MONSTERJAMONLINE

Weekend Race Recap

Friday Night

The Mississippi Coast Coliseum was pumped up and ready for the monsters as we kicked off the Suzuki City, Southern Quality Ford Dealers Monster Jam. The pre-show excitement of quad and lawn mower racing had brought the fans to the edge of their seats for the monsters.

The primer for Monster Jam racing was our Air Force Wheelie competition with the tough goal of seeing who could walk their monster across the crush cars with the front end reaching for the sky. Viper was first out of the pits and warmed up the crowd with a 10. Dream Catcher, a true rookie, hit the throttle and posted a 9. Our Air Force judges were being tough on our monsters tonight, holding them to the highest standards for our fans. A 6 was put up for Bad News followed by Eliminator who burped the throttle for a quick jolt and skied for a 16. Air Force Afterburner came to the line and shot up and across the cars to edge out Eliminator for the lead with a 17. Taz was left in the pits and knew he had to bring it in order to take out Air Force Afterburner. He rolled up to the cars, poured on the Torco and shot up for a little two step wheelie. Judges cards up, triple 8's! Taz gets a 24 and the win.

The crowd was pumped from a taste of tricks but like all racing fans, they wanted to see these 10,000 pound monsters go fast! Our first racing pair matched up Eliminator and Dream Catcher with Eliminator the clear winner as they crossed the Built Ford Tough finish line. Air Force Afterburner matched up with Viper and as the light went green, Air Force Afterburner mashed it and took the win with a hole shot. Our final pair of round one put Bad News against Taz. Bad News was ready and knew that since Taz had just won racing that he would have a lot of adrenaline. As the light went green it was even stevens across the cars and in a close finish, Bad News took out Taz to advance. Since that race had the quickest trucks of the night, Taz came back as the fast loser to meet Eliminator in the semi-finals. Amped from the loss and looking for revenge, Taz punished Eliminator to advance to the finals. Thank goodness for second chances. Our other bracket paired Air Force Afterburner against a hot Bad News. The momentum from the win over Taz was flowin' as Bad News glided to the finals beating Air Force Afterburner. Time now for our 1-800-Safe-Auto Monster Jam racing finals with a repeat match up from round one. Taz versus Bad News. Bad News knew that Taz was out for revenge, but also being the fierce competitor that he is, was in the zone so that Taz didn't have a chance to sweep all of the events for the night. He wanted a piece of the action! Here they are at the line, red light goes to green and again, it's an amazing race. Neck and neck to the Built Ford Tough finish line........who's it going to be! The judges call it as....BAD NEWS! Bad News takes out Taz for the racing win!

An exciting night so far, but the best was yet to come. Southern Quality Ford Dealers Monster Jam Freestyle, our final element of the night was up next and the fans could hardly stand it. Dream Catcher started the freestyle sticking to the basics and attacking the car stacks for an 8. Eliminator followed the same path and went straight for the cars and hit a nice wheelie to earn a 13. Viper played off of the two competitors before him, abusing the car stacks and adding a couple of wheelies. The Air Force judges showed that they thought his run was better than the two before with a 15 on their cards. Riding high after beating rival Taz in racing, Bad News was looking for two in a row. He rode a couple of wheelies across the stacks and the caught air as he ramped the cars some more. His score, 18. Another new leader. After going out early in racing, Air Force Afterburner hit the floor as if he had something to prove and boy he did. He started by pouring on the methanol alcohol and really flying high for some of the biggest air of the night. Big air continued as he hit the cars a little cross and gave some abuse to the FMX landing ramp. The crowd was on their feet and the judges showed a 23. yet again another leader. However, the Air Force Wheelie winner, Taz was waiting in the pits. He had the opportunity to watch all of the other drivers to see what they had, and knew that if he wanted another win tonight. He would have to go big.. The wait and see strategy seemed to work for him again as he whipped his truck around the track putting a hurt on everything out there. His fast turns and big air earned him a 26 and his second win of the night.

Saturday Afternoon

The beautiful Biloxi weather this afternoon was an omen of the exciting Monster Jam action that was to occur in the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. With fans and drivers on a sunshine high, the crowd was in for a real treat.

