Weekend Race Recap
Friday - 8:00PM -
Baltimore witnessed the return of Grave Digger taking on five awesome monster trucks including 2005 Thunder Nationals champion Black Stallion. Wheelie competition was first and Trey Meyers did something I or anyone has never seen before. When he hit the car stack to do a wheelie the truck got caught on the first car and the rear wheels stuck in the dirt which stopped the truck completely vertical in the air. The crowd went crazy and the end loader was needed to push the truck back on all four wheels. The judge’s obviously was not as impressed as the crowd and I was and scored Iron Warrior a 22. Pastrana again showed that she deserves a win in Wheelies as she took the lead with a 24. Turtle followed with a 19 and Air Force would tie Pastrana with a 24. Black Stallion wanted the lead but fell short with a 21. Gary Porter in Grave Digger wowed the crowed with a high sky wheelie to take the win with a perfect score of 30.
Racing was close as the crowed got to see two champions face off in the finals. Digger won in the first round by defeating Iron Warrior and Air Force beat Pastrana to advance. Black Stallion was fast as he would advance by beating Turtle by a bumper. In the semi finals Black Stallion beat Air Force and Grave Digger beat fast looser Turtle to face each other in the finals. When the dust cleared and the result came in Black Stallion was your winner over Grave Digger.
Freestyle was wild as Iron Warrior came out fast but broke when he hit the first stack of cars and scored a 7. Pastrana made some great moves even a reverse and took the lead with a 21. This didn't’t last long as Turtle was very fast and got huge air on the first stack of cars he hit and took the lead with a 24. Next was Black Stallion and he would tie for the lead until Air Force hit the floor. Paul Cohen would take the lead with a great run as the judges up the score by giving him a 27. Last was Grave Digger and for the first time in three years that I have watched Gary Porter was the first time he flipped the Digger truck. The crowd went wild as Gary crawled from the truck and the judges scored him one point shy of the win with a 26. This gave Air Force the first freestyle win of the week as he challenged the other trucks to come and get him.
Mike Vaters JR won the freestyle motocross competition as the crowd cheered him as the winner. Kearns and Henning both were at a close second and I see a closer competition to come as the week goes on.
Saturday - 2:00pm -
The afternoon started off with a near full crowd cheering for their favorite monster truck. The Wheelie competition was first and again Iron Warrior started off great and scored a 19 which again was low but going first doesn't have its advantages. Pastrana 199 was next and took the lead with a 23 until Air Force took the lead with a 25. Black Stallion had some problems getting started at the line and might have played a part in his score by falling short with a 22. Turtle broke during introductions and was not able to compete so Grave Digger was next and took the win with a 29 with an awesome wheelie.
Black Stallion again showed his power as he would win another racing final by defeating Pastrana 199 by inches. Black Stallion made it to the finals by getting a bye against Turtle and defeating Air Force in the semi finals. Pastrana would make it there by defeating Grave Digger in the semi Finals. She came back as fast looser when she lost to Air Force in round one. In round one Grave Digger beat Iron Warrior but when he lost to Pastrana at the start because he was to slow on the gas.
Freestyle was awesome as five out of the six trucks made full 60 second runs. Iron Warrior started things out with a 19 as this would not last long when Pastrana 199 took the floor. Pastrana made a great pass over the floor by hitting all the obstacles on the floor and doing another reverse jump. This gave her the lead with a 24. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle looked like he would take the lead with a fast freestyle but fell short with a 21 when he broke on top of a car stack with ten seconds to go on the clock. Air Force trying to defend his title took the lead with a 27 and a good shot at winning freestyle for the weekend. Grave Digger would put a halt to that as he would win freestyle by scoring a 28 that had the crowd on there feet screaming for more.
FMX was high flying as Mike Vaters JR would win the freestyle competition. He did this by defeating Henning and Kearns for the second straight time this weekend. The crowd was cheering for all three riders as they made their jumps. It was the two handed seat grab with great extension that would win it for Vaters.
Saturday - 8:00PM -
1st Mariner arena was at near capacity with thousands of screaming fans on the edge of there seats. The screaming never stopped from the time the trucks were introduced to the last truck in freestyle.
