Friday November 30 was a great day for the people of Phoenix.  Severely darkening skies were bursting with the promise of and end to an over forty day dry spell.  For competitors of the Skyjacker Pro RockCross Nationals it meant looking closely at their rigs and preparing for soup racing. 

The UROC proving grounds at Firebird raceway sits in the bottom of a 200 yard diameter bowl.  A little rain goes a long ways, a lot of rain…  Let’s just say we have paddled around the pit area on foam blocks a time or two.  And the rain that fell on December 1 was causing animals to gather in two’s.

“Let’s tear it up” said former UROC Champion Shannon Campbell.  A call from team SXOR’s had the background instruction of driver Brandon Johnson over the phone, “ask em’ if there running!  If they are, we are there!”  You see UROC Pro’s come for one thing, to hammer down and race in true head to head style.  Maybe they shouldn’t have said they were racing come hell or high water.  Maybe they shouldn’t have tempted the weather.  One thing is sure; the high water was hell on the rigs.  “The between heat time was increased significantly as teams were scrambling to make needed repairs on the mud caked cars” Said UROC Marshal Dave White. “There were parts everywhere and it all made for one heck of a day of racing.”  

With broken shocks and axles and orbitals and wheels, and engines it was indeed a day of hellish racing.  But UROC teams have stood there before.  Congratulations to all the teams of UROC who have the tenacity of a Baja racer, the sprint of a dragster and the style of a supercross pro.  You won’t find better mettle in any racer anywhere.  To Super Modified winner Shannon Campbell and Modified winner Brad Lovell, hats off to the teams who can beat a group of drivers and teams as determined as the UROC Pro’s.

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