Trucks: Grave Digger (Pablo Huffaker), Maximum Destruction (Tom Meents), Blue Thunder (Tony Farrell), Pastrana 199 (Courtney Jolly), U S Air Force Afterburner (Damon Bradshaw), T-Maxx (Carl Van Horn), Avenger (Jim Koehler), Brutus (Chris Bergeron), 106.7 The Fox (Lee O'Donnell), Stonecrusher (Gary Wiggins), Pure Adrenalin (Steve Sims), Blacksmith (Aaron Basil)
Weekend Race Recap Saturday - 7:30pm
Monster Jam Detroit
Tony Farrell drove Blue Thunder to the racing win and Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction edged a surprising Courtney Jolly in Pastrana 199 by one point to win the freestyle Saturday night at Ford Field in Detroit. In a racing bracket that at times was as much about survival as winning, Farrell’s Built Ford Tough machine advanced round after round as several top contenders fell to mechanical woes. The gremlins started first with Pablo Huffaker’s Grave Digger, who had driveline problems coming onto to the track during introductions and was unable to qualify. Meents edged Farrell by .05 of a second for fast qualifier honors, and his reward was a first match-up with Huffaker, whose crew got Grave Digger fixed in time for first round racing. Because he did not qualify Grave Digger was seeded last in the field forcing a heavyweight first round showdown between Max-D and Digger. With the huge excited crowd fired-up in anticipation of the first round battle between the sport’s biggest rivals and best know trucks, Meents lost control of his truck in the final turn of the evenly matched raced and was disqualified when he went off the track after hitting a turning pole. Huffaker’s second round win over Lee O’Donnell in the truck sponsored by Detroit radio station 106.7 The Fox was actually the fastest lap of the night, then Grave Digger eliminated Pastrana 199 in the semifinals. The bottom half of the bracket saw Blue Thunder march to the finals with a first round win over Steve Sims in Pure Adrenalin, then Farrell advanced to the semifinals with a bye run when a wild and sometimes rough night for Chris Bergeron in Brutus continued. The Michigan based truck was on its lid early when Bergeron rolled Brutus driving to the starting line to qualify in a freak accident, and even though he did make a qualifying run and beat Gary Wiggins in Stonecrusher in round one he broke at the starting line before taking the green flag for the second round clash, leaving Blue Thunder with a solo run in round two. Farrell then drove the big Ford to a semifinal win over Bergeron’s teammate, Jim Koehler in Avenger in the semifinals to set up a championship race between Grave Digger and Blue Thunder. In the finale the pair were even off the start, but Grave Digger suffered mechanical problems for the second time on the night before the half way point, and Farrell rolled to the victory in the event that will be broadcast later this year on Speed. For the second straight week the fans were treated to a freestyle where start to finish virtually every truck turned in strong, clock-filling performances. It was O’Donnell putting 106.7 The Fox into the hot seat early as the leader, only to watch young Jolly turn in her best freestyle to date that had everything, including several strong wheelies and some huge leaps. The three judge panel scored the college student/Monster Jam driver with a 29, and despite several incredible runs by the other competitors, most notably Carl Van Horn in T-Maxx, Farrell in Blue Thunder, and another newcomer, former Supercross star Damon Bradshaw in the U S Air Force Afterburner, Jolly had Pastrana 199 still on top when it became Digger-time. Huffaker was on his game but the judges only gave Grave Digger a score of 25, and as the crowd lustily let the judges hear their disapproval of Digger’s scores Huffaker too, questioned the scoring but added his main concern was that the fans loved his run, which they absolutely did. Courtney had dodged several huge bullets, but she could not hold on for her first televised win due to another amazing freestyle from the current World Freestyle Champion. Adding to his sic air assault several impressive “cross-thread” moves that no else tried, and with the entire crowd on its feet saluting Meents with a standing ovation, just as they had done for Huffaker, the judges all held up scores of 10 for Meents giving Maximum Destruction the freestyle competition triumph.
Racing Results
Fast Qualifier – Maximum Destruction
1st Round – Grave Digger def Maximum Destruction 106.7 The Fox def T-Maxx Pastrana 199 def U S Air Force Afterburner Avenger def Blacksmith; Brutus def Stonecrusher Blue Thunder def Pure Adrenalin
2nd Round – Grave Digger def 106.7 The Fox; Avenger def Pastrana 199 Blue Thunder bye run when Brutus broke at starting line (Pastrana 199 advanced to semifinals as fastest loser of round two)
