Weekend Race Recap
Friday
Thunder Nationals Roared into the Nutter Center in Ohio Friday night with some wild action. Monster truck racing was tough on Grave Digger and Destroyer while American Guardian and Bad News had one of the best nights of the season. Results in the competitions went this way:
Wheelie:Bad News     19
American Guardian    21
Rap Attack               22
Devastator               22
Destroyer                24

Grave Digger 25 **

Donut: Bad News 25

American Guardian 27**

Rap Attack                    16
Devastator                    14
Destroyer                     Broke
Grave Digger               Broke

Freestyle: Bad News     21

American Guardian 26**

Rap Attack 25
Devastator 22

Monster truck racing saw the return of Grave Digger return after Gary Porter and teammate Brandon Harrington worked feverishly to get the drive shaft replaced. The hard work paid off when Digger won the race and then did a freestyle for the fans. “I missed the donut and freestyle competitions and I wanted to give something back to the fans”, said Gary Porter.

Racing Results:
Round One:
Rap Attack over Devastator American Guardian beat Bad News

Round Two: Grave Digger who had a bye in round one beat Bad News American Guardian took out Rap Attack

Race Final:

Grave Digger defeated American Guardian

Quad Wars racing saw Team Michigan and Team Ohio split the first two heats. Michigan won the main but there seemed to be a conflict. It was settled when the two team captains battled it out in a three lap challenge. Team Ohio was the winner.

Saturday 2PM

Thunder Nationals Dayton Saturday Afternoon

The second day of Thunder Nationals at the Nutter Center began with the high flying Monster Trucks of the United States Hot Rod Association giving the fans an incredible display of their wheelie ability. After Wheelies it was a donut competition and finally freestyle all before the first half of the event ended. All the trucks did a great job and managed to avoid mechanical problems until the freestyle. The intense competition resulted in two flat tires on American Guardian, a split drive shaft on Rap Attack and rear axle problems for Devastator. Two of the three could not answer the call for racing in the second half and Rap Attack came out with only rear wheel drive to race Grave Digger.
Competition results:

Truck                                        Wheelie          Donut               Freestyle
Bad News                                12                    29                    20
American Guardian                   20                    30                    29
Rap Attack                              27 Winner         19                    27
Devastator                               20                   16                    20
Destroyer                                22                    18                    29
Grave Digger                           25                    30 Winner            30 Winner

There was a tie in the donut competition between American Guardian and Grave Digger. Guardian thrilled the fans with his high jumps and flames shooting from the rear of the truck and Digger’s non stop 180’s brought fans to their feet. When all was said and done Digger won the cheeroff but not by much. Seems the American Guardian team has found some new fans in Dayton. Another truck that seems to be gaining fans at an amazing pace is the new Bad News. Bruce Haney has taken the truck to new heights and seems to be building a great fan base throughout the United States.

Quad Wars was thrilling for the day as well with the teams egging each other on the whole afternoon. Michigan won the first heat. Ohio was the winner in the second heat. With things all tied up the two teams came out for the Competition Accessories Quad Wars Final. Both teams charged hard and it looked like a photo finish was going to settle it until the Michigan Team cut the track on the last lap. The trick might have worked if it had not been for the fact that a U.S. Hot Rod official had been stationed on each end of the track. After the flagman declared Michigan the winner, competition director Les Alsworth disqualified Michigan for an illegal maneuver. The win went to Ohio. With the Michigan team upset a three lap challenge was called for only to have the same results. Ohio was declared the winner.

With the hard freestyle claiming American Guardian and Devastator only four trucks were left for the second half racing. In round one: Bad News beat Destroyer

Grave Digger took out Rap Attack who raced with only rear wheel drive.

Race Final Results: Grave Digger beat Bad News by mere inches. Digger then gave the fans another freestyle lasting almost two minutes. “The fans came to see us run hard and crush cars, I though I would put a little icing on the cake”, said driver Gary Porter

Racing resumes for the third and final event of the weekend Saturday night at 8pm.

Saturday 8PM

The Thunder Nationals Saturday night at the Nutter Center saw a sold out crowd treated the an incredible display of speed and horsepower. It was a great night for Gary Porter and Grave Digger. As good as it was for Digger it was the opposite for Rick Raab and American Guardian. Guardian fresh off a mechanical problem from the afternoon show continued to ruin tires and break equipment. Each time something happened to the truck Rick and his crew found a way to come back into competition.

Quad Wars fought till the very end. Team Michigan and Team Ohio battled it out all night. The evening got very interesting when Team Michigan came out at the start of the event wheeling their team captain on the track on a Kings Throne. After the first heat Michigan brought a red dress on the track challenging Ohio to a “looser must wear the red dress in the finals”. Ohio accepted.

Michigan got more than they bargained for when Ohio won the team captain for Michigan was forced to race in the main wearing the dress. Michigan won the main but was challenged to a three lap “NO DRESS” race when Ohio put up all the points and cash from the entire weekend. When Michigan’s team captain lost the entire team ripped off their jerseys displaying the OHIO BLUE and quit their team.

Results for the night

Truck                           wheelie            donut                freestyle
Bad News                        16                    24                    18
American Guardian           23                    28                    22
Rap Attack                     25                    21                    23
Devastator                      19                    16                    20
Destroyer                       21                    15                    24
Grave Digger                  27 winner      28 winner           25 winner

While Grave Digger won the Wheelie contest it was a tie between Digger and American Guardian. The fans chose Digger by a very close margin. Both drivers got a standing ovation. In Freestyle Grave Digger won by a one point margin over Dan Evans and Destroyer.

The amazing Jet Quad Psycho ridden by Diamond Dan Carter thrilled the fans with a display of jet power and fire.

Racing went this way:

Round One: Destroyer beat Bad News but broke and could not move on
Devastator over American Guardian
Digger beat Rap Attack

Round Two: Devastator beat Bad News who came back when Destroyer could not come back Grave Digger over American Guardian

Final: Grave Digger over Devastator.

Gary Porter then took Digger into a freestyle celebration crushing what was left of the cars on the track and going into a cyclone before ending the event for the evening.