The MetalCloak Stampede turned out to be a race to remember for everyone over the weekend of April 8-9. What started at the Prairie City SVRA in Rancho Cordova, California on Friday as a beautiful spring race with the blue skies, green grass, and a meticulously groomed dirt track, quickly turned overnight into grey skies with a track covered by up to 12 inches of deep mud.

All of the clean and dry rock sections drivers seemed to navigate through relatively easily just the day before were now wet from the pouring rain, turning to slick mud. While we are sure this caused some concern for a few drivers, it definitely meant fans were in for some spectacular racing. Despite the rainfall, attendance appeared to be at a record high, and did not deter fans who came to see the best off-road drivers in the country compete in the worst of conditions.

Wayland Campbell flies out f the bottom of the gunite section.

Prairie City SVRA: The course this year was run counterclockwise, which changed things up quite a bit.

The Course

We have covered many racing events at Prairie City over the last couple of years and expected some surprises from the Ultra4 Racing organization. We knew they had the heavy equipment working on the track throughout the week and were expecting some new obstacles and course changes.

The new rock section provides some exciting moments for fans.

By Wednesday, we heard everything would be running in reverse. Normally, the track starts uphill in front of the main grandstand toward the start/finish line. Running clockwise and winding back and forth, around, and out back with a long straightaway, and a sweeping high speed left up to the finish.

This year, drivers are going downhill, counterclockwise, and straight into a new wide rock section. Clearly built for the fans, the addition was right in front of the main grandstand. Rocks spanned the entire width of the course, with enough room to race three cars wide at the start, leading to some of the most incredible moments on record.

Gary Ferravanti Sr. battles to stay in front of Erik Miller.

Cars were literally leaping through this rock section landing in the dirt before racing off to the new right turn into the finger section of the course – a straightaway full of jumps and whoops designed to push suspension components to the limit.

The second section is composed of a natural rock section with one easier path and one much more challenging. Drivers spent most of their time in this section lined up and following each other down the easier left side.

Shannon Campbell found a way to pass two other drivers in the gunite section.

Once a driver pops out of this section it is a hard hairpin right turn, then a dash to a sharp left leading out to the far section of the course. The farthest point of this course from the spectator area is the gunite section built of a combination of damp sand, cement, and water to imitate a natural waterfall or rock face.

Levi Shirley demonstrating how to skip the rock section.

When drivers are given the choice to leap off the top of the gunite wall and drop to the bottom of the obstacle, or take the longer slower route around the far outside, things get exciting.

There is a short climb out of this obstacle up a steep hill, only to drop off the top of the hill and back on to the track again. This is followed by a sprint through a chicane down the backside into the two remaining rock sections. The first is a downhill section full of enormous rocks. Here, drivers will bounce and crawl safely down to the bottom, into the hairpin right turn, before the last rock section before the finish line.

Raul Gomez leaping out of the rock section.

Levi Shirley and Brendon Thompson hit this section at full speed touching only the top rocks as they leaped 20 feet over the obstacle to the bottom. The last rock section is a short uphill through another section of large rocks that takes vehicles to a sprint through a sweeping uphill left turn around, and back downhill, before sliding into the first rock section to start all over again.

It is a challenging feat to repeat a victory on this course as even the slightest driver error, or error by competitor immediately in front, can leave one stuck with no way around until others have passed. There is little room for error and even the best of drivers have luck to come home with a win.

Loren Healy, last year’s winner and crowd favorite, fought his way to the top of the podium surrounded by Shannon Campbell and Wayland Campbell. Healy re-established himself as a favorite after an impressive performance on Friday.

Shannon Campbell out to an early lead in the main event.

Race Day

We saw some jaw-dropping runs on Friday on the dry course, but now it was Saturday morning, and with the changes in the weather, the whole course had changed again. Heat 1 in the 4400 class started on a course already made slick by previous classes. Both favorites in the heat, Shannon started in 15th position with Shirley starting in 13th.

Shannon took off passing effortlessly, and within two laps was racing with Shirley at the front of the pack. Shirley would eventually struggle with a mechanical issue, leaving Shannon running alone and out in front to win and securing the front starting position in the main event.

This is the white mud-caked car of Gary Ferravanti Sr.

Heat 2 started with Healy in the pole position next to Wayland Campbell starting in the No. 2 spot. Jason Scherer started in 13th, but quickly started closing the gap and pushing hard to reach the leaders. Healy would remain in first this heat, and also end up securing a start up front for the 4400 main.

Heat 3 had Erik Miller starting in front for his first visit to the course in Prairie City. Clay Gilstrap would start next to Miller in the second position. With the two favorites starting in front of the heat it was just a matter of both drivers staying out of trouble and running hard in front to maintain the lead.

Bailey Campbell was also driving hard, and moved forward with some new found confidence. Her hard-charging attack into and out of the obstacles, combined with high speeds in the straight sections, make her one to watch this season.

The 4400 main had a dream lineup of all of the expected leaders in the front after placing well in their individual heats. The match between Shannon and Healy was guaranteed as they started side-by-side. Fans were lined four people deep to see who would come out on top. Immediately behind the leaders were Miller, coming off a huge win at King of the Hammers, and Gary Ferravanti Sr. racing for another win on this track.

Darren Henke takes the outside through the thick mud.

The rain ceased just before the start, but the course was still covered in mud, and appeared to thicker than any other time that day. Most drivers equipped their cars with new types of guards made out of everything from tape, plexiglass acrylic, or even cardboard to limit the amount of mud hitting their helmet. The modifications were an obvious sign of the drivers struggle with tear offs and visibility from earlier heats in the day.

The first two laps saw Shannon leading with Healy in close pursuit, however on the next lap Healy was nowhere to be found. It was only later that we were informed that an odd bounce off the rocks had left Healy on his lid. A quick recovery crew helped him get rubber side down again and back to racing.

Touching the rocks is optional for Brendan Thompson.

Once the cars spread out over the course it was impossible to follow all of the action from the middle of the track. As leaders came into view cheers from the crowd announced another car leaping through the rock section, or another racer making a spectacular pass. Steam, smoke, and carnage is expected when you are watching the final 4400 race at any one of the Ultra4 off-road events, and much to the delight of spectators there was no shortage of these.

This was a 10 lap race and it was very close to the end. Shannon had the lead for every lap leading into the finish. He was truly in his element, thriving in what appeared to be the worst of conditions. It was not long until he was moving through lap traffic and on pace toward taking the checkered flag.

Shannon crossed the line still in first, followed 24 seconds later by Scherer and another 18 seconds later by Miller. Ferravanti Sr. and Gilstrap finished next, just 7 seconds later, and rounding out the Top 5 with just one-tenth of a second separating the two.

Here is a quick table with the Top 10 and a link to the overall results for all racers.

All in all it was a great weekend of racing in some of the worst Northen California weather conditions we have seen in some time. Be sure to check out the full race gallery below!