Our Air Force Wheelie Competition was our first element of the night. Viper started the show with a respectable 10 followed by Dream Catcher as he floated up and onto the cars to score a 15. Bad News busted out of the pits and bopped the throttle to earn a 14. Eliminator came to the line quickly and staged deep to get a nice slow roll at the cars. He hit the Torco and earned a 17 knocking Dream Catcher out of the number 1 spot. Amped up and ready to impress was Air Force Afterburner. The crowd was really behind him and he slowly rolled to the cars, gave it a quick burp and locked up the tires in mid air to make it seem as if it was standing still if just for a second. Score cards went up from our judges to show a 24. That wheelie was going to be really tough to beat, but competition between teammates is tough and Taz was waiting in the pits. Being last has its advantages, but knowing that he had to beat a 24 to win must have been tough. The crowd was pumped and so was Taz as he jazzed it up in the air and the crowd went crazy. As the Air Force judges held up their cards, it was over for Afterburner. Taz's score was a 26. He remains unbeaten in the Air Force Wheelie competition for the weekend with one event to go.

Racing proved to have some interesting match-ups considering the outcome of last night's show. The first pair up, Bad News versus Taz. It was a repeat of the 1-800-Safe-Auto finals where Taz went down to Bad News. Not the case tonight. Taz edged out Bad news to advance. Air Force Afterburner faced Eliminator in our second match-up with Air Force Afterburner moving on with a whole shot win. Looking to take on Air Force Afterburner was either Viper or Dream Catcher. Both were psyched on the line and ready to taste victory in racing. Viper tastes the win and moves on! Eliminator was the fast loser from round one and he came back to beat Taz, who was on a mission. Taz took the win easy to advance to the finals. Staged and ready for action were Air Force Afterburner and Viper. Air Force Afterburner, not to be outdone by his teammate Taz, put his foot to the floor on green and again took a hole shot win. So teammates go in the 1-800-Safe-Auto racing finals! The rivalries don't get much hotter than this because the loser will hear it all the way to the next event. The crowd was psyched, the trucks were staged and when the light went green, the trucks roared off the line to a close finish. The officials call it.......TAZ! He takes his second win of the night! He's going for the trifecta! But, can he do it?

All the drivers were pumped for Southern Quality Ford Dealers freestyle and the track looked great. Our awesome track crew placed a bright yellow van in the white cars and added another car to the blue stack to build it up. Dream Catcher had some problems early on and ended his freestyle run with time on the clock and the judges give him a 9. Viper broke loose onto the floor and edged out Dream Catcher with a 10. With a couple of low numbers early, Eliminator knew that he had to get something exciting going on to impress our Air Force judges. He killed the stacks with air and quick turns to earn a 19. Bad News hit the floor with gusto but his air could not compare and the judges awarded him a 17. With 19 as the high score so far, Air Force Afterburner was tuned up and was hitting everything fast and hard. His quick turns and nimble maneuvering while jumping and diggin' donuts helped him earn a 25. Taz, again, waiting in the pits, had his eyes set on total domination. He had won the Air Force Wheelie competition, took out Air Force Afterburner in the racing finals and now he was looking to score a freestyle win to complete the tri-fecta. His air was amazing and his turns very agile. As he skied higher the fans cheered louder. When he rolled to a dead stop and the score cards were up it was clear that Taz was our winner. And the winner took all, all afternoon. The trifecta was complete.

Saturday Night

Tonight was our final show of the weekend and our biggest crowd too. The Monster Jam Drivers were definitely feeding off of all the fan energy and were ready to tear it up!

