Weekend Race Recap
FRIDAY -
Ask anyone at Monster Jam, and they’ll tell you that Philly is one of the very best stops on the tour. A packed house roared as eight monster trucks stormed the Wachovia Spectrum track for introductions… and never let up till the UTI Freestyle Champion was crowned at the end.
The Wheelie Competition was one of the closest we’ve ever seen. The final three trucks ended up battling it out for the win. It seemed like after Alex set Captain’s Curse up in its tailgate, no one would top it. The final truck to compete, though, was piloted by on the very best at the Wheelie.
Viper 18
The Broker 21
Screamin Demon 18
Dominator 23
Monster Mutt 22
Captain’s Curse 26
Blue Thunder 25
Grave Digger 28
From the very first round of racing, the Spectrum has never seen such huge air. Monster Mutt, Blue Thunder, and Curse launched themselves 25+ feet into the air en route to victory. In Round 1, Mutt flew past Demon, The Broker edged out Digger, Curse knocked out Dominator, and Blue Thunder bit the Viper.
In the Semi’s, Mutt again went high flying to take out Broker, while Curse came in low and fast to edge past Blue Thunder. It would seem that going into the “1-800 Safe Auto Monster Finals”; Mike Wine in Mutt would have the advantage. In the earlier rounds, no one even came close… and, he earned lane choice going into the final race. Curse would not make it easy, though. When the light turned green, both trucks seem to get the hole shot. On the other side, though, it was clearly Mutt that crossed the Ford Finish line ahead of Curse… by a nose.
In tonight’s Quad Wars, Team NY upset the local fans from the very first interview. In the first heat, the NY team lived up to their word and took the victory. The second heat was a close call at the finish, with Team Philly taking the checkered flag. The final was all Philly, and the NY captain wiped out against the wall, and could not even finish. Mad about the blocking that sent him off the track, he challenged Philly to put up the points in a Grudge match. Philly takes all challenges – so, the race was back on. Team NY used the same blocking tactic to through the Philly captain to the track and out of the race. The rematch will be heated, to say the least, when we come back for Saturday’s show.
Freestyle Motocross added the two wheeled action in tonight Monster Jam. Thee FMX riders from right here in the NE provided the sick air. James Skiles made it to the second round with a scary Kiss Of Death. Rick Kearns pulled out his Switchblade to earn the chance to challenge of the title. In the Finals, it was the Tsunami that left the biggest impression with the fans – Rich was clearly judged as the fan favorite, and champion tonight.
In tonight’s “Universal Technical Institute Monster Freestyle”, the fans in Philly were once again witness to a battle by the final trucks – this time, four of the monsters were all gunning for the high score.
Viper 21
The Broker 17 (broken rear driveshaft)
Screamin Demon 23
Dominator 19
Monster Mutt 28
Captain’s Curse 26
Blue Thunder 26
Grave Digger 30
Mutt and Curse both delivered a high energy, non-stop freestyle. Linsey Weenk has always been tough in racing ever since burning up the tracks at the start of the 2006 tour. Tonight he stepped up his Freestyle performance to deliver an equally as exciting, non-stop run – not easy to do on these smaller tracks. In the end, it was last year’s Freestyle winner of 3 out of 4 shows (Digger broke in the 4th show) that would prevail. Rod hit the big FMX landing ramp multiple times in Digger, convincing the crowd to award him his first perfect 30 in his four victories over the past two years here at the Spectrum
Saturday 2pm
Dedicated fans again packed the Wachovia Spectrum to cheer on their favorite 10,000lb monsters. Two trucks dominated the competition in today’s show… one a legend, and the other a local favorite.
The Wheelie Competition led us off with huge air from our final two trucks.
Viper 21
The Broker -- (Broken rear driveshaft)
Screamin Demon 24
Dominator 23
Monster Mutt 23
Captain’s Curse 26
Blue Thunder 27
Grave Digger 29
Alex Blackwell set the truck up on its rear bumper for a tough to beat score. But Linsey had so much air under Blue Thunder that it seemed like he would never drop the front end back down. When it did come down, he pitched off to the left of the car stack, and appeared headed for the guardrails. Digger came out as the final truck and swiped the win with an equally as impressive wheelie, matching Thunder’s air time.
