Ultra4 Stampede: 5/9/15

[TORX]

Metalcloak Ultra4 Stampede​

Prairie City SVRA, Rancho Cordova, CA​

May 8-10, 2015

​

A few weeks ago I had the wild idea of heading down to California to watch the Ultra4 Stampede race. I felt the need to get out of town, and I've never seen a short course race, so why not. Scott (NW-ZJ-SCOTT) and Aaron (AwesomeXJ) also would be tagging along. We were going back to Cali!​

It was just a quick 10 hour jaunt South. The plan was to leave around 9pm Thursday and drive straight through.​

We made pretty good time on the drive down. A few pit stops along the way for some groceries, fuel, and fluid transfers. We arrived at the SVRA (State Vehicle Recreation Area) early Friday morning. The pits were active with teams getting their cars ready for the racing to come. We set off exploring the area searching for the ideal spot to set up camp.​

The morning hours were reserved for practice laps for all the classes. We ventured over to the track after settling in to catch the start of the 4400 preliminary heats later in the morning. These heats determined starting position in the later heats to come. If you wanted a pole position you had to earn it with consistent finishes.​

We took the truck over to the side, set up the EZ-up, and found a great spot to watch almost the entire course from. Rob Kirby heading out on track in his Mad-Maxish looking car.​

Green flag was waved and the V8's roared to life. Kevin Yoder coming out of turn one hot. His 42" Pitbull tires looked huge on this short course.​

Friday's spectators set up along the home stretch.​

Mad man Tom Wayes roosting Shannon Campbell out of turn one. I must have said it a dozen times, but it's pretty obvious who's there to win, and who's there to race. Both of these guys were there to win, and weren't going to settle on anything less.​

Next prelimin group heading out on course.​

Wayland Campbell catching some air.​

I didn't recognize this car, but it was a front runner in all the heats.​

Checkered flag came out for the IFS Letz Roll car.​

Other team's races didn't go quite as expected.​

Waiting for the third prelim to start we heard a lot of motor coming from the staging area, and the strong smell of high octane race gas in the air. This was two time KOH winner Loren Healy in his new IFS car. I think my heart rate matched the RPM of his motor as he passed by.​

Sometimes people ran out of talent. Yellow flags came out on course for caution as the recovery crews worked on clearing the course.​

Tom Wayes airing it out on the back stretch hunting down the Gomez brothers.​

 

[TORX]

Out comes the Yellow on the back turn.

Last 4400 prelim for Friday.

Big props to the recovery crews who made short work of the rolls, flops, and stuck cars all weekend long.

Campbell airing out the rig.

Mike Klensin in his new IFS Crossed Up car.

After Friday's preliminary heats we headed back to our camp which overlooked the pit area. Prairie City is a pretty cool little area, and very spectator friendly. That evening we walked around the pits, chatted with some teams, and checked out some cars.

Saturday morning Scott and Aaron headed into town to grab some breakfast, while I claimed our EZ-up spot and watched the morning preliminary heats for the other (45, 46, 47, 48) classes.

Here are the Spec Class 4700 cars. All are the same chassis, motors, and suspension. These are basically rentals for the series.

4700's were then followed by the 4800 Legends Class. A basically unlimited class restricted to 37" tires. With the 4400 class becoming so competitive this is class is growing very quickly.

Spec cars coming out of the first turn.

Bottle neck in the first rock section. While I didn't walk the rocks, I'd compare this to running the FB5 rock garden, or possibly Upper Crushers in under 10 seconds.

Air time.

Diff hung.

Rick Johnson leading the Spec Class.

 

[TORX]

CRAWL-merica 4800 car.

Bradshaw riding a wheelie out of the second rock pile.

The next preliminary heat was for the Stock 4600, and Modified 4500 classes.

Some uni-bodies representing the 4600 class. We chatted with Matt in the 4608 WJ for a bit in the pits earlier. It's always fun to talk with the drivers themselves about their experiences and reasoning for building things a certain way.

Bottleneck in the first rock pile. The 4600 cars are limited to a 35" tire, which proved to be a challenge in the rocks.

Matt preparing for take off coming out of the second pile.

Shawn Rants in the 4531 Willy's. It was fun to watch the 4500 cars, and to think of the project 4500 MJ competing with them.

XJ recovery.

4696 XJ still going strong.

After the 45 and 46 cars finished and were recovered, the 4400 were scheduled to run again for their final heats. The finish times here would determine final starting order.

Healy leading the first heat out of the first turn.

Wayes leading the next heat.

At least they rolled so they could watch the cars coming right at them.

Kirby was running well.

Bailey Campbell (Shannon's daughter) racing the new Campbell production chassis in the 4400 class.

