Wheelie: Grave Digger
Doughnut: Full Boar

Tonight at the Dow Event Center, five monsters tore it up from start to finish. We started the night with a bang, as The Cannon Lady flew over 100 feet into the net positioned on the other side of the arena. Adjusting her angle by nearly 10 extra degrees, her concern was the low beams in the ceiling. No problem with the beams, but the lower angle meant a tough landing in the net. Jennifer came out limping, but fine – she’ll be back again for Saturday’s show.

Not one single truck held back from the very start. The very first truck, in the first competition pushed the Wheelie to the limit, then brought it back just in time. Full Boar stood the truck up on it’s tailgate, held it, and nearly tip over sideways. Ed Eckert held down the gas just enough to regain control, and land on all fours. The crowd loved it, and responded with a near perfect 29. Godzilla followed up with a 18, before Predator came in close at 27. The final truck, though, would take what Full Boar had done… to the extreme. Charlie put Digger up on the rear bumper, and held it for what seemed like several minutes… dancing the truck along the car stack. Just like Full Boar, Digger began to lean to one side slowly… then, over it went. The brand new body was on it’s lid. Like the true Hardballer… the Wheelie was perfect, and the roll over was the perfect exclamation point – a perfect score of 30.

The downside of the rollover was the fluids draining from the truck. Charlie looked worried, and told the crowd that they’d do their best to get Digger back in competition before the night ended.

In the Doughnut Competition, all of the trucks were able to get it going. Godzilla began with a 17, followed by Rolling Thunder lighting up the track in route to a perfect 30, as he ended up with one tire on top of the crush cars. Predator was well on his to a high score when he found himself too close to the car stack. His score of 24 would fall short. With Digger out of the competition, the Doughnut specialist Full Boar was the final truck. With his custom designed suspension geared for the competition, Ed Eckert kept the doughnut tight, and held his steering wheel outside the window for a perfect score of 30 to match Jim Bendzick. The crowd’s cheering gave the victory to Full Boar.

Freestyle began with the crowd still wondering if Digger would make it back. Godzilla started out with a 18, Full Boar raised the bar to 22, and Rolling Thunder and Predator tied at a competition leading 28. A costly run for Larry Jarzel, as a broken rear axel and lost rear-steer meant that the hometown monster would be out the rest of the evening.

Then the familiar theme song began to play, and Digger made his way to the track. The rushed repairs were enough to put Digger back in to the competition. Charlie was determined to make up for lost time as he just tore up the track in Freestyle. The crowd, happy to see the truck back in competition, stood the entire time, and scored a perfect 30.

In Quad Wars, the visiting team from Ohio wasted no time in upsetting the crowd. With the entire arena’s crowd fully supporting Team Michigan, the racing got underway. Even though Ohio was the clear winner in Heat One, Michigan easily took the points for the night.

With Predator out for the night, the Semi’s in racing had Grave Digger first taking out Godzilla, and Full Boar making it past Rolling Thunder. In the finals, it was as close as we knew it’d be. Digger to the direct route, staying low across the car stack. The strategy would pay off with a checkered flag.

Wheelie: Predator
Doughnut: Full Boar

As the snow began to fall out side, the monsters were cranking up the heat inside. In fact, it wasn’t just the monsters heating it up. We once again began the show with The Cannon Lady blasting herself from one side of the Dow Event Center to the other. Today she had it down to a perfect science. The landing was perfect, and Jennifer was all smiles as she lowered herself out of the net. The crowd, needless to say, was amazed as they held their breath before cheering wildly.

The Wheelie competition began with a great effort by Full Boar, standing the truck straight up and down. The crowd began the scoring a bit low with the 16. Godzilla and Rolling Thunder both were able to ride the wheelie across the entire stack, earning scores of 19 and 21. Larry Jarzel was up next with his monster truck, Predator, and elevated the competition a notch with his score of 22.

The final truck to run would be Grave Digger – but, there’s a twist. Digger’s driver, Charlie Pauken, rushed his wife to the hospital early this morning, anticipating the on-time arrival of their baby boy. As a result, Larry was asked to ALSO drive the Digger truck in today’s show. Behind the digger steering wheel, Larry received his second score of 22. The crowd had to determine which TRUCK did the best Wheelie. Predator was chosen as the winner.

In the Doughnut Competition, we had a near repeat of last night show. Grave Digger scored a 17, Predator received a 22, and Godzilla set the bar at 28. But once again, it would be Rolling Thunder and Full Boar that lit up the track. Jim Bendzick went first and had the crowd on their feet again, as he recovered from a near roll over, en route to his second perfect 30 of the weekend. Ed Ecker went last, and also laid down a repeat of his "30" worthy performance from last night. Devastating! With the two trucks again tied at 30, we would again go the crowd for their choice. The clear choice was Ed’s Full Boar.

