MONSTERJAMONLINE

Weekend Race Recap
Friday - Neil Elliot drove Maximum Destruction to victory in the first three competitions of the night, but locked up his rear steer while winning the donut competition, opening the door for Dale Mitchell to win freestyle in his Predator truck Friday night in Baton Rouge.

Elliot opened the action with a huge sky wheelie that earned a perfect score of 30 from the judges to take the first win of the night, which also earned him a first round bye in the racing bracket. From there Elliot piloted Max-D to a semifinal round win over Sean Duhon in T-Maxx, then he beat Andy Slifko and Eradicator in the racing finals.

Next up was the donut battle, and Elliot, who flipped Maximum Destruction doing donuts in introductions, got up on two wheels several times trying to get started and appeared to be headed on to his roof again. Elliot saved the truck and finally got Maximum Destruction to break loose on the concrete in the Thunder Nationals style event and brought the crowd to its feet with patented Max-D cyclones that scored another 30 from the judges. Max had the win, but the truck's rear steer was locked up at the end, putting him on the sidelines for freestyle.

The freestyle competition was so even that the judges scored Predator, T-Maxx, and Eradicator equally, so the entire crowd was enlisted for a cheer-off to determine the winner. Predator was the clear cut choice of the Louisiana fans, Mitchell earning the win.

RACING RESULTS
1st round - Maximum Destruction bye; Predator def Pouncer; Eradicator def T-Maxx (T-Maxx advanced to semifinals as fast loser)
Semifinals - Maximum Destruction def T-Maxx; Eradicator def Predator
FINALS - MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION DEFEATED ERADICATOR

FREESTYLE RESULTS
PREDATOR 22 (won crowd cheer off)
T-Maxx 22
Eradicator 22
Pouncer 18

WHEELIE RESULTS
MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION 30
Eradicator 23
Predator 23
T-Maxx 21
Pouncer 20

DONUT RESULTS
MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION 30
T-Maxx 26
Eradicator 21
Pouncer 20
Predator 14

Saturday 2:00pm - The newest addition to the fast growing Traxxas racing team, Sean Duhon, drove T-Maxx to the racing victory before Neil Elliot took control of the event and closed the afternoon by powering Maximum Destruction to the freestyle and donut competition wins at the River Center in Baton Rouge.

In action only a one hour drive from his New Orleans home, Duhon beat Lenny Kuilder in the new Pouncer truck in the racing finals after Andy Slifko had opened the competition by winning the wheelie contest in Eradicator.

Suffering defeats in the first two events of the afternoon obviously motivated Elliot, who almost flipped Max-D several times before cutting loose a barrage of cyclones to easily win the donut battle. For freestyle Elliot went the sic air route, wowing the Louisiana crowd with a series of huge leaps that put him in a tie on the judges score cards with Dale Mitchell and Predator, Maximum Destruction winning the crowd cheer off to take the freestyle event win in the middle round of a three event weekend in Baton Rouge.

RACING RESULTS
1st round - Eradicator bye; T-Maxx def Maximum Destruction; Predator def Pouncer; (Pouncer advanced to semifinals as fast loser)
Semifinals - Pouncer def Eradicator; T-Maxx def Predator
FINALS - T-MAXX DEFEATED POUNCER

FREESTYLE RESULTS
MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION 27 (won crowd cheer off)
Predator 27
Eradicator 22
T-Maxx 19
Pouncer 17

WHEELIE RESULTS
ERADICATOR 24 (won crowd cheer off)
Maximum Destruction 24
Predator 21
Predator 23
T-Maxx 19
Pouncer 19

DONUT RESULTS
MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION 29
T-Maxx 28
Eradicator 22
Predator 21
Pouncer 13

Saturday 7:30pm - The line-up of Monster Jam superstars battling at the River Center in Baton Rouge kept raising the bar, and Neil Elliot kept leaping over it, driving Maximum Destruction to a sweep of all four competitions in Saturday night's weekend wrap-up in Louisiana.

Elliot opened the night by winning the wheelie competition but had to nail a huge sky wheelie for the win after Sean Duhon in T-Maxx and Andy Slifko in Eradicator had electrified the huge crowd with their best wheelies of the weekend to force Elliot's all out winning performance. Max-D's score of 27 was 3 points better than T-Maxx and Eradicator, and the win gave Elliot the first round by in racing, which he needed as he and his crew replaced a starter knocked off during the wheelie.

The racing final matched Maximum Destruction, the Friday night race winner here, with T-Maxx, who took the racing final Saturday afternoon in a showdown for weekend supremacy. Duhon didn't look like a rookie as he pushed Elliot to a narrow, photo finish win for Maximum Destruction.

Next the Baton Rouge fans were treated to one of the best donut competitions ever, as Slifko and Duhon both stole a page from the Team Meents playbook, laying down blistering cyclone style donuts and throwing the gauntlet down to Elliot. Again, Neil was up to the challenge with an incredible round of cyclones that he the judges standing and each holding up scores of 10 high.

Now Elliot knew for sure he was going to be pushed to the limit, and T-Maxx and Eradicator did just that again in freestyle. Then came Dale Mitchell in Predator whose crew fixed transmission problems suffered earlier and Predator roared through the River Center with a high flying freestyle that scored a 25 for the lead with only Max-D left to compete. Elliot went huge from the start, Maximum Destruction getting the sicest air of the weekend over a double stack of cars that ended with several broken pieces on the final landing, but not before Elliot completed the sweep of the night's competitions, scoring 27 from the judges for the freestyle win.

RACING RESULTS 1st Round - Maximum Destruction bye; Eradicator def Pouncer; T-Maxx def Predator (Pouncer advanced to semifinals as fast loser)
Semifinals - Maximum Destruction def Pouncer; T-Maxx def Eradicator
FINALS - MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION DEFEATED T-MAXX

FREESTYLE RESULTS
MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION 27
Predator 25
T-Maxx 21
Eradicator 21
Pouncer 10

WHEELIE RESULTS
MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION 27
T-Maxx 24
Eradicator 24
Predator 20
Pouncer 12

DONUT RESULTS
MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION 30
Eradicator 27
T-Maxx 24
Pouncer 17