It’s that time of year again. The 2009 Axial West Coast Championships (AWCC) took place this past weekend at Donner Ski Ranch in northern California. This event is one of the biggest R/C rock crawling comps of the year, taking place along side a 1:1 rock crawling competition to create a rock crawlers dream weekend. This year Axial teamed up with Calrocs to put on a rock crawling event that was second to none. If you’re a rock crawling enthusiast, from the 1:1 or R/C world, this event was a must attend competition. This years competition brought about 140 pro and novice drivers from all over the country to compete for the largest purse available to date for any R/C rock crawling competition. Here’s a few highlights from the weekend.

Pictures of a few various obstacles that had to be negotiated cleanly to have a shot at winning the coveted 1st place trophies. Rocks weren’t the only obstacles involved. There were water hazards, mud pits, bridges, cables of carnage, dirt, sand, etc. the top drivers definitely had to earn their paychecks.

Something looks fishy here……

Scoping out the obstacles before the madness begins

The man behind the madness, Brian Parker. This guy can build a course that will give even the most seasoned drivers fits of cold sweat and have them doubting their rig’s set-up regularly.

Parker “Doing Work” on a set of HB tires with his best friend Mr. Dremel

Brian and his new best friend……………………sorry Mr. Dremel

Every R/C rock crawlers hero

Group shot of the Pro class Saturday morning

Parker going over the rules before the comp gets started

The backdrop

Jason and Badger from RCCrawler.com  provided live coverage of the event for RCC and Pirate4x4

Do work Drivers!!

Norcal driver Dean Hsiao working course #2

Each course had a “Tech Sled” to double check everyone’s wheelbase. Anything over 12 1/2″ is out of spec for the 2.2 class.

A few pics from the 1:1 competition. Team Axial Driver Cody Waggoner made the trip up to compete in the 1:1 and R/C comp. Cody usually competes with WEROCK. But, wanted to get a little extra test time behind the wheel of his 1:1 moonbuggy before the next event. Cody ended up taking the win in the unlimited class with the help of Axial’s own Randall Davis as his spotter.

Team Axial Driver Brandon Coonce on course #4

Washington driver Jason Gainey on course #2

Futaba’s own Jason Holt working course #2

Top 5 pro drivers
1st Jake “King Bling” Hallenbeck
2nd Jake Wright
3rd Kolby Klingama
4th Scott Hughes
5th Greg Sinclair

Top 5 novice drivers
1st Steven Fillion
2nd Bob Tarvin
3rd Willy Davis
4th Rhett Mora
5th Scott Jackson

Wow, what a weekend!! More 1:1 and R/C rock crawling going on then you can shake a stick at. No matter where you were on the mountain there was action to watch. Congrats to all the top finishers for a job well done. A huge thanks to the BPRCA and CKRC Crawlers out of Reno, Nevada for all their hard work and dedication to this sport. See you next year!!

We’d also like to thank Xtreme RC for their generous support of the Axial West Coast Championships. Be sure to check out Xtreme RC.