Weekend Race Recap
Friday - 8:00PM
The opening night of the U.S. Hot Rod Association Thunder Nationals at Nutter Center was a wild night indeed, with some surprises and intense action.
The evening began with the Toyota Trucks Sky Wheelie Competition. Bruce Haney and Bad News set the bar early with a vertical shot that scored a 26 from the judges. Ed Eckert and Full Boar twisted a bit on his wheelie, scoring a 15. Mark McDonald and the Safe Auto Minimizer blasted a pop and drop sky wheelie and fell one point short of Bad News with a 25. Dan Patrick and Samson scored a 19, as did Diehl Wilson with Virginia Giant. Rod Schmidt was last up with Grave Digger and just missed timing his throttle response, not getting the effort he would have hoped for. He fell just one point short of Bad News with a 25, giving Bad News the win.
The action then shifted to 1-800-Safe Auto Monster Truck Racing. In Round One, Samson punched out Bad News to advance, while Grave Digger out muscled Virginia Giant. Safe Auto Minimizer beat Full Boar to complete the round. In the Semi Finals, Safe Auto shut down Samson to advance, while Digger knocked out Bad News, the fastest loser from Round One, to earn the other finals berth. In the Finals, both trucks launched together and flew across the crush cars in a finish so close that officials had to go to the videotape replay to determine the winner…and by a very slim margin; Grave Digger got the best of Safe Auto to earn the championship.
The Ziebart Rhino Linings Monster Donut Competition was next up. Unfortunately for Full Boar and Virginia Giant, mechanical problems during the racing portion of the show sidelined both trucks. Bad News opened up the competition with a 27, setting the bar high for Dan Patrick and Samson. Samson was up to the challenge, matching the 27 score. Mark McDonald’s rear axle broke during Safe Auto’s donut and he scored a 22, leaving the door open for Digger to break the tie…which is exactly what happened. Schmidt went into a full blown cyclone donut, wowing the large crowd and posting the first perfect 30 score of the night to earn the honors.
Advance Auto Parts Monster Freestyle got off to a roaring start with Bad News going for high speed and solid air, finishing off the run with a cyclone donut. The judges posted a score of 23. Samson mixed a couple of pop and drop sky wheelies into his routine, but as he went to launch into a cyclone donut at the end of the run, the truck’s outside tires caught traction, and Samson tumbled over. The crowd roared its approval and the judges responded with a 26 to give Patrick the lead. With Safe Auto, Virginia Giant, and Full Boar unable to affect repairs, only Digger was left to challenge for the win. Rod Schmidt delivered the goods with sick air and another trademark Digger donut for another perfect score of 30 and the Monster Freestyle crown.
In the Competition Accessories Freestyle Motocross, Trevor Wilder’s insane barhop tricks earned him the win over Jason Hamric.
Fans also enjoyed Scooter the clown and some free Thickburgers given away by Hardee’s.
A wild Friday night for sure…just what a Thunder Nationals event is all about!
TOYOTA TRUCKS SKY WHEELIE:
Bad News – 26
Full Boar – 15
Safe Auto – 25
Samson – 19
Virginia Giant – 19
Grave Digger – 25
1 800 SAFE AUTO MONSTER TRUCK RACING
ROUND ONE:
Samson def. Bad News
Grave Digger def. Virginia Giant
Safe Auto def. Full Boar
SEMI FINALS:
Safe Auto def. Samson
Grave Digger def. Bad News (fast loser)
FINALS:
Grave Digger def. Safe Auto
ZIEBART RHINO LININGS MONSTER DONUT:
Bad News – 27
Safe Auto – 22
Samson – 27
Grave Digger – 30
ADVANCE AUTO PARTS MONSTER FREESTYLE:
Bad News – 23
Samson – 26
Grave Digger - 29
Saturday - 2:00PM
Saturday afternoon’s U.S. Hot Rod Thunder Nationals at Nutter Center was an awesome action packed affair that saw a huge crowd standing and cheering through the entire show. Leading off the program was the Toyota Trucks Sky Wheelie Competition. Bruce Haney and Bad News Travels Fast got nearly vertical and posted a 17 as the score to beat. Ed Eckert and Full Boar got vertical and twisted at the same time, but brought it down without rolling over, and the judges responded to it with a 23. Mark McDonald and the Safe Auto Minimizer’s pop and drop wheelie gave him the lead with a 25, while Dan Patrick and Samson scored a 21. Diehl Wilson and Virginia Giant was up next, and he stood his truck up tall to take the lead with a 26. Rod Schmidt brought Grave Digger up last, but he couldn’t beat Giant’s score with his 21, so Virginia Giant was crowned the winner.
