UROC's RockCross Expo

Today’s UROC event kicked off with a BANG as hundreds of people already at the Off Road Expo walked over to their track on site. The first RockCross presented by UROC was supported by a few drivers. Some of the big names out here this weekend were Shannon Campbell, Creighton King from Maxxis, and Ms. Cotton Rodd.

This was not a point’s race; it was an exhibition event to give the fans a taste of what is in store for them with UROC coming in 2007. Competitors that did show up were here to give the fans a show, have a good time, and help support UROC's new endeavor.

There were three rounds built into Saturdays UROC RockCross event. The first one was at Noon when the day was the sunniest here in Southern California. Roger Lovell and Team Purple’s Schneider were the first to race side-by-side today. It was a close launch off the start with both rockcross buggies quickly approaching the first obstacle; which was a 90 degree vertical man-made rock, and then whipping around the apex leading into a rock corrie. The last part of the track led to yet another 90-degree vertical man-made rock that made Schneider’s Team Purple rock racer roll off the lip—leading to a bad crash and broken suspension. Schneider was okay, but his rig was not; he had to be towed out of the arena. Roger Lovell in the Fabtech rockcross racer took the win.

The Second race was between Creighton King in his Maxxis Tires rockcross racer and the Lovely Ms. Cotton Rodd in her LS1 powered rockracer. A few seconds before starting the race, King decided to light-up his tires to get them nice and sticky. When the green flag went down, King got the hole shot and raced to the first obstacle like a Maxxis Man! Cotton Rodd got a little hung-up on the first obstacle vertical, which gave King even more of a lead. Creighton King whipped that Maxxis buggy around like Zorro does his whip, racing across the rock corrie and up and over the second obstacle. Punching his LT1 powered buggy, he kept racing for the win. Cotton Rodd once again got stuck on the first obstacle on her second lap, but this time things seemed more serious, her front suspension hydraulic rock assist had snapped into two, so she only had rear steering. King raced around Cotton Rodd and took the win.

The third race was between Bennie and Johnson. Stephan Bennie took the lead and Johnson got stuck on the first vertical. While Johnson sat there high-centered, Bennie kept racing around the track, and passed Johnson twice. On his last lap now, Bennie got stuck coming over the last obstacle. At the end of the race there was Johnson high-centered on the first vertical obstacle, and now Bennie on the second vertical obstacle. Both were DNF.

The 5 o’clock exhibition was by far the craziest and most crowded of the day. Since the show day was coming to an end at the Off Road Expo, many people had been hearing all about the two earlier exhibitions during the day. With no real points, nor order of elimination being kept by UROC officials; it seemed like a free for all when it came to who was up next to race.

UROC organizer "Ranch" getting ready to drop the green flag

The first race of the 5 o’clock round was between Schneider in his AEM race buggy and Johnson in #133. This was a great race with plenty of action and show for the go. Schneider got stuck on the first obstacle and tedder-toddered there for a while. Johnson went passed Schneider and made his way around the course, over the rock corrie and then headed up the second vertical rock. Johnson high centered and got stuck here. UROC officials decided to do a re-start since both rock buggies were stuck and could not get off.

On the second start, Schneider got stuck again on the 1st obstacle, giving Johnson the opportunity to fly right past him. On the second lap Johnson came up behind Schneider and even tried to give him a little push as he came up the first obstacle that Schneider was still high centered on. No budge, so Johnson backed up and simply went around. Somewhere in between the first obstacle and the rock corrie Johnson got a flat. He still ran his last lap on a flat, and took the win on BFG tires.

The second race was a very tight race as Lovell and Hank sped around the course side by side. The crowd was caught by surprise as Lovell rolled his buggy over on his second lap. No one was hurt, but both racers and crowd in were a little shaken up. Hank took the win on this race.

Craighton King put on a great show on Saturday for the crowd

There was a third race between Creighton King and the Tri-Country Gear Jeep. Creighton got the hole shot in his Maxxis competition buggy. Running a hard race, King took the lead in a flash. The Tri-Country Gear Jeep got stuck and high-centered on the second rock wall of the course. He sat there the rest of the race. King put on a great show, and the crowd loved every second of it. Creighton King took the win for this race.

Shannon Campbell comes out to play this weekend at UROC's RockCross

Just when we thought the racing was done for the day, we got a surprise that Shannon Campbell was coming out to race, and the UROC officials got the crowd fired up to call for Creighton King to come out again to race. So it was on, Campbell vs. King. Off the line Campbell took the lead, but King was making those Maxxis tires bark all the way down to the first obstacle. Somehow King ended up getting stuck on the first obstacle. Shannon Campbell took the lead and lapped King, who was still trying to get off the first rock. Campbell came onto the second rock and then he got stuck by high-centering. King was able to get un-stuck and raced after Campbell. Creighton tried going around Campbell, but ended up rolling his Maxxis competition buggy over the side. Campbell got un-stuck and made a dash for his last lap. Coming onto the last obstacle, Campbell got stuck, and his seemed to have some front brake issues. Campbell backed off the obstacle and plowed his buggy into the pits. King was okay.

This was an exciting day for UROC. A new type of racing was being experimented with. Since this was not a point’s race, we will see what UROC will end up doing with the series, and how this will impact the rest of the UROC events.

We will be back tomorrow for more UROC rockcross action.