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Show B6 Wednesday, August 23, 2006 .Vernal Express, ) sussing) M By Janine Shannon Express Writer Fires, flips, and flying mud characterized the Uintah County Fair's demolition derby this year. Between 10,000 and 12,000 people packed into the stands at Western Park Arena on Saturday to watch the destruction. "This is the biggest crowd, bar none, we've ever had," said Derk Hatch, executive director for the Uintah County Fair Committee. Eight drivers revved their engines at the start of the final heat, and for the first few minutes min-utes the arena was a whirl of dust and motion. The 21 car flipped onto its side and 32 drove on shredded tires. In the end, with stalled cars dotting the field, 18 and 02 battled for the championship. champi-onship. At one point 18 stopped, and it looked like driver Jake Richens was finished, but he got his car rolling again for a last effort. Darren Brandt's 02 car came out on top, however, winning win-ning the 2006 demolition derby. r 'w&msk i q 1 Motorcycle enthusiasts park along the Sheep Creek scenic and are interviewed by host of travel show. (77 w "J i -y . i4r i v ii r7- 1, -mix V ; , r " ; - 1 v K4 m-- . ' , jjj! ftp 1 - '- r ' gZ jsj - -1 . . : 1 V T lv 1 . - p v - Ruppe makes a run for it with the ball. Vernal bikers wait for turn to cross Cart Creek Bridge as part of a Channel 4 travel special to air Sunday. Vernal motorcycle tour to be part of Channel 4 special It didn't take Randy Beer, Vernal Sports Center owner, long to gather up 24 motorcyclists motorcy-clists to participate in a tour through Sheep Creek Canyon for a Channel 4 television series. They came from as far away as Salt Lake City and Grand Junction, Colo, to participate in the event. That's just the way motorcycle enthusiasts are fanatical about their love of bikes, especially big Harleys. When the television crew was late, it didn't matter. Uintah High School Cheerleaders Varsity: Brianna Brown, Jasmine Clahoun, Lynsee Campbell, Whitney Gudac, Melissa Pipher, Darik Price, Justine Rich, Laura Simper. Jr. Varsity: Sami Jensen, Ashley Richens, Masie Smuin, Tiffany Thompson, Makenzie Timothy, Morgyn Weaver, Shidale Woody. Coach Karen Lawson Brandt's 02 car, painted in stars and stripes and with "fear this" written across the front, won him first place overall and $2,000. Richens in the 18 car won second and $1,500, and Joel LeFavre won third and $1,000. The night kicked off with the national anthem, sung by Miss Uintah County Sammi Ufford, followed by the Powder Puff event. Three female drivers took to the dirt, with Becky Valdez in the 63 car winning first place and Katie Mair in the 123 car winning second place. Heat 1 ended with a showdown show-down between 89 and 911, painted like a police car. Brian Peed, driver of 89, won the heat. Heat 2 saw some flat and severely bent tires, and 32 and 4 were stuck to each other for several minutes before finally breaking loose. Brandt in his 02 car won the heat. In Heat 3, the 8 car briefly caught on fire, and in a smashing duo between 18 and 21, part of the crowd was showered with dirt clods. Driver Shane Purcell "We'll still have the best ride ever, even if they don't show," said Beers. Everyone in the tour Monday, had a different reason for riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. . "For me it is the sound," said Lynn Runolfson, Vernal Banker. "The sound calms me right down." "It's the resale value of a Harley," said Sam Howard, Vernal City fire chief. The tour roared through Vernal at 11 a.m. and stopped in the 21 car won the heat, with Richens in the 18 car taking second. In the fourth heat, two cars got stuck with their front tires suspended in the air, and 7 caught on fire. Brad Bowman in the 33 car won Heat 4. First place winners in each heat won $500, and second place winners won $250. All cars that were still running and had not placed in any of the previous heats competed in a "Grudge Match" in order to qualify for the championship heat. All cars remaining after the championship champion-ship heat participated in "Wipe