MONSTERJAMONLINE

Weekend Race Recap
Saturday 1PM - Chad Tingler dominated the return of Monster Jam to Arnhem, Holland, powering his Grave Digger to a sweep of both the racing and freestyle competitions in front of a near capacity crowd in the Gelredome.

Alex Blackwell set the fastest qualifying time in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Then Tingler overcame a second round loss, advancing to the semifinals as the fastest loser of that round where he came back to knock the Turtle out of the competition, then pulled out the championship round win over Adam Anderson and Taz.

Following the racing win Tingler gave the Dutch fans a classic Digger freestyle and the judges scored his run 3 points better than a high energy performance from seven-time World Champion Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction to let Tingler and Grave Digger claim the European version of a "Double Down" in the first of three events scheduled this weekend for the dome in the Netherlands. Anderson's run in Taz was cut short when he ended a blistering run by flipping Taz onto its roof with 30 seconds still on the clock.

RACING RESULTS
Fast Qualifier - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle
1st Round - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle def Thor; El Toro Loco def Slingshot; Escalade def Jurassic Attack; Taz def Maximum Destruction; Jetix def Batman; Grave Digger def Monster Mutt Dalmatian
2nd Round - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle def El Toro Loco; Taz def Escalade; Jetix def Grave Digger (Grave Digger advanced to semi-finals as fastest second round loser)
Semi-finals - Grave Digger def Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle; Taz def Jetix
CHAMPIONSHIP RACE - GRAVE DIGGER DEFEATED TAZ

FREESTYLE RESULTS
GRAVE DIGGER 37
Maximum Destruction 34
Escalade 28
El Toro Loco 26
Jetix 25
Taz 25
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle 22
Thor 20
Jurassic Attack 19
Monster Mutt Dalmatian 15
Slingshot 11
Batman 9

Saturday 8PM - A testimony to just how competitive and balanced the Monster Jam field is that is competing in the Gelredome, for the second straight event a driver took advantage of the fast loser spot from round two to get a berth in the semifinals and then went on to the racing victory. Chad Tingler in Grave Digger did it in the Saturday afternoon event, then Dan Evans accomplished the same feat in taking the Saturday night race behind the wheel of his new Jetix truck, before Tingler capped the night off by making it two straight freestyle victories in Arnhem.

After Tom Meents set the fast qualifying time in Maximum Destruction and won his first two rounds the seven-time World Champion matched up in the semis with Evans, whose Jetix claimed the second round fast loser berth into the semi-finals after losing in a photo finish, near dead heat to Grave Digger. Jetix knocked off Max-D, and Digger was then eliminated in the semis by Adam Anderson and Taz setting up a championship race that saw Evans bring Jetix home the racing winner.

In freestyle George Balhan in Escalade and John Seasock in Batman were tied for the lead with scores of 34 from the four judge panel, but Tingler duplicated his great freestyle from Saturday afternoon to take the lead by two. Meents brought Max-D out and was challenging Tingler for the win when his transmission broke, leaving time on the clock and Grave Digger had a second straight Dutch freestyle triumph.

RACING RESULTS
Fast Qualifier - Maximum Destruction
1st Round - Maximum Destruction def Jurassic Attack; Thor def Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle; Jetix def El Toro Loco; Grave Digger def Monster Mutt Dalmatian; Taz def Escalade; Batman def Slingshot
2nd Round - Maximum Destruction def Thor; Grave Digger def Jetix; Taz def Batman (Jetix advanced to semi-finals as fastest second round loser)
Semi-finals - Jetix def Maximum Destruction; Taz def Grave Digger
CHAMPIONSHIP RACE - JETIX DEFEATED TAZ

FREESTYLE RESULTS
GRAVE DIGGER 36
Maximum Destruction 34
Escalade 34
Batman 34
Jurassic Attack 32
El Toro Loco 32
Jetix 28
Taz 28
Monster Mutt Dalmatian 23
Slingshot 23
Thor 22
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle 21

Sunday - After losing in the championship race during both Saturday events in Arnhem the third time was the charm for Adam Anderson in Taz, and Chad Tingler and his crew pulled off an amazing last minute thrash to get Grave Digger back on the track in time to complete a weekend freestyle sweep in front of another huge crowd Sunday afternoon.

The Monster Jam crews proved to be stars as well as their drivers, not only with the Grave Digger thrash, but also a virtual all-nighter to repair Maximum Destruction from signifigant damage suffered in his Saturday night freestyle. Tom Meents and his crew with help from all the other crews on hand got Max-D welded back together just in time for qualifying, where Meents went out and promptly set the fastest time, just to show his piece was back at 100%. Meents was strong from there and rolled into the championship race but in the finale he lost a close, exciting battle to Anderson who was determined to put Taz in the winners circle after coming so close in the first two events of the weekend in the Netherlands.

Freestyle opened with a bang when England's Karl Swallow, part of an international field that also included trucks from Sweden (Thor) and Canada (Jurassic Attack), flipped his Slingshot over early in the performance. Jurassic Attack came out early in the freestyle performance order, grabbed the lead, and Don Frankish held the top spot through almost the entire event. After Frank Krmel and El Toro Loco tied Frankish for the number one spot Anderson put in his claim for a Euro Double Down and moved into first place. His reign was short lived when Meents flew his repaired Maximum Destruction all over the dome and had the advantage, but Grave Digger's crew finished his repairs just in time and Tingler blasted into the arena, bringing the crowd to its feet again. Tingler's performance gave Team Grave Digger its third consecutive freestyle victory in the Gelredome.

RACING RESULTS
Fast Qualifier - Maximum Destruction
1st Round - Maximum Destruction def Batman; Escalade def Thor; Grave Digger def Jurassic Attack; El Toro Loco def Slingshot; Jetix def Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle; Tax def Monster Mutt Dalmatian
2nd Round - Maximum Destruction def Escalade; El Toro def Grave Digger; Taz def Jetix; (Jetix advanced to semi-finals as fastest second round loser)
Semi-finals - Maximum Destruction def Jetix; Taz def El Toro Loco
CHAMPIONSHIP RACE - TAZ DEFEATED MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION

FREESTYLE RESULTS
GRAVE DIGGER 37
Maximum Destruction 33
Taz 31
Jurassic Attack 29
El Toro Loco 29
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle 28
Batman 27
Escalade 27
Jetix 27
Monster Mutt Dalmatian 26
Thor 25
Slingshot 11