Lorri Lind reflects on the first RCrocs Comp of 2011
ROLO MOTORSPORTS
CLASS 1 TEAM 97 JEEP TJ WRANGLER
DRIVER: LORRI LIND
SPOTTER: CHRIS WALTON
JEEP BUILDER: RONALD LIND
MECHANIC: ROGER SIMMONS
MECHANIC’S HELPER: TYLER LIND
TEAM PHOTO/VIDEO GRAPHER: SAMANTHA LIND
SCARED MOM: ROSEMARY THOMAS
This is Lorri Lind; one half of the ROLO MOTORSPORTS TEAM, my better half is Ron Lind "R2" who competes in WEROCK and RCROCS. Until this year he has been my spotter for the RCROCS Series. We started back in 2007 when Rausch Creek held the test competition to see if there was any interest. Evidently there was.
In 2008, Rausch Creek held their first RCROCS Series, three one day comps over three months, with three courses each and a shootout at the end. In the first series’ first comp in 2008, we placed 3rd, but were able to stay competitive enough in the other 2 events to take 2nd place for the series. In 2009, we competed but not as well; very uneventful, except for one rollover (my first and last so far). In 2010, we missed the first event due to a wedding, but were able to pull off a 2nd place finish in the final comp. Everyone said we needed a Jeep TJ and an automatic to be more competitive than we were in our beloved Jeep YJ. So, after the season was over Ronald was finally able to find a cheap Jeep TJ that he could build for a new rig. Over the fall and winter months, Ronald robbed all the good stuff out of our YJ and bought a lot of used parts and threw some new parts on that we had won over the years, building on a budget. Ronald has known Barry from TRUCK STUFF AND MORE for a few years now and he kindly agreed to be our sponsor this year. Thank you sooooo much.
Ronald wanted to compete as a driver in his rig this year, and not as a spotter, so the search was on to find a spotter that I could trust and feel comfortable with. We’d talked about it before, and the only person I was comfortable with was Chris Walton, former National champion spotter for Team 832 with Kurt Shramovich. So the weekend of the Club Comp at Rausch in April, I talked with Bruce Shallis and he made a call to Chris. He was brave enough to take on the task of spotting for a "woman driver". Yikes! Bad decision? Only time will tell.
So here we are, it’s 2011, and I’ve got a new rig and a new spotter. Let the games begin.
Saturday, May 7th 2011 Event 1
It looked was going to be a nice day; but in true Rausch Creek fashion, it was overcast and windy. Who cares, we were there to see what Kyle had in store for us this season. Our courses for the day were set as usual and everyone was walking them and plotting their strategies. I have come to appreciate the value of a good spotter and what they bring to the team; Chris had already been walking courses before I had even arrived (*bows down* I’m not worthy! I’m not worthy!) . Of the three courses, I thought A3 was going to be the most difficult, and of course that was our first course of the day. I had never taken my YJ up the double bump area next to the office, and this was only the 2nd time I had driven the TJ. I was a little nervous about that, but Chris had already formulated a plan which he shared with me.
We started A3 by driving up the far right side of the double bump and the TJ crawled right up with no problem. We were able to crest the top without getting hung up. We then went through the bowl and over to a nice big rock that likes to hang people up. With luck, we were able to clear it with one backup, and try to go left to head up onto the narrow ledge to go for the bonus gate. It got a little tippy there, but that’s where trust is key. It was a very tight area, and we had to hug the ledge. I remember hearing someone say, "Don’t look down Lorri" but it didn’t seem that bad to me. We were able to maneuver through the bonus gate after a couple more backups and head down to the next small climb on the way out. We were very lucky to come down at the perfect angle and not get jammed into the concrete wall. So it was just up and over through that gate and then out the exit gate. We scored a -11 out of a possible -15, charged with 1 more backup than we thought, but oh well, still a great score for me. The excitement had started to set in. We ended up with the 2nd best score on that course.
Our next course was A1; where I thought I was going to have some trouble where I had before in the YJ. The course started out by going up a small hill at the edge of the horseshoe and over a descent that had given me a scare before. Fortunately, the TJ just walked right down, yea! Over to the larger concrete mound climb and then straddled the top edge and headed for a downward descent with a turn to the right. Unfortunately, the left front tire was in a high spot and the right front was down and to the right. The jeep was teetering to the right. I was leaning all the way to the left and Chris was yelling, "Don’t move Lorri! Don’t move at all!" He was down below trying to build a bridge up to my right tire so we wouldn’t fall over. Mission complete, I just had to drive it out and through the gate without stopping. We headed over to the back side of the horseshoe for a loose rock climb and another gate. The TJ made it up to the top edge and headed down to a drop off and out the exit gate. Somewhere we had a backup but I’m not sure where it was. We managed another great score with a -14 out of a possible -15. Now I’m even more excited and can’t believe we’re doing so well. We had the 2nd best score on that course also.
