Weekend Race Recap
Friday
Thunder National
Van Andel Arena
Grand Rapids, MI
Friday March 5, 2004
The fans were set to see one of the best line ups this season in the Thunder Nationals. We would like to extend a special thanks to our troops overseas, and for their representation by the U.S. Army colorguard during our patriotic opening ceremonies.

WHEELIE
We started things off tonight with the wheelie contest. As always, ladies first – Jocelyn Perrin in Little Miss Dangerous started things off by earning a total of 12 points. The crowd continued with their tuff scoring when another hometown rival Ed Eckert with Full Boar could only muster a 9. Brandon Harrington in Vette King put together an awesome round of 28. Destroyer and Dan Evans of Scottsville, MI performed and earned a 21. Fan Favorite Grave Digger driver Gary Porter earned a perfect score of 30. The 2003 Freestyle Champ Avenger came out to try and tie Digger. Jim Kohler didn’t quite perform to his normal standard and our tuff judges only awarded him a 21.

DOUGHNUT CONTEST
Little Miss Dangerous made up for her low score in the wheelie contest by pulling off a great doughnut that earned her a 23. The judges showed no sympathy for Destroyer and awarded him a 9. Vette King jumped to the lead with a 27. Avenger came out looking for revenge but the judges didn’t budge and gave him a 25. Doughnut specialist Full Boar spun a tight doughnut that pulled all 10’s, and put him in first with a perfect score of 30. The green machine would be the last to go – he equaled the performance also scoring a perfect 30. It came down to a crowd cheer-off, and they supported their local driver Ed Eckert in Full Boar. With victory came sacrifice; he blew his motor, and was out for the rest of the night.

FREESTYLE
Little Miss Dangerous did all she could, but could only put together 24 points from her hometown judges. Vette King was second in line and left nothing standing on the arena floor. He wowed the crowd and drew a leading score of 28 points. Destroyer was up next with the challenge of needing 29 or better to take the lead away from Brandon Harrington – and he did just that, scoring a nearly perfect 29. Grave Digger followed. Halfway through his run he broke his rear steering, so with only half the time as the other trucks could only squeeze 24 points out of the judges. Last to go was the 2003 Freestyle World Champion, needing a perfect 30 to win this event. Once again the judges showed no mercy and only awarded him 27 points, naming Dan Evans in Destroyer tonight’s freestyle champion.

QUAD WAR
In the Friday night quad wars, any time you have a team from Philadelphia in the building there is going to be bad blood. After the qualifying order was set, the home team Grand Rapids was looking strong going into the heat races. But sadly enough, winning both heat races was Team Philadelphia, setting up a main event full of adversary. But refusing to leave empty handed, team captain Jordan Hunterman brought home the checkered flag to Team Grand Rapids.

MONSTER TRUCK RACING
With Full Boar out of commission for the evening, Dan Evans in Destroyer was awarded a bye run because of his freestyle victory, which left round one with two great matchups. In the first race, Grave Digger was set to go head to head with Vette King, and in the second it would be Little Miss Dangerous against Avenger. Moving on to the second round, Grave Digger barely squeezed by Vette King, and Little Miss Dangerous toppled Avenger. In round two, Avenger wasn’t through yet, being the fastest loser. He would go on to meet Destroyer and in fact beat him to move on to the finals. Grave Digger and Little Miss Dangerous lined up in the second race of round two, and Grace Digger would come out victorious to put himself into the finals. The final was set with a classic matchup in Monster racing: Avenger and Grave Digger would meet once more, with Grave Digger taking the victory.

No doubt that the fans left here tonight very pleased with everyone’s performance. Thank you for coming, and tune in to tomorrow’s results.
Greg Simas

Saturday 2PM
Saturday March 6, 2004
2:00 PM Grand Rapids, MI
Van Andel Arena
I will start off by telling each and every one of you that This afternoons crowd was won of the best I have ever witnessed personally. With the fans pumped it was sure to spiil over to the drivers.

Wheelie Contest

With only 5 trucks in the afternoon line-up, due to a blown motor in Full Boar, we were ready to kick off the wheelie contest. This afternoons judges were sure to make-up for last nights low scores. Ladies first as always, Little Miss Dangerous doubled her score from last night with a 24. With LMD doubling her score, it was quite the opposite for Vette King with a score of 13. Destroyer would come out needing a 25 or better to take the lead and he a few better with a 28. Grave Digger and Avenger would both come up short with only a pair of 24’s.