The wheelie contest got off to a great start as Pastrana 199 scored a 26 to take the lead over Iron Warrior who scored a 15. Teen Age Mutant Ninja Turtle fell short with a 17 as well as Black Stallion who took a 23. Air Force Afterburner would tie Pastrana with a 26 leaving Grave Digger the only truck left to take the win. Gary Porter already had won two wheelie contests for the weekend and didn't stop there as he wheelied to a 29 for his third win.
Racing was close as all trucks were trying to knock off Black Stallion who had already won two straight racing victories for the weekend. Grave Digger in round one defeated Iron Warrior with ease and Air Force also would slide into the semi finals by beating Pastrana 199 a bumper or two. Black Stallion would again have an easy first round win as Turtle would again break at the line. In semi final competition Air Force was determined to beat Black Stallion but came up less than a foot short giving Vaters another chance at a racing win. Grave Digger had his hands full by defeating fast looser Pastrana 199 also by a foot. Again the crowd was screaming as the two champions faced off at the Advanced Auto Parts starting line. When the green light came on both trucks mashed the gas. Black Stallion again came out on top by sneaking over the finish line by inches over Digger giving him his third straight racing victory.
Freestyle was wild as each truck was getting fast and crazier with each pass. Iron Warrior was a surprise as he flew around the track to score a solid 21. Pastrana 199 came up short as the truck broke on top of the cars on her third hit as the transmission broke and all four wheels locked up giving her a 15. Black Stallion was next and wanted more after winning racing and lit the floor up with an awesome backwards jump over the van stack that had the crowd on there feet. The only bad thing that would happen to Stallion was breaking 10 seconds before his time was up giving him the lead but only with a 26. Brandon Harrington was next and he was mad. He brought his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle truck to floor with determination wanting to make up for missing two races for the weekend. When the dust cleared and the scores came up it showed who was boos as Turtle took the lead with a 28. This left two trucks to go and the only two trucks to have won freestyle for the weekend. Air Force Afterburner had the crowd on there feet as Paul Cohen used the track to his advantage by getting some sick air with a ton of speed. When the 60 seconds was up and the red light came on it couldn't’t have come at a better time. Air Force burst into flames and slid to stop where Cohen jumped from the truck as the USHRA Tech officials put out the fire. The crowd erupted when the judges gave him a perfect score of 30 for the lead. Grave Digger had his work cut out for him but pressure is nothing to him. It looked as if we were going to have a tie. Digger was flying over everything on the floor but blew a tire and fell short of the 60 seconds to tie for second with a 28 giving Air Force Afterburner his second freestyle win.
Sunday - 2:00PM -
A sold out crowd and two thousand or more boy scouts, cub scouts, and girls scouts screamed the entire afternoon for Monster Jam. The only disappointment for the day was when Pastrana 199 was unable to run in competition, but Courtney Jolly made up for it by signing autographs all day.
Grave Digger again dominated the wheelie contest by winning it for a fourth straight time with another 30. Iron Warrior again was short changed for his wheelie as Trey Meyers some how managed to stick his truck straight in the air and the truck got stuck in the wheelie position. After the loader knocked him back to the ground the judges scored him a 23. Air Force was second with a 28 and Black Stallion followed with a 26. Turtle tied with Iron Warrior with a 23.
Black Stallion remained undefeated in racing as he once again fought his way to the top by defeating Grave Digger in the finals. Stallion made it there by beating Turtle in round one and Air Force in the semi finals. Grave Digger made it there by beating Iron warrior in round one and fast looser Turtle in the semi final round. The finals was fast as you felt both trucks roaring at the starting line waiting for the green light. At The finish Stallion once again defeated Digger less than inches to spare.
Iron Warrior started things off in freestyle and scored a 18 from some tough judges. Turtle would take the lead with a lot of air and a lot of speed getting him a 24. Black Stallion wasted some time on the clock as it would expire before he jumped the freestyle motocross landing ramp. That costed him some points and only scored him a 21. Air Force Afterburner was again unstoppable as he jumped the fmx ramp twice and aired it out over the whole arena for a winning score of 26 as he flipped onto his roof. Grave Digger tried to follow and fell short with a 25 when his front drive shaft broke ending his 60 second run.
Baltimore loves its FMX as they cheered Mike Vaters JR to another freestyle victory.
