Stephen Watson wins Sportsmanship Award

King Shocks racer Stephen Watson has earned the Raceline Wheels, Sportsmanship award for his selfless efforts during the 2011 King of the Hammers race. Stephen’s get it done attitude caught the attention of Greg Mulkey of Raceline wheels when instead of just waiting in line, he helped others ahead of him to winch up Backdoor at the beginning of his second lap. Unbeknownst to Mr. Mulkey was the assistance given to competitors by Stephen on Aftershock when their rig was temporarily down. While Brother Brandon performed the necessary repairs, Stephen was spotting others through a difficult line needed to get around their stranded rig. Stephen and Brandon overcame breakage, traffic jams and the brutal course to finish 28th at KOH. Just to finish is a huge victory but the team had spent countless hours carefully preparing for this race and understandably where expecting much better results. Like many others, the team’s race was drastically altered when they were caught up in the mess at Outer Limits losing over an hour while the back-up was cleared. As they traversed Aftershock, a rare rod end failure on the front suspension also broke the pinion yoke adding to their downtime and the gap to the race leaders. Luckily a spare rod end was carried on-board their rig. After a field fix was performed, they limped to the main pit in two wheel drive where the broken yoke was replaced. They started out on the second lap with a car that was pretty close to 100%. They quickly settled into a consistent pace for the remainder of the race and managed to pass a few more cars before they crossed the finish line. Stephen is proud to have won the award but admits he was just doing what he and Brandon normally do whether they are competing in a race or out on a leisurely trail ride. The team is already busy preparing for the next event in the Ultra4 series, the BITD, Silver State 300 desert race. Hopefully, their hard work and perseverance will be rewarded in the Nevada desert. Stephen, Brandon and their entire team are a great example of the old saying, the difference between try and triumph is a little umph.