 

[TORX]

The 4400 starts were pretty impressive to watch with the amount of horsepower on track.

It was pretty cool seeing just how soft the landing was for a lot of the cars considering the speed and amount of air they were catching.

Gomez.

After taking 3rd at this years KOH, Levi Shirley came out to the Stampede. Another top driver, and it was very evident watching him on track.

After all the preliminary heats were finished, it was onto the main races. First up was the main UTV race featuring sportsman and pro classes. This one appeared to be almost stock, and actually almost lost the rear bed after landing this jump. They look fun, but not my cup of tea.

Navigating the same rock pile as the other classes.

Hitting the same jumps. They actually flew pretty well, better than the 4600 cars in fact. That's where their power to rate ratio wins.

Sometimes though the course was just a bit too much. The attrition in the UTV race was actually pretty impressive.

4600/4500 main race.

Getting sideways in the rocks isn't a good place to be. He was used for traction by a few cars before they could recover him.

Rants leading the 4500's.

Lightbar down!

 

[TORX]

The 4540 Borla car took a bad bounce on the back triples, and had a pretty spectacular crash. The call for medics was heard over the radio, and you can see some of their fellow competitors who were already out of the race running to their aid.

While we all love a good crash, it's never fun seeing the medics. Luckily nothing serious was needed, and I believe both driver and co-driver walked away.

Meanwhile, the race was still going on.

Some had to bail out, and tend to more pressing matters.

The tow of shame back to the pits.

Nice horse.

The 4540 ended up ripping the front axle completely off the rig during its crash.

With so many 4400 competitors, one final heat was added before the main race. Top 7 would place in the main race.

Coming into the first turn Kevin Yoder ended up on his side. We could feel his blood pressure rising as each second passed.

Recovery crews jumped into to get him turned over and back in the race. Once back on all fours, he peeled out and was on a mission to make up time. At one point he hit the first rock pile at speed and nearly cleared the whole thing.

Race continued on.

Passing going on in the rocks.

Then the real excitement began. Reports of fire came in over the radio.

Fire #2.

 

[TORX]

Fire #3.

It was pretty eerie watching everyone scramble to get them put out. The water trucks were even called in a few times.

Four fires total happened within minutes of one another. It seemed like half the course was under caution, and a bypass was made around the first and second rock sections.

After the course was cleared of the dead cars, the 47/4800 main race began.

Legends cars battling through the rocks.

Genright 4800 car flopped and had a small fire.

What do you do when you're car is done, watch the race of course.

Rick Johnson ended up taking the checkered flag with Bailey Cole on his heels.

The park had really filled up for Saturday's races.

It was finally time for the 4400 main race. Healy and Campbell had earned the pole positions. Dave Cole escorted the cars around the course for the parade lap.

Ferravanti had made the pass into the first corner, and was making the run for his life with Loren and Shannon behind him.

His race came to a quick end as he pulled off course. You can see flames coming from his passenger side.

Crews were quick to extinguish the fire, and help him out of the car. Bummer for sure, as he was putting down great times all day.

Shannon took the lead, and was on it looking for the win.

 

[TORX]

Tom Wayes had some car trouble in the preliminary rounds, so he started 23rd, andquickly began picking cars off one by one. He was soon all the way up to fifth place overall with half the race to go!

Healy was on Shannon's heels the entire time, but never really tried to pass. I had to wonder if this was strategy, and sure enough about mid race he made it move and never looked back. It seemed like he had lapped almost three quarters of the field by the time he had finished. Very impressive car and driver.

Loren Healy took first, Shannon Campbell second, and Wayland Campbell third.

We headed back to camp after the race.

Walked through the pits to check out the cars post race.

The next morning we packed up, and were on the road around 0700. Saw this big tom on the way out. That explained the gobbling I woke up to.

The drive home wasn't fun, but it never is. We made good time through California. Stopped by the biggest liquor store ever.

Saw a good reminder we're not all race car drivers.

All in all, this was such a fun trip. It was only for two days, but it felt much longer. Props to Ultra4 and Nor Cal Rock Racing for putting on such a great spectator friendly event. I was really impressed with how smoothly everything went considering how many cars were racing.

Check out Ultra4 Racing for their race schedule. Anyone want to road trip to Reno in the fall for the national race?

 

[TORX]

4500 and 4600 classes.


4400 class.

 

[LJ dude]

Awesome pictures!

 

[twinhauler]

As always great trip report. Good work!

 

[AwesomeXJ]

Nice report Torx

I had a lot of fun, I'm glad i was able to make it.

Oh, I'm in for reno!

Here are a few pics

 

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

I had a great time! Heres a small photo dump








OMGCUMMINSBRO!