UROC Pro-Nationals Rally in Cedar City

By DirtNewz.com Staff
Cedar City, Utah (May 25, 2006)

Zion National Park serves as the backdrop for what is expected to be a whirlwind of a rock crawling competition as the top teams in professional rock crawling merge in Southern Utah for Round 2 of the four-round Pro-National Pacific Series.

Only a week ago, UROC CEO - Ranch Pratt announced that the competition slated to be held in Portland, Indiana was wiped clean off the 2006 schedule. The XPLEX was to be the site of the competition and they have reportedly tore down a section of the faux rock pile making way for grandstands for three dirt circle tracks, definitely a bigger draw in Indiana than professional rock crawling.

“UROC scheduled the Pro-National Atlantic Division with four series competitions and reducing the Pro-National Pacific Division to four series competitions places both series with equal events,” explained Kroc’s Ranch Pratt.

The buzz throughout the teams has mostly been positive as the majority of teams are located in the west, thus requiring them to tow across the nation to Indiana and spend big dollars on fuel as summer time fuel spikes nationwide. DirtNewz has spoken with a handful of teams that have all endorsed the cancellation of the Portland, Indiana event in order to save some fuel money.

Nonetheless, with the Portland, Indiana competition originally set for middle of June, this weekend’s round two becomes significantly more important for teams racing towards a season championship.

Facing difficult natural rock terrain, drivers will be tested to the extreme on the rocks of the Three Peaks Recreation Area. This will be the first time this season that teams will converge on a natural rock pile instead of the sprayed gunnite fabricated over dirt and foam.

Three Peaks Rec Area has long been regarded as having some of the most challenging rock crawling obstacles in the nation and UROC has announced that different than in years passed, they will be competing at an area different where they have competed in years gone by.

The season-opener was wild with action as Maxxis-sponsored Bruce Zeller captured the attention of American wheelers nationwide by claiming top honors in the main event. The win for Zeller was his second at the Firebird International Raceway as he also captured the 2005 season-opener in Phoenix, Arizona making him the back-to-back Phoenix winner.

Zeller made headlines a few weeks ago after he put Maxxis Tires on the podium in first place for the first time ever in a UROC Pro-National Super Modified event. In fact, off road racing veteran, Marty Hart, competing for the first time this season against the nation’s top teams, took his single-seat moon buggy to a 2nd place finish also wearing Maxxis rubber.

However, the boys from Team Maxxis will be locked into a fierce battle with the best-of-the-best including reigning UROC Champ, Shannon Campbell, UROC Supercrawl Champ FABTECH’s Tracy Jordan, as well as Jason Paule, Jason Scherer and a handful of other teams that continually rise to the top.

The Modified Stock competition is set to go off big as Brad and Roger Lovell continued their winning ways of 2005 by capturing victory at the season opener. On Track Krawler Team dominated the rocks throughout the entire race, however in the main event they rolled their Suzuki Samurai allowing the FABTECH sponsored Ford Ranger to catapult into the top spot. They were chased by Brian Errea and Joachim Schwiesow in their Twisted Customs Modified Stock buggy. In recent competitions, all three of these teams have proven they can win at any time and the battle will take place this weekend at Cedar City, Utah.

Three Peaks Recreation Area is the personal playground of Dean Bulloch and his team, On Track Krawler Team, and you can be sure they’ll be on fire as they operate in the rocks they have grown up on.

Competition begins on Friday afternoon as the elimination rounds kick off at 1:00 p.m. Saturday will feature the top teams who survive the initial competition and they will face off on the rocks of Cedar City to determine who will be crowned winners in round two of the UROC Pro-National Series.

DirtNewz will feature live event coverage from the Three Peaks Recreation Area that will include audio interviews with teams, officials, fans and the winners live from the rocks of Cedar City, Utah.