In Racing, Mutt was looking for a second straight win, while Digger was trying to recover for an early departure in last night’s racing. In Round 1, Curse took down Viper, Thunder launched over Demon, Mutt again used power to get past Dominator, and Digger ran a bye run when The Broker was unable to get to the starting line and compete.
In the Semi’s, we had the best match ups of the weekend so far. Both races were close with Curse edging past Thunder, and Digger getting past Mutt. Curser is the defending World Freestyle Champion truck featuring a local favorite, Alex Blackwell from Frackville, PA behind the wheel. Normally touring the country, this is the closest that Alex has ever been to his home town to complete. In the “1 800 Safe Auto Finals”, he had to face Rod and Grave Digger. Alex really wanted this win, but it wasn’t meant to be as Digger was first off the line, and first to cross the finish line. But, Alex would get his victory later in the show.
In Quad Wars, Team NY continued to antagonize the crowd before winning the first Heat. In the second Heat, NY’s captain was knocked from his quad as Philly took the win. In the Main, it appeared to be all going NY’s way till the very last lap. In the second turn, the three lead quads from NY locked up their wheels, and took themselves out of the race. This left the door wide open for an easy Philly victory to take today’s points.
FMX was even bigger and better, as the three performers became even more comfortable with the track. James and Rich made it to the final round of competition, and it was a perfect “Rock Solid” that gave James the easy victory.
In the “UTI Monster Jam Freestyle” competition, we had a heated rivalry between our show’s two dominant trucks. Both gave non-stop action for :60, and hit the big FMX landing ramp as many times as they could. Both trucks left the Spectrum floor in a cloud of dust.
Viper 22
The Broker 17
Screamin Demon 18
Dominator 24
Monster Mutt 27
Captain’s Curse 30
Blue Thunder 28
Grave Digger 30
We had several strong runs, with Thunder and Mutt nearly equaling the scores of our two top trucks. But it was Curse and Digger that impressed the crowd – both had an edge to their performance. With a tie at 30, the officials awarded the victory to Blackwell.
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Saturday 7pm
For the third straight time this weekend, Philly packed the house here at the Wachovia Spectrum. Tonight’s crowd witnessed the first Double Down of the weekend.
The Wheelie Competition was the best of the weekend, and was again dominated by the final four trucks to compete. The competition was so close, in fact, that the crowd had to cheer to determine the winner.
Viper 16
Screamin Demon 20
Dominator 21
The Broker 18
Monster Mutt 23
Captain’s Curse 27
Blue Thunder 24
Grave Digger 27
With a two equal scores at 28, the crowd had to cheer to determine who would take the victory. Curse’s driver, Alex Blackwell, is from PA… so, it was nearly too close to call. Digger had a few more fans, and enough applause to take his third straight Wheelie win.
In Racing, The Broker made his first trip to the Semi’s with a first round victory over Viper. In the other races, Mutt took out Demon, Curse dominated Dominator, and Digger took a close race from Blue Thunder. In the Semi’s, we had a rematch of the finals from the afternoon show – and once again, Digger slipped past Curse. In the other Semi, a fired up Mike Wine brought Mutt past the line in front of Broker.
Mutt won Racing in the Friday night show. Digger won racing earlier today in the 2pm show. Now, the two trucks would square off to see who would be the two time champion here in Philly. As expected, it was one of the closest races of the weekend. Digger changed his tactic, and came in very low and fast, with Mutt flying high as he’s been doing all weekend. Rod had the right idea, as Digger brought the red headlights past the Ford finish line in front of the slobbering tongue of Monster Mutt.
In Quad Wars, NY took the first Heat, and Philly took the second Heat. In the Main, even though NY dominated by taking 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, they lost the points to Philly on a strange turn of event in a Captain’s Grudge match. The two captain’s quads locked up tires, around the first turn. The NY captain’s quad stalled, and when he couldn’t start it back up, he decided to jump in front of the Philly captain’s quad to prevent him from continuing the race. Philly had no intentions of losing –so, he ran right through the rider and continued to the finish line.
In FMX, all three riders hit the ramp hard, and pulled out some huge tricks starting in the practice round. Tonight, it would be James advancing to the finals for his second time today, and Tony advancing for his first time this weekend. The crowd seemed to have their favorite almost from the beginning. The signature “Dead Can” trick appeared to be the reason the crowd cheered James to his second win of the weekend.
The “UTI Monster Jam Freestyle” brought us once again to a tie score, and a judges’ decision to determine who would take the victory.
