The Trails Training Center in Sequatchie Tennesse hosted the WERock Eastern Nationals. The Eastern WERock circuit headed south to crawl in this new location, TTC is motorcycle trails resorts nestled in the tree covered hills outside of Chatanooga, the rugged terrain around the resort gave the competitors a lot of challenges. The already tough terrain containing lots of large rocks in dense forest was made even more challenging after Fridays rainstorms. As the first competitors hit the rocks they were met by very slick mud, as the day moved on the mud began to offer more traction but traction was still the drivers biggest challenge.

The muddy conditions were hard on the drivers in the unlimited class leaving most of the drivers with many maximum scores of 40, but amidst the plethora of 40 scores was a few very low numbers from Shannon Campbell and Matt Deas. Shannon is riding on a wave after landing a large sponsorship deal from Monster Energy drinks, scored a -3 score on the A4 course bringing his total score down to 90. But Shannon?s less impressive runs of 40 and 37 on the first two course took his score over that of Matt Deas. Matt was pretty consistent all day scoring 4, 38, 11, and 16 giving him an overall score of 69 putting him in first at the end of the first day. ?The wet made it a lot more challenging but it definetly feels good going into day 2 in the lead? said Matt. Local heroes George Negron and Randy Torbett ended the day in 11th and 9th. George had a disappointing result due to some controversial judging, and Randys driving was good but still had scores in the high thirties. These two drivers have excellent driving skills are mainly self funded really bring out the true essence of the sport. Randy?s rig looks a lot different than the corporate sponsored rig of Shannon Campbell but as a spectator yelled during Randys run that ole man can sure drive?. That statement really sums up Randys style.

Mike Cole scored an outstanding -11 on the B4 course leaving him in first place with a 16 point lead over Lou Levy in second. Aside from Mike and Lou the majority of the drivers finished day one with scores in the 150?s. Twelve drivers finished with scores between 153 and 156, so competition will be tight on the second day of competitioon.

Derek west had an excellent start to the weekend in the Mod Stock class with a -2 score on the C1 course, his results of 40 and 36 on C2 and C3 weren?t that great but a stellar performance of 4 on C4 was enough to leave him in first with an overall score of 78. Derek?s closest competition was Paul Hornung with a score of 99. Paul and Derek were the only drivers with scores less than 100 at the end of day 1, with a lot of drivers scoring in the 120 to 150 range these drivers will have a lot of making up to do on Sunday to score with Paul and Derek.

Even in a new and remote location the WERock fans came in their thousands, these southern country fokes sure love their wheelin?. At the end of the first day the pits are full of drivers working on their rigs thanks to the race support traile. The sharp rocks took their toll on the vehicles leaving a lot of drivers with broken steering and axles. With a day of wheelin? in the mud the terrain is starting to dry out and the skies are clear, hopefully the rain will stay away for the second day. If its dry for Sundays event it is likely many of the lower scoring drivers will have better results and it won?t be such a lottery type of results. If it is wet who knows what will happen in terms of results, but the drivers, organizers, media, and spectators won?t like the wet conditions. So hope for clear skies and check back tomorrow night for day 2 coverage of the WERock Eastern Nationals.