We started once again with the Air Force Wheelie competition. Viper and Dream Catcher were brought to the floor and staged. Viper was up first and as he began to edge towards the car stack, there was an explosive ticking sound coming from the truck. He put the truck in reverse and backed up to get a better shot at the cars and the ticking was gone. But as he gave it some more throttle going forward, it did it again. It would not go away. Being cautious for safety's sake, he backed in to the pits to check out the problem. Dream Catcher smoothly rolled up to the cars and caught a little air next to officially start off the contest with a 14. With an almost identical wheelie of Dream Catcher, Bad News rolled and caught air for a 14 as well. Eliminator took a slightly different approach and went at the cars with a little more momentum that helped him earn a 16. Air Force Afterburner staged and took a moment to take in the crowd and all of the fans from Keisler Air Force Base that came to the Suzuki City Southern Quality Ford Dealers Monster Jam. He fired and went at the cars with patience and then goosed the throttle hard for a big sail and came down on the third car in the stack. His score, a 22. With his teammate in the lead, Taz followed the lead of Air Force Afterburner and approached slow then gave a little more throttle than his teammate to catch just a bit more air. Our Air Force judges awarded him a 26, and he was crowned our winner.

Monster Jam racing was set in pre-show activities by some young fans through a blind draw. As racing was to begin, we received word that Taz had broke a front brake rotor and had to be dragged outside so that he could try to get it fixed before his run. Viper was still in the pits checking out that ticking sound believing that it might be some sort of fuel issue with the pump or the injectors, but still not too sure. That brought Air Force Afterburner and Bad News to the line first. Red to Green very quickly and in a tight race, Bad News edged him out to move on. News came in from outside that Taz was not going to be able to get the rotor and the pads replaced before racing, so the show must go on. Our final pair of the first round would be Eliminator and Dream Catcher. Eliminator rolled out of the pits and staged, but no signs of life out of Dream Catcher. Our USHRA officials put him on the clock, meaning he had 60 seconds to fire and bring his monster out on the track. His crew chief Hollywood was scrambling to try to fix the starter problem, but could not make it in time before the buzzer sounded. They knew that had to get ready for Southern Quality Ford Dealers Freestyle so they immediately started to thrash to get the starter replaced. Eliminator would still have to make the run, now as a bye. He put on a good show for the fans and moved on to the 1-800-Safe-Auto Racing Finals against Bad News who had a taste of victory in racing on Friday night. As they staged, you just had a feeling that it was going to be close. With a clear track, the light went green and it was Bad News taking his second racing victory of the weekend!

Intermission was a big help to the crews of the monsters as Dream Catcher was able to get the new starter installed and Taz had the new pads and rotor ready for action. Viper still could not locate the mechanical problem on the truck and was devastated that he could not be part of the show for the amazing fans at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. The van was out as it had been all weekend, but another obstacle opened up on the floor to the drivers. The Suzuki City Freestyle motor cross ramp was free game and you could see that some of the drivers were salivating at the thought of getting to tear it down. Dream Catcher, still a little shook up from missing racing, put on a good show to earn an 11. Eliminator busted out of the pits for some wheelies and air as he made quick turns at the open end of the track and hit the car stacks numerous times giving him the opportunity to earn a higher score from our Air Force judges who awarded him an 18. Hitting the track with momentum from his racing win, Bad News was off to a great start with a wheelie and some air across the stacks, but with 30 seconds remaining, he hit a wheelie on the white cars and when he came down, he was stuck. He tried going forward and reverse to dislodge himself and soon found that the problem was that the rear end had locked up. Once those 66 inch tires are dead lock it is impossible to move. Our track crew brought out the spectacular equipment from Hertz Rentals and removed him from the floor. Since he did not use all of the time allotted the judges only gave him a 10. After going out early in racing, Air Force Afterburner turned to the fans for some motivation as he made three laps around the arena with his arm out the window to say "Let me hear ya!" After the third lap he immediately poured on the throttle and started an action packed 60 seconds with great speed and agility. He was earning some frequent flier miles tonight as he was the first to catch air off of the ramp from both directions. The crowd loved it! Scores were up and a 24. Definitely your new leader. You could tell that Taz was jazzed in the pits and ready to put on a show for the fans as they did not get to see him in racing because of the mechanical breakage from the wheelie contest. He roared out in a cloud of dust, just like the cartoon character, and he just kept maneuvering around the track faster and catching more air. He spin into a donut, launched off the ramp and then as time was expiring, drove up the back of the ramp, planted his front tires on top of and just demolished it! He must have spun out for a good 10 to 15 seconds! The dirt was flying and the crowd was too! The judges scores were up and all tens! Our first perfect score of the weekend and a great ending to a wonderful trio of shows!