The night started with a little preview of how the racing final was going to be in the finals. The by run was given to the driver who picked the #1 chip. The drivers headed into the stands to have a lucky fan pick the chips. Devastator had luck on his side by pulling the #1 chip. Then a few chips later, Damon Brashaw drew the chip to pair him up against Adam Anderson in Taz. This would set up the chance that either the 2007 Rookie of the year Damon Bradshaw or the prodigal son Adam Anderson would have a chance to be dumped out of the bracket in the first round. The only chance one of them had to advance is if they were the fastest loser. The fastest loser would advance due to the fact there were only 5 trucks. Damon Bradshaw was the fastest loser meaning Taz would advance and Air Force would also. Devastator would be out in the semifinals and Bad News would not make the cut leaving Airforce and Taz to see each other at the starting for the final race. Taz was able to get the jump off the line and take home the first win for him tonight.

Wheelie Contest

This being a Thunder National the floor was bare concrete setting up for some slick action during the night. The Drivers had a wheelie contest to see who would rain supreme in standing the 1500 h.p. trucks up as high as possible. The home town hero Jim Burns from Rockford Illinois was up and with the Rockford crowd behind him set the truck into the cars and scored a decent score from our judges. The real thunder in Thunder Nationals was when Air force popped the front of the truch into about a 70 degree angle which made the crowd sit back and take notice of the former Supercross star and earn respect from a new kind of fan a "Thunder National Fan". Taz was the only man who could up the ante and possible take another win home tonight. Adam stepped up to the line and with a hard stomp of the hot foot, brought the front of the truck from 0 to 80 degrees in the amount of time it takes to say WOW. Taz would once again take the win and was looking for a possible sweep of the next two events.

Saturday Afternoon Wheelie

The Top Eliminator pit party went off without a hitch fans got to meet and greet the Drivers of Thunder Nationals. The run order was the same as last night, with Bad News coming out first and scoring a 21 from our in crowd judges. Next up was the local hero in his first year of competition Mechanical Mischief he was able to score a 22 and pull in the lead. The crowd showed the man love an you could see his confidence building as the afternoon rolled on. The Devastator took the lead from Mechanical Mischief with a 25. Air Force raised his game from last night but the judges were a little less giving than last night scoring a slamming wheelie and posting a 27. Taz was the only one to be able to beat Damon and he go to it. Taz hit the first crush car and launched Taz to where the rear tires only hit the last car of the five car line up. On the second pass he did almost a mirror image. Taz would score a 29 and a second win in the wheelie comp.

Saturday Afternoon Racing

With the crowd picking the race order numbers the #1 pick meant a by on the first round of racing. The #1 pick went to the local Jim Burns meaning he could npot be eliminated from the first round of racing. The second bracket was again a preview how the finals would work out. Taz verses Afterburner. Damon was able to secure a win which meant Taz would be out unless he was the fast loser to be placed back into the semi final round. Devastator and Bad News were the next two to face off. Devastator would take out Bad news and we went to the timers to see who the fastest loser would be......Taz would make it in for the semi finals setting up a match up of Taz and Mechanical Mischief with Taz pulling off a win and finding his way back into the finals who he would up against would be decided after the last round of semi finals. AfterBurner was up against Devastator and Damon would win by a narrow margin placing him on the line with Taz for the finals. Taz and Afterburner lined up with each other and a bump of front tires to help fuel the fire the gate was set and the light went green. Air force had a great jump with Taz getting a bad lift off the first car, Air Force cruised to an easy victory.

Doughnut Contest

The crowd came back from intermission with two things on their mind first task at hand was the Doughnut Contest. Mechanical Mischief was the first out, and the first was lightly coated with coke syrup (yes like the kind they use in pop machines) to give the track better conditions for quad wars. He had a hard time getiing the truck to break loose but scored a respectable score to start out the second half. Next was Devastator and he even told me that Doughnuts were not his forte but he went out there and was able to take the lead from Mechanical Mischief. Next was Air Force and I have to tell you he has never been on a concrete track before. He was a able to get it coming around but at the point when he needed to get on it he hesitated and had a good run. Little did we know that the man up next would stepping up into the Hot Seat. Next up........Bad News. He was on fire. He got it coming around and around and around. The final count of doughnuts was 10. He scored a perfect 30. Taz was up next and with the pace he was setting it could be anyone’s game to win. He got it going and when it was over he scored a 30 also. The tie breaker came down to the amount of doughnuts. Bad News 10 rotations - Taz 5 - so your winner Bad News.

Freestyle

Sixty Second was all the time they had to impress our judges and they impressed everyone in Rockford. Bad News came out using the track for a lot of crush car hits but didn't use the 60 seconds to get the big doughnut in the allotted time. Mechanical Mischief was a crowd favorite but not able to get the judges to sway the call in his favor. Devastator had some big hit and moved into the lead until Air force came out. Air Force used all the track with big car hits, three wheel sweeping turns, and high speed run ups to attack the course. He would be our leader with a 26. Taz came out with a huge backing of crowd support and hit the first set of cars and landed one wheel on the stack causing him to tip Taz on its lid. One hit wonder! The judges saw to it to crown him the winner with one hit. In the interview after, the Tech guys, which did an amazing job tonight, got him out of the truck and he was informed he won. He called Damon out on to the floor and said "I didn't win, Air Force did because he got on it and tore it up." That was a mark of a man who I believe has the respect of fellow drivers, the fans in Rockford and a little ol' announcer named Lurch 

Saturday Afternoon Doughnut

First out was Mechanical Mischief and he started with a solid run. I told you his confidence was rising and with that so was his scores. He set the pace with a 21. Next was Devastator and he had a little trouble, with his truck set up for racing and freestyle to get the doughnuts rolling but still placed a 23 for his score. Air Force came out next and I had a chance to talk to Damon about learning a lot from last night and he said" Every time you come to a new track that you have a few shows over the weekend you learn a little bit more every time". He had a good run but still had some trouble breaking the tires loose, would finish his run with a 23. Bad News the man who won last night had a repeat performance scoring a perfect 30 and another 10 rotations. The only thing that could beat him would be Taz if he scored a perfect 30 and would have more rotations than Bad News. Taz came out and stabbed the throttle and got it going. The crowd counted the off 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10..11..12..13..and that was it. He needed a perfect score to see if the tie breaker would come into play. The score was posted a perfect 30 and the tie would go to Taz. That meant in the two shows so far he had won every category there was to win.

Saturday Afternoon Freestyle

Bad News started the ball rolling with a high score of 25. This mark was a high figure since he was the first truck out, drivers would have to step it up to knock him out of the lead. Mechanical Mischief was out next and the crowd judged accordingly not giving him the nod for the lead and put him in second with a 23. Devastator was up next and with some huge air and a slap wheelie off the car stack the judges put him in first with a 27. Damon Bradshaw and Air Force some strong passes with some heavy throttle in the turns making him one of the most aggressive drivers of the night. He went big but not big enough to knock off Devastator scoring a 26. Taz up and talk about using all the track. It was like a buffet of freestyle. It had doughnuts, big air, wheelies and even a slap wheelie. The score came down to a perfect 30 Winner Winner chicken dinner.