(Cardiff, Wales)  In this picturesque city of greater than three hundred thousand people, the Monster Jam buzz started more than a month before today's event.  With Dan and Lori Evans touring the area with their awesome Jetix truck, Cardiff natives were well aware that something big was coming to their town very soon.  And although they might have known that the big Monster Jam Trucks were on their way, fans really had no idea just how big the obstacles would be before they were seated inside Millennium Stadium.

Monster Jam Technical Officials Jay Schaan, Brian Braunschweig, Jim Ursini, Jake Smallwood, and Ronnie Vranken spent several days preparing what many experts considered one of the most intimidating Monster Jam courses ever built in Europe.  It was a good thing that the driver lineup was up to the task.  A total of twelve top-shelf Monster Jam machines thundered into Millennium Stadium and they included Swamp Thing (Tony Dixon), Slingshot (Karl Swallow), Monster Mutt (Alex Blackwell), Jurassic Attack (Cam McQueen), War Wizard (Randy Moore), Jetix (Dan Evans), El Toro Loco (Damon Bradshaw), Superman (Chad Fortune), Taz (Adam Anderson), Maximum Destruction (Tom Meents), Grave Digger (Chad Tingler), and Donkey Kong, driven by veteran Frank Kreml.

The day began with the Monster Jam Pit Party at 2:30 P.M.  Welsh fans mingled with the stars of Monster Jam and discussed last year’s event in great detail.  Many fans stopped at the Freestyle Motocross landing ramp and gazed with awe at its incredible size.  Little did they know, however, that this very ramp would be absolutely attacked later in the event by several ambitious Monster Jam drivers.

The first of event of the night brought the ten thousand pound Monster Trucks to the line for Monster Jam Qualifying.  Coming out on top of the field was Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction in a blazingly fast time of 12.98 seconds around the modified Chicago-Style Oval Course.  Taz clocked in at 13.11 for second place, while Jetix was third with a time of 13.61 seconds.  Fourth went to Monster Mutt at 13.88 seconds, and Donkey Kong earned fifth in a time of 14.03 seconds.  Sixth was Superman at 14.62 seconds, while seventh place was secured by El Toro Loco in a time of 14.87 seconds.  Eighth place went to Jurassic Attack with a 14.92 second time, while Grave Digger stopped the ticker at 15 seconds flat.  War Wizard drove to a 15.33 second time, Slingshot had a 15.43 second effort, while the U.K.’s own Swamp Thing rounded it out with 17.02 seconds.

The Autograss and Rally Cars provided some great entertainment on the big oval course.  Both classes are certainly not short of horsepower as the Autograss class makes use of modified motorcycle engines for forward motion while the Rally Cars were powered by 300 horsepower Subaru engines.  Both divisions ate up the oval in a big hurry.

Monster Jam Racing Round One returned moments later with the first pairing.  Maximum Destruction driver Tom Meents made no mistake as he sent Tom Dixon in Swamp Thing to the pits in convincing fashion.  Monster Mutt defeated Grave Digger, while Jetis snuck past War Wizard.  The other Round One races saw Donkey Kong clobber Superman, Taz defeat Slingshot, and El Toro Loco fossilize Jurassic Attack.

Monster Jam Racing Round Two came and ended quickly.  Maximum Destruction stormed past El Toro Loco, Monster Mutt beat Jetix, and Taz took out Superman.

The Monster Jam Racing Semi Final saw Maximum Destruction rise to the top against Jetix, and Monster Mutt take a bite out of Taz.

In the Monster Jam Racing Final, Alex Blackwell in Monster Mutt had a great opportunity to defeat seven time World Champion Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction.  However, while Mutt awaited a sway bar adjustment in the pit area, Tom Meents took advantage of the situation by using the extra time to carefully pack his starting line with Max D's huge sixty-six inch tires.  When Monster Mutt arrived to the line, Meents was locked and loaded.  Seconds later, the lights turned green and Maximum Destruction exploded off the starting line.  Meents held the advantage throughout the course and his win was sealed when Blackwell made a rare mistake, steering his Monster Mutt machine into a turning pole.  Meents fans went wild as Maximum Destruction paraded around Millennium Stadium in a joyous victory lap.

Freestyle Motocross was won by Martin Koren of Prague, Czechoslovakia.  Koren defeated his fellow competitors with an absolutely stunning Super Flip.  If you have ever doubted the bravery of Freestyle Motocross riders, Millennium Stadium was a great place to be tonight to witness just how fearless these quality athletes really can be.  The fans responded to the FMX Train Finale with a thunderous round of applause.

Monster Jam Freestyle Competition was a wild affair which saw some incredible saves by many of the drivers.  Not every driver managed to save their trucks during Freestyle, however.  Grave Digger wheelman Chad Tingler bounced the black and green wrecking machine off an obstacle and found himself on his side.  Fortunately, neither Tingler nor his truck was badly damaged in the incident.  Alex Blackwell in Monster Mutt enjoyed a brilliant run as he earned a 24 point score from the expert panel of Monster Jam judges.  The only driver to equal Blackwell’s performance was Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction.  In fact, Meents’s great effort earned the Paxton, Illinois native an identical score to Blackwell in Monster Mutt.  The judges were then faced with a very important decision.  After a few minutes of deliberation, it was determined that Monster Mutt was the winner.

The competitors finished Monster Jam Freestyle with the following scores:

Swamp Thing: 12

Slingshot: 9

Monster Mutt: 24

Jurassic Attack: 5

War Wizard: 18

Jetix: 20

El Toro Loco: 22

Superman: 21

Taz: 21

Maximum Destruction: 24

Grave Digger: 21

Donkey Kong: 17

There is no doubt that the first show of the 2008 Monster Jam Europe Tour was full of energy and action packed from start to finish.  Quite simply, when you combine top quality drivers and an unbelievably challenging course, there is simply no other motor sports event on the planet that brings fans to its feet like Monster Jam.  Once again, it is mission accomplished for the fearless Monster Jam Europe drivers and their five thousand kilogram trucks.

The fans in Wales could not have left Millennium Stadium any more pleased.  And that is exactly what makes working on the Monster Jam Tour so rewarding!

(Darren Pallen, Monster Jam Announcer)