Cardiff, CF10 1NS, UK - Cardiff's Millennium Stadium
Monster Jam Europe Cardiff's Millennium Stadium Cardiff, Wales 06/06-06/2009
Monster Jam Racing Winner
Monster Jam Freestyle Winner
MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION
GRAVE DIGGER
Trucks: USHRA Monster Trucks including Grave Digger (Charlie Pauken), Maximum Destruction (Tom Meents), Batman (John Seasock), Donkey Kong (Frank Krmel), El Toro Loco (Damon Bradshaw), Monster Mutt (Candice Jolly), Disney XD (Dan Evans), Madusa (Madusa), Nitro Circus (Marc McDonald), Backwards Bob (George Balhan), Slingshot (Karl Swallow), Swamp Thing (Tony Dixon)
Weekend Race Recap
Saturday 7:00 p.m. - The huge floor in Cardiff's Millenium Stadium allowed the Monster Jam track construction team to create a long, fast oval race track and big freestyle obstacles, and to no one's surprise those conditions were to the liking of the sport's biggest names. Tom Meents dominated the racing bracket in Maximum Destruction and Charlie Pauken powered Grave Digger to his second straight freestyle win to begin the European portion of the 2009 Monster Jam World Tour.
Meents served notice that he was the man to beat on the fast cyclone style race course by setting the fastest qualifying time, then marching through the race ladders, knocking off Frank Krmel in Donkey Kong in the semifinal round to advance to the Championship Race. In the other half of the bracket George Balhan continued to take a liking to his assignment behind the wheel of the unusual Backwards Bob truck, his semifinal win over Grave Digger putting Balhan in the final round of racing for the second straight week. But like in Poland, it was another runner-up finish for Balhan, who fell in the Polish finale to Marc McDonald. This time the huge contingent of Welsh Maximum Destruction fans were delighted as Meents, the reigning World Racing Champion, bested Balhan by one truck length for the victory.
In freestyle it was McDonald, performing in Travis Pastrana's Nitro Circus truck who came out early in the draw and set the bar so high that he almost pulled off the win. McDonald's high flying freestyle was so strong that only a rip-roaring Grave Digger run from Pauken kept him from the winner's stage. Even though McDonald's brilliant freestyle stayed on top of the scoring all the way until the last performer, several of the superstars on hand gave the crowd in Wales plenty to cheer about. The biggest Wow moment came from Meents when the eight time World Champion landed an absolutely huge leap but then bounced into the air in a pirouette, then barrell roll, almost landing back on the wheels, but when the truck went over one more time Max-D's run was over with :30 second still left on the clock, costing Meents any chance for the win, Meents telling the roaring crowd "that was one hell of a ride!" After that it was vintage Pauken, who had the excited crowd standing and cheering a full two minutes plus of huge air and fantastic saves to follow up his Polish freestyle win with another Grave Digger freestyle victory in Wales.
RACING RESULTS
Fast Qualifier - Maximum Destruction
1st round - Maximum Destruction def Monster Mutt; Donkey Kong def Madusa; El Toro Loco def Disney XD; Grave Digger def Swamp Thing; Nitro Circus def Batman; Backwards Bob def Slingshot
2nd round - Maximum Destruction def Donkey Kong; Grave Digger def El Toro Loco; Backwards Bob def Nitro Circus (Donkey Kong advanced to semifinals as fastest round two loser)
Semifinals - Maximum Destruction def Donkey Kong; Backwards Bob def Grave Digger
CHAMPIONSHIP RACE - MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION DEFEATED BACKWARDS BOB
