TJMagoo
05-16-2005, 04:17 PM
Well we're back from my first NEUROC event. Where do I begin with the story of all weekend?
Friday, we arrived at about 6 (road construction sucks) and we headed straight for the campgrounds. We showed up and there were probably about 10 rigs in front of us to be teched. So we waiting in line until it was our turn. The judge came back, check everything over with his 4 page checklist. We ended up drawing #13 for where we would start Sat. I found it odd, we drew 13 on the 13th and my number is 311(the oddities will still continue as you read later). The drawing is like a lottery system so everyone drew numbers. We wouldn't know where we would start in the line up until Saturday am. The end result - our tech inspection passed! We headed back to the hotel to meet up with the rest of the Team #311 crew and headed to dinner.
Saturday morning came around and my nerves were all messed up. We went to breakfast and I got a water. I was taking no chances. We arrived at the park between 9-10 am so we can walk the courses and then our driver meeting was at 10 and the competition started at 10:30. They broke the stock group into 2 separate groups of 6. The #13 we drew Friday night actually put us second in line in our group. Which was good and bad. It was good more so for day #2 becuase they flip flop the line up and it put us second to last that day, so we could see how everyone else was doing. It was bad because we were second in line to start. It might not have been too bad, but the team in front of us broke on obstacle 1 and 2, so I had no idea where the "good" line was. Each team had 5 obstacles to do each day. We started Saturday on obstacle 13!! The obstacles we were on for Saturday day was: 13, 2, 3 , 11 and then 12. (I'll post my scores on each later) Saturday was a good day considering this was my first competition and I was completely nervous. My only complaint was my steering. Which ended up being my problem all weekend. With my new front end will be my hydro assist steering which will help at the next event. On obstacle #12 we started leaking fuel but only on extreme angles. So we finished that obstacle and back to the hotel we headed to drop the tank and see what was going on. Once we dropped the tank, the only thing we could find was the o-ring gasket on the sender was a little caroated (sp) and needed some cleanging so it would seal. We put everything back together, even fixed my filler neck and we were all set and ready for Sunday.
Sunday morning was a different story for me. I was feeling much better and my nerves were gone. I was ready to get out there and compete. I attacked Sunday a little bit more aggressive than Saturday. I guess with the Dana 30 and my steering issues, you could say I was babying it a little so I didn't break anything. Sunday's lineup had us going second to last so we were able to see the other 4 competitors in front of me and what lines they were taking. We did obstacles 6, 8 ,9, 10 and 4 this day. On obstacle 6, I was the only one in my group to make it the farthest and get the better score ~ All a part of mine and Rick's strategizing session. All weekend we kept getting close to the finishing gates but never quite making it across. All I wanted to do was cross one. Well we finally made that happen on obstacles 9 and 10! We got right down to like seconds before we timed out and I just mashed the heck out of the gas and we made it! On one of those, we even made it with like 5 seconds to spare!! My best score of the weekend was an 11 on obstacle #10. We finished the event in 9th place, which makes me totally happy, especially for being mine and Rick's first competition ever. We left the park around 4:30 and were home by 11:00 pm.
Oh and here's one more for the #13 oddities...my final score was 313. So I drew spot 13 on the 13th...started with obstacle 13 and my final score was 313!!
Next event is in 3 weeks at the Badlands, Attica, IN with Mike Lyle spotting me. Here is the link to the pictures:
www.4wd.com/neuroc/
HUGE THANKS to:
Rick, my spotter. I definitely could not have done anything this weekend without you.
Mel, my runner. You were there if and when we needed you.
To the both of you - You will never know how much I appreciate all you guys have both done for me. I can not thank you both enough!!!
My team #311 cheering section: Jay Stull (my mechanic who got my gas tank situation all set), Steve and Cindy, Mike and Leslie, Henk and his entire family, my mom and dad, Pattie and Jim, and everyone from 4wd.com Message board (Mike, Ryan, John and Augie)! We definitely showed Paragon and NEUROC team green had a lot of support.