Doughnut Contest

Little Miss Dangerous was not able to make it out for the doughnut contest due to a pair of broken tie rods but she would be back for the freestyle. With Little Miss Dangerous out, that would send Destroyer to the lie 1^st. He would add ten points to last nights score with a 19. Vette King jumped all over the lead by earning a 28. Avenger took the line next but could only muster 2^nd place with a 23. Leaving the door wide open for a lead change when fan favorite Grave digger scored another perfect score of 30.

Freestyle Contest

The crowd was happy to see Little Miss Dangerous back for freestyle and awarded her a 25. Vette King was next on the arena floor but could only get a 24 from our tuff judges. Last nights freestyle champ Destroyer came out and took the lead with a 27. Grave Digger would not be held back and earned an almost perfect score of 29. Avnger was the last to go and broke his front steering after his 1^st pass and was unable to finish the competition.

Side by Side Racing
Freestyle Champion Grave Digger received a bye to the 2^nd round. Leaving Vetter King to meet Little Miss Dangerous and Avenger to take on Destroyer at the line. After a disqualification of Vette King, Little Dangerous would move on to face Destroyer who beat Avenger in the 1^st round. Avenger would come as the fastest loser to face Grave Digger in round 2. Avenger would topple the fan favorite again and move to the finals. To find out who would take on Avenger in the finals, Destroyer and Little Miss Dangerous would come down to a photo finish. With the victory going to Destroyer. The finals were now set for Avenger and Destroyer to battle it out. Avenger would recover from his 1^st round loss to Destroyer and take the win for the Saturday Matinee show.

Tune in tonight at midnight to see if Grave Digger can once again regain his title as fan favorite/

Greg Simas – USHRA Announcer

Saturday 8PM
Saturday March 6, 2004
8:00 PM
Grand Rapids, MI
Van Andel Arena
To a maximum capacity crowd of over 7500, Saturday night lived up to the hype of being the number one attraction in Grand Rapids.

WHEELIE
Staying consistent in the wheelie contest, Little Miss Dangerous started things off with a score of 23. After putting a new motor in his truck Full Boar was back in action, but could only muster a second place standing with a score of 17. With a continually growing fan base Vette King was third to go and earned 26 points. This afternoon’s wheelie champion, Destroyer, couldn’t match his earlier performance and only put together 21 points. Grave Digger was next to fire, and jumped all over Vette King’s lead with a score of 28. The 2003 Freestyle World Champion would be last to go, and once again showed his championship form by earning 29 points.

DONUT
Little Miss Dangerous once again started things off on the arena floor. She stayed consistent with another score of 23. Destroyer would be out next. Having trouble putting it into a tight spin, he could only earn a score of 11 points from our judges. One of the most consistent trucks of the weekend, Vette King continued tonight with a score of 26. Up until tonight, Avenger couldn’t get anymore than a 25 point run until he hit the arena floor for the donut contest tonight. The judges awarded him a perfect score of 30. Full Boar was next to go, but the man from Newaygo, Michigan could only collect 22 points. Grave Digger was last on the track with only the possibility of a tie staring him in the face. He needed to continue his perfect run of 30’s to match Avenger. Gary Porter did just that, and it came down to a crowd cheer-off to decide the donut contest champion. The crowd decided that the green machine would take home his first victory tonight.

FREESTYLE
With improving on every run, Jocelyn Perrin earned her highest score yet this weekend by earning a score of 27 points in the freestyle contest. Full Boar, another local hero, would match her with his own 27. Once again proving his consistency, Vette King matched both of them with the third 27 in a row. Destroyer needed a 28 or better to take the lead, and jumped all over it and earned a perfect 30 to take the lead. Grave Digger, the freestyle champion from this afternoon, would have to earn his first thirty to even be considered for the championship. Giving it everything he had he also pulled off a score of thirty points, tying Dan Evans for the lead. Leaving no room for improvement, Jim Koehler in Avenger went all out to also earn 30 points, creating an unbelievable three-way tie for this contest. It would once again come down to a crowd cheer-off, and we all know when it is left up to the crowd, the Black and Green Wrecking Machine would capture his second title of the night.