Our last course was A2. We had been able to watch a few other teams tackle this one, and it seemed to be giving people some trouble. This course was all natural rocks and some loose areas where they had altered the terrain to give us some new lines and obstacles to try out. Again Chris had established a plan and knew which lines were giving people problems. We took a small climb up a few big rocks in the beginning; then up and around the corner to the left which was a little tight. Back around to the right and into the area with the loose stuff to go down through the bonus gate, which we made it through clean. We lined up for the next climb different than most others had, which worked out quite well and we didn’t get hung up. Through the pit area again and back out the next gate to head to the exit drop and out. I was thrilled to score a -12 out of a possible -15, best score on that course for the day.
For the shootout course, you had to make it through the first three gates; and then each of the next gates was worth -10 points, so it would be a lot of points possible. You had to make the 3rd gate clean before you could go onto the big bonus gates, and after that no backups were counted against you. To be able to make it clean you basically had to pick your line and kind of launch it so you would not get hung up. We were only 18 points ahead of 2nd place and I was afraid I was going to screw up and not be able to get past the 3rd gate which would land us way out of 1st. We ran last, so we did get to watch the rest of the group run first, which was a bonus. Most of the 6th through 2nd place teams had made it completely through the entire course and bonus land, and had obtained most of the points available. We backed in first to line us up best for the first climb which was up and over a steep mound. Then down over the hill again and through another gate that led to the top of the ledge area again from the A1 course. This time, we came down straight and had to go thru the 3rd gate. We just had to keep our momentum up and go through a section of loose dirt, water, and a rocky climb to make it out with the points we needed to keep our lead. Chris high-fived me in celebration as I drove out the exit gate. We did just as well as 2nd place in the shootout, so we were able to keep our lead and take 1st place. I was on cloud nine despite the rain, and couldn’t believe I had finally won 1st place in an event.
CLASS 1 TEAM 97 JEEP TJ WRANGLER
DRIVER: LORRI LIND
SPOTTER: CHRIS WALTON
JEEP BUILDER: RONALD LIND
MECHANIC: ROGER SIMMONS
MECHANIC’S HELPER: TYLER LIND
TEAM PHOTO/VIDEO GRAPHER: SAMANTHA LIND
SCARED MOM: ROSEMARY THOMAS
This is Lorri Lind; one half of the ROLO MOTORSPORTS TEAM, my better half is Ron Lind "R2" who competes in WEROCK and RCROCS. Until this year he has been my spotter for the RCROCS Series. We started back in 2007 when Rausch Creek held the test competition to see if there was any interest. Evidently there was.
In 2008, Rausch Creek held their first RCROCS Series, three one day comps over three months, with three courses each and a shootout at the end. In the first series’ first comp in 2008, we placed 3rd, but were able to stay competitive enough in the other 2 events to take 2nd place for the series. In 2009, we competed but not as well; very uneventful, except for one rollover (my first and last so far). In 2010, we missed the first event due to a wedding, but were able to pull off a 2nd place finish in the final comp. Everyone said we needed a Jeep TJ and an automatic to be more competitive than we were in our beloved Jeep YJ. So, after the season was over Ronald was finally able to find a cheap Jeep TJ that he could build for a new rig. Over the fall and winter months, Ronald robbed all the good stuff out of our YJ and bought a lot of used parts and threw some new parts on that we had won over the years, building on a budget. Ronald has known Barry from TRUCK STUFF AND MORE for a few years now and he kindly agreed to be our sponsor this year. Thank you sooooo much.
Ronald wanted to compete as a driver in his rig this year, and not as a spotter, so the search was on to find a spotter that I could trust and feel comfortable with. We’d talked about it before, and the only person I was comfortable with was Chris Walton, former National champion spotter for Team 832 with Kurt Shramovich. So the weekend of the Club Comp at Rausch in April, I talked with Bruce Shallis and he made a call to Chris. He was brave enough to take on the task of spotting for a "woman driver". Yikes! Bad decision? Only time will tell.
