Both Paule and Waggoner would take just three points for the obstacle, and would look good heading into the second day of competition.

In the overall scores, Cody Waggoner would reassume the lead just five points ahead of Jason Paule. Jesse Haines would fall to 3^rd overall, 22 points out of the lead. Brent Bradshaw would sit in 4^th, 13 points behind Haines. Rick Mooneyham would hold the 5^th spot just 4 points ahead of Andrew Paulson. The race for the shootout was looking to be anyone’s race as the spread from 6^th to 9^th was just 11 points. Paulson would be on the bubble heading into the second day just, one point ahead of Nate LaRusso, two points ahead of Matt Messer, and 11 points ahead Todd Young. Heading into the second day of competition could Jesse Haines recover from his major failure on A4 to make a charge for the win? However it was starting to look like this race would be a street fight between the, California kid, Cody Waggoner, and the smooth South Dakota driver, Jason Paule. Also, who would make the field for the shootout? Could Paulson overcome the gremlins that had been plaguing him, or could any of the other teams sneak their way into the shootout?

The second day of competition would start off the same way that the first day of competition did with beautiful weather greeting everyone in the Tucson area. The teams now had an idea of how the course was behaving, and for the teams with many competitions on the man made surfaces, the Tucson circuit was behaving as a whole new animal. With two classes, Formula Toyota and Stock Modified, with no shootout ahead of them the teams would have to put everything into the four obstacles ahead of them. The Pro-Modified class was sitting on the largest field with 19 teams, and only 6 shootout spots. The race for the Shootout was going to be one to watch, and with the Unlimited Class found a dog race at the front and for the Shootout. Anything would be possible on this second day in Tucson.

The teams in both Formula Toyota and Stock Modified were on the same courses as the day before, but the kicker was that now the teams would have to attack the courses in reverse configuration. The three teams competing all had their chance at the front of the field, and Brian Ellinger entered the day with the lead. On C1, Brian Ellinger would take 7 points, and would lose the lead as the race between John James and Jeff Mello went right back into full swing. John James would narrowly beat Jeff Mello by just one point on C1. The field would only be separated by just 9 points going into the 6^th obstacle of competition. John James would be the leader over Jeff Mello and Brian Ellinger. C2 would be difficult on the competition, and Jeff Mello would narrowly finish the obstacle. His score of 32 points would be four points better than John James and five points better than Brian Ellinger. John James would continue to lead after six obstacles, but Jeff Mello was right there three points out of the lead. Brian Ellinger would begin to fade, but with Ellinger just 10 points out of the lead he could find himself leading if both, James and Mello had rough runs on the upcoming obstacles. On C3, John James would put up a score of -2 points. That would be the best run of the day, but Jeff Mello was right there with a score of zero points. Brian Ellinger would again fade with a score of 9 points for C3. Going into the final obstacle of the competition, John James and Jeff Mello were neck and neck. Separated by just five points this race was going to come down to the wire. Brian Ellinger, would post up 14 points for the obstacle, and would finish the competition with a score 121 points. John James would improve on Ellinger’s score to post up a score of 10 points. This would mean that Jeff Mello would have to score 4 points to win the event. Mello ran the obstacle strong, and would even set the low score. However, it would not be enough as Mello would set the low score at 9 points, and would come in second for the event. John James would hold on by just four points to claim the season opening win.

In Stock Modified, there wasn’t much of a race sitting ahead of Justin Hall. He would easily breeze to the victory. Rookie Giovanni Lopez would manage to put up the lowest score on obstacle C3. His score of 9 points would beat Larry Karver and Justin Hall as the entire stock class would finish C3. However, Justin Hall would dominate the weekend and would win with a comfortable margin of 104 points over Larry Karver. Giovanni Lopez would round out the field.

The Pro-Modified class would move onto the “A” obstacles for the second day of competition. A1 was tough on the Unlimited Class, and it would be equally as tough on the Pro-Modified teams. A total of 12 of the 19 teams would fail to finish. It would catch some of the most experienced teams off guard including Tracy Jordan and Shannon Campbell. Both of them would salvage a score of 37 points. Becca Webster would survive to put up 32 points. Bill Kunz and Troy Bailey would breeze through and would take 18 points. Nicole Johnson would show the field that she could find her way across the obstacle and would take 11 points. Buzz Bronsema would eek past Johnson and claim just 10 points. Brian Errea would squeeze past Bronsema and would scrape by with 9 points, and Brad Lovell would trump the field with the low score of 8 points.

