Members of the Redneck Grillers barbecue team of Kennett are, from left, kneeling: Miguel Nunnery and Eric Heuring. Standing: Gerry Dunkin, Kevin Nevill, Robert Moore, Jeff Rhew, and Jeremy Yates. Not pictured: Jimmy Mcgee. Photo provided [Click to enlarge]

The Redneck Grillers a competition barbeque team from Kennett won the Cape BBQ Fest State Championship this past weekend in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Forty-four teams from across the country competed in this event barbequing ribs, pork, brisket, and chicken for a chance to win part of the $5,000 purse and an invitation to the American Royal Barbeque Competition in Kansas City, Mo.

The Redneck Grillers Championship Barbeque team is a group of Kennett families who started out backyard barbequing on the weekends. Team members are Jeff Rhew, Gerry Duncan, Jeremy Yates, Kevin Nevill, Robert Moore, Miguel Nunnery, and Eric Heuring. These members along with their families began traveling on the Kansas City Barbeque Society circuit last summer.

Their first competition was a short drive up Highway 25 to the Malden in May BBQ Fest. The team took four small inexpensive smokers, a pop up tent, a few lawn chairs and entered the competition. Upon arrival, they soon discovered they were under equipped when it came to competition barbequing. Most barbeque teams compete with large commercial equipment. However, the team believed in their abilities and products and was not intimidated by some of the larger setups other teams had. Although some teams may have overlooked them and thought these guys were not anything they needed to worry about, the Redneck Grillers walked away from the awards ceremony with a third place win in pork. According to team members, "This is where the addiction began." They worked together to build a trailer and purchased four larger smokers.

Since that time, the team have competed in 11 more competitions winning an Illinois and Kentucky state championship in the rib category and an Illinois state championship in the brisket category.

The team was also named local grand champions at this year‚s Kennett Jaycee‚s Barbeque Fest. For this past weekend, the team won its largest title being named Grand Champions of the Cape BBQ FEST State Championship with a second place in pork,third place in ribs, fourth place in brisket, and 11th place in chicken.

The team members said it has taken a lot of researching, experimenting, and ruined meat to get to where they are now They are looking forward to attending the American Royal Barbeque Competition and competing with some of the best barbeque teams from across the world.