Weekend Race Recap

Calgary - Friday

“While the Calgary Flames are away, the Monsters come to play”.  The local NHL tenants of the Pengrowth Saddledome were off enjoying the sunny climate of California and play Anaheim.  That left the door open for Monster Jam to blast on into Calgary Friday night, thanks to presenting sponsor PartSource.

Former Monster Jam World Freestyle Champion Lupe Sosa was in winning form right off the bat. El Toro Loco earned a perfect 30 from the Pizza 73 judges in the Crowfoot Ford Wheelie Contest, besting his nearest challengers, Grave Digger and Pastrana 199 by 3 points.

There was something strangely eerie about how the draw for the bracket positions predicted the future in the Hot Wheels Monster Truck Racing.   Just before the beginning of the show, the drivers drew numbers from a modified Grave Digger puff truck.  Bobby Parr charged out on foot and drew his number.  He picked number one and earned his Team Suzuki truck a bye through the first round to the semi-final. He defeated Maniac and then bested Pastrana 199 in the final to live up to his number one.

But Pastrana 199 was not content with being number two.  In the PartSource Monster Truck Freestyle competition, Cam McQueen laid down a run that had his hometown Calgary fans as well the judges staring in awe.  He was fourth in the order, but ended up one point shy of perfect with a 29.  Team Suzuki and El Toro Loco came close with each scoring a 28.  It all came down to Grave Digger.  The “black and green wrecking machine” roared onto the track.  Chad Tingler pulled out all his experience, ripping Grave Digger’s driver side door open in the first 5 seconds.   The judges debated and argued, but ended up awarding a 29.  It went to the track officials for a decision.  After reviewing the video and noting that Tingler sent Grave Digger both ways over the FMX landing ramp, Grave Digger was awarded the win.  Being a fan first, McQueen came out during Tingler’s winner interview and threw his arms around the Grave Digger driver in a show of congratulations and respect.

The giant ramp was indeed put to use for Ralph’s Motorsports presentation of Freestyle Motocross.  What was scheduled to be just a few tricks, Lance McMorran led his brother Dylan and fellow freestyler Tim Milkie in a barrage of tricks.  To top it off, Lance encouraged his peers to perform the most dangerous trick of all – a FMX train with all three riders hitting the ramp one behind the other.

Speaking of hitting, there was contact galore in three rounds of Quad racing.  The more experienced Edmonton team and the Calgary team simply just did not like each other and showed it during each round.  An even split in the first two rounds forced a tie breaker.  While Calgary saw the checkered flag, Edmonton captain Corey Kirkoff filed a protest against the hometown team.  A four man grudge match didn’t make a difference in the outcome.  Calgary was triumphant.

The excitement continues to build in Calgary with two shows plus a Party in the Pits on tap for tomorrow and a matinee performance scheduled for Sunday.

Monster Jam Wheelie Contest

Jurassic Attack 21

Maniac              21

Arachnophobia   23

Team Suzuki     25

Pastrana 199     27

Grave Digger      27

El Toro Loco      30

Monster Jam Racing

Round 1

Maniac defeated Arachnophobia

Pastrana 199 defeated Jurassic Attack

Grave Digger defeated El Toro Loco

Semi Final

Team Suzuki defeated Maniac

Pastrana 199 defeated Grave Digger

Final

Team Suzuki defeated Pastrana 199

Monster Jam Freestyle

Jurassic Attack  16

Arachnophobia   16

Maniac              27

Team Suzuki     28

El Toro Loco      28

Pastrana 199     29

Grave Digger      29*

*winner by officials decision

Calgary – Saturday recap

Saturday afternoon

It was party time in Calgary Saturday afternoon.  And an afternoon of huge wins.  What would you expect – it’s Monster Jam.

The party actually started mid-morning, with Monster Jam fans jamming the floor of the Pengrowth Saddledome for a fantastic Crowfoot Ford Party in the Pits.  All the fans were winners thanks to Crowfoot Ford. They took full advantage of the chance to get up close and personal with the stars of Monster Jam.  And one lucky fan had an extra reason to thank Crowfoot Ford, winning $500 of gasoline.

One other fan attending the Party in the Pits was credited by a monster truck driver with giving him the win in the PartSource Monster Jam Freestyle.  Chad Tingler knew Grave Digger was facing not one, but two perfect Pizza 73 30’s from Team Suzuki and El Toro Loco.  But Tingler had a passenger in spirit to spur him to an extraordinary performance.  After hitting massive air, huge wheelies, Grave Digger literally rode the rims in a bicycle that looked to end in disaster.  Somehow Tingler pulled out the save. After also receiving a perfect score, the track officials gave the win to Grave Digger.  Tingler credited the picture that a young fan gave him at the Party in the Pits that Tingler carried in Grave Digger as being the motivation to go above and beyond.

