Saturday 7:00 p.m. - The first ever Advance Auto Parts stadium show in Philadelphia not only lived up to the hype it surpassed it as Dennis Anderson drove Grave Digger to the racing victory and Tom Meents powered Maximum Destruction to the freestyle victory at Lincoln Financial Field. 

With the Philly crowd roaring their approval of the World Finals caliber line-up right from the start a close round of qualifying set the tone with Anderson’s Grave Digger edging Meents and Max-D for the top seed by .29 of a second. Anderson then backed up the fast time on the Chicago style oval as he continued to get faster and mowed through the top half of the racing bracket to earn a berth in the Championship Race. Meents was unable to make it a rematch of their World Championship racing battle in Las Vegas when Linsey Weenk drove Blue Thunder to the semifinal win over Maximum Destruction. A few years ago Weenk just seemed to have Anderson’s number as the native Canadian racked up several wins over the icon, but Anderson has turned that around in the last couple of years and did it again in Philadelphia, Grave Digger taking the racing trophy with a one truck length win over Blue Thunder. 

In between the presentation of the hardware to Anderson and the start of freestyle Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro kicker David Akers, defensive back Quintin Demps and linebacker Joe Mays presented special Eagles #1 jerseys to Anderson and Meents, then the sensational start to finish freestyle on the biggest obstacle ever at a Philadelphia Monster Jam got underway with Pennsylvania native Jeremy Slifko rocking the house, setting the bar high and the popular Backdraft actually spent more time in the leader’s hot seat than any other driver on this Philly night. As the big performances continued it was 2004 World Champion Lupe Soza who took the lead away, complementing some huge leaps with a pair of phenomenal saves, then in bonus time he actually barrel rolled his Advance Auto Parts Grinder, landed all his wheels, and continued to throw down big moves even after the bonus time was over. The extra five bonus points pushed the Grinder into the lead, but his 29 point score was matched by a ragged edge Taz freestyle as Adam Anderson showed the excited Philly fans how he became the youngest World Champion in Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam history. The tie would have been broken by a separate tie-breaking judge, but Meents made it a moot point, bringing the tens of thousands in the rocking crowd to their feet, filling the regulation clock with massive air, and then wowing the bonus time with a huge rollover with only 10 seconds left in bonus, those 3 extra points making the different as Tom needed every point for Max-D to take a one point victory as the first freestyle winner at Lincoln Financial Field to begin a new Philadelphia Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam tradition.  

RACING RESULTS 

Fast qualifier - Grave Digger 19.15 

1^st Round - Grave Digger def Air Force Afterburner; Avenger def Taz; Monster Mutt def Advance Auto Parts Grinder; Blue Thunder def Superman; Backdraft def Brutus; Maximum Destruction def Spiderman

2^nd Round - Grave Digger def Avenger; Blue Thunder def Monster Mutt; Maximum Destruction def Backdraft (Backdraft advance to semifinals as fastest second round loser)

Semifinals - Grave Digger def Backdraft; Blue Thunder def Maximum Destruction

CHAMPIONSHIP RACE - GRAVE DIGGER DEFEATED BLUE THUNDER

FREESTYLE RESULTS 

MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION  30 (27 + 3 bonus points)

Advance Auto Parts Grinder  29 (24 + 5)

Taz   29 (26 + 3)

Backdraft  25 (22 + 3)

Grave Digger  25

Monster Mutt  23

Air Force Afterburner  23

Superman  21 (19 + 2)

Blue Thunder  20 (19 + 1)

Brutus  19

Spiderman  14

Avenger  9