King Healy Reigns at Discount Tire American Rocksports Challenge

Photo credit: Nick Jones ShutterRev

TOOELE, UT – AUGUST 23rd, 2014: More than 90 teams registered for the Discount Tire American Rocksports Challenge at Miller Motorsports Park. With double the car count from 2013, the racing was some of the tightest and most intense of the 2014 ULTRA4 season to date. After a fierce battle in the main among 4 former Kings; Campbell, Healy, Scherer and Miller, it was Healy who climbed to the top of the podium for his 2nd consecutive ULTRA4 win. Fellow Nitto Tire drivers, Jason Scherer and Erik Miller took 2nd and 3rd place respectively for a Nitto Tire podium sweep at the Trail-Gear  ULTRA4 Western Regional finale.
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Saturday morning’s prelims proved challenging for all classes with a muddy short course and slick rock obstacles due to heavy thunderstorms on Friday night.  Shannon Campbell had the fastest qualifying time on Friday followed by Jason Scherer and Loren Healy respectively. All three drivers had pole position in Saturday morning’s three prelims for the 4400s. The top 7 drivers from each prelim made it into the Main event, and the remaining drivers competed in a B Main with the top four drivers from the B Main also earning spots in the Main race for a field of 25 drivers for the 4400 Main event.
The limited class racing was also some of the most exciting of the season.  The 4500 Rubicon Express Modified class raced with the 4700 spec class while the 4600 Pro Comp Stock Class raced with the 4800 legends class. In the 4500 Rubicon Express modified class, John Currie was back on the top of the podium after overtaking Jordan Townsend who had a rollover in the rocks and finished second followed by Shawn Rants in 3rd. Kevin Adler took the checkered flag for the 4600 Pro-Comp stock class followed by Brian Behrend in 2nd and Discount Tire driver Mel Wade III in third place. In the 4700 spec class, Jeff Rector made his debut racing in the class by taking the checkered flag, followed by Bailey Cole who was also racing in the 4700 class for the first time, Jessi Combs claimed a 3rd place finish while battling some vehicle issues likely caused by the morning mud. Dave Schneider took 1st place in the 4800 legends class followed by 4800 rookie Dennis Lapp in 2nd and Ernie Hardaway taking 3rd in the class racing in Alex Hardaway’s old 4400 car. Campbell, Healy and Ferravanti Sr. each won their respective prelims. With Campbell’s prelim being the fastest of the 3, he won pole position in the Main with Healy starting along side him and Ferravanti Sr. starting behind him. The main event for the 4400s was 12 laps long, and early in the competition Healy had the lead with Campbell overtaking him in the rocks. By mid race, Campbell and Scherer were battling it out for the lead on the short course when the two vehicles tires touched sending Campbell into a race-ending roll that he was able to walk away from.  In the final laps, Healy overtook Scherer and Erik Miller was able to work his way from a middle of the pack starting position into 3rd by the final lap of the race.
In the UTV race, Mike Slawson, brother of former King of The Hammers, Randy Slawson came out to his first regional ULTRA4 race and won the UTV Sportsman class followed by the youngest driver in Utah, Discount Tire driver, Mel Wade IV, and 3rd place went to Discount Tire driver Andrew Gorman.
The next race in the ULTRA4 Nitto Tire National Championship series is the series finale for the 4WD Hardware Eastern Regional Series taking place September 12th and 13th in Sturgis Kentucky at the Sturgis Off Road Blowout sponsored by Lifetime LED and Bill Baird Motorsports. On September 26th and 27th is King of Portugal, the ULTRA4 Europe series finale. And the Nitto Tire National Championship race is going to be held October 17th and 18th at the Wild West Motorsports Park in Reno, NV.

