Friday 7:30pm
Tonight’s 2008 Monster Jam kickoff featured one of the two defending world champions. It was clear from the beginning of the show that World Freestyle Champion was set to show the fans just how he won the title. The Wheelie Competition opened up with each truck getting two attempts to impress the judges. Each truck performed well, with huge air on nearly every attempt.
Bad News: 16
Devastator: 18
Rolling Thunder: 18
Turtle: 21
Black Stallion: 21
Grave Digger: 29
The biggest air tonight clearly went to Pablo in Digger. He seemed to be able to pop the front end of the truck easily into the air. His technique was a different than the others. On each attempt he put his bumper right up against the car stack, and nearly stopped completely before punching the peddle. Clearly, the burst that followed was more than impressive to the judges.
In Racing’s first round, Turtle edged Stallion, Bad News took out Rolling Thunder, and even though Devastator crossed the line in front of Digger, the turn pole that Mark took out came with a :05 penalty that was enough to take him out of the competition.
Rolling Thunder came back for the Semi’s as the Fast Loser, but was then taken out for the night by Turtle. In the second Semi, Digger and Bad News were running tight, with Pablo pulling ahead at the end. Unfortunately, the penalty that enabled Digger to move the semi’s, would also prevent him from going to the finals. On the last turn, Digger clearly wiped out the turning pole, and awarded the chance to Bruce to take his monster to the final.
Bruce Haney in Bad News and Aaron Basl in Turtle had the smoothest runs of the night. It was no surprise that the two would meet in the finals. Went the light went green, you couldn’t even tell how got the hole shot. They ran even throughout the race, but in the final turn, Aaron made the first mistake. He cut Turtle too tight and tipped over the turning pole. Bad News kept it steady and fast all night long, and picked up the racing victory to start the 2008 season.
In 2008 we brought back a crowd favorite to Des Moines, FMX. Three riders launched over the 55ft gap with their motorcycles pulling everything out of their trick bag. The crowd cheered the widely for the Darrin Connet, Phil Egleston, and Justin Hicks. In fact, it was their applause sent Darrin and Justin to the final round. Once there, it was clear that Darrin’s final trick would put everyone on their feet, and award him tonight’s victory… the Back Flip seems to do it every time.
Tonight’s competitors in Street Warriors all came from the local club crew and 4 wheel drive club, “Make It Or Break It”. The crowd was on their feet when two consecutive trucks rolled in the exact same turn. Rick Morelock was the first to turn his vehicle over, followed by Lane Jones in the next run. The fastest trucks of the night were driven by Chris Menninga and Ron George. Even though Chris has the fastest time of the night (18:12) in the earlier round, it was Ron who pulled the better time when it counted. In the final round, Ron came through with a 19.20 to take the victory over his fellow competitors.
The anticipation tonight centered around Monster Freestyle. Everyone knew that the World Champion was in the Wells Fargo Arena, and that they were in for a great show. With an extra van stack to hit on the floor, every truck turned in a high speed, exciting run. Devastator’s Mark Schroeder and Black Stallion’s Mike Vaters seemed to take it to the next level with huge air off of each obstacle. Vaters even ran his truck until one of the rear tires was completely flat, and ready to come off the truck.
Bad News: 17
Devastator: 19
Rolling Thunder: 19
Turtle: 21
Black Stallion: 26
Grave Digger: 28
When all was said and done, the Freestyle champ demonstrated why he holds the title. Pablo ran Digger in overdrive for the entire 60 seconds. He never even attempted to line up on the van stack, electing instead to hit it off center, and fast. To wrap it up, Pablo even launched off the 11ft FMX landing ramp for the sickest air of the entire night.
Saturday - 2:00
The fans turned out in force for today’s afternoon Jam. Many of which had already read last night’s recap on line, and were excited to see it all for themselves. When the lights went down for introductions, we knew that this would be one of the loudest afternoon show crowds ever.
Today’s Wheelie Competition was a huge hit, giving the fans their first look at the monster trucks. Each truck again got huge air off the car stacks, while one in particular seemed to take it to the next level.
Bad News: 14
Devastator: 18
Turtle: 16
Black Stallion: 22
Rolling Thunder: 17
Grave Digger: 28
One each of his tow hits, Pablo launched Digger high into the air, and seemed to just hang there. As he did last night, Vaters in Black Stallion put up a strong competition. The judges seemed to like the distance that Digger covered while in the air. On each hit, Pablo landed Digger on the last crush car, violently slapping the front end down and bouncing the truck off to one side.
In Racing, Turtle was to take on Black Stallion in the first race. Stallion blew a hydraulics hose during Wheelie, and when it was time to come to the line, his crew was still thrashing to get it fixed. The 1:00 clock expired, and Turtle was instructed to run a bye run, and automatically advance to the next round. Vaters had the problem fixed just fifteen seconds later, and therefore, was set to return for Freestyle. In the following races, last night’s champion Bad News took out Rolling Thunder, and Digger took a close win over Devastator.
In the Semi’s, Devastator came back as with the fastest losing time, but lost a tough race to Turtle. Bad News had his run for back to back wins ended by a Pablo’s Grave Digger.
