MONSTERJAMONLINE

Weekend Race Recap

Friday-7:30PM

Monster Jam was back in Peoria home to Catapillar and very cold weather. The temperature outside was 8 degrees but inside it was heating up. Wheelies was first on the agenda and all six trucks amazed the crowd with awesome wheelies. Anger Management was first and Poirior again wowed the crowed but only scored a 22 to start. It would hold for awhile as Gaurdian scored a 19 and Pastrana scored a 16. Brutus was next and he did the same as Anger Management and took the lead with a 26. Avenger and Superman tried to out do Brutus but fell short with scores of 18 and 25. This gave Brutus the first win of the weekend.

Racing was next and American Guardian was the winner. Gaurdian made his way to the finals by defeating Pastrana 199 in round one and Brutus in the semi finals. Then he faced Anger Management in the finals to take the racing finals win. Anger Management was fast for the night as he upset Avenger in round one and Superman in round two who came back as fast loser. Brutus also had a close win in round one when he shocked the crowd by beating Superman. When it was over Rick Raab told the crowd that everyone else was going to have to come and get him to win freestyle which was next.

Anger Management started us off in freestyle and he fell short of his time with a score of 18 because of a mechanical failure. Brutus was next and had a solid run with some high air and fast forward momentum giving him a 22. Pastrana also used the arena floor well and tied Brutus for the lead. American Guardian was next and had to back what he said after racing. When the dust cleared American Gaurdian was on top with some great saves and a score of 28. Jim Kohler was looking for his first win but fell short with an awesome roll over that scored him a 23. Superman was last and a crowd favorite. Fortune flew around the arena with style and some sick air to tie Gaurdian for the lead. The crowd the cheered for the best truck to determine our winner and Superman came out on top giving us three different winners for the night.

Saturday - 2:00PM

Saturday afternoon was heating up inside the Peoria Civic center but the temperature outside was 3 degrees. We started off with the wheelie competition and Anger Management again set the stage. Scott Poirior stood Anger Management straight up for a score of 18 and the early lead. American Gaurdian was next but when he fired up the truck his starter burned up and he was out until freestyle. Brutus who won last night took the lead with another outstanding wheelie and as did Pastrana 199 who both tied with scores of 24. Avenger stepped up his performance from the night before but fell short with a 23. Superman was last and Fortune was looking for the first win of the day and wheelied Superman to the win with a score of 28.

Five trucks were ready for racing and so were the monsterjam fans. Avenger got the buy run and automaticly made it to the semi finals. Brutus who was running well all weekend beat Pastrana for his chance at the semi finals. Superman also made it by defeating Anger Management. Brutus put up a good fight in the semi finals but Superman beat him by a foot. Avenger took on fast looser Anger Management which resulted in a photo finish giving us a delayed call to who the winner was. When the announcement came across and Avenger was named the winner the crowd screamed for the 2003 world finals freestyle champion. In the finals Fortune was looking for a second straight win and when the green light came on he beat Avenger off the line to take the win.

Freestyle was awesome as all six trucks were back in action. Anger Management again stop short of the sixty seconds and scored a 15. Brutus made a strong run and pleased the judges for the lead with a 21. Pastrana was next and wowed the crowd with some awesome air and a great slap whhelie to take the lead with a solid 27. With not much room to work on the score American Gaurdian was determined to make up to the fans for missing the first two competitions. Rick Raab used all of the arena floor with some great speed but fell short on the score with a 22. Avenger and Superman were the last to to go and both tried to knock of Patrana. Avenger in Kohler style filled the sixty seconds with some great moves only to fall short with a 23. The same would happen to Superman as he also filled the clock with some great air and a lot of speed only to score a 25 giving Courtney Jolly her first win of the weekend.

Every one so far has made comments up to this point that this group of Monster trucks is like watching a mini World Finals Competition and I agree!

Saturday - 7:30PM

Saturday night Monster jam was the place to be as we started right were we left off this afternoon. This time it was Scott Poirior in Anger Management who had the crowd on its feet chanting Anger-Anger-Anger for the whole first half off the show. Poirior wheeled his way to the first win off the night in the wheelie contest with a high score of 24. Brutus was second with an awesome wheelie again by Bergeron. Superman was third with a 21 and Avenger was next with a 20 that should have been alot higher of a score. Pastrana and American Gaurdian rounded out the field with scores of 17.

Racing was next and Anger Management again came out on top by Defeating Brutus in the finals. Poirior made his way there with wins over Brutus in round one and Pastrana in the semi finals. Brutus was the luckiest because he was beat in round one but came back as second fast looser when American Gaurdian had to leave the starting line with a broken brake as he took out Pastrana. In other racing action, Pastrana took out Avenger in round one as did Superman to American Gaurdian.

Freestyle was again top notch as Monster Jam fans got to see two roll overs by Bruts and Superman that had the crowd on there feet. Anger Management had a strong run to start us out and scored a 20. The scoring was tight as Brutus up the score by one with a 21. Pastrana would do the same and had some awesome air as she scored a 22. American Gaurdian was next and again had the crowd going wild with some awesome air and great saves for a score of 24. Jim Kohler in Avenger did every thing he could to take the lead but fell short with a score of 20. Superman was last and again had the crowd on there feet as Chad Fortune finished his sixty second run with a doughnut that led to a rool over and a win with a score of 26.

The crowd loved every minute of Monster Jam the whole weekend and can't wait till Febuary 1st and 2nd of 2008 for it to return. I know if it was me I would be going to Ticket master.com at midnight to night to buy my ticket for next year.

Greg Whitacre USHRA Announcer