This would move Brad Lovell to the lead in the overall standings. Troy Bailey would find himself sitting second overall just 6 points out of the lead. Brian Errea was sitting in third overall just 8 points out of the lead. Tracy Jordan and Buzz Bronsema found themselves just three points apart holding 4^th and 5^th place in the standings. Shannon Campbell would be on the bubble with Nicole Johnson right on his tail just four points out of the shootout in 7^th place.

Bill Kunz would lead the way on A2. His score of -3 would almost be a flawless run, and would beat Tracy Jordan by 1 point. Troy Bailey and Todd McCullen would put up runs at -1 to take a tie for 3^rd on the obstacle. Buzz Bronsema would pull a score of zero, with John Hall and Craig Thompson scoring just 1 point. Overall leader Brad Lovell would stumble on A2 and would take 8 points. Shannon Campbell would hold a slight edge over Nicole Johnson as Campbell would cross the line with 8 points over Johnson’s 11 points. Brian Errea would stumble on his run and would collect a devastating 20 points.

In the overall standings, Troy Bailey would assume the lead by three points over Brad Lovell. Tracy Jordan would slide into 3^rd overall, 11 points out of the lead. Buzz Bronsema would fall to 4^th overall, and would be 16 points out of the lead. Brian Errea would take the biggest hit in the standings as he would stumble from third to fifth overall. Shannon Campbell would continue to hold the advantage on the bubble over Nicole Johnson. Campbell would go into the 7^th obstacle of competition with a 7 point advantage over Johnson.

Obstacle A3 would again not play friendly as 9 teams would fail to finish the obstacle. This would include Nicole Johnson. Her score of 40 points would be devastating to her shootout bid. Her score of 40 points would effectively put her out of the shootout. She would lose, 19, valuable points to Shannon Campbell who would finish the obstacle with 21 points. Troy Bailey would also not have the run that he would want, but he would finish with 22 points. Buzz Bronsema would also put up 22 points for the run. John Hall would reemerge to place 4^th on the obstacle with 19 points. Brian Errea and Tracy Jordan would recover some lost ground finishing with a score of 13 points for both of their runs, but the best run of the obstacle would go to Brad Lovell who would eek out 11 points for the obstacle.

In the overall standings, Brad Lovell would retake the lead from Troy Bailey who would fall to second 8 points from the lead. Tracy Jordan would continue to hold on to 3^rd and would close the gap to second to just two points. Jordan would be 10 points out of the lead going into the final obstacle of regulation. Brian Errea would recover 4^th place from Buzz Bronsema, and Errea would sit just two points ahead of Bronsema in the standings. Shannon Campbell could breathe a sigh of relief as Nicole Johnson would stumble and would give Shannon a 26 point cushion with one obstacle to go in regulation. Bill Kunz and John Hall would both still be in mathematical contention, but with both drivers over 30 points off the bubble a miracle would have to be in order for them to find themselves in the shootout.

A4 would be the decider for the shootout. Shannon Campbell would eliminate Nicole Johnson, Bill Kunz, and John Hall after delivering up a score the lowest score of 1 point. Campbell would put himself in the shootout. Buzz Bronsema would take three points on his run for second on the obstacle. Becca Webster would show a great 3^rd place on the obstacle with a run of 11 points. Troy Bailey, Mike Klensin, Craig Thompson, and Hal Frost would all cross the line with 13 points. Brian Errea would finish with 14 points, and Tracy Jordan and Nicole Johnson would finish with 17 for the obstacle. However, Brad Lovell would fail to finish and would take 36 points.

Troy Bailey would finish the regulation competition with the lead. Bailey would go into the Shootout in first place with a 6 point lead over Buzz Bronsema and Tracy Jordan. Bronsema and Jordan would enter the Shootout tied for second overall. Brad Lovell would fall the 4^th overall, 15 points, out of the lead and that would put him in a tie for 4^th with Brian Errea. Shannon Campbell would round out the field for the Shootout, 37 points out of the lead, and 22 points out of 4^th.

The Shootout was going to one for the ages. This shootout had the potential to produce a major upset. All six teams in the shootout could have a shot at the win with the obstacle offering the teams nothing but the toughest nastiest terrain they had faced all weekend. The Shootout course was one of the longest seen ever, and would be a test of man vs. machine vs. the clock.