Bobby Parr took team Suzuki to a second racing win.  Last night, his number one bracket draw not only gave him a bye into the semi-finals, but predicted his placement in the final.  Scott Anderson hoped that picking number one today be two times lucky for Arachnophobia.  Anderson was almost right, facing Team Suzuki in the Monster Jam Racing Final.  Yet when he drew number two, Parr was cagey when asked if that bracket number would come true like it did last night and predict his placement.  It did – with two racing wins back to back.

Lucky for Anderson, Arachnophobia was already a winner, having wowed the judges in the Monster Jam Wheelie contest.  His score of 29 held even though he was the second of seven trucks to hit the car stacks.

The Calgary Quad Racing team was also on a winning streak, scoring their second straight tie-breaker victory in Quad Wars.

Freestyle Motocross fans were winners today as well, with Dylan McMorran literally letting go of the4 back of his motorcycle 30 feet above the track in a massive Rock Solid.

Monster Jam Wheelie Contest

Arachnophobia   29

El Toro Loco      27

Pastrana 199     26

Grave Digger      26

Team Suzuki     24

Jurassic Attack 23

Maniac              23

Monster Jam Racing

Round 1

Jurassic Attack defeated Maniac

Pastrana 199 defeated Gravedigger

Team Suzuki defeated El Toro Loco

Semi Final

Arachnophobia defeated Jurassic Attack

Team Suzuki defeated Pastrana 199

Final

Team Suzuki defeated Arachnophobia

Monster Jam Freestyle

Jurassic Attack  24

Arachnophobia   22

Maniac              25

Pastrana 199     29

Team Suzuki     30

El Toro Loco      30

Grave Digger      30*

*winner by officials decision

Saturday evening

Question:  How do you define better than perfection?  Answer: Monster Jam in Calgary on Saturday night.  A home town hero winning twice and then turning his monster truck upside down.  Plus, a freestyle to top all freestyles from the most well know monster truck in the world.  And more!

Cameron McQueen became a home town hero even before he drove Pastrana 199 tonight.  The crowd went wild for Cam during the Monster Jam Q & A before the show.  The humble star in the making started off a winning streak taking the Crowfoot Ford Wheelie Competition.

But Monster Jam Racing presented more of a challenge for McQueen.  Grave Digger drew number one in the racing bracket draw and earned a bye into the semi finals.  But McQueen had to earn his move into the semis by winning.  He did just that, besting El Toro Loco. 

The semi-final brackets had Grave Digger up against the two time racing winner in Calgary.  But Bobby Parr could not make it a triple crown for Team Suzuki, falling to Grave Digger.  McQueen had to win the other bracket to advance and did just that with Pastrana 199 besting Jurassic Attack.

Facing Grave Digger in the final had to set the butterflies in motion for McQueen.  Chad Tingler had said during his bracket draw interview that he wanted to show that Grave Digger could be a racing champion in Calgary besides simply being famous for freestyle.  McQueen knew it would not be easy to beat a driver of Tingler’s experience, let alone Grave Digger.  By no more that the width of a terra tire tread, Pastrana 199 made it to the Hot Wheels finish line first.

You could say two out of three ain’t bad.  But it wouldn’t be satisfactory for McQueen.  He was on track for a fabulous freestyle run.  But the van stack fought back, throwing Pastrana 199 sideways.  A moment later, McQueen was viewing the Calgary Monster jam fans upside down.  Fortunately, he was OK.  And the truck was none the worse for wear once it was right side up.  But he did not fill the clock and earned only a 22 from the Pizza 73 judges.

Moments later, the PartSource Monster Jam Freestyle competition was in a three way tie with 26 points each for Maniac, Team Suzuki and El Toro Loco.  And then there was one – one truck remaining.  The opening notes of “Bad to the Bone” let the Monster Jam fans know that Grave Digger was next.

Tingler reached down into the legend of Grave Digger freestyles and picked out some of the very best parts.  Wild cross thread action had Grave Digger bouncing sideways off the freestyle motocross landing ramp.  Massive air with the height of a house under the back tires of Grave Digger.  Two huge donuts, shredding the track.  And then a bicycle, again driving on the rims and somehow at the last minute, setting Grave Digger rubber side down.  A perfect 30 could be the only outcome.

The freestyle motocross demonstration turned into a competition with a big trick contest treating the fans to the best the rider had to offer.  After his trick, Tim Milkie threw the motorcycle down to bask in the cheers.  Lance McMorran said he would “school” his younger brother and took the cheers up another notch.  But Dylan McMorran flawlessly executed a Holy Grab – letting go of the handles bars while in the Superman position and literally floating to the back of the bike, grabbing the cut-outs under the seat at the last moment.  Monster Jam fans were rewarded for their judging with more big tricks and a three man Train.

