Weekend Race Recap
Friday:
The Nutter Center on Wright State University's campus was rockin' as six of the best Thunder National trucks rolled in. The action started off with the wheelie contest where Bad News scored a 16 and Lil Miss Dangerous a solid 25. Then it shifted to Ohio driver Dave Rappach who wheelied Rap Attack to a 21. Virginia Giant was next and scored a 14 as did Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtle. Last but not least came Grave Digger who wheelied to his first win buy beating Lil Miss Danderous by one point with a 26.
Then came the doughnut competition as each truck was capable of spinning the best doughnuts that was going to make this an awesome contest. Rap Attack was first and scored a 12 when out came Lil Miss Dangerous who spun her way to the lead with a 24. Turtle stepped it up a notch and scored a 23 while Virginia Giant tied Lil Miss with a 24. Grave Digger was next and took the lead with an awesome 25 but was not enough as Bruce Haney whirled Bad News into the win with a 27 and the steering wheel out the window.
Freestyle was fierce as Bad News took a 20 to start things off. Lil Miss was next as she took the surprise of the nigtht with a great jump over the van stack and the lead with a 27. Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtle was next and scored a 22 as Virginia Giant worked the floor and took a 24. Still no one was to take the lead as Rap Attack came up short with a 18 and Grave Digger with a 26. The crowd went wild when Lil Miss Dangerous was announced the winner by beating Grave Digger by one point. This gave us three different winners to start the night off with only the monster racing to come last.
Racing was tight as the first pair of trucks inched to the starting line. Lil Miss Dangerous took on Bad News as Bad News won by a nose. Grave Digger defeated Rap Attack as well as Virginia Giant beating Turtle. Then came the semi finals were Grave Digger took on fast loser Ninga Turtle and won by a foot and Virginia Giant made it to the finals by beating the fast truck Bad News. The finals was set as the to defending champions faced each other for a show down. When the green light flashed Grave Digger was able to beat Virginia Giant off the line and take the finals win. The crowd went crazy and wanted more as Gary freestyled Grave Digger for a last farwell.
In Quad wars team Micigan was here to Bttle the strong team from Ohio as this was home teritory for the Home team Captain Josh Garrity. The racing was fierce as team Michigan took the first win but ohio came right back in the second heat and won with ease. This set up the last race as winner take all as the fans were screaming for their favorite team. In the end Team Ohio was victorious as captain Garrity beat the Michigan capatain by inches.
Freestyle motor cross was a hit as 4 great riders were in the house for some sick tricks. Gary Robertson would take the win with a last trick of the night by throwing a kiss of death that wowed the crowed. The other tree riders were as follows;Tim Boca, Jason Hamric and Adam Walker.
Saturday 2PM:
A great crowd witnessed this afternoon some of the best monster truck driving I've seen in a long time. The afternoon started off with a great wheelie contest that started off with a nice score to Bad News as Bruce Haney wheelied a 18. Lil Miss Dangerous wanted a second win for the weekend but it wouldn't come now as the judges gave Lil Miss a 25. Rap Attack was next and went to the lead with a great 26 but that would cost him as he broke on the landing and would miss the doughnut contest. The lead would hold for the next two trucks as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and Virginia Giant both scored a 21. Then came Grave Digger who said he was shooting for a full sweep and he started off with the win by scoring a 27.
The doughnut contest was next as each truck again spun some great doughnuts. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle was the low score of the contest with a 24 followed by Bad News with a 25 along with Virginia Giant. Things were tight as Lil Miss Dangerous took the lead with a 27 but again was nocked out by Grave Digger and the best doughnut I have seen this year. Garry Porter walked Grave Digger away from the cars and still had Grave Digger spinning fater and faster for a perfect 30.
Freestyle was awesome as all trucks were ready to go. Bad News worked the floor well as he scored a 23 and Lil Miss Dangerous again caught the judges attention and took the lead with a 28. Rap Attack was fixed and pulled out a 24 as Turtle spun a nice 23. This left Virginia Giant and Grave Digger to beat Lil Miss as Diehl Wilson flew out to the floor. When the clock stoppped the judges scored Virginia Giant with a 24 leaving the 2004 Thunder Nationals champ without a win. Grave Digger was last and worked the floor well but fell short again To Lil Miss Dangerous giving her the second win of the weekend.