Shannon Campbell would be the first to attack the course. He would not disappoint. At times through the weekend it appeared that Shannon was lost with his new car, but by the time he arrived at the shootout the bugs were worked out of his bug. Shannon would deliver a huge opening to the shootout with a score of -33 points. Brian Errea would be next up. He would also hit in the negative territory, but his score, of -2 points, would be disappointing. Could Errea hold on to a top 5, or would he fall back to 6^th because of his run? He would be sitting on pins and needles to find out. Brad Lovell would be up to bat next. Brad and Roger Lovell are two brothers that compete together in many rock sports, and pressure is something that the brothers are used to. They were paying attention to what Shannon accomplished on the course, and made improvements to the run. They dominated the course, and put up the lowest score so far on the run, an impressive -46 points. Could this run be the game changers, and allow the Lovell brothers to sneak away with the win? Tracy Jordan came into the shootout in a provisional spot for the podium. Shannon Campbell’s run of -33 put him in striking distance, and put Tracy in a position where he would have to perform better than -2 points to hold on to the podium spot. Tracy’s run on the obstacle was smooth, but he was having a run that looked similar to Brian Errea’s. As the dust settled, Tracy Jordan, put up a high score for the obstacle, but his finish, of -6 points, would secure his place on the podium for the race. Buzz Bronsema would be the next to attack the course. Entering the course, Bronsema, would be tied with Tracy Jordan second overall. For Bronsema to take over 2^nd place on the charts, he would have to score better than Tracy. It didn’t take long to figure out that Buzz was on a mission. Bronsema and spotter Shon Wilson looked to be on their old form, and delivered an impressive run. Their run was competitive with Shannon, but how many points did they score? For them to take the lead provisionally they would have to put up -38 points, and the score came down to the count. When the dust cleared, Bronsema, would take -33 points, and would sit behind Brad Lovell in the standings. Troy Bailey was last to attempt the course. For Bailey to win this race he was going to have to deliver a run of negative -31 points or less. Things started out rough for Bailey, and mechanical problems were showing in the early stages, but he was looking alright through the gate sections. However, the run was not meant to be, and Bailey’s rig would not hold together. He would fail to finish, and Brad Lovell would accomplish an amazing feat, a 4^th to win comeback.

Brad Lovell’s margin of victory would be just four points over Buzz Bronsema. Tracy Jordan would barely hang on to his podium spot after a resurgent, Shannon Campbell, delivered early in the shootout. Brian Errea would fall to 5^th, and Troy Bailey would fall from the lead to 6^th place overall.

The Unlimited class would be up on the “B” courses for the second half of competition. Coming into the day, Cody Waggoner was leading. However, he would be in a tight race with Jason Paule, and their margin of, five points, would mean the pressure was on and one mistake by Waggoner could cost him the lead. On B1, the teams would have their first look at a bonus attempt, and now strategy was going to come to play. Cody Waggoner set the low score after running -11 points. However, it would be Matt Messer who would come out of nowhere. Messer was mired with problems all through the first day, but he got it figured out on B1. Messer would cross the line with -10 points. Jesse Haines would use his smooth style to take -9 points, and Jason Paule would cross the line with -8.

By virtue of his low score on the obstacle, Cody Waggoner, would expand his lead to, 8 points, over Jason Paule. Jesse Haines would continue to hold 3^rd a total of 24 points off the lead. Brent Bradshaw would continue to hold 4^th. Matt Messer would jump to 5^th in the standings after his great run on B1. In the race for the shootout, Rick Mooneyham would be the new guy on the bubble, and with the teams of Andrew Paulson and Nate LaRusso within 6 points of Mooneyham any mistake could make or break their shootout chances.

Brent Bradshaw would be the guy to watch on B2. He would show the unlimited teams that he was there. His low mark of -1 would be best of the obstacle. Jesse Haines and Jason Paule would both take 1 point on their runs, and Rick Mooneyham would deliver a badly needed run of 7 points. Cody Waggoner would not have the run he wanted, and would take 9 points.

With Waggoner having a bobble on his run, a tie for the lead was the order of business. Waggoner and Paule would be tired for the lead going into the 7^th obstacle of competition. Jesse Haines would even close some major ground and would make up 1/3 of his deficit going into the 7^th obstacle. Could Jesse Haines be rejoining the race for the win? Matt Messer would continue to hold on to 5^th overall, but a charging Rick Mooneyham was just 3 points behind him in 6^th. Mooneyham’s awesome run on the obstacle would help give him some padding on the bubble as now, Nate LaRusso, was 18 points behind Mooneyham in 7^th with Andrew Paulson fading to 8^th, 28 points behind Mooneyham.

Obstacle B3 would be the 7^th obstacle that the unlimited teams would attack for the weekend. It would also provide some major shakeups for the teams. Jason Paule came into the obstacle tied for the lead, and with the pressure on he would set the low-water mark at -10 points. Jesse Haines would continue making up ground with another low score. Haines would put up the second best score of -9 points on B3. Cody Waggoner would again lose ground on this run, and with a score of -3 points would give up valuable ground to Jason Paule. Nate LaRusso would make a huge statement by delivering a score of -2 points on his run.

