Friday - VIRGINIA GIANT Saturday 2pm - VIRGINIA GIANT Saturday 8pm - WOLVERINE
Trucks: Virginia Giant, Bad News, Wolverine, Little Tiger, and Rap Attack.
Weekend Race Recap
Dayton, OH (February 21-22, 2003)
Friday Despite stiff challenges from a couple of top stars of the Monster Jam world, Diehl Wilson showed again why he is the top star in the Thunder Nationals today. He won both the racing and freestyle competitions tonight at the Nutter Center on the campus of Wright State University in Dayton, OH.
Wilson's freestyle competition win earned him a by in the first round of racing. Then he eliminated Bruce Haney and Bad News in the semi finals. In the other half of the bracket of the Thunder Nationals presented by Papa Johns finals, Dave Rappach in Rap Attack rode to wins over Monster Jam superstars Brian Barthel in Wolverine and Kasey Christensen in Little Tiger. In a close race for the event win, Wilson, the 2002 Thunder Nationals points champion, had just enough to pull off the victory over Rappach.
RACE RESULTS:
First Round - Virginia Giant (Diehl Wilson) earned bye
Little Tiger (Kasey Christensen) def Bad News (Bruce Haney)
NOTE - Wolverine was fastest loser but broke, so Bad News advanced
Semi-Finals - Virginia Giant def Bad News
Rap Attack def Little Tiger
FINALS - Virginia Giant defeated Rap Attack
The unique Thunder Nationals format had all the trucks competing in freestyle as well as donut and wheelie competitions. There again Virginia Giant starred, winning the donut competition in a crowd cheer-off after the judges scored a tie between the Giant and Wolverine, and then Virginia Giant won the freestyle with a score of 29. The only driver to break Wilson's dominance was Christensen who drove Little Tiger to the win in the wheelie competition.
FREESTYLE SCORES Virginia Giant 29 Rap Attack 27 Wolverine 24 Little Tiger 24 Bad News 20
DONUT COMPETITION SCORES: Virginia Giant 30 (won crowd cheer-off to break tie) Wolverine 30 Little Tiger 29 Bad News 27 Rap Attack 17
WHEELIE COMPETITION SCORES: Little Tiger 28 Rap Attack 25 Virginia Giant 23 Bad News 21 Wolverine 21
Team Chicago, the visiting team, grabbed the Quad Wars win when Nick Little whipped inside of Team Dayton's Joe Anney on the final turn.
Don Seabolt, dubbed the Godfather of the Michigan Mafia Hog Pullers (seriously), won the side-by-side Harley Trike Sled Pulls. Popular Jennifer Schneider opened the event with her world famous Cannon Lady thrill stunt.
Saturday 2 pm Reaction time is critical in monster truck racing, especially on a short straight-line course. Diehl Wilson's reaction time was actually too quick, however, in the finals at this afternoon's USHRA Thunder Nationals presented by Papa Johns in the Nutter Center, and Dave Rappach in Rap Attack was credited with the victory when Wilson in the Virginia Giant was disqualified for jumping the start.
During a strong freestyle run, Brian Barthel broke his front axle in Wolverine which kept him out of the racing competition.
RACE RESULTS:
Semi-finals - Virginia Giant (Diehl Wilson) def Bad News (Bruce Haney),
Rap Attack (Dave Rappach) def Little Tiger (Kasey Christensen)
Third place race - Bad News def Little Tiger
FINALS - Rap Attack defeated Virginia Giant
Saturday afternoon's other three scored competitions produced three separate winners, with Little Tiger taking the wheelie contest, Bad News getting the donut competition, and Virginia Giant winning freestyle.
FREESTYLE SCORES Virginia Giant 28 Rap Attack 23 Wolverine 23 Little Tiger 21 Bad News 17
DONUT COMPETITION SCORES: Bad News 30
Wolverine 29
Virginia Giant 28 Little Tiger 28 Rap Attack 18
WHEELIE COMPETITION SCORES: Little Tiger 26 Rap Attack 23 Wolverine 21 Virginia Giant 18 Bad News 17
In Quad Wars, Team Dayton evened the score for the weekend when Joe Anney won the main and then agreed to put all the points on the line in a one on one challenge with Chicago's Nick Little after Little complained of being run off the course by one of Anney's teammates on the final lap of the main. With only the two captains battling to decide the winner, Anney edged Little by three inches at the finish line in an awesome race to keep the victory for Team Dayton.
Dale Addis was the winner of the side-by-side Harley Trike pulling action.
Saturday 8 pm
Stepping out of the world of major dirt events and onto the popular Thunder Nationals circuit for a weekend, Brian Barthel rebounded from what had been a frustrating weekend and dominated the action Saturday night in the weekend wrap-up at the Nutter Center.
A combination of mechanical problems for his Wolverine truck and some superb performances by reigning Thunder Nationals champ Diehl Wilson in Virginia Giant had kept Wolverine totally out of the win column in the first two events. But after repairing the front axle that he broke in the afternoon freestyle, Barthel and Wolverine came back with a vengance tonight.
Barthel earned a first round racing bye when he won the freestyle competition, then eliminated Bruce Haney and Bad News in the semi-finals to set up a match-up with Wilson in the finals. The Virginia Giant had earned his slot by besting Kasey Christensen and Little Tiger in the opening round, followed by a win over Dave Rappach in Rap Attack in the semis. The final was close with Wolverine edging across the finish line just ahead of Virginia Giant.
Wolverine also won the freestyle competition with a high energy run that sustained constant momentum despite the tight course, and he scored a perfect 30 in the donut contest, then won the crowd cheer-off to break a three-way tie with Bad News and Virginia Giant who also scored 30 in donuts. The only competition Barthel did not win Saturday was the wheelie competition, which was won by his teammate, Christensen in the Little Tiger truck Barthel owns.
Dale Addis again was triumphant in the side by side Harley Trike Sled Pulling.
Team Dayton made it two out of three for the weekend in Quad Wars winning tonight in a final one-shot for all the marbles race between captains Joe Anney of Dayton and Nick Little of Chicago. When the two crashed into each other on the final turn incapacitating both quads, Anney actually crossed the finish line first on foot, good enough for the win.
RACE RESULTS:
First Round - Wolverine (Brian Barthel) earned bye
Rap Attack (Dave Rappach) def Bad News (Bruce Haney)
Virginia Giant (Diehl Wilson) def Little Tiger (Kasey Christensen)
NOTE - Bad News was fastest loser and advanced
Semi-Finals - Virginia Giant def Rap Attack
Wolverine def Bad News
FINALS - Wolverine defeated Virginia Giant
FREESTYLE SCORES Wolverine 29 Virginia Giant 26 Rap Attack 26 Little Tiger 23 Bad News 15
DONUT COMPETITION SCORES: Wolverine 30 (won crowd cheer-off to break tie) Virginia Giant 30 Bad News 30 Little Tiger 28 Rap Attack 20
WHEELIE COMPETITION SCORES: Little Tiger 28 Rap Attack 27 Bad News 22 Wolverine 21 Virginia Giant 19