Racing was again fast as Turtle defeated Lil Miss in round as well as Grave Digger defeated Bad News. The race between Rap Attack and Virginia Giant fell short for Rap Attack as he blew the rear end giving Virginia Giant the win. In The semi finals Grave Digger beat Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and Virginia Giant beat fast looser Bad News to set up the finals. Again it was a close race as the line official asked the second judge who was the winner and the crowd waited as the result was being looked at. The last call was Grave Digger and the crowd went wild.
Gary Robertson again was superb as he would fly to victory in the FMX competition. I was impressed with all riders as the fans really enjoyed the cool tricks these four guys were throwing.
Quad Wars again was tight as team Michigan won the first 2 races leaving team Ohio in the dust. But in the last race Michigan cut the track and took the checkered as the Ohio team protested. The officials sorted things out and gave team Ohio the win.
Saturday 8PM: What a way to end the weekend as well as the last show with a sold out crowd of screaming fans. The only disapointment of the night was Diehl Wilson and Virginia Giants electrical problems that kept him out nearly the whole show.
The wheelie contest was first as all trucks were aiming to dethrone Grave Digger. Bad News was first as Bruce Haney scored a 14 with a nice wheelie that should've been scored higher. Lil Miss Dangerous was next and wheelied her truck to the best wheelie of the weekend and only scored a 22. The judges were tough as Rap Attack scored a 18 and Turttle a low 9. This gave Grave Digger the chance to sweep the weekend wheelie compition as he pulled to the line. When all was over Digger scored a 25 and took the win From Lil Miss as the crowd booed. Gray Porter even knew that his wheelie did'nt even come close to that of Jocelyn's.
Next came the doughnut contest as Rapp Attack came up short and scored a low of 10 with Lil miss Dangerous following with a 22. The compition tightened up as Teen age mutant ninga turttle score a 25 and Grave Digger scoring a 27. This gave one more chance for Bad news to take a second win for the weekend as Bruce Haney again held the steering wheel out the window as Bad news spun perfectly in the center of the arena floor. Again I thought we had a winner but the jugges gave Bad News a 26 loosing by one to Grave Digger.
In freestyle Bad News started things off with a fast run of 15 and Rap Attack boosted things up and scored a good 22. LiL Miss Dangerous was next and really let it fly as the judges scored her a 27 along with the performance of Turttle that gave us our first tie. It did'nt last long though as Gray Poreter was bound and determined to win freestyle for the final night and that he did with a 29.
Racing was fast as we saw an upset in the making as home state driver Dave Rappach made it in to the finals for the second week in a row. Rap Attack defeated LiL Miss Dangerous in round one and beat Bad News in the semi finals. Bad news had come back from the fast looser braket after Virginia Giant had more electrical problems after he just got fixed. Deihl Wilson was upset as he could'nt figure out what was wrong and disapointed for the fans as well. Virginia Giant did though get one chance to race and defeated Ninga Turttle in round one but again was forced out of the semi finals. Grave Digger won easily in the first round against Bad news and also beat fast looser Ninga Turttle to make it into the finals for the third straight time this weekend. This brought a close finals race as Rap Attack and Digger both left the starting line at the same time but Grave Digger had the lower jump off the cars and crossed the finish line by a half a wheel to beat Rap Attack.
FMX was once again a crowd favorite as Gary Robertson won the compition with another kiss of death jump. All riders were exceptional as the crowd cheered each rider on to victory.
Team Ohio once again defeated team Michigan in quad wars. Team Ohio won the first race as team Michigan fought back to win the second. A close third race was coming down as team Ohio won by inches. The crowd went wild when the official gave the checkerd flag to Ohio as they did a victory lap.
This weekends compition was one of the best I have seen, and I think this years chanpionship for Thunder Nationals is up for grabs betwwen some great monster trucks. Personaly I can't wait for next year when I can return to the Nutter Center for some more Thunder National action.
USHRA Announcer Greg Whitacre
