MONSTERJAMONLINE

Weekend Race Recap
Friday 7:30 PM - Neil Elliot drove Maximum Destruction to victory over Rick Raab and American Guardian in a wild finals race, then wowed the crowd with an incredible freestyle for the win in that competition as well in the opener of a four event Monster Jam weekend in the Providence (RI) Dunkin Donuts Center.

Elliot won the racing final by a length over Raab, but after the finish line the American Guardian went into a wild flip that left the truck's body destroyed and on its roof with the crowd on its feet. They were on their feet often in freestyle as well with a star studded line-up full of World Championship trucks. Elliot was the best of the bunch, filling the clock with a huge air perfromance that ended with Max-D rolling onto its side, side surfing for several seconds before completely rolling over and landing on all four tires. With Elliot getting another standing ovation his score of 28 edged Gary Porter and Grave Digger by 2 for the win. Maximum Destruction and Grave Digger tied for the win in the wheelie competition and Mike Vaters won the freestyle motocross competition.

RACING RESULTS
1st round - American Guardian def Grave Digger; Avenger def Black Stallion; Maximum Destruction def Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (Grave Digger advanced to semifinals as fast loser)
Semifinals - American Guardian def Avenger; Maximum Destruction def Grave Digger
FINALS - MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION DEFEATED AMERICAN GUARDIAN

FREESTYLE RESULTS
MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION 28
Grave Digger 26
Avenger 25
Black Stallion 20
American Guardian 19
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle 15

WHEELIE RESULTS (tie) GRAVE DIGGER 24
MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION 24
Black Stallion 21
Avenger 20
American Guardian 18
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle 14

Saturday 2:00 PM - After watching Maximum Destruction dominate Friday's action in Providence Gary Porter stepped Grave Digger up to the plate and dominated Saturday afternoon, winning all three Monster Jam competitions at the Dunkin Donuts Center.

Porter started the afternoon of redemption in Rhode Island with a powerful pair of sky wheelies to take the Wheelie Competition, and then rolled into racing on the Chicago-style oval. Grave Digger knocked off Whit Tarlton in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle in the opening round, then eliminated Jim Koehler and Avenger in the semis to earn a berth in the finals. On the other side of the bracket Neil Elliot won his first round race against Michael Vaters in Black Stallion, but lost for the first time this year on a Chicago-style oval when he knocked over a turning pole and received a five second penalty that cost him his semifinal race against Rick Raab in Anger Management. Raab moved into his teammate Scott Poirier's truck after destroying the body and hurting the engine of his American Guardian during his spectacular performance Friday night. In the finals Digger grabbed the lead early and held on for the win to take the racing portion of the event.

Going for the sweep, Porter's job was made easier when a broken crank shaft sidelined Maximum Destruction with 30 seconds still on the clock in his freestyle run, leaving Black Stallion in the lead when Grave Digger pulled onto the track. Porter nailed some of the afternoon's biggest air and some monsterous Digger Donuts brought the fans to their feet and the judges scored Grave Digger an easy winner in freestyle.

RACING RESULTS
1st round - Grave Digger def Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle; Anger Management def Avenger; Maximum Destruction def Black Stallion (Avenger advanced to semifinals as fast loser)
Semifinals - Grave Digger def Avenger; Anger Management def Maximum Destruction
FINALS - GRAVE DIGGER DEFEATED ANGER MANAGEMENT

FREESTYLE RESULTS
GRAVE DIGGER 28
Black Stallion 24
Anger Management 19
Avenger 18
Maximum Destruction 18
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle 11

WHEELIE RESULTS GRAVE DIGGER 24
Maximum Destruction 22
Black Stallion 19
Avenger 15
Anger Management 15
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle 14

Saturday 7:30PM - After a Friday night where Neil Elliot stole the show in Maximum Destruction and a Saturday afternoon that was owned by Gary Porter and Grave Digger the Saturday night event at the Dunkin Donuts Center was the most competitive of the weekend so far, with Jim Koehler in Avenger having the big night and joining Max-D and Digger with victories in front of a sold out house in Providence.

