WOW what an event, everytime i compete now i am amazed by the terrain and level we are getting to here in Australia. I can really see now why the Americans have taken to Rockcrawling and why their drivers are so great.
Man am i looking forward to the Finals.
Congrats to Peter Antunac for taking out the UNLIMITED class and congrats to Tony Robinson for winning the Legends class.
Unfortunately i was not able to make it three in a row
, but hay i will settle for second place anyday. Two bad runs was all it took to drop my team down from first to second. In saying that we (Roger and I) have taken alot out of this weekend, in fact heading into the finals it was good to have a few bad runs from which we learnt heaps from. My highlight for the weekend was getting the best score on one of the hardest (if not the hardest) course of the weekend. Course B3 (or BJ's Climb) was one tuff course. It took me a few goes to make the climb but when we finally got the right line the Mickey Thompson Claws really bit in and shot me up the ledge with ease, Roger than put me on the perfect approach to the Bonus drop off and we snuck threw in good form.
The downer for the weekend was when a Hydraulic fitting on my steering came loose and left me with no steering, we DNF'ed that stage.
But we will make sure simple things like that are tested and checked prior to each stage from now on.Now all the excitement and fun would not have been posible without the help and dedication by a few people, please excuse me if i miss anyone.
First of all i must thank my new spotter Roger Edols. Roger has stepped in as my spotter as Beebee is keen to drive a buggy next year and it is really hard to Drive and spot for a couple of teams. So Roger has stepped in and is keen to be part of Team Mickey Thompson Racing for the Finals and especially next years season. Roger has years of experience in Winch Challenge events and to step into a totally different format and do a great job is a huge effort and one he did well. Thanks Roger!
Our team is so proud to be part of the "Mickey Thompson team" and without their support i am sure our placings to date would have been no where near as good as what we are achieving. A huge HUGE thankyou must go to all the team at "Exclusive Tyre Distributors" (Mickey Thompson) in particular Terry, Steve, Rob and Nathan. These guys are passionate about thier tyres and passionate about 4wdriving and of course competitive 4wdriving. Thankyou for the new paint job on the Buggy, nearly everyone i spoke to commented on how good it looked and thanks for been so understanding when i pretty well destroyed the panels while lining up to drop down BJ's wall
. Thanks also for supplying a tent for us to park the buggy under, it was great to work on it out of the hot sun, and i am sure there was one or two spectators taking advantage of the shade 
. Thankyou MICKEY THOMPSON TYRES.A big thankyou must go to Chuck at Haultech Engineering, it is great to have the support and knowledge by these guys. Weeks and even months before an event, time and access to tools makes it very easy to have a rig preped and ready for these events. Thanks Chuck.
Thanks also to all the helpers -
Judges- you guys did a great job (obviously not good enough as i only got second)
, i really hope that all you guys will make the trip to Milbrodale in November for the finals as you guys were flawless. Great work.Mick Garner and The Mighty Mog for pulling all our busted arses out of the mess, Micks years of experience really shines when he is faced with tricky recoveries. Well Done.
Rod Owen (aka Mr fixit), great work on getting all the busted buggy's going again and great work on getting those judges ready and making sure the homeless was in working order. Top effort.
The Girls (Kate and Bec) for organising and sorting out the scoring, although one of you couldn't hack it and didn't show up on the sunday
Good work.Damo, thanks for puting in the hard yards prior to and during the event. Your work on the P.A is always top notch.
Thanks to Alben and Helen Perret of LandCruiser Mountain Park for allowing us to climb over there great rocks and for providing a great park for future events.
One of the biggest thanks must go to Sam Overton for organising and putting on what has been to date the Best ever Rockcrawling event. The Stages were tuff and easily the tuffest that has ever been used in any event. Man i cannot wait to see what you and Riches will do for the finals.
A huge thanks must go to the Spectators, you guys were great. I loved seeing people running from one stage to another just to watch there favorite team compete or to watch a rig rolling over. You guys really got into it and i thank you all for that.
Last but not least, thankyou to all the competitors. The level of compitition is getting higher and higher as each event goes on. I honestly believe that we all need to push each other that little bit further each and everytime, if we do this we will have one kick arse comp next year and it will put us in a good positition to try and smack some yankee arse come 2006 finals.
Thankyou everyone involved and hope to see you at the WEROCK FINALS in November.
