First Ever ULTRA4 Win for “EZ” Rick Mooneyham

First Ever ULTRA4 Win for “EZ” Rick Mooneyham
  
Photo by: Thom Kingston
TOOELE, UT July 16th, 2013: Driver “EZ” Rick Mooneyham is no stranger to the ULTRA4 podium.  Over the years, he’s been one of the most consistent top three finishers at the Griffin King of The Hammers Presented by Nitto Tire. However, despite all of his podium finishes, a first place trophy had proved elusive to Mooneyham; that is until last weekend’s American Rocksports Challenge held at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, UT where Mooneyham crushed the competition and claimed first place finishing nearly 45 seconds ahead of Shannon Campbell. The American Rocksports Challenge is thethird and final race in the Trail-Gear Western Regional ULTRA4 Series.

As thunder clouds loomed and the rain began in earnest, the top 24 of 38 ULTRA4 teams lined up for the main event on Saturday afternoon. Mooneyham in his black Nitto Tire Trick Toys Fab car started next to Shannon Campbell in the Green Monster Energy car on the pole position. The main race was 12 laps long and followed the format used in both qualifying and prelims that combined the Miller Motorsports short course with the competition rock crawl course. Off the line, Campbell took a quick lead with Nelson, Sacalas and Mooneyham hot on his heels, Campbell experienced a rollover in the rock section and Sacalas made his way around Campbell to take the lead followed closely by Mooneyham. The two would continue on this way for several laps until Sacalas experienced a hard hit in the rocks which required him to pit and replace a tire. As Sacalas made his way into the pits, Mooneyham took the lead and never looked back. Shannon Campbell worked his way back into second position and 2013 Rookie Jake Hallenbeck would take his first podium finishing in 3rd.  The top 10 non-qualified drivers also earned a spot in the 2014 Griffin King of The Hammers. Below is the entire list of finishers and qualifiers.
Ten Rubicon Express Modified and Pro Comp stock class drivers also competed in both a prelim and main event this weekend. The Stock and Mod cars had to complete the same number of laps on the same course as the ULTRA4s. In the Rubicon Express Modified Class, 2013 Rookie, Paul Bickerton claimed first place, Wayne Hartwig took 2nd  and Mitch Funk would narrowly beat out Jeff Rector for 3rd place.Wayne Hartwig has consistently finished every race of the regional series on the podium for the Modified class this year.  In the Pro Comp Stock Class, Miller Motorsport Parks own John Williams would claim the first place position in his only race this season with Richard Gauthier finishing 2nd and Kevin Adler finishing 3rd.  Gauthier and Adler have both finished all 3 regional races on the podium this season. Gauthier with one 1st place and 2 2nd place finishes and Adler with a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finish this season. Please see the entire list of finishers and qualifiers below.
The final 4WD Hardware Eastern Regional series race will be held in Hot Springs, AR at the Superlift Park on August 16th and 17th. The Nitto Tire National  Championship will be held the following month on Friday, September 27th on Moapa Indian Reservation Land near Las Vegas, NV. Please visitwww.ultra4racing.com for more updates and details on both races.
 