Koehler broke the Max-Digger stanglehold on winning in Rhode Island right off the bat when he won the Wheelie Competition and further fired the crowd up with a typical "Mr. Excitement" winners interview. Then it was time for racing where the story was Elliot and Maximum Destruction, both for the on track performance and for the thrashing that it took to get there.

In the Saturday afternoon event Maximum Destruction broke the crank shaft during freestyle, leaving only a couple of hours for major repairs to be made to the truck. Getting help form every other crew in the pits the Team Meents crew, led by Elliot, completely changed engines between events and made it on time for the Saturday night event. In racing Elliot dominated much as he did Friday night, eliminating Black Stallion and Anger Management to set-up his first meeting on the Chicago style track during the weekend in Providence with Porter and Grave Digger in the event finals. Maximum Destruction edged Grave Digger in a great race that again had the huge crowd standing and cheering.

The cheering became deafening when the freestyle began and all six trucks turned in brilliant runs on the course whose obstacles looked more like stadium jumps that an arena layout. With Rick Raab's Anger Management and Michael Vaters Black Stallion tied for the lead with scores of 27, 2003 World Freestyle Champion Jim Koehler knew he had to further raise the bar, and he did. Koehler's sic air freestyle ended with a wild rollover as the clock expired and the judges scored Avenger with a 30. Max-D was huge in the air department as well but the judges left Elliot one point short of Koehler. Then Porter put Grave Digger through a blistering run that ended after filling the clock and giving the fans some bonus freestyle, finishing by slamming into the side of the freestyle motocross mountain and the judges decided that Digger had tied Avenger for the victory.

RACING RESULTS
1st round - Grave Digger def Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle; Anger Management def Avenger; Maximum Destruction def Black Stallion (Black Stallion advanced to semifinals as fast loser)
Semifinals - Grave Digger def Black Stallion; Maximum Destruction def Anger Management
FINALS - MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION DEFEATED GRAVE DIGGER

FREESTYLE RESULTS
(tie) AVENGER 30
GRAVE DIGGER 30
Maximum Destruction 29
Anger Management 27
Black Stallion 27
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle 22

WHEELIE RESULTS AVENGER 27
Grave Digger 26
Maximum Destruction 24
Black Stallion 24
Anger Management 23
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle 20

Sunday 2PM - After a wide open weekend of Monster Jam competition that saw several different drivers taste victory Gary Porter and Grave Digger closed the weekend by taking all the wins, sweeping the three events in the weekend finale at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence.

Porter opened the afternoon by winning the wheelie competition, which earned Grave Digger a first round bye in the racing bracket. After eliminating the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle in the semifinals Grave Digger took the final round win over Rick Raab in Anger Management, who finished in the runner-up spot for the third time during the weekend in Rhode Island.

The weekend of thrashing then continued for the Anger Management and Maximum Destruction teams. Max-D broke an outer axle in a semifinal round racing loss to Anger Management, then Raab's truck badly bent the sway bar in his finals loss to Grave Digger. As had been done all weekend though the crews again buckled down and fixed both trucks in time for freestyle.

Out first Whit Tarlton rolled the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle before the half way mark of his run but Neil Elliot again grabbed the lead by hitting the sicest air leaps of the afternoon in Max-D, then Porter put on a clinic in Digger Donuts, four separate times, combined with awesome air of his own to earn a one point victory for Grave Digger in the scoring of the three fan judges.

Mike Vaters, 19-year old son of Black Stallion driver Michael Vaters, won the Freestyle Motocross competition for the fourth straight time in Providence.

RACING RESULTS
1st round - Grave Digger bye run; Anger Management def Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle; Maximum Destruction def Black Stallion (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle advanced to semifinals as fast loser)
Semifinals - Grave Digger def Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle; Anger Management def Maximum Destruction
FINALS - GRAVE DIGGER DEFEATED ANGER MANAGEMENT

FREESTYLE RESULTS
GRAVE DIGGER 29
Maximum Destruction 28
Anger Management 25
Black Stallion 20
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle 14

WHEELIE RESULTS GRAVE DIGGER 28
Black Stallion 24
Anger Management 23
Maximum Destruction 21
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle 16