 The Calgary Quad Racing team’s dominance of the Edmonton team was wearing hard on the northern city’s captain.  Corey Kirkoff cut the final corner in the tie breaking heat to take the checkered flag.  While the chief track official did not see it, other track officials reported the incident.  Rather than simply accepting a reversal of the decision, Calgary captain Wes Turgeon offered to settle it as it should be done – on the track.  Calgary managed another triumph, winning three straight.

Monster Jam Wheelie Contest

Jurassic Attack 10

Maniac              20

Arachnophobia   20

Grave Digger      24

Team Suzuki     24

El Toro Loco      25

Pastrana 199     25*

            *winner by officials decision

Monster Jam Racing

Round 1

Team Suzuki defeated Maniac

Jurassic Attack defeated Arachnophobia

Pastrana 199 defeated El Toro Loco

Semi Final

Grave Digger defeated Team Suzuki

Pastrana 199 defeated Jurassic Attack

Final

Pastrana 199 defeated Grave Digger

Monster Jam Freestyle

Jurassic Attack  20

Arachnophobia   20

Pastrana 199     22

Maniac              26

Team Suzuki     26

El Toro Loco      26

Grave Digger      30




Sunday:

Four straight Monster Jam Freestyle wins.  Three monster truck rollovers.  Two Monster Jam Racing wins (times two).  One fantastic Monster Jam Freestyle encore.  And thousands of happy Monster Jam fans in Calgary.

Scott Anderson was on a tear from the start.  Arachnophobia took the Crowfoot Ford Monster Jam wheelie title for the second time in the Calgary series, receiving 28 from the Pizza 73 judges. 

But Anderson really wanted a 30 in the PartSource Monster Jam Freestyle.  He powered Arachnophobia to the top of the 14 foot tall Freestyle Motocross landing ramp with a giant wheelie.   At the apex of the wheelie part of the dirt gave way.  Arachnophobia slowly tipped over, like a giant tree falling to a logger’s saw.  Anderson jumped out and pointed to the Monster Jam fans.  “We do this all for you Monster Jam fans”, he shouted as Arachnophobia tallied the second rollover of the weekend.

The finals of Monster Jam Racing were like a story written for the movies.  Kristy Edge, the pretty 22 year old driver, drew number one in the bracket draw and earned a bye into the semi finals.  Then she defeated her mentor, Don Frankish in Maniac to earn her position in the finals. Across the arena floor in the other lane was Cam McQueen, the home town hero in Pastrana 199.  The crowd couldn’t choose between the princess and the prince and left the decision where it belongs - up to the Hot Wheels finish line.  Once the video review of the Monster Jam Racing final was complete, McQueen was king for the second time in a row.

Grave Digger won Monster Jam freestyle.  That story is not surprising with Chad Tingler complete a perfect streak of four wins in a row.  That he did it decisively with a top score of 29 is not the story.  The fact that he hit the cars crooked and bound off the dirt ramp, rolling Grave Digger over during his Freestyle run over is not the story.  It was really the beginning of the end.

As Tingler climbed out of the upside down Grave Digger, there was a frown on his face.  But it was not because of the damage to Grave Digger.  He felt he had short changed the Calgary Monster Jam fans by leaving 5 seconds on the clock.  So once the most famous monster truck in the world was back on its wheels, Tingler climbed back up into Grave Digger and gave the encore of encores.  Flying 30 feet in the air, Tingler crashed Grave Digger nose first into the van stack, coming to a dead stop.  Though he later said he lost his brakes due to the impact, Tingler roared Grave Digger around the course for another high flying series of hits, making up the 5 second deficit with a full 60 second encore. 

It was also a perfect four for four streak for the Calgary team in Quad Racing.  Downing Edmonton in a highly physical series of heats, Calgary managed to keep their record flawless.

Dylan McMorran treated Monster Jam fans to a monstrous Kiss of Death in Freestyle Motocross, pulling a handstand on the handlebars.  Then he turned it around with a Cliffhanger, holding onto the bars with only the toes of his boots.  The other riders had no choice but to provide their own encore with a three man Train.

The biggest winners of the weekend were those thousands of happy Monster Jam fans.  How could it be any better than this?  Just wait until the next time Monster Jam comes to town!!

Monster Jam Wheelie Contest

Jurassic Attack 19
El Toro Loco      21
Team Suzuki     22
Pastrana 199     24
Maniac              25
Grave Digger      25
Arachnophobia   28

Monster Jam Racing

Round 1

Maniac defeated Arachnophobia
Pastrana 199 defeated Grave Digger
Team Suzuki defeated El Toro Loco

Semi Final
Jurassic Attack defeated Maniac
Pastrana 199 defeated Team Suzuki

Final
Pastrana 199 defeated Jurassic Attack

Monster Jam Freestyle

Jurassic Attack  19
Arachnophobia   23
Maniac              23
Team Suzuki     26
Pastrana 199     28
El Toro Loco      28
Grave Digger      29