Friday 7:30 p.m. - A capacity crowd jammed into Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway for the first ever Monster Jam at the Calvert City, KY, dirt track and was treated to a wild freestyle with four of the five Monster Jam machines ending their runs on their roofs! The crowd was on fire all night for the action packed event, with Tony Farrell driving the Built Ford Tough Blue Thunder to the win in the championship race, Pablo Huffaker powering Grave Digger to the freestyle win and Marc McDonald winning the wheelie contest in the Safe Auto Minimizer.

The drama started during introductions when Blue Thunder damaged its suspension, but the crew of Dennis Foltz and Chris Fryman thrashed at a fever pitch and the big Ford missed only the wheelie contest, Farrell's truck was back on the track for the first round of racing. After McDonald won the wheelie contest impressively to earn a first round bye in racing it was Blue Thunder grabbing the opening race win over Aaron Basl in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle on a long, challenging oval course, named a "steeplchase" track by Monster Jam officials due to the unique tractor tire jump placed in the apex of the turns at both ends of the track. Farrell then drove Blue Thunder into the Championship Race by edging Grave Digger in a photo finish semifinal race. Joining Farrell in the finale was McDonald who powered Safe Auto Minimizer past the Turtle in the other semi. The Championship Race was close until the final turn when Blue Thunder opened up a lead and sailed across the finish line for the victory.

Then it was time for what turned out to be maybe the wildest freestyle competition of this year's Advance Auto Parts Summer Heat series. Farrell got the craziness started when, in the middle of a crowd pleasing run, the Blue Thunder machine kicked wildly onto its left side landing after a big jump. Farrell saved the Ford but then the truck tried to flip over on the right side. Again Farrell pulled the truck out and appeared to have made a spectacular save, only to have Blue Thunder roll back over onto the drivers side, this time going all the way over onto the roof. Next out Basl had the crowd loving his run in the Turtle, but with the clock winding down he powered into a set of donuts and hooked an edge, the truck flipping over as well. McDonald's Safe Auto Minimizer freestyle was destined to take the lead after he put on a clinic in saves, with three huge saves keeping the truck flying high but upright. McDonald could not make a fourth big save though, and as his time expired McDonald came off of one of his biggest leaps and this time the Safe Auto Minimizer to was on its lid.

Safe Auto Minimizer's 25 point score was in the lead when Huffaker roared onto the track in Grave Digger and put on another big air assault and showed the fans something no one else had done, an incredible slap wheelie that he rode virtually the entire length of the track. Huffaker filled the clock impressively and earned the win with a score of 27 but did not stop when his :90 seconds was up, continuing on to thrill the fans with bonus Grave Digger freestyle action that wrapped up the flip-fest when the Digger, too, ended up flipping onto its roof.

As a huge autograph line wrapped all the way around the speedway concourse after the event all five pit crews were already thrashing to get the five machines ready for a standing room crowd that will be on hand for Saturday night's weekend finale.

RACING RESULTS

1st round - Blue Thunder def Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle; Grave Digger def Blue Grass Stomper; Safe Auto Minimizer bye run (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle advanced as fastest 1st round loser)

Semifinals - Blue Thunder def Grave Digger; Safe Auto Minimizer def Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

CHAMPIONSHIP RACE - BLUE THUNDER DEFEATED SAFE AUTO MINIMIZER

FREESTYLE RESULTS

GRAVE DIGGER  27

Safe Auto Minimizer  25

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle  20

Blue Thunder  16

Blue Grass Stomper  7

WHEELIE RESULTS

SAFE AUTO MINIMIZER  16

Grave Digger  13

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle  11

Blue Grass Stomper   6

Saturday 7:30 p.m. - Aaron Basl drove the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle to victory over Pablo Huffaker and Grave Digger in the Championship Race before Huffaker came back with a vengeance to take the freestyle win in front of an excited, standing room only crowd Saturday night at Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway.

The second huge night in Calvert City, KY, started with Marc McDonald winning the wheelie contest in the Safe Auto Minimizer for the second straight time. In racing Grave Digger came through the top half of the bracket, eliminating Tony Farrell and Blue Thunder in the semifinals. Blue Thunder had beaten Basl's Turtle in round one but Aaron received the fast loser berth into the semifinals and took advantage with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle eliminating Safe Auto Minimizer to set up a showdown with Grave Digger in the Championship Race. The final race was a wild one on the long track, with both trucks struggling to hit the race obstacles squarely. Basl picked up a five second penalty for missing an obstacle, but Huffaker missed two obstacles and the 10 seconds of penalties cost Grave Digger the win with the victory going to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

In the freestyle competition on this night all of the trucks stayed off of their roofs after four of them flipped Friday night ending their runs early. This time each superstar filled the :90 clock with huge air runs, Grave Digger again nailing a great slap wheelie to highlight a run featuring some of the weekend's biggest air which was enough for Grave Digger to eek out a one point victory over McDonald in the Safe Auto Minimizer as the adoring fans stood throughout, never sitting for any of the freestyle runs and the drivers responded to the adoration with a series of performances that saw each truck deliver a stellar performance to highlight an incredibly successful Monster Jam Summer Heat debut at the western Kentucky dirt track.

RACING RESULTS

1st round - Blue Thunder def Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle; Grave Digger def Blue Grass Stomper; Safe Auto Minimizer bye run (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle advanced to semifinals as fast loser)

Semifinals - Grave Digger def Blue Thunder; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle def Safe Auto Minimizer

CHAMPIONSHIP RACE - TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLE DEFEATED GRAVE DIGGER

FREESTYLE RESULTS

GRAVE DIGGER  27

Safe Auto Minimizer  26

Blue Thunder  23

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle  14

WHEELIE RESULTS

SAFE AUTO MINIMIZER  23

Grave Digger  20

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle  13

Blue Thunder  12

Blue Grass Stomper  4