Way Out West BBQ Championship

Stockton, Ca

July 3rd, 4th, 2009

A national KCBS sanctioned event

Our first KCBS competition of 2009 and we're coming out with some gold and a lot of room for improvement too. Here's the results .

• Chicken - 3rd place watch the award announcement Video
• Ribs - 9th place
• Butts  - 14th place
• Brisket - 18th place
• Overall - 10th place
• Total contestants - 24

Overall 10th place is our strongest showing yet and puts us above the fold for this event. That means TOY or Team Of the Year points - not that we're on the map for that race, but it's cool to finally have some.

Most exciting is the Chicken entry at third place - that's a good strong showing because the competition is fierce. Pam and I were flabbergasted because the chicken pieces we tasted were terrible - then again, every bbq competition guy knows that story.

That was where the joy thins out a little. Our other three meats were a struggle to get to cook in time. Even the ribs, which are usually very predictable gave grief. With our usual competition count of 6 racks on the cooker, we made the difficult decision to foil the most troublesome racks, and leave the others alone.

Though we managed to come out with 6 good bones, these ribs were far from our best, and it showed in our score - though 9th isn't exactly scratch against cooks of this caliber.

Here's what the trophy looks like - click on it for a much better view

The Pork turn-in was highly anticipated because we finally have a sauce that we think works with pulled pork. 14th place is a step up for us but we were still a little disappointed with the score.

Out brisket score also took a small stup up in score, but it's still not very good. The good news on this front is that we have a lot of new ideas, tweeks, and changes to try for the next competition.

 Event website