Hosted by NorCal Rock Racing and held at held at Fernley 95A Speedway in Fernley, Nevada, Holley EFI Outbreak on the 95 brings together pre-runners, UTVs and tube chassis rock crawlers from the Ultra 4 series for two days of King of the Hammers-style rock racing mania. For Cade Rodd, it was also an event that would put his ability to perform under pressure to the test.

Rodd competes in the 4800 class in the Ultra 4 series with a solid-axle, LS7-powered, tube-chassis side-by-side that dishes out roughly 720 horsepower. As the current points leader in the class, many expected to see Rodd secure a podium spot at the event, but few could have predicted how it all actually went down.

“It’s brand new short course track – it had never been raced on before this event,” says Randy Rodd, Cade’s father and the owner of Jimmy’s 4x4 in Cortez, Colorado. “So we kind of had ‘new track blues’ because the surface was a bit soft, initially.”

Despite the dust, Cade ended up qualifying on pole and decided to the park the car for the night soon afterward. “When we got back to the race track in the morning, we found a big puddle of gear oil under the car,” Randy explains. “And we discovered that we had broken a couple of the studs that hold the differential in.”

The repair forced Cade to miss both of his heat races, putting him in dead last for the start of the main. But as he illustrated shortly thereafter, positions can change in the blink of an eye in short-course circuit racing.

“He lined up far to the inside for the start of the race, expecting that he would be able to get the jump a good portion of the field in front of him if he timed it right,” Randy notes. “After picking up some spots on the straightaway, he held his line on the inside going into the first corner, but one of his teammates with a bit less experience actually moved in and tried to shut the door on him. This is open-wheel, so it’s dangerous when that happens – you don’t want to make contact with another car. They hit each other, and the other car ended up flipping right at Turn 1 at the start of race.”

Cade’s tactic was otherwise successful, though, and he suddenly found himself in second place before the field had even reached the second corner. “He just watched the race leader’s line, and that guy eventually left the door open in a corner. Cade came in underneath him, and once he had the lead, he held it.”

Randy says that the track surface plays a big role in the team’s overall approach to a given race. “We use the track conditions to find where our speed is. If the top of the corner is loose, we’ll run the tighter line. And if the bottom of the corner is really wet or something like that, we’ll run up on top. We’ll watch how the course is changing throughout the day and make a game plan around that.”

With Outbreak on the 95 now in the rearview, the Rodds are setting their sights on their next event: the Ultra 4 Nationals in Davis, Oklahoma, near the end of October. “It’s our championship – the last race of the season – and it brings out competitors from all over the world,” Randy points out. “And if Cade qualifies in the top spot and can hold at least second place, he’ll win the national championship.”