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Twisted Trails 2012
AJ Zirkel Straddling the edge “V” of the 2nd waterhole.
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Twisted Trails 2012
Cory Miller throttles out of the 1st Tire/Water hole...Wow did that 572 sound good.
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Twisted Trails 2012
Cory Miller working his way down the V-Notch of Holy Moly.
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Twisted Trails 2012
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Twisted Trails 2012
Mike Raczynski, not wanting to be outdone, let his 5.3L Buggy fly from the starting line.
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Twisted Trails 2012
Cory Miller maneuvering his buggy through the 1st Rock Stage of the Blue Trail.
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Mike Raczynski flexing his buggy and testing out that rear steer through the rock section of the Blue Trail.
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Twisted Trails 2012
Story & Photos By Clint Carter
Extreme is not what comes to mind when you talk about wheeling in Michigan. The crew at Twisted Trails Off-Road Park would like to change that. The ever-popular event in California known as The Top Truck Challenge is a long drive for wheelers in Ontario and the mid-northeast US. So they decided to have a similar event closer to home and the “Extreme Truck Challenge” was born.
Twisted Trails Off-Road Park is 120 acres of private land located in Copemish, Michigan. This 4th annual 3-day encompasses a pull challenge, obstacle runs, hill climbs, and a mud run, following the Top Truck Challenge Rules. It’s a timed competition combined with a points system. The competitor with the lowest points in the end wins. As a result, the guy with the small rig has a chance against the guy with 54-inch tires.
This year the park increased the amount of prizes and prize money to bring in competitors from around the region (gas ain’t cheap these days). Shawn Litchy (owner of InnerAirLock) got on board to be the PR/Sponsor Guy and helped bring in roughly $5,000 for this years event with a 1st place cash prize of $1,500 and sponsor-provided prizes for every competitor (right down to last place).
With that much on the line everyone was ready to bring their “A” game and this years event saw every style of rig from full body Toyotas, truggies and buggies to rock bouncer rigs.
With great spectator viewing spots throughout the park, Day 1 of the event started out cold and wet with temps around 5 degrees C. This made things much harder.
The first challenge of the day would be the tire pull. This is a very large loader tire filled with concrete and has a built in adjustable height pull. In the first display of power, competitors had to drag this huge tire up a hill but in the end no one made a full pull. Once the tire pull was over the competitors headed back to the pits with just one hour to prepare for the next event.
Next was an obstacle course made of sand hills, tight ravine turns, to tire filled water holes with concrete walls. Now this might not be the hardest course to go through but it was a timed event and all that horsepower made this exciting to watch as the mud and rigs flew. Did I mention the “Big” tire wall with a concrete wall right after for the finish? There was a little winching going on there. Cory Miller in his Southern Style Buggy along with Mike Raczynski in his four-seater buggy, gave the concrete wall quite a few full throttle assaults and bounced their way to the top, putting on a good show for the spectators. Now with everyone cold and wet, they returned to the on-site campground to warm up at the fire, change clothes and get something to eat. And then the after hours party started.
As Day 2 started, we awoke to a sunny Saturday morning with plenty of wind (way better than the rain). The day started with a climb up a large hill with jumps and a double jump at the top. There was no shortage of throttle here either with the fastest time to the top by Cory Miller. Once again it was back to the pits for an hour break to get ready for the next run.
Holy Moly was up next - tight turns, concrete V-notches and walls, with some rock piles thrown in for some flavour. While speed is still a factor here so is the technical aspect of driving. Trevor Bristol's stroked 347 forged motor-sports buggy had a layover in one of the many turns. But he managed to get it upright and finished the course. When you’re competing, the last thing you want to see is part of your suspension sticking out the side of your rig. Unfortunately that is what happened to Robert Markley the driver for Will Fitzpatrick's Big Green Monster Buggy on 54” boggers. The left front coil over broke off at the heim joint and stuck out the side. Robert looked over at Will who gave him a thumbs-up to finish the course. So, Robert crawled his way to the end only to have the rest of the coilover break off right as he crossed the finish line. With that event wrapped up everyone once again headed back to the pits to make repairs.
As I walked through the pits everyone was breaking out tarps, plastic and rain gear. But there was one thing that caught my eye and really told me what was next up. It was Mike Raczynski's covering of choice for his buggy...Saran Wrap...when that comes out you know its time for some mud!
The Mud Pit is not your run of the mill pit. There are 3 big water holes that look very intimidating and at the 4th section was the big loader tire. The goal is to make your way as fast as you can to the loader tire, drive around it and go back the way you came, as the starting line becomes the finish line. Now this was spectacular to see. Both Mike Raczynski's Big Blue four-seater buggy and Gary Porter's Silver Ford pickup truggy did their best Dukes of Hazard impressions on the 1st hill into the mud run. With everyone making it through on their own power Day 2 was complete.
Since the day ended a little early, we headed out for some wheeling in the park until dark. Some of the nighttime entertainment was provided by Luke Delk's S-10 truggy on 46” claws and Rockwells with rear steer. He powered through a few cyclones and did some monster trucking on a car (you can watch it on YouTube just type in “Michigan Extreme Truck Challenge After Dark) while the others watched sitting next to the bonfire under the starry night.
Day 3. We awoke to another sunny day around 10˚ C with less wind. Today only had one event in store - the “Blue Trail”. The “Blue Trail” is one of the hardest obstacle courses of the weekend. It begins with huge boulders on a downhill slope. Once through the boulders, you have a very large drop into a mud run, then a straight hill climb with a tight turn at the top to another drop followed by another hill climb with a rock climb to the finish.
Shawn Lichty in his International “Scout” tube buggy with 43” SX's was 1st up. No one likes to go first, but today it would turn out to be an advantage. Initially the mud at the bottom was manageable. But once the trucks with 54” tires tore it up, winch cables became mandatory for the rest of the competitors. The display of power, wheel speed, and cheers from the crowd made an awesome end to this event.
In 1st was Mike Raczynski, 2nd going to Cory Miller and 3rd to Shawn Litchy.
This was a great event with everyone helping each other out. Even with this much money on the line, it was all about the sport and having fun. Then the crew at Twisted Trails gave everyone a teaser about things to come. They are planning on poring some sick concrete stair-step style hill climbs with a few twists thrown in. The Park itself has big plans for the future with thoughts of adding more trails with concrete... perhaps they are a little ‘Twisted’. Can't wait to see it!
Information on the Extreme Truck Challenge and all other Twisted Trail Events check out www.twistedtrailsoffroadpark.com.
For your viewing pleasure check out http://www.youtube.com - just type in “Michigan Extreme Truck Challenge 2012” to see all of the action.