With the Shootout on the team’s collective minds the scores were now more valuable than ever. A tight race was going on at the top of the standings. Jason Paule caught Cody Waggoner on the last obstacle, but now was starting to pull away from Cody Waggoner. Paule would carry a 7 point advantage going into the last obstacle of regulation. Waggoner also had a surging Jesse Haines to watch out for. Haines was now 10 points away from Waggoner in the standings. Brent Bradshaw was still all by himself in 4^th place overall. The race for the shootout was going to be a fight to the finish. Nate LaRusso’s great run on the obstacle would put him tied for 5^th place with Matt Messer, and just 1 point ahead of Rick Mooneyham who was now on the outside looking in 7^th place. Andrew Paulson and Todd Young were still mathematically in the hunt for the Shootout, but their deficits of, 25 and 34 points, would make their shootout chances slim.

Obstacle B4 would be the final regulation obstacle for all of the teams in the Unlimited Class. This would be a totally accomplishable obstacle for the teams, and all teams would finish the obstacle. Brent Bradshaw would again take the low-water mark for this run on the obstacle. His score of -13 would cap off his day and give him a perfect run for the obstacle. Cody Waggoner would recover from his stumbles on the day and would put up a second best score of -11 points. Matt Messer would deliver another strong run, and would put up another run of -10 points. Jesse Haines would again show consistency, and would put up -8 points on his run. Nate LaRusso would deliver a nice looking run to take 2 points, and Jason Paule would not have the run he wanted and would score 8 points for the obstacle.

Heading into the Shootout, three teams were going home, and a hard fought fight to make the shootout was over. Nate LaRusso would manage to hold on to 6^th place over Rick Mooneyham, and would find himself going to the shootout. Andrew Paulson and Todd Young would have nice runs on the final regulation obstacle, but would come up short in their Shootout bids. Matt Messer would come up large and secure his spot in the shootout in the 5^th position. Brent Bradshaw would be secured in his bid for 4^th. Jesse Haines at one time in the competition appeared to be out of contention. He would make up some serious ground during the day, and would enter the shootout in 3^rd position, 13 points out of the lead. Jason Paule would have to take second for the regulation, and would have to face a deficit of 11 points going into the Shootout. Cody Waggoner found himself at the end of the 8^th obstacle the same way he found himself at the halfway point, in the lead. Waggoner was the guy that everyone was gunning for, and was now just one run away from victory lane. Could Waggoner hold on, or would Jason Paule or Jesse Haines have a huge surprise in store for Waggoner?

Well the Shootout would not disappoint. The Unlimited and Pro-Modified teams would share the same Shootout obstacle. First up would be Nate LaRusso. LaRusso would have mechanical failure during his run, fail to finish, and would take 37 points on his run. Matt Messer would be next up. Messer would deliver a thrilling run, which would throw the crowd into a frenzy, and the high flying Messer would take -5 points for his efforts. Brent Bradshaw was looking to continue to show the teams that he was the real deal, and he did not disappoint on his run. The hard charging Bradshaw would deliver a run that would take the low-score on the obstacle for the moment. His score of -34 was super competitive and showed the Trail Tough team as the contender that they are. Jesse Haines would improve on what Bradshaw showed, and would put up a thrilling run and would take -39 points. For Jason Paule to continue to hold on to his position he would have to deliver a run of -37 points or better. Paule would have a challenge ahead of him, but in the end would improve on what Haines did and would take -40 points for his run. With the run, Paule would leave the pressure on the leader Waggoner. Cody would have to put up a run of -30 points or better to take the win. With the pressure on, Waggoner, would drive through the courses like a man possessed. Waggoner would not only deliver under pressure, but would put up the best run on the course with a score of -46 points. Waggoner would pick up the win over Jason Paule and Jesse Haines. Waggoner’s margin of victory, 17 points, was a hard fought and delivered over the final two obstacles. With the win, Waggoner, snaps Jesse Haines’s Pro-National West Series winning steak, and puts a target on Waggoner heading into Cedar City.

Next up for the circuit is a place where the teams appeared twice last season. The legendary Three-Peaks Off Highway Park in Cedar City is one of the oldest competition spots in the sport of rockcrawling. Legends have been made on the rocks in Cedar City, and the area is a hot bed for talent. Last season, Jesse Haines was dominating in Unlimited winning both times at Cedar City. Brian Errea took a win that is still being talked about, and Brad Lovell was just dominating when he picked up his win here last season. Will Justin Hall be able to walk the stock field, or can someone challenge the young driver in Cedar City? Will Jeff Mello be at Cedar City, or will John James have another threat staring him down at Cedar City? All of that and more will take place as the Pro-National West Series makes the trip to southern Utah, May 2^nd-3^rd.