Friday Night:
The fans of the Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam Thunder Nationals were treated to a pretty good show tonight. As the race card included Monster Trucks, XSBA, Quad Wars , Scooter the Clown and Roller derby….Yes ROLLER DERBY!!!
In XSBA, once the riders found the traction that they needed, it was a good show. And a surprise for all of us was the Roller Girls from the ROCKFORD RAGE…they were fun and interacted with the crowd via Scooter the Clown. Not only were they funny, but these girls were also athletes. They were for sure going at it during their run exhibition. They were very popular with the crowd.
Quad Wars was all about Team Illinois' kicking Team California to the curb…As much as the team from California was talking smack, it was the Team from Illinois' who ruled the roost.
In Monster Jam racing it was a mixed bag…starting out with the monster jam drag race. Raminator got the bye and went up against Full Boar in the first round. Ed Eckert in Full Boar was an upset winner over Raminator which led him to the semi-final round against Mechanical Mischief. Unfortunately for Ed, a broken knuckle on the right front after his semifinal win set him on the sidelines, putting Mechanical Mischief in the final. On the other side of the bracket, Bruce Haney and Bad News Travels Fast took advantage of the opportunity of returning as fast loser from Round One to advance into the UTI Monster Jam Racing Final with a semifinal round win. In the finals, Haney's solid holeshot off the Advance Auto Parts starting line led to a victorious crossing of the Ford Trucks Finish Line, giving Bad News a hard fought win.
In the donut competition, Mechanical Mischief had a hard time getting going and could only manage a 12. Ramunition was next and despite his efforts, mustered only an 18. Then came Raminator…he scored a 23 point run and looked to be the truck to beat until Bad News came into town. He scored an amazing 26. Bruce Haney really proved that he's the world's fastest paper boy, and helped pave his way to a possible berth at the Advance Auto Parts NGK Spark Plugs Monster Jam World Finals 11 in Las Vegas in March.
In the Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam Freestyle competition, Mechanical Mischief scored a 16 to lead off. Ramunition showed up and gave it all he could to score a 19. Then came Bad News who ran a strong 20. But then came the Raminator and Mark Hall was out to prove a point and point is the key word because with his 23 he won the event and thus became the freestyle champion in front of a great Friday night crowd. With the cold weather outside, Saturday's 2 shows will make sure that Rockford will be hot tomorrow.
Saturday Afternoon:
The Saturday afternoon show greeted the fans with a snow flurry on the outside and a volcano of horsepower from inside of the Metrocentre. This show however had a much different outcome than the Friday night show.
As we got into the wheelie contest, it was clear that Mark Hall had done his homework and fixed his truck and won the wheelie contest with a score of 24, beating Full Boar who scored 20 points.
In the UTI Monster Jam Racing, by winning the wheelie contest, Raminator won the by and the rounds were won by Ramunition and Full Boar. This set the semi-final winners Raminator and Ramunition. So the final was an All Hall Brothers Racing Team event. And the results were pretty dramatic. Ramunition who was clearly the underdog, beat the boss Mark Hall in Raminator to take the win.
In Quad Wars, it was team California talking a lot of smack and Team Illinios having none of it and winning 1 heat, the main event. The grudge was initiated by the losing team captain of California. After an argument, a grudge match was held for pink slips on the racing machines. California got spanked as Illinois took the win.
In the Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam Donut Competition, Full Boar again put in a great run and scored a 23 which looked to be the score to beat until Bruce Haney came up in Bad News Travels Fast and scored the only perfect 10 score of the weekend to that point. He won with a total of 28 points.
In XJSBA, the crowd was treated to a show of wheelies, stoppies and all kinds of wild antics and the crowd seemed to enjoy them a lot.
Monster Jam Freestyle…it was on! Like Donkey Kong! All 5 trucks were screaming ready with fire-breathing engines. At a fever pitch, drivers cut lose and tore the place apart and again it was Ramunition and Raminator, 2 team members battling out to see who's going to win. But this time, the boss was on the gas and Mark Hall took Raminator to a score of 25 and the freestyle win. Overall, it was a great show and 1 more to go.
Saturday Night:
The fans in the Metro Centre were treated to another incredible Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam Thunder Nationals and with temperatures below freezing outside, they were anything but freezing inside.
The wheelie competition saw 3 drivers score within the mid-20s with Full Boar winning with a 25 point score over Raminator and Mechanical Mischief each scoring a 24.
In UTI Monster Jam Racing, Full Boar by virtue of winning the wheelie contest, got a pass to the semi-final round. Joining him in the semi-finals were Raminator and Bad News travels fast. In the semi-final round, Full Boar defeated Mechanical Mischief and Raminator beat Bad News which set the final up for Full Boar against Raminator…young versus old. And after a photo-finish, it was determined that Raminator took the win.
In Quad Wars action, it was all Team Illinois as they spanked the team from California so bad that the team captain for California lost $2000 and his quad that he put up as collateral for a grudge race. After the main event, Illinois came away with the win and a clean sweep for the weekend in Quad Wars.
The donut competition saw 4 of our 5 trucks score in the mid-20s and two in the high-20s. Bruce Haney in Bad News Travels Fast was our winner with a score of 29.
XJSBA put on a fantastic show and really worked hard to make their bikes work on the very slick Metro Centre floor.
In the free-style competition, 4 trucks competed and Full Boar sat out due to a broken part. 3 of the 4 trucks scored over 20 points and Raminator turned in a 29 point performance to win the free-style competition.
One thing is for sure, the fans of Rockford, IL know their Monster Trucks and are passionate about them. This announcer cannot wait to come back because what he learned this weekend was this is the heart and soul of the nation's love for Monster Jam. I had a blast!
Larry Naston, Monster Jam Announcer