Weekend Race Recap
by Scott Douglass
Friday 7:30 p.m. - Gary Porter opened a three event weekend in Connecticut by driving Grave Digger to a sweep of all three competitions in front of a large, raucous crowd Friday night in Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard.
The night began with the Built Ford Tough Wheelie Contest, where Andy Slifko nailed a pair of beauties in Eradicator to grab the lead with a score of 27 from the three Monster Jam fans serving as judges, and he held the top spot when Porter came onto the floor as the final driver in the contest. Porter's huge sky wheelies equaled Slifko's in terms of positioning, with the judges giving Grave Digger a score one point higher since Porter got a little more distance, Grave Digger's score of 28 winning the weekend's first battle.
Then it was on to racing where Porter drove Digger to wins over Eradicator and Kyle Chandler in Dominator to earn a spot in the Advance Auto Parts Championship Race. Waiting for Porter in the finale was Rick Raab, who powered American Guardian to victories over Whit Tarlton's Monster Mutt and Eradicator to set up the championship showdown. The final race was a photo finish on the straight line course, Porter seeking out the narrow triumph for his second win of the night.
The final contest of the night was of course the UTI Freestyle Competition, where home state favorite Pat Summa from Danbury, CT, took the early lead, but it was Raab's high flying exploits that had American Guardian in the top position, according to the judges, with only one driver left to go. That driver, however, was Porter, who flew Grave Digger all over the arena, matching Raab's huge air to complement several blistering sets of Digger Donuts and Porter earned a score of 10 from all three judges to post the weekend's first 30 and a clean sweep of the Friday night competition for Team Grave Digger.
RACING RESULTS
1st round - American Guardian def Monster Mutt; Dominator def Thrasher; Grave Digger def Eradicator (Eradicator advanced to semifinals as fastest loser)
Semifinals - American Guardian def Eradicator; Grave Digger def Dominator
CHMAPIONSHIP RACE - GRAVE DIGGER DEFEATED AMERICAN GUARDIAN
FREESTYLE RESULTS
GRAVE DIGGER 30
American Guardian 25
Thrasher 22
Monster Mutt 21
Dominator 17
Eradicator 16
WHEELIE RESULTS
GRAVE DIGGER 28
Eradicator 17
Dominator 23
Monster Mutt 23
American Guardian 21
Thrasher 17
Saturday 7:30 p.m. - After watching Grave Digger sweep the opening night of competition at Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard on Friday Andy Slifko in Eradicator and Rick Raab in American Guardian fought back to claim wins Saturday night, but Gary Porter again closed the competition with a Grave Digger freeestyle victory in front of Saturday night's sold-out house in the Connecticut venue.
Slifko started Saturday's action by snapping Porter's win streak with a pair of huge sky wheelies that grabbed Eradicator a clear cut wheelie contest victory in the scoring of the trio of Connecticut fans serving as judges. Next up was racing and after the early round dust settled it was a rematch of Friday night's Championship Race pitting Grave Digger against American Guardian in Saturday's finals. This time, though, it was Raab getting revenge for his loss in Friday's finale, edging Grave Digger in a finish so close that Monster Jam officials had to closely check the finish line camera to make sure it was American Guardian's win.
The final battle of the night came in the freestyle competition with Porter clearly ready to get back into the win column, but it would not be easy. This time it was Whit Tarlton who pushed Porter, announcing his presence in a huge way when his opening leap over the van stack in Monster Mutt drew the night's biggest air, and Tarlton filled the rest of the clock with a crowd pleasing performance to take the lead. Porter proved to be up to the challenge, again combining massive air with several sets of Digger Donuts to eek out a one point with over the Mutt for Grave Digger's second straight freestyle win.
RACING RESULTS
1st round - Grave Digger def Thrasher; Dominator def Eradicator; American Guardian def Monster Mutt (Monster Mutt advanced to semifinals as fastest loser)
Semifinals - Grave Digger def Monster Mutt; American Guardian def Dominator
CHAMPIONSHIP RACE - AMERICAN GUARDIAN DEFEATED GRAVE DIGGER
FREESTYLE RESULTS
GRAVE DIGGER 28
Monster Mutt 27
Eradicator 24
Thrasher 23
Dominator 20
WHEELIE RESULTS
ERADICATOR 26
Thrasher 24
American Guardian 23
Grave Digger 23
Monster Mutt 22
Dominator 20
Sunday 2:00 p.m. -
The weekend finale in Bridgeport proved to be an event where crews thrashing was a major storyline, with another sold out, capacity crowd loving the performances on the track and the hard work behind the scenes as Andy Slifko drove Eradicator to the racing win, and Gary Porter grabbed wins for Grave Digger in freestyle and in the wheelie contest Sunday afternoon.
Saturday night's Championship Race was won by Rick Raab in American Guardian, but that proved to be the last run of the weekend for the stars and stripes themed truck. Raab's piece blew an engine on the winning run, a rod shooting through the motor, ending that machine's chances for the weekend. But rather than just pack up and go home Raab and team owner Dan Galvis spent all night getting the team's other piece, Anger Management, up to Bridgeport, then working diligently until show time to fix several parts of that machine so driver Aaron Cromer would be able to compete at 100% in the Sunday afternoon matinee. Anger Management was clearly at full strength as the final event in the three show weekend in Bridgeport, CT, got underway.
The three fans serving as judges scored the wheelie contest a tie between Connecticut hero Pat Summa in Thrasher and Porter's Grave Digger, with Digger getting the call in the tie breaker score. The bigger story, though, was Grave Digger's flat tire, caused when Porter's hard landing off the wheelie snapped the huge tire off the bead. So now it was team Grave Digger's turn to get work. They did get the black and green wrecking machine back on the track for freestyle, but not in time to make the call for the race bracket.
The first round of racing saw Cromer's Anger Management edge out Slifko's Eradicator, but Andy still moved into the semifinals as the fastest round one loser, earning a rematch with Anger Management. Veteran Slifko took full advantage of the reprieve, pulling out a close win over Cromer to put Eradicator into the Championship Race opposite Whit Tarlton and Monster Mutt. In one of the closest races of the weekend Eradicator took the photo finish triumph over Monster Mutt.
Mutt then went on to turn in a phenomenal freestyle, Tarlton's run highlighted by the two biggest leaps of the weekend over the van stack in the center of the floor. Mutt had the lead when the crowd came to its feet screaming as Grave Digger drove back in from the pits, the left front tire fixed, and Porter burned up the Connecticut floor with another ragged edge performance that earned Grave Digger its third straight freestyle victory of the weekend.
RACING RESULTS
1st round - Anger Management def Eradicator; Monster Mutt def Dominator; Thrasher bye run due to Grave Digger's flat tire (Eradicator advanced to semifinals as fastest loser of round one)
Semifinal - Eradicator def Anger Management; Monster Mutt def Thrasher
CHAMPIONSHIP RACE - ERADICATOR DEFEATED MONSTER MUTT
FREESTYLE RESULTS
GRAVE DIGGER 29
Monster Mutt 27
Eradicator 26
Anger Management 25
Dominator 23
WHEELIE RESULTS
GRAVE DIGGER 27 (won tie breaker)
THRASHER 27
Monster Mutt 26
Eradicator 25
Dominator 23
Anger Management 23