This set up a final that matched the two teammates, Aaron Basl and Pablo Huffaker. They travel the country together all season long, so a friendly rivalry becomes serious business when they find themselves in the finals against each other. The rivalry made for some great action for the fans, as both trucks ran the entire track full throttle. Turtle had the early advantage, and after two of the three jumps, it appeared that he would win. The veteran, however, wasn’t defeated yet. In the final turn, Pablo cut the turn tight and punched the gas to get over the last stack in a hurry. It was just enough, as Digger pulled out the photo finish victory over Turtle.
In FMX, our three competitors opened up with even better tricks, and more of them. In the final round, it was again Darrin Connet’s backflip that brought the crowd to it’s feet. When it came time to judge, they liked Justin’s run, but just couldn’t hold back when it came to awarding Darrin his second victory.
The local 4wd club ran a great show with their Street Warriors, and again brought the crowd to their feet with a vehicle roll over. This time it was Bryan Rowland flipping his vehicle right in front of his family and friends that came to see him. When the final round was complete, it was again Ron George with the fastest time of the day, and his second straight win.
When the World Freestyle Champion is in the house, you’re always going to have excitement going into Freestyle. Today, the champ provided the excitement, but in the end, was outdone.
Bad News: 18
Devastator: 22
Black Stallion: 25
Rolling Thunder: 18
Grave Digger: 22
Turtle: 26
Aaron Basl had one of his best shows behind the wheel. After making it to the racing final, he came in Freestyle determined to impress the judges with non-stop action. Hitting every obstacle, including the 12 ft FMX landing ramp, without ever letting up on the pedal, was exactly what the judges were looking for. It certainly helped that Turtle was the first truck of the weekend to pull off a Doughnut on the tacky track. Stallion gave the best challenge with a high flying leap with the FMX ramp as a feature of his near flawless freestyle run. The final truck with a chance to beat Turtle’s score did thrill the crowd, but could not finish out the full :60 time. Digger started with the biggest air of the weekend with his first jump over the FMX ramp. Just over twenty seconds into his run, Digger pulled into a Doughnut, hooked up his tires, and flipped over onto his side.
Saturday 7:30
The final Monster Jam of the weekend began and end with total destruction. The crowd watched as the track destroyed a monster truck to start the show, and then a monster truck destroy the track to close it.
The first truck to run in the night’s first competition was Bad News. When Bruce Haney took his first of two attempts at the Wheelie, he seemed to struggle on the car stack. After two attempts, he bypassed the stack to line up a wheelie down the center of the track. Bruce put the pedal down, and brought the front end up in what looked like the perfect run. Just then, he dropped the front axel, and clipped the car stack with his drivers side wheel. The impact was so great that it ripped the entire front axel off the truck, and flipped Bad News over on it’s lid with broken shocks and 4 link bars pointing in every direction. Once the track crew got to Bruce and released him from his belts, he stepped out, surveyed the complete destruction of the front end, and then waved the crowd as the crowd roared their appreciation.
Bad News: 19
Devastator: 24
Turtle: 18
Black Stallion: 22
Rolling Thunder: 23
Grave Digger: 28
Grave Digger again came on strong for the Wheelie Competition. Pablo once again bounced Digger the length the car stack for his third victory of the weekend.
In racing tonight we began to see that the youngest driver begin to set the pace. Aaron Basl again easily advanced Turtle to the next round, while Digger did as well by taking out Devastator. With Bad News out of the competition, Rolling Thunder advanced with a bye round.
In the Semi’s, Devastator was brought back as the fast loser, but was quickly taken out again by Turtle. This meant that Aaron would make it to the finals for the third straight show, and have one more chance to take a victory here in Des Moines. In the second race, Grave Digger beat Rolling Thunder to set up the finals rematch from today’s earlier show.
In the racing finals, we had the much anticipated rematch of the weekend’s best race from today’s 2pm show. Aaron and Pablo are teammates, and would once again have a chance to square off in the big race. In the previous race, Pablo pulled out the photo finish. But in the final show of the weekend, Aaron was determined to take his first victory in third finals appearance. It looked like Turtle got the jump off the line, but Pablo was clearly ahead at the halfway point. Coming off the final turn, the crowd could see that it would in fact be Aaron’s time to take the checkered flag, and his first victory of 2008.
In FMX, it was once again the dramatic Backflip from Darrin Connet that got crowd on their feet screaming for more. The crowd determines the winner, and it was clear that Darrin would be the three time winner this weekend.
Only one Street Warrior can brag that he flipped his truck twice in the same weekend. Lane Jones flipped in competition on Friday night, and tonight in the practice round. Apparently no one told him that it was only practice. Didn’t seem to matter to him… he was having too much fun. We had a three time winner for Street Warriors, as tonight Ron George once again had the best run, and the best time at 27.15.
In Freestyle, the crowd got exactly what they were looking for, as the final monster on the night completely destroyed the track.
Bad News: --
Devastator: 21
Turtle: 25
Black Stallion: 24
Rolling Thunder: 21
Grave Digger: 28
Digger hit the 12 ft FMX landing ramp at full speed, in both direction, multiple times. Pablo again tonight demonstrated exactly why he is the defending World Freestyle Champion.