Finish
Car
Driver
Laps
KOH Qual
Total Time

4400s

1

554

Rick Mooneyham

12

Yes – 1

27:16.0

2

5

Shannon Campbell

12

pre-qual

28:00.6

3

4775

Jake Hallenbeck

12

pre-qual

28:22.0

4

26

Clay Gilstrap

12

pre-qual

28:43.7

5

3

Wayland Campbell

12

pre-qual

29:53.3

6

321

Tom Wayes

11

Yes-2

27:19.0

7

4486

Marcos Gomez

11

Yes-3

27:25.7

8

966

Jason Blanton

11

pre-qual

27:42.3

9

4435

Kevin Sacalas

11

pre-qual

28:08.4

10

72

Hunter Sparrow

11

Yes-4

29:10.4

11

4427

Jeff Russell

11

pre-qual

29:14.4

12

308

Rocco Baldassare

10

Yes-5

27:16.4

13

1977

Brendon Thompson

10

Yes-6

27:18.5

14

4481

Alex Hardaway

10

pre-qual

27:36.3

15

524

Mark Danzo

10

Yes-7

28:17.1

16

4416

Brian Tilton

10

Yes-8

29:18.5

17

4483

JP Gomez

9

pre-qual

25:26.7

18

4409

Paul Garner

9

Yes-9

27:50.1

19

775

Robert Daly

8

Yes-10

27:29.1

20

4459

Keith Xavier

8

28:04.3

21

4472

Dustin Isenhour

7

31:46.3

22

76

Jason Scherer

3

05:31.0

23

4404

Nick Nelson

2

02:49.3

24

4407

Randy Rodd

1

52.747

LCQ

4441

Darren Henke

LCQ

99

Angelo Parisi

LCQ

67

Loren Healy

LCQ

4487

Matt Nieman

LCQ

62

James Evans

LCQ

911

David Buchberger

DNS

4463

Rob Lynch

DNS

11

Bruce Szember

DNS

777

John Brock

DNS

83

Jacob Scott

DNS

4444

Jason Pickett

DNS

104

Jim Brown

DNS

742

Larry Anderson

DNS

701

Greg Lundeen

Stock/Mod

Mod Finish
Car
Driver Name
Laps
Behind
Total Time

1

4578

Paul Bickerton

12

39:56.7

2

4502

Wayne Hartwig

10

2 Laps

43:01.3

3

4515

Mitch Funk

9

3 Laps

23:59.0

4

4505

Jeff Rector

9

3 Laps

24:29.7

DNF

4531

Shawn Rants

1

DNF

48.925

DNF

4509

Jeremy Eaton

DNS

Stock Finish

1

4623

John Williams

12

46:58.3

2

4643

Richard Gauthier

9

3 Laps

42:36.8

3

4602

Kevin Adler

5

7 Laps

20:16.9

DNF

4654

Bailey Cole

3

DNF

10:55.2

ULTRA4 SPONSORS
MetalCloak is the title sponsor for the ULTRA4 MetalCloak Nor Cal Stampede
Trail Gear is the ULTRA4 West Coast Series Sponsor
Nitto Tire is the ULTRA4 National Series Sponsor
Official Sponsors of ULTRA4 Racing also include:
4 Wheel Parts
ATX Wheels
Axial
Bestop
Blue Torch Fabworks
Corona Motorsports Rental
Dynomax Exhaust
GenRight Off Road
Griffin Radiator
Impact by Mastercraft Safety
Kawasaki
King Shocks
Lucas Oil
Miller Welding
Nitto Tire
Procomp
PSC
Posion Spyder
Rubicon Express
Smittybilt
Spidertrax
Trail Gear
Warn
WIDIA
ONE OF THE FASTEST GROWING MOTORSPORTs IN THE US – ULTRA4RACING  ULTRA4 racing began in 2007 with a dozen friends competing for bragging rights.  Six years later, more than 350 cars compete nationally and internationally in ULTRA4 races.  In 2013, races in the United States will be held in the following states: Utah, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Arkansas, California and Texas. Additionally, the 2nd annual ULTRA4 sanctioned King of the Valleys race will be taking place this August in Wales, UK.
 
ABOUT ULTRA4 RACING
ULTRA4 is a vehicle type, class and series.  ULTRA4Racing was born from the popularity of the annual Griffin King of the Hammers Presented by Nitto Tire, considered to be the toughest one-day off-road race. The vehicles are unlimited four-wheel drive, capable of competing in multiple racing disciplines – extreme rock crawling, high-speed desert racing and short course.  In six years, the sport has grown significantly from the inaugural King of the Hammers to an eight race national series including a National Championship. ULTRA4 Racing is managed by Hammerking Productions located in Lake Arrowhead, CA.  To learn more, log on to www.ultra4racing.com.
Media Contact:
Shannon Welch – Shannon@ultra4racing.com – 949.295.2676
Communications Director