With 44 registered drivers, the race was the largest 4WD Hardware Eastern Regional ULTRA4 race to date. Fortunately for spectators and drivers, the rain that threatened throughout the week arrived before and after race day. While the course was muddy, the skies were clear for the green flag Saturday morning.

Tom Wayes driving to the win in the Superlift Shootout.

Erik Miller qualified first on Friday, followed by Jason Shipman, Wayland Campbell and Mike Colville. The 6.75-mile course was narrow and lined with trees; and drivers reported that the technical course left little room for errors or passing.

Kentucky native, Bill Baird (who took third place overall at the 2014 King of The Hammers event) was the fastest through on the first two laps with Barton close on his heels. Both two-time Kings of the Hammers Shannon Campbell and Loren Healy started toward the back on Saturday due to qualifying issues on Friday.

Campbell and Healy continued to work their way to the front, with Campbell ultimately beating out Miller for Second Place by less than three-hundredths of a second. However, it was Chicky Barton, in his new independent front suspension (IFS) vehicle, that nailed the win. He seemed to never let off the throttle the entire race, managed to stay close to the front of the pack until he took the lead, and then never looked back.

And although the bulk of the competitors were there for the Regional ULTRA4 event, the spectators and drivers stuck around for the much-publicized shootout afterwards between the ULTRA4 drivers in their western-desert-style rock racers and the Southeastern drivers and their rock-bouncing rigs.

And why? Because of the rolls, wrecks and crashes, I mean let’s get serious. Look at the photos, check out the Bustled Knuckle video above for all the wild, out of control shootout action.

Once the drivers had a chance to fix any repairs from the morning race, 12 ULTRA4 race cars and 12 SRRS rock bouncers competed in the 2nd annual RCV SRRS vs. ULTRA4 shootout. After the all mechanical mayhem was over, ultimately, Tom Wayes won overall with the fastest combined time of 43.788 seconds. Danny Smith was the fastest bouncer with a combined time of 51.311.

The next ULTRA4 event will be the MetalCloak Stampede held in Prairie City, California. More than 80 drivers are already registered for the June 6-7, 2014 event, the first race in the Trail-Gear Western Regional Series. ULTRA4 Racing will return to the Midwest for the Badlands UMC event the last weekend of June in Attica, Indiana. For more information, full race results, or an event schedule, go the Ultra4 Racing website.