-Kel
Friday, we arrived at about 6 (road construction sucks) and we headed straight for the campgrounds. We showed up and there were probably about 10 rigs in front of us to be teched. So we waiting in line until it was our turn. The judge came back, check everything over with his 4 page checklist. We ended up drawing #13 for where we would start Sat. I found it odd, we drew 13 on the 13th and my number is 311(the oddities will still continue as you read later). The drawing is like a lottery system so everyone drew numbers. We wouldn't know where we would start in the line up until Saturday am. The end result - our tech inspection passed! We headed back to the hotel to meet up with the rest of the Team #311 crew and headed to dinner.
Saturday morning came around and my nerves were all messed up. We went to breakfast and I got a water. I was taking no chances. We arrived at the park between 9-10 am so we can walk the courses and then our driver meeting was at 10 and the competition started at 10:30. They broke the stock group into 2 separate groups of 6. The #13 we drew Friday night actually put us second in line in our group. Which was good and bad. It was good more so for day #2 becuase they flip flop the line up and it put us second to last that day, so we could see how everyone else was doing. It was bad because we were second in line to start. It might not have been too bad, but the team in front of us broke on obstacle 1 and 2, so I had no idea where the "good" line was. Each team had 5 obstacles to do each day. We started Saturday on obstacle 13!! The obstacles we were on for Saturday day was: 13, 2, 3 , 11 and then 12. (I'll post my scores on each later) Saturday was a good day considering this was my first competition and I was completely nervous. My only complaint was my steering. Which ended up being my problem all weekend. With my new front end will be my hydro assist steering which will help at the next event. On obstacle #12 we started leaking fuel but only on extreme angles. So we finished that obstacle and back to the hotel we headed to drop the tank and see what was going on. Once we dropped the tank, the only thing we could find was the o-ring gasket on the sender was a little caroated (sp) and needed some cleanging so it would seal. We put everything back together, even fixed my filler neck and we were all set and ready for Sunday.
Sunday morning was a different story for me. I was feeling much better and my nerves were gone. I was ready to get out there and compete. I attacked Sunday a little bit more aggressive than Saturday. I guess with the Dana 30 and my steering issues, you could say I was babying it a little so I didn't break anything. Sunday's lineup had us going second to last so we were able to see the other 4 competitors in front of me and what lines they were taking. We did obstacles 6, 8 ,9, 10 and 4 this day. On obstacle 6, I was the only one in my group to make it the farthest and get the better score ~ All a part of mine and Rick's strategizing session. All weekend we kept getting close to the finishing gates but never quite making it across. All I wanted to do was cross one. Well we finally made that happen on obstacles 9 and 10! We got right down to like seconds before we timed out and I just mashed the heck out of the gas and we made it! On one of those, we even made it with like 5 seconds to spare!! My best score of the weekend was an 11 on obstacle #10. We finished the event in 9th place, which makes me totally happy, especially for being mine and Rick's first competition ever. We left the park around 4:30 and were home by 11:00 pm.
Oh and here's one more for the #13 oddities...my final score was 313. So I drew spot 13 on the 13th...started with obstacle 13 and my final score was 313!!
Next event is in 3 weeks at the Badlands, Attica, IN with Mike Lyle spotting me. Here is the link to the pictures:
www.4wd.com/neuroc/
HUGE THANKS to:
Rick, my spotter. I definitely could not have done anything this weekend without you.
Mel, my runner. You were there if and when we needed you.
To the both of you - You will never know how much I appreciate all you guys have both done for me. I can not thank you both enough!!!
My team #311 cheering section: Jay Stull (my mechanic who got my gas tank situation all set), Steve and Cindy, Mike and Leslie, Henk and his entire family, my mom and dad, Pattie and Jim, and everyone from 4wd.com Message board (Mike, Ryan, John and Augie)! We definitely showed Paragon and NEUROC team green had a lot of support.
-Kel