Out," with Purcell in 21 winning win-ning as the last survivor. Brandt, from Morgan, also won $100 for long distance, and Kirk Brown in his 8 car painted blue with flames and checkered racing flags won $100 for best paint. Announcing for this year's derby was Charlie from KXRQ. West Highway 40 Towing in Roosevelt and Barker's Tree Care Services in Vernal provided pro-vided towing services. The at Flaming Gorge Dam. After lunch at Flaming Gorge Lodge, the bikers and camera crew went to the Red Canyon Visitor's Center and then to the Sheep Creek Geological Loop. "I am just a Vernal businessman business-man in disguise," said Brad Sorensen, Carpets by Cal, who participated in the ride. Channel 4 will air the tour Sunday at 9 a.m. and at 11 p.m. during the "At Your Leisure" program. Darren Brandt in his 802 car painted year. Uintah County Deputy Sheriffs Association raffled off three $500 gift cards, raising over $2,000 for charity. Drivers traveled from all over Utah to compete in this demoli Quarterback Taylor Jeski runs the Utes still loss to Juan Diego The Uintah Utes may have lost to Juan Diego 27-7 Friday, but the score doesn't stop the team's determination to get better. bet-ter. "I wished we would have won," said Coach Kevin Dickson. "Our team worked their guts out." Uintah fell short in the containment con-tainment of Juan Diego's senior running back Mychal Robinson who ran for two touchdown and a 72 yard run back on the opening open-ing kickoff. With four minutes left in the first half, Juan Diego went up 12-0 with an 8-yard run by Mike Allred. They missed both extra point, but put two more points on the board with a conversion. At the end of the half the score was 0-20, despite a valiant val-iant effort by the team to score in the final seconds of the half. Uintah's gamble on a fourth down play put them within scoring scor-ing distance. Two running plays and the Utes were unable to put the ball over before the time ran in stars and stripes won the Uintah tion derby. Other participants were Brad Horrocks 123, Brent Luke 7, Dennis Sandoval 49, Tyson Black 5, Ricky Sandoval X20, Nathan Broadhead X31, Shane Iverson X3, Kevin ball. determined after out in the first half. Ute fans had more to cheer about in the second half, as the Utes contained Robinson and were able to put together a touchdown. The Utes scored with 6:16 left in the game on a pass over the middle from quarterback quar-terback Taylor Jeski to senior tight end, Cutis Hautamaki. After the reception, Hautamaki ran for 40 yards for the touchdown. touch-down. "I think in the second half we outplayed them," said Dickson. "Jared Ruppe was a ready hole opener during the game." "The team is learning a new set which works well for them, but it will take them awhile to learn it," he said. "By Region we should be ready." "Our defense centers around senior Mike Hopla," said Dickson. "He takes a lot of pressure pres-sure off other players so they can play well." Hopla made or assisted in 4 tackles and Marcos Heaton had three tackles. County Fair's demolition derby this Todd 32, Cole Harris 8, Jesse McGuire 215, Daniel Peterson 911, Kyle Bentley 59, J.P. Cochran 25, Carlos Alcon X11, Troy Richens 10, Levi Luck 4, and Cali Case 215. Many of the Ute players play both sides of the ball. "But we rotated them in and out so no player played all defense and all offense." "We have a young team with only 12 seniors," Dickson said. "I believe in our kids," he continued. con-tinued. "Football is teaching and sometimes it takes awhile." Guest coach for the game was Fran Emery, retired elementary teacher, who remembered teaching teach-ing Jeski and Hopla in the first grade. "They were athletes even then," she said. Guest coaches are allowed to watch the game from the sidelines and are selected from Uintah District staff who submit an essay about football. The next two weeks Uintah will be on the road with games against Carbon High School and Grantsville the following week. Scoring by quarter in the Juan Diego game was: 1st quarter quar-ter 0-14; 2nd quarter 0-20; 3rd quarter 0-27; 4th quarter 7-27. |