Trucks: Grave Digger (driven by Scott Pointbriand), Backdraft, and American Guardian.
Weekend Race Recap
Kingston, RI (March 21-23, 2003)
Friday The current national situation may have kept the attendance down tonight, but certainly not the enthusiasm of the fans that did show up. “Radical” Rick Raab showed everyone in Kingston Rhode Island how and why he earned that nickname. Time and time again, he beat every competitor he came up against. In the wheelie contest, a score of 23; in the free-style, a score of 29; in the doughnut contest, a perfect score of 30. In racing he nearly pulled off a win there as well, but was beat by inches by the Backdraft dodge of Rick Disharoon. In quad wars, the local superstar, Mark Byam came from a back row starting position to make a sensational outside pass with 2 laps remaining and claiming the win for team Rhode Island in the 8 lap final. 1 show down and 3 more to go this weekend, and we know for sure that there will be more than a few race fans coming back tomorrow!
Winner - Racing - Backdraft Winner - Doughnut contest - American Guardian Winner - Wheelie contest - American Guardian Winner - Free-Style - American Guardian
Saturday – 2pm
The Saturday afternoon event started out with everyone watching in near disbelief."HOT ROD" had snuck his way onto the track for QUAD WARS practice on one of the competitors’ quads and was showing the boys how to do it.And the show only got better from there.
Rick Disharoon and his Backdraft Dodge were incredible in the wheelie contest!When the monster finally came down for his landing, Rick blew the tire right off the rim.The crowd showed their appreciation by giving the dodge a perfect "30."In the doughnut contest, it was"Radical" man Rick Raab and his American Guardian Chevrolet with ANOTHER 30.Let me just say this: it took quite awhile for the tire smoke to clear after this one!Now to the free-style contest, with the tires still smokin' from the doughnut contest, "radical" Rick Raab and the American Guardian blew all the others away with ANOTHER score of 30.Now in the finals in racing, it came down to 2 trucks.This was the closest finish I have seen in many years.In what was said to be less than a foot, (and I thought it was less than that) the Backdraft Dodge and Rick Disharoon won out over Rick Raab and the American Guardian Chevrolet.Two down and two to go this weekend in Rhode Island and things are just starting to heat up.
Saturday – 8pm
Tonight, in the wheelie contest, it was Rick Disharoon and the "Back draft" dodge standing itself on end again to the delight of the screaming crowd.It seems if I am beginning to repeat myself.But, “Radical" Rick Raab and the American Guardian with ANOTHER perfect 30 and the win in the doughnut contest.In the racing portion of the night, I think that Scott Pontbriand and Grave Digger had seen enough and wanted a little of the action as well.Scott and Digger let it all hang out!As Digger skipped over the cars at nearly a 90* angle, nose down and tailgate high, the crowd had no clue as to where Digger was going to stop.Now it was free-style, WOW, HOLY CATS, MAN-O-MAN!What else could be said, Scott Pontbriand and Grave Digger were simply unstoppable tonight!And the appreciative crowd awarded Digger with a perfect 30!Another hard racing event and we still have one more to go!
Sunday
A beautiful day was brewing outside, and it was HOT inside the Ryan Arena!It was MONSTER TRUCK hot!In the wheelie contest, it was Scott Pontbriand and Grave Digger picking up right where they left off Saturday night.Another perfect 30!Scott was scraping the paint off the back tailgate area the whole length of the floor!On to the doughnut contest, someone new stepped up and stepped up BIG time!This time it was Rick Disharoon and "Back draft" that really, really wow-ed the crowd.An short intermission was needed to clear all the tire smoke and was it did, there it was; in the slowly clearing haze, another perfect 30!Not to be dethroned, the free-style was Scott Pontbriand and Grave Digger's and no one was going to deny them.And no one did, or could!In the final monster truck race of the gruel 4-event weekend would determine the day’s star: Grave Digger or Back draft.Let's just say that Rick Disharoon is one of the BIG boys now.In an almost "possessed" fashion, Rick and his Backdraft Dodge laid claim to the final race of the weekend and with it a huge sigh of relief.For all it was a long weekend for others a lot of work and sweat, but for all it was a blast!It was easy to see the fans thought so as well, the post race autograph line lasted nearly 2 hours.
