Monster Jam Baltimore Arena Baltimore, MD 02/22/2003
Monster Jam Racing Winner
Monster Jam Freestyle Winner
Saturday 2pm Gravedigger Saturday 8pm Maximum Destruction Sunday High Roller
Saturday 2pm Maximum Destruction Saturday 8pm Gravedigger Sunday Gravedigger
Trucks: Grave Digger (driven by Porter), Maximum Destruction, High Roller, Black Stallion, Thrasher, and Backdraft.
Weekend Race Recap
Baltimore, MD (February 22-23, 2003)
Saturday 2 pm After a huge pit party, Baltimore fans received a Vegas-style show with six of the bes monster trucks on the circuit. Right off the bat, we had monster qualifying. Pat Summa and Thrasher made out with a time of 1.50 seconds. Black Stallion did 1.89, Backdraft had a 1.70, High Roller got 1.68, Gary Porter in Gravedigger had a 1.66, but 3-time world champion Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction got 1.66. Three-time world champion Tom Meents and Maximum Destruction had the fastest time of 1.56 seconds.
In monster racing, Phil Foster and High Roller doused the flames on Backdraft, Grave Digger took out Black Stallion, Maximum Destruction thrashed Thrasher, Mike Vaters and Black Stallion returned being the fast loser.
In Round 2, Black Stallion, returned as the fast loser, lined up against the three-time world champion and gave Tom Meents a run for his money. But Meents, being the maniac he is, took out 20-years of monster truck driving and Mike Vaters. After Dennis Anderson's accident last week in Philadelphia, Dennis chose Gary Porter to take his place in Baltimore this weekend. And Gary did his job very well, beating High Roller to advance on to the Finals.
After intermission we lined up the two fastest trucks of the day in the monster show down round. Gary Porter, driving Digger, pulled up to the Built Ford Tough starting line, looked to his left only to see Tom Meents looking back at him. When the light went green, both trucks blasted off the line. Grave Digger won by a layer of paint and captured the Monster Racing trophy.
In Monster Freestyle, Pat Summa and Thrasher got some huge air and with five seconds left blew his motor. Judges awarded him 19 points. Phil Foster, driving High Roller, rolled the dice in Round 1, just like he will in Las Vegas coming up in March. The judges stood and gave him the lead with 24 points. Then Rick Disharoon brought his Dodge Monster truck out onto the floor. Backdraft lit it up for 24 points. Then comes the man from Hagerstown, Maryland who sat in the Hot Wheels hotseat in Monster Jam World Finals 3. After leading the freestlye there, he brought it alive again in Baltimore. The judges awarded him 24 points, and a three-way tie for first place. Then came Grave Digger with a great win during the show-down round, Gary Porter planned on taking home two trophies today. But when a bad frequency on his RII would not allow the truck to continue, he had to settle for 15 points. Finally came Tom, the wild man from Paxton, Illinois. He fired up the crowd going vertical in freestyle, making long jumps, and jumping right into the lead for the win with 28 points.
In Quad Wars, Team California smoked Team Maryland in the first heat. Then Team Maryland finally got a whiff of the pie to grab the checkered flag in the second heat. In the Main Event, Team Maryland outlasted, outplayed, and outrode Team California. PJ Hall carried the checkered flag around the arena only to be challenged by Team Captain Brian Rennor of Team California. A three-lap dash for the five points and a possible trip to Las Vegas up for grabs, PJ Hall and Team Maryland took out all his frustrations in these three laps. Team Maryland grabbed another checkered flag for the third-time today, and the bragging rights to go with it.
Round One is in the history books. Round Two at 8:00 PM tonight - see you there! ~Chip Ridgely, Announcer
Saturday 8 pm
MONSTER RACING QUALIFYING Black Stallion, 1.91 Spiderman, 1.75 Backdraft, 1.70 High Roller, 1.67 Grave Digger, 1.57 Maximum Destruction, 1.55 for the fastest time of the night
For monsters in Round 1, Maximum Destruction dusted Black Stallion, Grave Digger threw the web on Spiderman, and Backdraft lit up High Roller. Through Round 2, Grave Digger burned Backdraft to advance to the final round. Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction stuck it on the fast loser, Spiderman, to advance to the finals. The monster champs met in the finals as Gary Porter, driving Grave Digger, took on Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction for the second time today. After the smoke cleared in our monster show-down round, the win went to the reigning and defending champion Tom Meents.
For the monster freestyle, Spiderman set the pace tonight with a 19-point score and a great run. High Roller tied him with another 19-points. Rick Disheroon driving Backdraft took the lead with 23 points. Then, Mike Vaters driving Black Stallion pulled off a Saturday night special - that's a reverse high jump - as we saw him do in Las Vegas last year, he took the lead with 28 points in front of the hometown crowd. Next came Maximum Destruction. Tom Meents took the futuristic SUV to new heights in the First Mariner Arena and in a lot of fans' minds tonight, got robbed when the judges only awarded him 27 points. Then came Digger. Gary Porter lit up the freestyle course tonight only to tie with Black Stallion and 28 points. We had to decide the winner through a crowd cheer-off, and Baltimore decided Grave Digger pulled off the best freestyle.
In Quad Wars, Team California smoked Maryland to take the checkered flag in Heat 1. Then Team Maryland was on a mission and took control of Heat 2. It was Team Maryland with a huge upset against Team California captured the checkered flag in tonight's main event.
We'd like to thank the fans here in Baltimore for getting behind the drivers and the quad war teams tonight, and for building some electricity here in the arena tonight. We'll see you tomorrow afternoon on a Championship Sunday! ~Chip Ridgely, Announcer
Sunday
MONSTER QUALIFYING ROUND Spiderman, 1.78 Backdraft, 1.71 High Roller, 1.64 Black Stallion, 1.62 Maximum Destruction, 1.50 Grave Digger, 1.49 with the fastest time
In the freestyle, Spiderman went all-out for a 20 point score. High Roller took the lead with 23 points. Next was Rick Disheroon in Backdraft, he took the lead with 24 points. Hagerstown, Maryland native Mike Vaters and Black Stallion lit up the track for the lead with 26 points. Tom Meents, the wild man, brought Maximum Destruction to the floor for some maximum air. At the end of his 60-second run, he pulled into the donut and flipped it upside down. The fans in Baltimore went wild and the judges awarded him the lead with 29 points. Next came the most recognized truck in the world; Gary Porter brought Grave Digger to the floor. It seemed every fan in the stands had a black and white checkered flag in the air for Digger's run. For sixty seconds it was nothing but green and black truck all over the arena. He hit every obstacle forwards, backwards, and sideways. When the scores went up it was ten, ten, ten, a perfect score for Digger and the only perfect score all weekend long, and a perfect way to end the last round in Baltimore.
In Round 1 racing, Maximum Destruction took out Backdraft, Digger shut down Spiderman, High Roller hit the jackpot and took out Black Stallion. Coming back in the semi-finals, Rick Disheroon in Backdraft made it back being the fast loser from Round One, only to go down in a ball of flames against Gary Porter and Grave Digger. Phil Foster and High Roller lined up against teammate Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction, three-time world champion. High Roller rolled the dice and hit the jackpot again. In the main event, Gary Porter pulled Grave Digger up to the Built Ford Tough starting line against Phil Foster and High Roller, who just took out the reigning and defending champion in the semifinals. Both drivers were concentrating on the green light, and blasted off the line. When they landed, High Roller took out Grave Digger in the monster final round to capture the Sunday afternoon show.
In Quad Wars Heats 1 and 2, Team California captured the checkered flag, but in the final, Team Maryland captured the much needed five points and the lead in the world standings.