Up next was the 1-800 Safe Auto Monster Truck Racing. In Round One, Giant squared off against Full Boar. Once again, Full Boar got twisted in the air, but his holeshot off the line got him the win to advance. Safe Auto and Samson squared off next, with Samson getting the nod in a photo finish. The final pair pitted Bad News against Grave Digger. Digger got big air over the crush cars, but got to the line first to move on.
The Last Chance Qualifier followed Round One, with Bad News and Virginia Giant returning to fight over the final spot in the Semi Finals. It was another photo finish, and the video replay showed Bad News winning by a slim margin.
Bad News faced off against Full Boar in the Semi Finals. Eckert adjusted his attack to keep his truck lower and straighter, but Bad News got the better holeshot, and barely nipped Full Boar to go to the Finals. Samson and Grave Digger met in the other Semi Final. Samson knew perfect timing of the start was going to be the key to the win, and Dan Patrick nailed it beautifully, besting Digger to move to the Finals.
Several times during those elimination rounds, the video replay had to be used to determine the winner, and the Finals would follow a similar pattern. Both Bad News and Samson nailed their starts and sailed across the crush cars, landing almost at the same time. To the video replay…and by the closest margin of the day, Bad News had upended Samson to win the 1-800 Safe Auto Monster Truck Racing.
The Digger camp was loaded for bear, having gone 0 for 2 so far in the afternoon, and they were ready to rebound in the Ziebart Rhino Linings Monster Truck Donut Competition. Ed Eckert and Full Boar smoked the tires and the motor on his truck as he opened the competition with a score of 26. Bad News and Safe Auto followed, with Safe Auto’s wild donut earning the first perfect score of 30 for the day. Bruce Haney pulled the steering wheel (literally) off Bad News during his donut, dangling it out the side window of the truck, and the judges also gave him a 30. Dan Patrick scored a 26 with his cyclone effort, and Diehl Wilson and Virginia Giant posted a 27. Grave Digger’s cyclone was lightning fast as he whirled around and around…and his 30 made for a 3-way tie in the competition. The crowd would decide the winner, and by their response, the Digger camp had their first win of the day.
The momentum would carry on into the Advance Auto Parts Monster Freestyle. Despite having a leaking gasket on Full Boar, Ed Eckert put a full run in, mixing up big air and a cyclone donut for a score of 12. Bad News followed the same strategy to net a 17. Safe Auto went big as well, and took the lead with a 26. An engine problem sidelined Dan Patrick and Samson, so Virginia Giant and Grave Digger would be the final two competitors. Virginia Giant’s run was big and loud, but wasn’t enough to take the lead as he posted a 24. The last one out, Grave Digger went blazingly fast, popped in a slap wheelie, and ended his run by smoking the tires through a blistering cyclone donut. Would it be enough to take the win? According to the judges, it was…by a single point, as Digger’s 27 beat Safe Auto for the freestyle title.
In Competition Accessories Freestyle Motocross, Trevor Wilder mixed up barhops and Indian airs to win the competition over Jason Hamric in a jump off. Stellar efforts were also turned in by Adam Walker and Mark Rugala as they thrilled the crowd with their high flying acrobatics.
As the fans lined up for their post show autographs, the smiles were big after another fantastic afternoon of Thunder Nationals competition!
TOYOTA TRUCKS SHY WHEELIE
Bad News – 17
Full Boar – 23
Safe Auto – 25
Samson – 21
Virginia Giant – 26
Grave Digger – 21
1-800 SAFE AUTO MONSTER TRUCK RACING
ROUND ONE
Full Boar def. Virginia Giant
Samson def. Safe Auto
Grave Digger def. Bad News
LAST CHANCE QUALIFIER
Bad News def. Virginia Giant
SEMI FINALS
Bad News def. Full Boar
Samson def. Grave Digger
FINALS
Bad News def. Grave Digger
ZIEBART RHINO LININGS MONSTER DONUT
Bad News – 30
Full Boar – 26
Safe Auto – 30
Samson – 26
Virginia Giant -27
Grave Digger – 30 (winner of cheer off)
ADVANCE AUTO PARTS MONSTER FREESTYLE
Bad News – 17
Full Boar – 12
Safe Auto – 26
Virginia Giant – 24
Grave Digger – 27
Saturday - 8:00PM
Saturday night was all right for action at the U. S. Hot Rod Thunder Nationals at the Nutter Center, and it was a wild and crazy night!
