Chad Roberts doesn't mind the mud.

His rig – a ‘47 Willys – doesn't either.

Dawson City hosted some good ol' fashioned mud-sputtering, metal-bending fun over the Discovery Day weekend.

Chad took home three trophies from the Klondike Valley Mud Bogs, earning the overall Bog Dog trophy, as well as the best sportsman and best mud awards.

"We go right off the hop, so it was basically just screaming through, holding it down,” Chad said.

"It was pretty shocking, pretty surprising, to win the big one, the Bog Dog, that's the trophy everybody's shooting for.”

Chad became just the second competitor to win the Bog Dog trophy twice, the other being Marty Knutson, from Dawson.

"Even though they're great friends, there's a rivalry to see who's going to win it a third time,” said Chad's father George.

Twenty-six trucks entered the competition in three divisions of tire classes: the A-division for 33-inch and under tires, the B-division for 34-36-inch tire size and the C-division for 38-inch and over tires.

The event is one of two of its kind in the Yukon. The other is the Whitehorse Billy Dogs, held the weekend after Canada Day at the park across from Schwatka Lake Road, known as the dirt bike track. Both go each year.

In Dawson, the trucks had to maneuver two pits. Think drag-racing through mud.

The drivers needed to do two things: beat their opponents – and beat the pit.

The races are based on a point system: three points for beating your opponent, one point for making it through the mud and another point for the quickest through the mud.

George, who with his other son Moe helped Chad build the truck, said judges and

the crowd eye-ball the points.

"It's hillbilly-ish, but it works,” George said. "There's deep pits of mud and a lot of

mud flying and broken parts.”

The first truck Chad won the Bog Dog with was called the Mud Frog. This time he named his truck The Black Widow.

A lot of work goes into building a truck that will make it through the competition.

Chad said a proper seal, to ensure no water gets in to the carburetor or spark plugs, is key.

The Roberts took three weeks to rebuild the truck, increasing its horsepower and fastening it together.

Even still, the traction bars to the rear-end busted off the frame during the competition and the Black Widow had to run one two-wheel drive rather than four.

Next year Chad said they will spend more time on the truck.

"We were down to a time crunch is what it came down to. Where we would usually spend more time, we tried to rush through things just to get it built.”

George said the part they overlooked was the part that broke.

"To build a competitive truck, you need good horsepower, constant horsepower – we're running on 400 – and you also need a truck that can put the power to the ground, hookup. And so the thing that we built this year was a system that we innovated, and didn't quite get it welded up good enough to sustain the maximum

traction that we were putting through the horsepower.”

Results:

A-division

1st – Caitlin Briemon

2nd – Malcolm Dewell

3rd – Downtown hotel crew

B-division

1st – Martin Loos

2nd – Rob Tyerman and Rob Fairclough

3rd – Mike Nicols

C-division

1st – Ben Howie and Jeff Brewster

2nd – Rene Robitaille

3rd – Karen McIntyre

Crowds Choice – Caitlin Briemon

Most Sportsmanlike – Chad Roberts

Best Run – Mike Nicols

Drivers Choice – John Kennedy

Best Breakage – Rene Robitaille (front drive shaft/diff mounts)

Whiner – Caitlin Briemon

Best Mud – Chad Roberts

Overall Bog Dog – Chad Roberts.