Monster trucks in Richmond – always an awesome time. Tonight was no exception.

The Players:
Monster Truck         Driver               Hometown
Aftershock          Bob Robbins      Lawtons, NY
Annihilator          Greg Adams      Monticello, GA
Bad News            Bruce Haney      Bronson, FL
Stone Crusher     Gary Wiggins     Virginia Beach, VA
Virginia Giant      Diehl Wilson      Winchester VA
Grave Digger      Jason Childress   Kill Devil Hills, NC

The stars were out tonight and shining as we were set for some awesome competition. Wheelie competition was the first order of business.

Wheelie Competition:
Bad News ...8 - Uncharacteristic for Bruce
Annihilator ...13 - Good run for Greg
Aftershock ...8 - Not able to carry more than three cars worth of wheelie
Virginia Giant ...15 - Diehl on his way to another title?
Stone Crusher *26 - Rolled off the unicycle on the RR tire
Grave Digger *26 - A legitimate score

*Tie

We tried to cheer off a winner, but no way. The crowd couldn’t decide so we gave it a tie.

Doughnuts might look easy, but that’s only because the drivers are good and the trucks are set up for it. Remember, a good race truck might not be very good at doughnuts. Remember that an open diff won’t help a lot with doughnuts.

Doughnut Competition:
Aftershock ...17 - Wasn't able to really hook it up.
Annihiliator ...30 30? 30? - Yes, he did a doughnut, but a 30?
Grave Digger ...8 - Open differential and short wheelbase wouludn't let him hook up.
Stone Crusher ...No Score - Still thrashing - not able to make the show
Virginia Giant ...30 - The legend continues
Bad News ...29 - Shafted ... should have been part of the tie

Monster truck freestyle always seems to be a crowd favorite. This time was no different. Lots of action gave us the following.

Freestyle Competition:
Aftershock ...17 - First truck out is always at a disadvantage.
Annihilator ...18 - The reverse hit was good - but after time expired.
Bad News ...16 - Bruce saving the truck for racing?
Stone Crusher ...No Score Still thrashing in the pits
Virginia Giant ...27 - Only truck to use a doughnut as part of freestyle
Grave Digger ...29 - The wheelie walks sealed the deal

When it comes to racing, you can’t beat what we saw tonight! Round winners are shows at the top of each pair.

Monster Truck Racing
Round 1              Round 2            Round 3
Annihilator        Stone Crusher    Stone Crusher
Aftershock         Bad News           Annihilator
Virginia Giant     Annihilator
Bad News           Virginia Giant
Stone Crusher
Bye

In a heated all star Quad Wars battle, team North took the overall win for the night. With two more rounds of competition before the weekend is done, they are committed to coming back strong.

Aaron Smith is always awesome on the backflip and he was so again tonight. Always do what you have to to catch this guy.

Griff Allen – USHRA Announcer

Monster trucks always offer the unpredictable. Tonight saw drama second to none in one of the craziest Thunder Nationals we’ve seen in some time.

To top last night’s wheelie competition would be quite a feat. Well, we topped it. Here’s how we did it.

Doughnuts were next on the menu. The crowd was a full house and ready for action. That’s exactly what they got!

And here’s where the night took it’s turn. Monster truck freestyle is always awesome, but tonight it provided drama like we’ve never seen.

Freestyle Competition:
Aftershock ...13 - Bob puts on better shows as time goes on.
Annihilator ...17 - The reverse hit is always a good one when done well. It was done well tonight.
Bad News ...18 -Bruce has awesome throttle control. It adds to a smooth, fluid style.
Stone Crusher ...23 - Drained his oil pan onto the floor when he threw a rod. Done for the night and on the way to Advance Auto Parts to get ready for tomorrow. A huge disappointment after being the comeback story of the year the night before.
Virginia Giant ...23 - Another awesome doughnut helped seal Diehl’s deal.
Grave Digger ...3 - FINALLY, we would get to see Digger freestyle – for one second. On the first hit, internals in the transmission disintegrated. Only the second such failure of its kind in seven years. And so began the pit thrash that turned out to be impossible to finish before the end of the night. Another team on its way to Advance to get ready for tomorrow.

Notice the tie between the Giant and the Crusher. The crowd decided it with stronger cheers for Wilson in the Giant.

With two trucks down for racing, we re-structured the competition to allow for a consi round to decide third spot. This consi round is round 2. The winning trucks are shown at the top of each pair.

Two trips to the main two nights in a row for Annihilator. Perhaps the third time will be the charm.

The Thunder Nationals All-star Quad Wars Challenge saw Teams North and South comprised of winners of at least one event in the past season form teams that were looking for a final title at the end of the season.