The show began with the Toyota Trucks Sky Wheelie Competition, and Bruce Haney started things off with Bad News Travels Fast. His truck got close enough to vertical to earn a 22 from the judges. Ed Eckert and Full Boar did a pop and drop wheelie to score an 18, while Mark McDonald powered Safe Auto Minimizer to a 25. Dan Patrick and Samson timed his hit on the crush cars perfectly and he took the lead with a 26, but Diehl Wilson and Virginia Giant was up to the challenge and he got sky high, earning a 29. It was up to Grave Digger to wrap up the competition, and while his wheelie was excellent, it wasn’t enough to get him the win with his score of 27…chalk one up for Virginia Giant!
The focus then shifted to 1-800 Safe Auto Monster Truck Racing. In Round One, Giant met up with Full Boar. As both trucks launched, the rear axle broke in Full Boar, and Giant powered to the win. In the next pairing, Safe Auto and Samson went head to head with Safe Auto earning the nod and a trip to the Semi Finals. The final pair saw Grave Digger knock out Bad News.
With Full Boar out of action, Samson and Bad News returned to face off in a Last Chance Qualifier for the Semi Finals. Samson didn’t want to be knocked out of the semis twice in one day and pulled a killer holeshot to take the last Semi Finals berth.
In Semi Final action, Samson met up with Virginia Giant, who was riding the momentum of his Sky Wheelie win. That momentum continued as Giant flew high but got to the line first to go to the finals. In the other half of the Semi Finals, Grave Digger punched out Safe Auto…but the story took a turn.
During intermission, Rod Schmidt discovered a broken spider gear in the front end of the Digger truck, and despite the efforts of all the competitors, they were unable to restore front wheel drive to Digger. Rod opted to work on the truck for the Advance Auto Parts Monster Freestyle, giving his Semi Finals spot to Safe Auto Minimizer.
So Safe Auto and Virginia Giant would meet in the Finals. Mark McDonald had a second chance and he wasn’t about to pass it up. He nailed the starting light and by a slim margin beat Virginia Giant to earn the racing title.
With Digger and Full Boar sitting out the Ziebart Rhino Linings Monster Donut Competition, the door was open for Virginia Giant to gain some revenge after his loss to Safe Auto in the Monster Truck Racing Finals. Bruce Haney set the tone for an intense contest by scoring a 28 with Bad News, and Dan Patrick and Samson also smoked the tires in his cyclone donut, earning a 24. Safe Auto came to the floor and gave it his all, but fell short of the leader with a 28. The door was open for Virginia Giant, and he smashed it down with a phenomenal cyclone, netting a perfect score of 30 to win the competition.
Advance Auto Parts Monster Freestyle began with a solid run from Bruce Haney and Bad News, as his big air got him a 21. Samson followed with big air and sky wheelies to better that score with a 24. Safe Auto hit the floor with fury, blasting out huge air and taking the lead with a 27. Virginia Giant retaliated with big air and another trademark cyclone donut to tie Safe Auto’s score.
The lone truck remaining was Grave Digger, running without the benefit of front wheel drive. It would take a top effort to beat the high scores and get the win…and that’s exactly what Digger did, throwing out sick air, slap wheelies, and a vintage Digger donut. Digger needed a 28 to break the tie, but posted a perfect 30 to become the freestyle winner.
Competition Accessories Freestyle Motocross treated the fans to high flying tricks from Adam Walker, Mark Rugala, Jason Hamric, and Trevor Wilder. In their competition, Wilder wowed the crowd the most and earned the honors.
Fans also were treated to some free Thickburgers from Hardee’s and one lucky youngster won their own mini Blue Thunder Monster Truck from Ziebart Rhino Linings.
It was a titanic battle between Monster Truck competitors all night long-exactly what fans have come to expect from the U.S. Hot Rod Association Thunder Nationals!
TOYOTA TRUCKS SKY WHEELIE
Bad News – 22
Full Boar – 18
Safe Auto – 25
Samson – 26
Virginia Giant – 29
Grave Digger – 27
1-800 SAFE AUTO MONSTER TRUCK RACING
ROUND ONE
Virginia Giant def. Full Boar
Safe Auto def. Samson
Grave Diggger def. Bad News
LAST CHANCE QUALIFIER
Samson def. Bad News
SEMI FINALS
Virginia Giant def. Samson
Grave Digger def. Safe Auto (Digger breaks spider gear, Safe Auto advances to Finals)
FINALS
Safe Auto def. Virginia Giant
ZIEBART RHINO LININGS MONSTER DONUT COMPETITION
Bad News – 28
Safe Auto – 25
Samson – 24
Virginia Giant – 30
ADVANCE AUTO PARTS MONSTER FREESTYLE
Bad News – 21
Safe Auto – 27
Samson – 24
Virginia Giant – 27
Grave Digger – 30