So here we are, it’s 2011, and I’ve got a new rig and a new spotter. Let the games begin.
Saturday, May 7th 2011 Event 1
It looked was going to be a nice day; but in true Rausch Creek fashion, it was overcast and windy. Who cares, we were there to see what Kyle had in store for us this season. Our courses for the day were set as usual and everyone was walking them and plotting their strategies. I have come to appreciate the value of a good spotter and what they bring to the team; Chris had already been walking courses before I had even arrived (*bows down* I’m not worthy! I’m not worthy!) . Of the three courses, I thought A3 was going to be the most difficult, and of course that was our first course of the day. I had never taken my YJ up the double bump area next to the office, and this was only the 2nd time I had driven the TJ. I was a little nervous about that, but Chris had already formulated a plan which he shared with me.
We started A3 by driving up the far right side of the double bump and the TJ crawled right up with no problem. We were able to crest the top without getting hung up. We then went through the bowl and over to a nice big rock that likes to hang people up. With luck, we were able to clear it with one backup, and try to go left to head up onto the narrow ledge to go for the bonus gate. It got a little tippy there, but that’s where trust is key. It was a very tight area, and we had to hug the ledge. I remember hearing someone say, "Don’t look down Lorri" but it didn’t seem that bad to me. We were able to maneuver through the bonus gate after a couple more backups and head down to the next small climb on the way out. We were very lucky to come down at the perfect angle and not get jammed into the concrete wall. So it was just up and over through that gate and then out the exit gate. We scored a -11 out of a possible -15, charged with 1 more backup than we thought, but oh well, still a great score for me. The excitement had started to set in. We ended up with the 2nd best score on that course.
Our next course was A1; where I thought I was going to have some trouble where I had before in the YJ. The course started out by going up a small hill at the edge of the horseshoe and over a descent that had given me a scare before. Fortunately, the TJ just walked right down, yea! Over to the larger concrete mound climb and then straddled the top edge and headed for a downward descent with a turn to the right. Unfortunately, the left front tire was in a high spot and the right front was down and to the right. The jeep was teetering to the right. I was leaning all the way to the left and Chris was yelling, "Don’t move Lorri! Don’t move at all!" He was down below trying to build a bridge up to my right tire so we wouldn’t fall over. Mission complete, I just had to drive it out and through the gate without stopping. We headed over to the back side of the horseshoe for a loose rock climb and another gate. The TJ made it up to the top edge and headed down to a drop off and out the exit gate. Somewhere we had a backup but I’m not sure where it was. We managed another great score with a -14 out of a possible -15. Now I’m even more excited and can’t believe we’re doing so well. We had the 2nd best score on that course also.
Our last course was A2. We had been able to watch a few other teams tackle this one, and it seemed to be giving people some trouble. This course was all natural rocks and some loose areas where they had altered the terrain to give us some new lines and obstacles to try out. Again Chris had established a plan and knew which lines were giving people problems. We took a small climb up a few big rocks in the beginning; then up and around the corner to the left which was a little tight. Back around to the right and into the area with the loose stuff to go down through the bonus gate, which we made it through clean. We lined up for the next climb different than most others had, which worked out quite well and we didn’t get hung up. Through the pit area again and back out the next gate to head to the exit drop and out. I was thrilled to score a -12 out of a possible -15, best score on that course for the day.
For the shootout course, you had to make it through the first three gates; and then each of the next gates was worth -10 points, so it would be a lot of points possible. You had to make the 3rd gate clean before you could go onto the big bonus gates, and after that no backups were counted against you. To be able to make it clean you basically had to pick your line and kind of launch it so you would not get hung up. We were only 18 points ahead of 2nd place and I was afraid I was going to screw up and not be able to get past the 3rd gate which would land us way out of 1st. We ran last, so we did get to watch the rest of the group run first, which was a bonus. Most of the 6th through 2nd place teams had made it completely through the entire course and bonus land, and had obtained most of the points available. We backed in first to line us up best for the first climb which was up and over a steep mound. Then down over the hill again and through another gate that led to the top of the ledge area again from the A1 course. This time, we came down straight and had to go thru the 3rd gate. We just had to keep our momentum up and go through a section of loose dirt, water, and a rocky climb to make it out with the points we needed to keep our lead. Chris high-fived me in celebration as I drove out the exit gate. We did just as well as 2nd place in the shootout, so we were able to keep our lead and take 1st place. I was on cloud nine despite the rain, and couldn’t believe I had finally won 1st place in an event.