Weekend Race Recap
Friday: As the cold wind was blowing outside Roberts Stadium, inside was heating up with 5 of the baddest monster trucks on the Thunder Nationals tour. Deihl Willson headlined the compition as defending Thunder Nationals champion and was the obvious favorite in Evansville, but all ould change when Virgian Giant broke when leaving the floor after driver introductions. This gave the other trucks a chance to persuade the crowd to root for them as the night went on.
Opening the wheelie contest was the heavy truck ( and last years winner) full boar
with a pounding wheelie over the 5 car stack that had everyone on there feet. It did'nt stop there as Prowler and Rap Attack flew high in the air to take top scores away from Full Boar, but with Predator up last and the horse power behind that truck it did'nt look good for Mitchell and Rappach. Predator shot off the cars with such power that the backs wheels did'nt touch the stack of cars till the third car in line. This gave Predator the best score for the wheelie compition and the first win of the night with a score of 24.
The doughnut compition started off with a good score to Rap Attack of 17 as the floor was a bit to tacky for the tires Rap Attack was using and was unable to get the truck to slide a perfect doughnut. This although did'nt stop the rest of the field as Prowler wowed the crowd with a near perfect 27 and rubber smoke filling the air. The last two trucks to go lit up the floor with perfect scores of 30 from the judges and gave us our first tie breaker of the night. The crowd screamed and yelled for the two drivers to determine who would win the tie breaker and the loudest screams went to Full Boar for his second consecutive doughnut win this year. Virginia Giant still having problems in the pit did'nt get fixed in time to compete but was able to get going for freestyle.
Freestyle was a highlight as all trucks were up and runing strong trying to knock each other out of the possition of freestyle champion. First out of the tunnel came Full boar with a wild ride that ended short as his truck doughnut out of controll and was shut off in time to not it the side wall of the stadium. This opened the door for prowler who earlier was lacking some horse power with an electrical problem. Dale hit the first stack of cars and from there it showed that the prior problem did'nt go away and took low score of the freestyle compition. Predator and Rap Attack went out hard to keep Virginia Giant from winning by tying each other with scores of 24 but would not be enough as Giant was fixed and roaring toward his first win of the season. With a brand new shock assembly and refined engine Deihl Willson blew the other trucks away as the crowd was screaming when the judges scored him a 26 and the spot lights shined on Virginia Giant as the winner.
The 1 800 safe auto race to the finals was heated as Full Boar beat Predator in the first round to advance to the semi finals. Rap Attack had an easy win over Prowler as Dale Mitchell wa unable to get prowler fired at the starting line. Virginia giant breezed in to the finals with a win over fast looser predator and Full Boars win over Rap Attack was also a breeze. The finals obviously had the two fastest trucks for the night as this track proved difficult as it is the smallest floor the trucks run on all year. In the final race and as the crowd watched it was nearly a photo finish as both trucks seemed to cross the finish line at the same time. The crowd whent wild when the announcer yelled your racing champ tonight is Virginia Giant.
Quad wars was heated as rival Michigan was in town to try and kock off home team Indiana. Indiana came out strong and took the first heat win over Michigan. The second heat was closer as team Michigan came from behind with only three riders due to a wreck that took out their best rider. This set up a huge race for the final heat as Michigan was beating and banging on evry turn to knock Indiana off the top. In the end Indiana Captain Quinn Michael took the checker flag and the champions trophy for the home town crowd.
Doughnut contest
Full boar ...18
Prowler ...17
Predator ...24
Rap Attack ...20
Virginia Giant dnf
Wheelie contest
Full Boar ...30
Prowler ...27
Predator ...30
Rap Attack ...17
Virginia Giant dnf
Freestyle
Full boar ...23
prowler ...19
Predator ...24
Rap Attack ...24
Virginia Giant ...26
Saturday: As the water receeded on the Ohio river and a sy of relief was in the air from a flood ravadged community Roberts stadium was over flowing with anxsious fans ready for Thunder nationals.
The wheelie contest started off with Full Boar skying over the stack of cars that set the tone for the nights event. Prowler and Predator was next and both out did Full Boar and taking the lead with scores of 26. Rap Attack came out and scored a 23 leaveing Virginia Giant to beat Predator and Prowler. Deihl Willson hit the cars with such force the rear wheels slaped the back of the cars and brought the front of the truck down quikly which resulted in a low score of 22. The crowed screamed and yelled for there winner and Predator came out on top.
Doughnuts were fast and furious as all the trucks scored well but in the end it came down to Full Boar (last nights winner) against Virginia Giant the king of doughnuts. Both truks tied with a score of 30 and again the crowd was put to the test to determine the winner. As the crowd roared Virginia Giant took the honors as Ed Eckert shook the hand of Deihl Willson.
Racing was next and it was fast as the experinced drivers stood out as the only way to win was to be fastest off the line Predator made it to the finals by beating RappAttack and Full Boar as Virginia Giant won with ease over prowler. In the final race Virginia Giant beat Predator off the line and won by inches as the crowd went wild.
Freestyle took a turn as all Drivers went over there time to wow the crowd on this small but challenging coarse. Virginia Giant went last for the night and spun a doughnut that was so fast that the truck was on two wheels as time expired this made the crowd stand on there feet as Deihl Willson got out fo his truck for the judges score of a perfect 30.
