By: Greg Whitacre

Friday 7:30

     The road to Las Vegas started here and all over the United States as the season opened here in Columbus Ohio to an Awesome Monster Jam crowd. The stage was set for some great action as the field was set with five out of the six trucks that have already been to the World finals at least once. The night started with the wheelie contest as Safe Auto took the win with an awesome walk across the cars. Cam McQueen also wowed the crowd with a huge puroiet as his truck leaped through the air.

    Racing also some some wow moments as Mopar Magic and Pastrana 199 showed their muscle early by making it through the field of trucks to the 1-800 Safe Auto racing finals. Cam Mcqueen said after he won the finals race, when you can come out at the opening of a new season and beat some of the best trucks in the world it makes you think your going to have a great year. There was some help in the win as Safe Auto was broke with a bad drive shaft and Grave Digger had starting problems.

     Freestyle had some highlights and also some bad fortunes for team Grave Digger. Again the truck that was completely taken apart in the off season still had some bugs to work out. Grave Digger was only able to fill 30 seconds of the clock for a score of 23 that earned only second place. Safe Auto was the big winner was some huge air that gave him the win with a 25. Other highlights was an awesome save by Pastrana 199 and a awesome power wheelie by Mopar Magic.

     The monster jam fans also got to see Mini Quad racing and the awesome and fast action of the Tuffy Auto service centers Quad War Challenge that saw team Ohio take out team Texas with a 2 to 1 win.

     Racing Round one:                                       Semi finals

Mopar Magic a bye (Grave Digger broke)         Mopar Magic def Monster Mut

Pastrana 199 bye (Safe Auto broke)               Pastrana 199 def fast looser Stone Crusher

Monster Mut def. Stone Crusher

                       Finals: Pastrana 199 def Mopar Magic

Freestyle

Mopar Magic 20, Monster Mutt 14, Pastrana 199 21, Stone Crusher 21, Safe Auto 25(winner), and Grave Digger 23.

Saturday 2:00

     The second show of the year was all Safe Auto Minimiser and Mark Mcdonlad. The 3 time World finals competitor and 2006 rookie of the year took all three afternoon competitions. The second show also started with some wild rollovers from the fist two trucks that went in the wheelie contest and the show just started.

      The whellie competition saw Mopar Magic and Pastrana 199 roll over backwards on thier wheelies scoring Mopar a19 and Pastrana a 20. Stone crusher kept it upright and took the lead with a 23 as Monster Mut fell short with a 21. Safe Auto took the win with a score of 26 and Grave Digger finished the contest with a 22.

      Racing saw a new winner as Safe Auto outlasted the competition with a finals victorie over Grave Digger. Safe Auto made to the finals by defeating Pastrana 199 in round one and Stone Crusher in the semi finals. Grave Digger made it there with wins over Mopar Magic and fastlooser Pastrana 199.

      Freestyle was last and Mopar Magic raised the bar early with a score of 20 followed by Monster Mut with an 18. Cam Mqueen was looking for the taste of victorie and had some great air to take the lead with a 22. That score would not hold as Stone crusher also skied it over the van stack to fly him into the lead with a 24. But the highest score came in for the week thus far and Safe Auto  took the win with a high throtle freestyle and a score of 27. Gary Porter and Grave Digger had more problems as he didn't finish his freestyle run because of the front drive shaft breaking loose when he attempted a doughnut. The problems are still looming over Grave Digger in Columbus.

      Quad wars winners were team Texas 2 to 1 over Team Ohio with another win in the captains challenge.

Saturday 7:30

      Finally Grave Digger got a win for the start of the 2009 Monster Jam season. It was a tough battle for the Black and Green Wrecking machine but Gary Porter along with the help of long time monster truck driver Dan Patrick they worked out the bugs and took the win in the last competition of the weekend FREESTYLE.

      It looked to be another night for Safe Auto but that was stoped quick by an awesome win in the wheelie contest by Pastrana 199 and his second win of 2009. Cam McQueen sky wheelied it to the victory with a score of 25. Stone crusher followed with a 24 and Mopar Magic took a 23 for third. Grave Diogger was next with a 22 and Monster Mut with a 21 followed up by Safe Auto with a 20.

      Racing was very close with some of the highest horse power trucks in Monster Jam here in competition. Mopar Magic took the huge finals victory even after his roll over just 4 1/2 hours prior to this win. Mopar defeated Safe Auto in the finals and made there with wins over Pastrana and Safe Auto in round one. Safe Auto was the luckey truck by getting the fast looser spot and taking out another chance for Grave Digger by beating him in the semi finals after his loss in round one. In other action Pastrana 199 won his first round race over a very strong Monster Mut.

      Freestyle was awesome as Mopar continued his carnage by destroying his truck on a hard side hit off the van stack. The tire blew out the front spindle broke loose and the front shocks and sway are bent like tin, but Rickey only set the bar high with a 21. Monster Mut was next and seemed to have the crowd on his side but finished with a tie. Pastrana was looking for his third victory and took the lead with a 23. This score was still not high enough as Stone Crusher step up to the plate and nailed a solid freestyle for a 26. Safe Auto better it by one and scored a 27. Grave Digger knew he could not go away from Columbus with out a win so he hammerd the throtle spu the only doughnut on the tacky dirt and rolled it over just after the 60 seconds and scored a 28 for the win.

      Colubus was also treated to the Cannon lady and Radical Rob. Team Ohio took the final battle of the night to rein supreme as the quad Wars champion.