Weekend Race Recap
Round One
Air Force Afterburner vs Brutus…Afterburner
El Toro Loco vs Grave Digger…El Toro Loco
Taz vs Iron Warrior…Iron Warrior
Avenger vs Black Stallion…Avenger
Semi Finals
Air Force Afterburner vs El Toro Loco…El Toro Loco
Iron Warrior vs Avenger….Avenger
Finals
El Toro Loco vs Avenger…Avenger
Freestyle
Iron Warrior was the first out and he would set the tone for the evening. He was able to run the full clock time and had some bigger hits scoring him a 20. Brutus came out and was able to get about three hits before he had engine problems and his crew was in action tearing it about with three shows left for the weekend. Word from the pits was he will be ready to go. He would score a 10. El Toro Loco raised the bar with high speed hits and getting about 20 feet in the air. He would hold the second spot but not for long with an 18. Air Force was on it from the moment the green light lit up. He was hitting van stacks and airing it out. He was aggressive and the judges liked what they saw. He would take the lead with a 22. Avenger wanted the lead from Damon and was on his way when he had an engine problem causing him to not use the entire time and would be given an 18. Black Stallion who is trying hard to get the invite to the Monster Jam NGK Spark Plugs World Finals in Las Vegas had more lines than a cheesy guy at wedding. He hit stuff kris crossed even a backwards hit on the van stack. Backwards meaning, he put his truck in reverse over the stack. He would be in a tie for first with a 22. Taz who was out for racing, got it going for the freestyle round and was a man on a mission. He had some of the biggest hits we saw. He would end up in second with a 21. Grave Digger was up and the crowd could do nothing but cheer as he started his run. He would run about 30 seconds before breaking a linkage on the front of the truck and would be out receiving a 13. The tie for first would have to be broken from our 4th judge and the win would go to Damon Bradshaw putting Black Stallion in second.
Saturday Afternoon
Round 1
Black Stallion vs Taz….Taz
El Toro Loco vs Brutus….El Toro Loco
Grave Digger vs Avenger…. Grave Digger
Iron Warrior vs Air Force Afterburner….Air Force Afterburner
Semi Finals
Taz vs El Toro Loco….Taz
Grave Digger vs Air Force Afterburner….Grave Digger
Finals
Grave Digger vs Taz….Taz
Iron Warrior in a position to set pace for today, but had a tough run setting the first score out a 14. Brutus was out next and tried some different things and was put in the second slot with a 13. El Toro Loco was on the gas and was not backing down from the van stack which would send him about 40 feet away from the take off ramp. He stayed aggressive to wow the judges into getting him a 18. Avenger was out and running strong until a problem with the front steering would stop his run early and he received a 12. Taz was on the pace using the time to lay out a great freestyle run. The big air the doughnuts and the high speed turns would land him in the #1 position. Grave Digger would be next and since he had breakage last night he wanted a win bad. Mixing up the right amount of air and aggressive attacks of the crush cars would put him in a tie with Taz at 22. Black Stallion who ended up in the second place finish last night was setting up the reverse hit today and made it seem effortless. He also was getting some impressive air off the crush cars but it would not be enough for the lead getting a 20. Last Truck out was last nights winner Air Force Afterburner. Damon had the highest air of the weekend off the van stack and he put down an unbelievable run but he would fall short a 21. Now the moment of truth who would be the winner with a tie for first. We once again had to go to our fourth judge the winner this afternoon would be Taz. He would be our winner in both racing and freestyle.
Saturday Night
Round 1
Grave Digger vs Iron Warrior….Grave Digger
Air Force Afterburner vs Black Stallion….Air Force Afterburner
El Toro Loco vs Taz….El Toro Loco
Avenger vs Brutus….Brutus
Semi-Finals
Grave Digger vs Air Force Afterburner….Air Force Afterburner
El Toro Loco vs Brutus….El Toro Loco
Finals
Air Force Afterburner vs El Toro Loco….Air Force Afterburner.
The night started on a good note with Iron Warrior starting with having his best run of the weekend. He finished his run with a great doughnut which got him a 21. The next run by Brutus had a little of everything but everything it had was big. Brutus had a score of 22 making him the new leader. Damon Bradshaw was intense to say the least. He was the biggest of the night but after one huge hit he was a little crossed and when he landed he was tossed over on his side. He would take the lead but his crew would be working late tonight. Avenger was as steady as the hand of a surgeon with his run mixing up the big hits and had a 10 rotation doughnut but after Air Force he would land a score of 23. El Toro Loco had a plan when he got out there to just hammer down and let be what would be. The score for him was 24. The Black Stallion who took his third win in wheelie contest tonight would score a 24 not enough for a lead change. Grave digger had the save of the night rocking off a jump landing on two wheels and got to the point of no return when he turned the wheels and placed it back on all fours. He would be our new leader with a 28. Taz was the last because of his win on the afternoon show. He was loose on the back of the course for safety issues. That fired up Adam who was a man possessed. Firing around trying to make up for lost time. He would end his run by putting it on its hood up side down. He would fall just shy of the win but sets up an interesting show tomorrow with so many different winners. Black Stallion is on a roll can he sweep the wheelie comp and get the points to make the Monster Jam NGK Spark Plugs World Finals time will tell.
Round 1
Avenger vs Brutus….Avenger
Grave Digger vs El Toro Loco….El Toro Loco
Air Force Afterburner vs Taz….Air Force Afterburner
Iron Warrior vs Black Stallion….Iron Warrior
Semi-Finals
Avenger vs El Toro Loco….El Toro Loco
Air Force Afterburner vs Iron Warrior….Iron Warrior
Finals
El Toro Loco vs Iron Warrior….El Toro Loco
The judges and crowd were in place for the final show on the weekend but this was our 20th year in Rhode Island. Trey definitely had confidence coming off a second place in racing and light up the stadium with a run of 19. Brutus was running around the course fast but had trouble getting the big hits the judges seemed to be looking for. His score would be an 18. El Toro Loco now knowing the judges liked the action big sailed the 1500 h.p. El Toro Loco off the van stacks getting bigger each time. Landing him in the lead for the time being with a 24. Avenger loves to spin and spin fast after two sets of doughnuts and a whole lot of big airs he upped the ante landing a score of 27. Black Stallion pulled out every trick in the book from hitting the cars sideways to jumping stacks backwards but couldn’t pull into the lead getting a 21. Afterburner showed his aggressive style and didn’t let up for the entire run but a broken shock 45 seconds into the run would hold him up from getting the big tricks to seal the deal for the win. Damon fell short and could not back up his previous win from earlier in the weekend getting a 21. Taz, who was a past winner this weekend, seemed to get super charged for the final show. He followed the lead from Avenger doing the doughnuts and big hits driving on the edge of control. He would tie for the lead with a 27. Grave Digger who was the winner from last night last to go out had to bring his A game. He stayed out there long after the run was over to give the fans what they wanted more craziness. The scores would come down and not be enough to give Randy back to back wins. We once again had to go to the fourth judge and our winner would be Taz. Great weekend again, writing another page of Monster Jam history to the 20 years of historic events we have had here.
