Weekend Race Recap
Saturday
- Pablo Huffaker started the New Year off in Montgomery, AL, with a
dominating performance, powering Grave Digger to the victory in all
four Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam competitions Saturday night in the
Garrett Coliseum.
With
the near capacity crowd buzzing with excitement over the return of Team
Grave Digger to Montgomery for the first time in three years Huffaker
delivered for his fans by sweeping everything against a deep, talented
line-up that was one of the best fields ever assembled for the
Montgomery event. Despite being pushed throughout the night Pablo
answered each challenge to start 2010 off with four wins.
Up
first in the non-dirt event was the wheelie contest where Grave Digger
was a no doubt winner when Huffaker hit a pair of sensational sky
wheelies to start the night off triumphantly. Then he was even better
in racing where Grave Digger blasted through the bracket, winning each
race by more than a truck length including the Championship Race where
he topped Bruce Haney and Bad News Travels Fast.
In
the donut contest it was again Haney setting the bar for Huffaker to
jump over with his patented set of donuts that included him removing
the steering wheel from Bad News and holding it out the drivers window
as the truck continued to spin. But again Pablo answered with a
dizzying round of cyclones, spinning Grave Digger around for some 23
complete revolutions and again Digger was a no doubt winner.
Finally,
on to freestyle and it was obvious this was a Grave Digger night,
Huffaker roaring all over the spacious floor with the night's biggest
air, a ragged edge freestyle that capped off the clean sweep for Pablo
Huffaker and Grave Digger.
RACING RESULTS
1st
Round - War Wizard bye run due to Excaliber not starting; Grave Digger
def Bad News Travels Fast; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle def Shock
Therapy (Bad News advanced to semifinals as fastest 1st round loser)
Semifinals - Bad News Travels Fast def War Wizard; Grave Digger def Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle
CHAMPIONSHIP RACE - GRAVE DIGGER DEFEATED BAD NEWS TRAVELS FAST
FREESTYLE RESULTS
GRAVE DIGGER 25
Excaliber 22
Bad News Travels Fast 17
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle 16
Shock Therapy 7 (broken transmission)
War Wizard 3 (blown motor)
WHEELIE CONTEST RESULTS
GRAVE DIGGER 28
Excaliber 23
Shock Therapy 23
War Wizard 21
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle 17
Bad News Travels Fast 15
DONUT CONTEST RESULTS
GRAVE DIGGER 29
Bad News Travels Fast 26
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle 22
Shock Therapy 22
Excaliber 21
War Wizard 19
Sunday
- Starting a year that he hopes will culminate with another Advance
Auto Parts Monster Jam World Championship by building a string of
victories, a focused Pablo Huffaker drove Grave Digger to another sweep
of all four disciplines to complete an undefeated weekend at the
Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery, AL, Sunday afternoon.
Feeling
strong with a brand new engine that his team put in the black and green
machine for the start of the new season, Huffaker was given a run for
his money right off the bat by Carl Van Horn in Excaliber who took his
new ride with the retro paint scheme though a couple of huge sky
wheelies, but Huffaker was able to just out do Van Horn in the eyes of
the judges for a two point Grave Digger win.
No
one pushed Grave Digger in racing. Huffaker was on a rail round after
round all weekend, the new power plant running sweet and Pablo using
his more than two decades of experience to handle the slick turns
better than anyone else, Grave Digger dominating the Championship Race
with Excaliber finishing in the runner-up spot.
To
no one's surprise Bruce Haney in Bad News Travels Fast again made
Huffaker work for the donut contest win, but again Pablo was able to
stay in the revolutions so much longer than anyone else (17 this time)
that Grave Digger racked up another win.
It
looked like the winning streak might come to an end in freestyle when
Jon Zimmer ripped off his best run of the weekend. Zimmer hit the best
slap wheelie of the weekend in Shock Therapy with some nice air to
boot, but Huffaker saw what he had to do and flew Grave Digger all
over Montgomery, hitting the biggest air seen all weekend on his final
leap to score a one point victory and complete the weekend sweep.
RACING RESULTS
1st Round - Bad News Travels Fast def Shock Therapy; Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtle def Excaliber; Grave Digger bye run (Excaliber advanced to semifinals as fastest
1st round loser)
Semifinals - Excaliber def Bad News Travels Fast; Grave Digger def Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle
CHAMPIONSHIP RACE - GRAVE DIGGER DEFEATED EXCALIBER
FREESTYLE RESULTS
GRAVE DIGGER 25
Shock Therapy 24
Bad News Travels Fast 21
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle 20
WHEELIE CONTEST RESULTSGRAVE DIGGER 26
Excaliber 24
Shock Therapy 23
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle 19
Bad News Travels Fast 16
DONUT CONTEST RESULTS
GRAVE DIGGER 28
Bad News Travels Fast 25
Shock Therapy 24
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle 20