4400 Main Race

1
67
Loren Healy
12
21:19.100

2
76
Jason Scherer
12
32.21 7
21:51.317

3
4421
Erik Miller
12
1:25.9 76
22:45.076

4
4775
JAKE HALLENBECK
11
1 Lap
21:42.352

5
5252
Bill Baird
11
1 Lap
22:03.596

6
4444
Jason Pickett
11
1 Lap
22:40.116

7
4493
Andrew McLaughlin
10
2 Laps
21:29.998

8
4459
Keith Xavier
10
2 Laps
21:49.258

9
966
Jason Blanton
10
2 Laps
21:53.475

10
4477
Jake Yeoman
10
2 Laps
22:16.366

11
4483
Raul Gomez
10
2 Laps
22:26.993

12
4457
Doug Evans
10
2 Laps
22:30.256

13
4477
Brian Wood
10
2 Laps
23:07.575

14
4425
Brandon Johnson
10
2 Laps
23:22.265

15
75
scott foley
10
2 Laps
23:26.77 6

16
4431
Mike Klensin
9
3 Laps
22:17.216

17
4481
Levi Shirley
9
3 Laps
22:20.334

18
7779
Kenneth Goodall
9
3 Laps
22:29.905

19
4775
Robert Daly
9
3 Laps
23:31.420

20
3
Wayland Campbell
8
4 Laps
22:01.091

21
5150
brendon thompson
8
4 Laps
23:16.950

22
5
Shannon Campbell
7
5 Laps
11:55.395

23
444
Rick Waterbury
5
7 Laps
22:39.456

24
4482
JP Gomez
3
9 Laps
5:23.2 24

25
44
Gary Ferravanti sr.
2
10 Laps
21:30.855

4400 B Main

1
1977
Jake Yeoman
12
25:39.026

2
7779
Kenneth Goodall
12
1:45.748
27:24.774

3
4457
Doug Evans
11
1 Lap
25:52.148

4
4775
Robert Daly
11
1 Lap
26:10.203

5
54
mike bou
11
1 Lap
26:22.866

6
4455
Andy Brown
10
2 Laps
28:35.661

7
11
Bruce Szember
8
4 Laps
18:37.256

8
4205
Jason Waits
7
5 Laps
18:29.900

9
4437
Dustin Sexton
4
8 Laps
26:34.3 95

10
4441
Darren Henke
3
9 Laps
6:54.90 3

11
902
Steve Bray
3
9 Laps
8:38.6 69

12
4481
Alex Hardaway
2
10 Laps
9:16.8 05

4500 Rubicon Express Modified Class

1
88
John Currie
10
23:04.2 61

2
4580
Jordan Townsend
10
2:01.0 34
25:05.295

4
4531
Shawn Rants
9
1 Lap
23:30.501

5
4503
Adam Arsenault
9
1 Lap
25:00.002

7
4510
Matt Oakeson
8
2 Laps
24:27.7 63

8
4511
Alan Johnson
8
2 Laps
24:57.7 70

9
713
Doug Faloni
7
3 Laps
20:49.209

11
4578
Paul Bickerton
3
7 Laps
11:16.206

12
63
Jimmy Jack
2
8 Laps
7:03.8 02

4600 Pro Comp Stock Class

1
4602
kevin adler
7
3 Laps
27:38.111

2
4648
Brian Behrend
7
3 Laps
27:40.836

3
4651
Melvin Wade III
7
3 Laps
27:50.591

4
4654
Bailey Cole
7
3 Laps
28:08.033

5
4696
Sean McNamara
7
3 Laps
28:46.241

6
4623
David Miller
7
3 Laps
32:29.111

7
4612
Ben Varozza
3
7 Laps
13:57.467

4700 Spec Class

1
4704
Jeff Rector
9
1 Lap
23:04.9 68

2
4705
Bailey Cole
8
2 Laps
23:43.859

3
4703
Jessi Combs
3
7 Laps
8:09.747

4
4701
Mitch Funk
1
9 Laps
1:09.3 23

4800 Legends Class

1
4871
Dave Schneider
10
27:02.78 2

2
4840
Dennis Lapp
8
2 Laps
27:40.909

3
4881
Ernie Hardaway
7
3 Laps
27:21.407

4
4852
richard fenton
6
4 Laps
27:41.953

5
4813
rory romero
5
5 Laps
18:13.142

6
4824
Sean Leonardini
3
7 Laps
28:19.405

UTV Sportsman

1
307
Mike Slawson
8
32:53.852

2
1951
Melvin Wade IV
8
1:53.2 41
34:47.093

3
1958
Andrew Gorman
7
1 Lap
36:02.866

4
1915
Brian Hogue
6
2 Laps
35:25.082

5
203
Jared Murch
2
6 Laps
4:33.9 30