SIDE-BY-SIDE RACING
Unfortunately, Scottsville resident Dan Evans in Destroyer lost his transmission during the freestyle contest and was unable to compete in side-by-side racing tonight. This gave Grave Digger a first round bye run, which left Little Miss Dangerous to face Full Boar, and Vette King taking on Avenger in round one. Moving on to the second round with her victory over Full Boar, Little Miss Dangerous would take on Avenger, who toppled Vette King. Needing one more to complete the second round, Full Boar was the fast loser and was slated to take on Grave Digger. After round two the finals were set. Making her first appearance to the final round this weekend was Jocelyn Perrin in Little Miss Dangerous – and her adversary was Gary Porter and Grave Digger for the final round of Monster racing. In an incredible final race Jocelyn Perrin gave it her best effort, but Grave Digger just edged her out for the win.

Thanks again,
Greg Simas

Sunday
Sunday March 7, 2004
2:00 PM
Grand Rapids, MI
Van Andel Arena
As the snow started coming down outside things started heating up in the Van Andel arena.

Fans who braved the weather were certainly not disappointed with today’s performance.

WHEELIE
Jocelyn Perrin started things off here this afternoon with a wheelie that earned her a score of 20. Full Boar came out roaring with his signature move but could only muster 15 points from our judges. Third to go was Vette King, and maintained his mid-twenties consistency by scoring 24 points. Destroyer and Dan Evans were next and needed 25 points to take the lead, but couldn’t pull it off. He earned a score of 21. Next was Grave Digger who laid some tire of the floor and took the lead with 26. Freestyle World Champion Avenger would be last to go, but couldn’t overtake Digger, and walked away with 21 points.

DONUTS
As always ladies go first, and Little Miss Dangerous supported by her friends from St. Michael’s put together a 22 point performance. Destroyer was next. Having trouble as he did all weekend, Dan Evans was not able to break the 20 point barrier and received 15 points from our judges. The young gun Brandon Harrington was up next in Vette King and grabbed his first perfect score of the evening with 30 points. Avenger would not be able to perform in the donut contest as he has a broken power steering rod. Hometown man Ed Eckert in Full Boar demonstrated his signature move – throwing his steering wheel out the window - but was not able to impress the judges enough to capture the lead; he earned a score of 29 points. Grave Digger was up next and once again would win the fans over with a perfect thirty, tying him with his traveling partner for the lead. The fans would decide the victor by cheer-off, and as always the favorite today was Gary Porter and Grave Digger.

FREESTYLE
Little Miss Dangerous grabbed her highest mark of the evening with an outstanding freestyle run, and received 29 points from the judges. Needing a perfect score to take the lead, but proving that Little Miss Dangerous was a tough act to follow, Full Boar earned a score of 26. Once again Brandon Harrington would improve from his previous freestyle runs by tying Jocelyn Perrin with 29 points. Destroyer let it all hang out on the last day but still came up short with 28 points. Grave Digger was staring at his third title in a row and made a three way tie with Little Miss Dangerous and Vette King with 29 points. Columbus, Michigan native Jim Koehler and Avenger proved why he is the 2003 Freestyle World Champion and claimed the Sunday afternoon performance with a perfect 30.

THRILL
Our thrill act for the weekend starred Aaron Smith from Canton, Ohio and his mini-moto freestyle bike. Wowing the crowd all weekend long with sick tricks on a 90cc mini-bike, he pulled off not only the backflip but also the Militia Twist on Saturday night. His first attempt at the Militia Twist got the best of him but it wasn’t enough to shatter his confidence. He proved he would not be shaken and blew everyone away when he got right back up and nailed the risky move on his second pass. This move has only been publicly performed by two other riders in the world. His tumble did have its consequences though, as his frame and chain were damaged. This did not deter him from appearing before the Sunday afternoon crowd and pulling two perfect backflips.

MONSTER RACING
Our first pair brought Avenger and Full Boar to the Advance Auto Parts starting line, and Ed Eckert laid the pedal to the metal to take the win and go on to round two. Second pair was Destroyer and Vette King, and in an extremely close race Destroyer barely beat him across the finish line. Little Miss Dangerous and Grave Digger would meet in a rematch from last night’s finals, and Grave Digger once again proved victorious. In the second round Full Boar met Destroyer at the line in an interstate grudge match, and Dan Evans was able to move on to the final round of racing. Vette King would come back as the fast loser and take on Grave Digger, but was not able to overcome Gary Porter. Our final matchup this afternoon showed Grave Digger and Destroyer, and Grave Digger once again captured the win, giving him the racing championship three out of four times here in Grand Rapids.

We would like to thank all our fans for coming out to the show and hope to see you all next year.

Until next time,
Greg Simas
USHRA Announcer