Viper 19
Screamin Demon 22
Dominator 21
The Broker 18
Monster Mutt 26
Captain’s Curse 28
Blue Thunder 26
Grave Digger 28
It was clear that all of the monsters were getting to know the track well. All ran the track hard, reducing the van stack to a pile of bolts and twisted metal. The same two trucks that tied in Freestyle during the 2pm show, and tonight for Wheelie… again, have tied in Freestyle. They both deserved the win, as both hit the FMX ramp and the van stack multiple times. The Monster Jam officials had to make the call – it went to Digger.
Sunday
Many have said that Philly is their favorite stop on the Monster Jam tour. It’s clear after four shows that it’s the fans that make the difference in this town. We’ve had three great crowds here this weekend, no question about that. Today’s crowd, though, was clearly the loudest of the weekend.
It began with the best Wheelie Competition of the weekend. Every truck was able to launch into the air, as one just kept outdoing the other. Until, that is, the local favorite put an end to it all with a perfect score.
Viper 20
The Broker 25
Screamin Demon 26
Dominator 23
Monster Mutt 27
Blue Thunder 26
Grave Digger 28
Captain’s Curse 30
Alex Blackwell has never been this fired up. Running so close to home for the first time in his career has unleashed something new in this guy. He not only put up a huge wheelie, but he also danced and hopped that wheelie all the way across the car stack. With that performance, he prevented the sweep by Digger in Wheelie, and scored the only perfect 30 in this weekend’s Wheelie Competition.
All of the drivers seem to now have a good feel for how to run this track. Every truck ran faster and harder in today’s show, and as a result, we had an incredible day of racing. In Round 1, Blue Thunder took down Dominator, and Curse powered past Demon. Viper had blown out his brakes in the earlier competition, and was unable to safely run the race. So, he would be out for the night, and Broker would advance. In the early round, we also saw a rematch of last night’s racing final, but, with a different result – today, it was Mutt that took the checkered flag away from Digger.
In the Semi’s, Curse knocked out Broker, while Mutt barely made it past Thunder. This set up a rematch of Friday night’s “1 800 Safe Auto Monster Racing Finals” – same match up to both begin and end the weekend. Unfortunately for Curse, he would have to settle for the same result as well. Mutt seemed to be unstoppable all weekend, and this race was no different. Alex kept it close, but the Mutt just had more power off the line. The veteran Mike Wine had his second racing victory of the weekend.
Quad Wars hit an all time high for the fans of Team Philly today. With the NY team captain raging mad about what happened in last night’s show, he drove his team to two straight Heat victories. NY won the Main as well, but as you would expect, not without controversy. So, back to a Captain’s grudge match for our two heroes’. Funny thing, though. For all of the big talk that the NY captain had all weekend, he was surprisingly absent once again at the finish line. In yet another race, he failed to bring his quad across the line, allowing Team Philly to take three out of the four events for the weekend
FMX had this crowd roaring from start to finish. These fans realized that noise is what drives these guys. And, sure enough… every jump had huge air, and awesome tricks. Today it would be James and Tony advancing to the final round. From the start, we could tell that Tony had the momentum and the crowd in his corner. In the final round, it was a near perfect “Rock Solid” that gave him his first victory of the weekend.
There’s something about the last show of a great weekend. The drivers seem to just not care what happens to them, or their trucks. Today in the “Universal Technical Institute Monster Jam Freestyle”, we saw several trucks nearly cross-threading this small track in an attempt to hit the 10ft FMX ramp from different directions. This was not at all easy given its position at the far end of the track, and being wedged between the two car stacks. Difficult, though, means exciting!!
Viper -- (brake failure)
The Broker 6 (run cut short due to rear steer)
Screamin Demon 21
Dominator 16
Monster Mutt 28
Captain’s Curse 26
Blue Thunder 28
Grave Digger 29
As a tribute to his friends and family, Alex Blackwell nearly drove Curse right into the ground. Before he was done, nearly every part underneath his truck was glowing bright red. In fact when he shut down, the tech officials all grabbed fire extinguishers and ran to the pits. No problems though, just a wild ride for today’s “UTI Monster Jam Freestyle”. Thunder and Mutt both rattled the house with non-stop action. Digger did just the same, but found a way to get the biggest air of the weekend off the big ramp – that seemed to be just enough to get the one extra point that made the difference.
