Friday Night:
The fans of the Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam Thunder Nationals were treated
to a pretty good show tonight. As the race card included Monster Trucks, XSBA,
Quad Wars , Scooter the Clown and Roller derby….Yes ROLLER DERBY!!!
In XSBA, once the riders found the traction that they needed, it was a good
show. And a surprise for all of us was the Roller Girls from the ROCKFORD RAGE…they
were fun and interacted with the crowd via Scooter the Clown. Not only were
they funny, but these girls were also athletes. They were for sure going at
it during their run exhibition. They were very popular with the crowd.
Quad Wars was all about Team Illinois' kicking Team California to the curb…As
much as the team from California was talking smack, it was the Team from Illinois'
who ruled the roost.
In Monster Jam racing it was a mixed bag…starting out with the monster
jam drag race. Raminator got the bye and went up against Full Boar in the first
round. Ed Eckert in Full Boar was an upset winner over Raminator which led him
to the semi-final round against Mechanical Mischief. Unfortunately for Ed, a
broken knuckle on the right front after his semifinal win set him on the sidelines,
putting Mechanical Mischief in the final. On the other side of the bracket,
Bruce Haney and Bad News Travels Fast took advantage of the opportunity of returning
as fast loser from Round One to advance into the UTI Monster Jam Racing Final
with a semifinal round win. In the finals, Haney's solid holeshot off the Advance
Auto Parts starting line led to a victorious crossing of the Ford Trucks Finish
Line, giving Bad News a hard fought win.
In the donut competition, Mechanical Mischief had a hard time getting going
and could only manage a 12. Ramunition was next and despite his efforts, mustered
only an 18. Then came Raminator…he scored a 23 point run and looked to
be the truck to beat until Bad News came into town. He scored an amazing 26.
Bruce Haney really proved that he's the world's fastest paper boy, and helped
pave his way to a possible berth at the Advance Auto Parts NGK Spark Plugs Monster
Jam World Finals 11 in Las Vegas in March.
In the Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam Freestyle competition, Mechanical Mischief
scored a 16 to lead off. Ramunition showed up and gave it all he could to score
a 19. Then came Bad News who ran a strong 20. But then came the Raminator and
Mark Hall was out to prove a point and point is the key word because with his
23 he won the event and thus became the freestyle champion in front of a great
Friday night crowd. With the cold weather outside, Saturday's 2 shows will make
sure that Rockford will be hot tomorrow.
Saturday Afternoon:
The Saturday afternoon show greeted the fans with a snow flurry on the outside
and a volcano of horsepower from inside of the Metrocentre. This show however
had a much different outcome than the Friday night show.
As we got into the wheelie contest, it was clear that Mark Hall had done his
homework and fixed his truck and won the wheelie contest with a score of 24,
beating Full Boar who scored 20 points.
In the UTI Monster Jam Racing, by winning the wheelie contest, Raminator won
the by and the rounds were won by Ramunition and Full Boar. This set the semi-final
winners Raminator and Ramunition. So the final was an All Hall Brothers Racing
Team event. And the results were pretty dramatic. Ramunition who was clearly
the underdog, beat the boss Mark Hall in Raminator to take the win.
In Quad Wars, it was team California talking a lot of smack and Team Illinios
having none of it and winning 1 heat, the main event. The grudge was initiated
by the losing team captain of California. After an argument, a grudge match
was held for pink slips on the racing machines. California got spanked as Illinois
took the win.
In the Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam Donut Competition, Full Boar again put
in a great run and scored a 23 which looked to be the score to beat until Bruce
Haney came up in Bad News Travels Fast and scored the only perfect 10 score
of the weekend to that point. He won with a total of 28 points.
In XJSBA, the crowd was treated to a show of wheelies, stoppies and all kinds
of wild antics and the crowd seemed to enjoy them a lot.
Monster Jam Freestyle…it was on! Like Donkey Kong! All 5 trucks were screaming
ready with fire-breathing engines. At a fever pitch, drivers cut lose and tore
the place apart and again it was Ramunition and Raminator, 2 team members battling
out to see who's going to win. But this time, the boss was on the gas and Mark
Hall took Raminator to a score of 25 and the freestyle win. Overall, it was
a great show and 1 more to go.
Saturday Night:
The fans in the Metro Centre were treated to another incredible Advance Auto
Parts Monster Jam Thunder Nationals and with temperatures below freezing outside,
they were anything but freezing inside.
The wheelie competition saw 3 drivers score within the mid-20s with Full Boar
winning with a 25 point score over Raminator and Mechanical Mischief each scoring
a 24.
In UTI Monster Jam Racing, Full Boar by virtue of winning the wheelie contest,
got a pass to the semi-final round. Joining him in the semi-finals were Raminator
and Bad News travels fast. In the semi-final round, Full Boar defeated Mechanical
Mischief and Raminator beat Bad News which set the final up for Full Boar against
Raminator…young versus old. And after a photo-finish, it was determined
that Raminator took the win.
In Quad Wars action, it was all Team Illinois as they spanked the team from
California so bad that the team captain for California lost $2000 and his quad
that he put up as collateral for a grudge race. After the main event, Illinois
came away with the win and a clean sweep for the weekend in Quad Wars.
The donut competition saw 4 of our 5 trucks score in the mid-20s and two in
the high-20s. Bruce Haney in Bad News Travels Fast was our winner with a score
of 29.
XJSBA put on a fantastic show and really worked hard to make their bikes work
on the very slick Metro Centre floor.
In the free-style competition, 4 trucks competed and Full Boar sat out due
to a broken part. 3 of the 4 trucks scored over 20 points and Raminator turned
in a 29 point performance to win the free-style competition.
One thing is for sure, the fans of Rockford, IL know their Monster Trucks and
are passionate about them. This announcer cannot wait to come back because what
he learned this weekend was this is the heart and soul of the nation's love
for Monster Jam. I had a blast!
Larry Naston, Monster Jam Announcer