Team North took top honors the night before. And did so again tonight in one heat race as well as the main event. In a no-rules three lap grudge, it was a half a bike at the line to give the honor to Team South. With one more race to go before the weekend is out, this is going to be one to watch.

Aaron Smith again in the house is always awesome. He felt so good after the roar of 8,000 fans cheered his backflip that he busted out with another one. Unbelievable that the crowd could get even louder, but they sure did. Consistently awesome stuff from Aaron.

The final show awaits us tomorrow. Who’s going to come out ahead in the pit thrashes? Who’s going to leave Richmond with the most wins where we haven’t seen any one truck dominate.

As the weekend goes on, all of the drivers get better at everything. This owes to more set time. That benefit paid off today as we saw some of the best wheelies of the season.

Wheelie Competition
Bad News ...22 - Bruce always does a good job. Good score by the judges - who had their act VERY together all day long.
Annihilator ...22 - Greg was able to set the tie at the start.
Aftershock ...21- Just a scoch below the first two runs.
Virginia Giant ...23 - Diehl came out swingin' and set the high mark to be beat.
Grave Digger ...25 - By two points, the title of wheelie king went to Digger.

Enough 'practice' with the races so far, it was time for some serious doughnuts. Who would be able to answer the bell.

Doughnut Competition
Aftershock... 19 - A good start to the competition with a solid run.
Annihilator ...22 - We had to shut him down as he neared the ice pit - the 'no zone'. It was good 'till then.
Grave Digger ...17 - The truck simply isn't set up for doughnuts. Still, Jason tried all he could, but just couldn't do it.
Virginia Giant ...27 - Don't mess with this guy when it comes to doughnuts … you'll never beat him.
Bad News ...27 - This audience caught the no-wheeled doughnut. Always an awesome show. Once Bruce gets his speed up a little bit, he just might have something for Diehl.

What a tie! Based on the audience reaction, it was close, but it went down in favor of the defending T-Nats champ.

Freestyle Competition
Aftershock... 20 - Bob took it up a notch by adding a reverse hit to his drill. With a little practice, he'll get very good at it, I'm sure.
Annihilator... 23 -Greg still blings with the spinners and he still puts on a good freestyle.
Bad News... 22 - Bruce has awesome throttle control. It adds to a smooth, fluid style. He was able to put on a good show today!
Virginia Giant ...25 - Good variation, good use of course, good doughnut. Put it all together and you get a good run from the Giant!
Grave Digger ...26 - Digger didn't use a lot of the course - the routine consisted of hit after hit in race direction on the red lane followed by return laps with pop n stops on the red lane. Jason was working on getting air and riding wheelile walks across the cars. He very quickly got to do them well in Digger VII - a truck in which he only has about 30 minutes of seat time.

With one point being the difference, the freestyle win went to Digger. Not only did this help his weekend, it also set him up for a number one qualifying position for the racing coming up next. Five competitors in the mix meant that the number one qualifier - Digger - would get a bye run into the semis. Winning trucks are shown at the top of each pair. The fast loser (FL) from round one would return to face the bye truck.

Monster Truck Racing

Digger's first trip of the weekend to the big dance was shut down by the wiley veteran. In a close race, your champ of the night was the Giant.

The Thunder Nationals All-star Quad Wars Challenge saw Teams North and South comprised of winners of at least one event in the past season form teams that were looking for a final title at the end of the season.

Heat race one went to Team North. So did heat race two - or so it seemed. Because of Team North's captain jumping the start, USHRA official Tommy Mason DQ'd him - elevating second place to third - Team South. In the main event, and on the last lap, team North's captain parked his bike sideways between the last turn and the checkered flag - causing a log jam that prevented anyone else from getting to the finish line. With that, Randy took off on foot and crossed the finish line first - winning the final event. The crowd as well as Team South knew that his was bunk and issued the man to man challenge of a three lap grudge match.

We had some good side by side action for one and a half laps. That's when team North's bike shut down - fuel starvation - caused by a closed fuel valve. Apparently, Randy is in the habit of shutting the fuel off every time he stops his bike. He did so to celebrate his 'victory', but apparently forgot to turn it back on. The runaway win went to team South as did two of the three wins - making Team South the Thunder Nationals All Star Quad Wars champs.

Aaron Smith threw it down once again - busting out a pair of back to back backflips. Check this guy out on line at aaronsmithmmf.com or at a Thunder Nationals near you.

Richmond sure got some awesome drama no matter which show they came to over the weekend. Make sure you do the same next time the Thunder Nationals are near you!!!