WOW!  Rain, rain, and more rain!  9 monster trucks, quad wars, Pro-trucks, and did I mention rain!?  You would never have known the weather was all that bad by the enthusiasm and the shear numbers of fans that turned out tonight.  The Built Ford Tough Party in the Pits was actually being called Party On The Concourse today due to the fact everything had to be moved indoors.  We had the floor open to any fans that wanted to venture out into the inclement weather to get up close pictures of the monsters and sure enough the rabid fans of Oakland were out the nearly 2000 deep.  That was just a sure sign of what was to come for the evening. 
Even in rainy and I mean RAINY conditions, the phrase, “the crème always rises to the top” came true.
Working their way through the bracket and into the semi-finals was GraveDigger, Donkey Kong, Airborne Ranger, & Bounty Hunter.  Even in these muddy conditions, the big horsepower proved to be the advantage as Digger & Bounty Hunter won their way into the finals.  In the end it was Jimmy Creten and Bounty Hunter proving that sometimes slower means faster as he was very meticulous and deliberate in the turns and was able to “peddle” it down the straights all the way to another win.  It was great to see Jimmy smile after this one even if it was through a mud caked face.
The constant rain came down even harder just as freestyle was ready to start and again, the fans here at McAfee Coliseum were not moving an inch!  Kreg Christianson and Iron Outlaw laid down the a 25 2/3rds of the way through the field and looked like he had a legitimate shot at a win but we still had 3 trucks remaining.  Jimmy Creten was the next out and BAM, just like that we had a new leader with a 26.  Frank Krmel and the brand new Donkey Kong was tearing out onto the floor, but between a possible missed set up or more than likely not being able to see a thing through a mud caked windshield, Kong was only able to nail a 24.  As usual, the door was left open.  Only needing a 27 to take the freestyle win, Charlie Paulkin and GraveDigger hit the floor, not just to win freestyle but to give the fans something to talk about until the next time Monster Jam comes to town.  And boy did he, huge air after huge air.  Charlie proved to the crowd why Dennis Anderson himself picked Paulkin to be one of the Team Digger drivers if not the best one out there.  Another rain soaked and mud caked interview and Charlie dedicated that win to the wet or should I say SOAKED fans of Oakland.
It’s getting to be almost that time now fans that everyone is looking towards the NGK Spark Plugs Monster Jam World Finals in Las Vegas and before they were able to get home tonight to dry off, the bet was that there would be more than a few fans online tonight checking on “Finals” tickets!  We’ll see you Oakland fans in Vegas, if not, in 2009!