Louisville, KY - Freedom Hall

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Trucks: USHRA Monster Trucks including Grave Digger® driven by Pablo Huffaker, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™ driven by Aaron Basl, Blue Thunder® driven by Frank Krmel, Superman™ driven by Chad Fortune, Stone Crusher® driven by Steve Sims, Mopar Magic® driven by Morgan Kane, Eradicator® driven by Andy Slifko, and Backdraft driven by Jeremy Slifko!


Friday Night

Truck line-up: Grave Digger® (Pablo Huffaker), Blue Thunder® (Frank Krmel), Superman™ (Chad Fortune), Stone Crusher® (Steve Sims), Backdraft (Jeremy Slifko), Eradicator® (Andy Slifko), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™ (Aaron Basl), Mopar Magic® (Morgan Kane)

Friday 7:30 p.m. - More than two decades ago Chad Fortune was a four year starter at tight end for the University of Louisville football team. Now an Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam® superstar, Fortune enjoyed a smashing success of a return to “The Ville”, winning the wheelie and donut competitions while Pablo Huffaker powered Grave Digger® to the racing and freestyle victories in tradition rich Freedom Hall at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center in Louisville.

After spending part of the day giving some of the other drivers a tour of the old Cardinal Stadium field where he caught passes for Howard Schnellenberger’s football squads in the 1980’s Fortune roared into Freedom Hall pumped up and it showed right off the bat in the wheelie competition. Fortune flew Superman™ straight up, high into the air and the truck began to over rotate, looking like he would flip onto his roof. The cape of the big Ford that stretched over the bed actually caught the cars on landing though, sending the truck forward onto its wheels even though most of the cape was shredded to the delight of the crowd.

In the racing bracket Fortune was looking good there too, but ran into Huffaker in the semifinals and Grave Digger® beat Superman™ in the closest race of the night on the oval track, the margin of victory less than the length of a wheel. In the Championship Race, Huffaker drove Grave Digger® to the triumph over runner-up Frank Krmel in Blue Thunder®.

One of the biggest cheers of the night came in the donut competition, and it was for the mechanics who once again did wonders in the pits. After Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™ broke in the first round of racing Aaron Basl and his team, with help from other crews, changed transmissions and had Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™ back on the track for the donuts. The competition was won by Fortune though, whose amazing cyclones took the second win of the night for Superman™.

Not to be outdone, Huffaker claimed his second victory of the night with a high flying, ragged edge freestyle that edged Blue Thunder® again for the Grave Digger® triumph in the first of two nights of action in historic Freedom Hall, a venue that has hosted Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam® events dating back more than 20 years.

RACING RESULTS:

1st round - Superman™ defeated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™; Grave Digger® defeated Backdraft; Blue Thunder® defeated Stone Crusher®; Eradicator® defeated Mopar Magic®
Semifinals - Grave Digger® defeated Superman™; Blue Thunder® defeated Eradicator® 

CHAMPIONSHIP RACE - GRAVE DIGGER® DEFEATED BLUE THUNDER® 

FREESTYLE RESULTS:

Grave Digger® 25
Blue Thunder® 23
Stone Crusher® 21
Backdraft 21
Superman™ 20
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™ 19
Eradicator® 18
Mopar Magic® 17

WHEELIE COMPETITION:

Superman™ 27
Grave Digger® 23
Stone Crusher® 22
Eradicator® 20
Mopar Magic® 19
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™ 18
Backdraft 18
Blue Thunder® 18

DONUT COMPETITION:

Superman™ 27
Stone Crusher® 25
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle™ 23
Eradicator® 21
Backdraft 19
Blue Thunder® 14
Mopar Magic® 13
Grave Digger® 10

Saturday night

Saturday 7:30 p.m. - With a star-studded eight truck line-up full of World Finals veterans and young rising stars in Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam®
it came as no surprise that four different drivers were winners of the four different competitions Saturday night at Freedom Hall in Louisville.

An amazing night of wild action got off to a quick start when Andy Slifko nailed a huge sky wheelie in his Eradicator® truck, the Pennsylvanian’s machine soaring skyward, landing on the tailgate, then after a pirouette in that 90 degree position the Eradicator® crashed through the huge Taco Bell XXL Chalupa sign in the middle of the floor and landed on its roof, bringing the crowd to its feet for the first of many times on this night of carnage. Not to be outdone, former University of Louisville football star Chad Fortune hit an amazing big air wheelie for the second straight night, he too landing Superman™ on its roof and again Fortune and Superman™ grabbed the first win of the evening.

In racing Pablo Huffaker in Grave Digger® was once again the man. Grave Digger® dominated the race bracket, and after eliminating the Louisville favorite Fortune in the semifinals Huffaker squared off against Steve Sims and Stone Crusher® in the Championship Race after Sims eliminated Huffaker’s teammate Aaron Basl and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™ in the other semi. Pablo was just on his game in racing all weekend and again Grave Digger® claimed the racing triumph with the win over Stone Crusher® in the finale.

Next up an incredible donut competition saw both Fortune in Superman™ and Frank Krmel in Blue Thunder® both lay down wild, double-digit revolution cyclones that were hard to separate, so much so that the three judge panel scored the competition a tie between the two popular Fords. So the decision went to the tie-breaking judge who gave the extra point and the win in that discipline to Blue Thunder®.

The final competition of this incredible weekend in one of the birthplaces of Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam® was of course freestyle, with Huffaker looking for his second straight arena “Double Down”. Grave Digger® was awesome but came up a little short in the scoring. Fortune went for it as well, his high flying run in Superman™ almost ending with the save of the weekend, Superman™ rim-riding on two wheels and just when it appeared that Fortune might be able to save the truck over Superman™ went, flipping for the second time of the night. Superman’s score of 25, though, fell one point short of the win as this freestyle belonged to 20-year old Jeremy Slifko. The Pennsylvania phenom showed the roaring Louisville fans why he has proven to be one of the fastest rising stars in the sport with a high energy, ragged edge, big air performance, Backdraft’s freestyle win making Slifko the fourth driver to claim a Saturday night victory in “The Ville”.

RACING RESULTS:

1st round - Superman™ defeated Backdraft; Grave Digger® defeated Mopar Magic®
; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™ defeated Eradicator®; Stone Crusher® defeated Blue Thunder®

Semifinals - Grave Digger® defeated Superman™; Stone Crusher® defeated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™

CHAMPIONSHIP RACE - GRAVE DIGGER® DEFEATED STONE CRUSHER®

FREESTYLE RESULTS:

Backdraft 26
Superman™ 25
Blue Thunder®  25
Grave Digger®  23
Stone Crusher®  19
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™ 17
Mopar Magic®  13

WHEELIE COMPETITION

Superman™ 26
Eradicator®  25
Grave Digger®  24
Mopar Magic®  20
Stone Crusher®  19
Blue Thunder®  18
Backdraft 15
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle™ 12

DONUT COMPETITION

Blue Thunder®  25 (won on decision of tie-breaking judge)
Superman™ 25
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™ 19
Backdraft 19
Grave Digger®  18
Mopar Magic®  13
Eradicator®  9