WeRock Comp Hannibal, MO

The weekend of May 30 and 31st was Team 311’s 2nd WeRock rock crawling competition in Hannibal, MO. We made the 10.5 hour drive early Friday morning and arrived at around 9am. We arrived in record time, so we ran to the store to get supplies, checked into the hotel and took a nap until it was time for tech inspection. Tech was at our hotel, so we didn’t have far to go. We made it through tech with no infractions, so we were given the green light to run Saturday.

We woke up to see it was raining and it was then that I realized I left my fire suit in the rig! So before we left the hotel, I had to find a dryer. What a way to start the day. We arrived at the competition site as the rain was finally starting to stop. We were informed they were going to delay the start time by an hour to let the courses dry out. The running order was passed out and we were first to run on our first course C1.

C1 was an uphill, loose rock climb to the first set of cones. We had to go up 2 rocks to get through the first set of cones, but this wasn’t as easy as it sounds. My spotter Aaron had to line the jeep up just right to clear our front differential. One we had our line, I had to gas it a bit to get the rear end over the same area. At the top of the hill, we had to pivot the jeep around a huge boulder to make the turn for the second set of cones. The second set of cones was on top of a huge set of rocks. As we positioned the jeep to go forward, we hit our front diff and it spun the rear end around and took us out of our line. We did this for a few minutes, until Aaron told me my front driveshaft broke. So we had to call it quits on this course. We only made it through one set of cones, score here 39.

My team took the rig to the pit area, installed a new front driveshaft and had us back in business to start course C2. C2 consisted of huge rock chucks, with deep holes that we had to stay out of or they would swallow the jeep! We made it through the entrance and started to climb our way to the first set of cones. We just couldn’t catch a break on this course. We really worked the jeep as much as possible to even get to the first set of cones. We kept hitting our diff, sliding the rig around, having to re-line up, only for this all to repeat. We were finally able to gas it up and through the first set of cones and make the turn to gate 2, but we ran out of time. Score here 39.

Onto our last course for the day, C4. We were going into this course blind. From our breakdown time earlier in the day, we missed the other competitors running this course. The judges informed us, everyone but one competitor was able to finish this course, so we figured we had a shot! There was a huge rock slab to get us up and through the first set of cones. With some help from the skinny pedal, we made it through the first gate with no problem. At the top of the hill, we had to swing the jeep wide, to line us up for gate #2. To go through gate 2, had us dropping down about a 3 foot ledge. Once at the bottom, we had to turn the jeep 90 degrees to line us up for the 4 foot ledge we had to climb. We tried and tried and tried to make this climb. The way we came off gate 2 and the huge rocks in the middle of the course, prevented us from clearing this obstacle. Score here 38. We were all disappointed with how we ran Saturday, but figured Sunday was a new day and we had no place to go but up!

After two disappointing courses, all we wanted to do was finish a course. We arrived at C3 and lined the jeep up to launch over a rock that I swear was the same size of the jeep! I say launch, because once we had the rig lined up, that was our plan. As we crested the top of the rock, Aaron gave me the green light to give it the gas. Just as I thought we were on top, Aaron told me we were hung up on our control arms. None of the tires were touching anything, so it was time for Aaron to pull on the spotter strap. He pulled on the rig for a few minutes and then decided to wedge a rock behind the front tire. That was the trick we needed. Once the tire was wedged in there, I put the rig in reverse and backed off of the rock, so we could try another line. We decided to go to the left of the huge rock, which had us off camber and trying to get on top of what looked like a rocky step. We worked the rig as much as possible on this line and ran out of time. Score here 40.

On Sunday, the running order is reversed, so we were last in our group of 3 competitors to start on C1 again. After watching the first 2 competitors a head of us finish this course, we knew this course was one we could finish. To start this course, we had to go about 3 feet in a rock section and climb up a small hill through 2 trees to clear gate 1. We made it through and worked the jeep back and forth to line us up for gate 2. Aaron got me lined up and we had to bump the rig up and over a couple nice sized rocks. Once we cleared gate 2, we had to climb up another rocky section and then back through the third and final set of cones. We kept getting hung up on our skid plate, so we worked the jeep as much as possible until the tires grabbed to pull us off this rock…and we were running out of time. We pulled forward so we could back through gate 3 and then go in reverse down the hill to the finish cones. We had to pull forward and back a few times to get us lined up. Once we were lined up, we had 10 seconds left. I tried to gas it down the hill so we could finish it, but I ended up running over the banner tape. So I had to pull forward to clear it. We made it through the finish cones but ran out of time. It had to have come down to seconds. We were right there – talk about a bummer. We finished this course with a 37.

As we pulled off the course, Aaron noticed I was leaking something. After a closer look, we noticed a smashed rear brake line. So the plan was to pinch it off and continue to run. We took the rig to the pit area to get to work. Once my team was under the rig, we noticed a bigger problem. The passenger side rear brake caliper bracket was broken! So we took the bracket off, pinch off the broken brake line and decided to continue to run. By doing this, we were unable to use our cutting brakes on that side. A chance we were willing to take so we could continue to run.

We were able to get back onto course C2 without using any break down time. (We’re only given 45 minutes of break down time a day) This course started with a rocky hill climb and then a sharp turn into the first set of cones. As we climbed up the hill, we had no passenger side cutting brakes, so I took the Atlas transfer case out of gear to pull the front end around. This got us lined up enough to get three tires through the cone and continue on the course. To make our way to gate 2, we had to hug this huge rock wall and find the line that was best for us to complete. We made it with the help of the gas and our AGR hydro assist steering, we plowed our path through the rocks and cleared gate 2. As we came around the course to line up for gate 3, we had to climb up a huge rock face. It was then that Aaron noticed us spilling fluid. We blew our steering box. We had to get towed back to the pits and try to replace the steering box in 45 minutes. Score here 38.

I waited at our next course to get our scorecard signed while my team started replacing the steering box. We had a few competitors a head of us, so that gave us extra time before our break down time would start. Props to my team – they were able to replace the steering box in no time and we didn’t even use any break down time! They brought the jeep back just in time. I hopped in and we started course C3. The first set of cones was between 2 huge rocks. We had to bump the jeep up and over and we were through. We pulled the rear Atlas out of gear and let the back tires pivot around the next huge rock. Once we had the rig lined up to go through gate 2, I popped it back into gear and we made it through. We had to climb a rocky hill to get through gate 3, which was on a side hill. I popped the rear out again here to let the front end drag us around. This got us through gate 3 and we were on our way to the finish. We went through one more rocky section and we were done. YAY – we finally were able to finish a course! Score here 25.

Onto our 4th and final course for the weekend. This course started up 2 huge boulders and then lined us up the 3 foot ledge we couldn’t make the day before. We got up and over the first set of cones with no problems and this lined us up perfectly for the next climb. With enough gas, we were up and over with ease! Once on top, I had to hug the banner tape since we couldn’t dig on the passenger side rear tire. As we made our way to gate 2, we had to drop off a little ledge. The little ledge proved to be more than we thought. We came into this ledge higher than we should’ve been and over on our side we went. We noticed fluid leaking from everywhere, so we decided to have the crane tow us out, instead of trying to start it since we lost so much fluid. So needless to say, this was a great way to end a horrible weekend.

Damage report for the weekend: broken front driveshaft, broken steering box, broken rear brake line and rear brake caliper bracket. To view pictures from this event, visit: Event Pics

Huge thanks to Jim at JE Reel, Larry at AGR and Mike at Wildwood. I called them as soon as we got back and my replacement parts are on their way! Our next competition is June 27 and 28th at Rausch Creek Off Road Park in Joliet, PA.

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