Freestyle would take it’s toll on two of the Monsters. Full Boar and Grave Digger both poured it on early, but paid the price. Digger destroyed the inside of the rear axel, and lost all power the rear tires. As a two wheel drive only, Digger could not compete and had to sit out the racing portion. Full Boar lost a shock in the Wheelie Competition, and in Freestyle, he lost another one and his front tire steering.. With the amount of damage, Ed was the second truck out of racing.

In Quad Wars, Team Michigan came right out the dominated Team Ohio, winning the two early heats. With barely a couple of fans cheering for them, Team Ohio did come back and easily win the Main. The crowd egged him on, so, the Team Ohio captain accepted a challenge to put the points, and sure enough, lost the four lap race… and the points.

In Racing, we qualified the three remaining trucks. Godzilla qualified the fastest, so, Steve moved right into the finals. The semi’s, then, would have Rolling Thunder and Predator match up for that last spot in the finals. Predator went sky-high, landed on a single rear tire, and bounced across the finish line for the victory. In the finals, the home town monster truck gave his fans what they were looking for. Larry Jarzel took Predator to the checkered flag for his first racing victory this weekend.

Tonight was total carnage in Saginaw. After three of the trucks spent the entire afternoon wrenching, all five trucks were ready to go when the doors opened. Just before The Cannon Lady again excited the crowd with a perfect shot from the barrel, Grave Digger found that he may still not be getting power to the rear axel. The Digger team complete dissembled the rear axel, rebuilt it, and was just finishing up when the problem was discovered. While the crew continued to work, Digger had to sit out the first two competitions in hopes of making it back for Freestyle.

In the Wheelie Competition, Godzilla scored a 15 just after Full Boar stalled on the start line. Unable to start the truck, Ed Eckert had to be towed back to the pits and miss the competition. Jim Bendzick then came to the line in Rolling Thunder. Determined to take a victory home with him tonight, Jim held nothing back. As he stood the truck straight up and down, you could see his left rear time sink into one of the crush cars. For the first time in his career, Jim was unable to get in back… Rolling Thunder rolled. The crowd loved it though. The score of 22 was enough for this win as Predator managed only an 11.

We moved to the Doughnut Competition without Digger, and with Full Boar still trying to get his distributor working again. Godzilla went first and scored an 18. Rolling Thunder had some trouble tonight, and followed up his two perfect scores with a 21. The competition proved to be a costly one as well. Jim blew the left, rear, steering knuckle and was now out for the night. Predator then lit it up with a doughnut right in front of the judges… the strategy worked. His score of 24 was the highest, and Larry took the victory.

Going into Freestyle, we got the word the Digger may have fixed the problem, and would run the competition. The fans were also excited to hear that Full Boar fixed the engine problem, and would also complete. So, once we got underway, Godzilla hit the track first, and set bar high with a score of 20. Digger roared onto the track, with the crowd roaring right along with him. After hitting the first car stack, we could clearly see the rear end still had no power… Digger was still running two-wheel drive. It didn’t seem to matter, as Digger just poured it on, and completed freestyle. Just devastated, Leanne looked on, and we could clearly see that the lack of power held Digger back, and generated that score of 14. After Predator ripped up the track for a score of 22, the crowd was clearly focused on Full Boar’s return to the track. Ed just let loose, and blasted over every obstacle with sick air. With seconds remaining, Full Boar lined up the stack one last time, floored it, and hit the stack…. And stopped dead in his tracks with a plum of smoke. For the first time this year, Ed blew his tranny. No way to fix this one, and Ed was out for the evening. The crowd loved his dedication and the action packed freestyle. The score of 24 meant that Ed took the Freestyle win.

In tonight’s Quad Wars, the fans could not believe the eyes. Team Ohio just seemed to lose it after Heat 1. In the Main, the captain of Ohio went flying into the tires of the monster trucks on the final lap. At the same time, the Michigan captain spun out on his quad five feet from the finish line, and simply walked across for the victory. Angered by this stunt, the Ohio team challenged for the points and the purse. Michigan was happy to accept, and, take the victory for a second time in the captain’s challenge. As one final ridiculous act, the Ohio team smashed the winners trophy over the crush cars, and ran off the track to the boo’s of this Saginaw crowd.

The crowd realized that these five monster trucks had made the decision to leave it all out on the track here in Saginaw. They ran hard, wrenched on damage on weekend, and continually came back to perform again. In the end, as we sifted through the carnage for the final race, in the final show, on World Finals weekend… we found only two trucks remaining. The Racing Finals were on, and only Godzilla and Predator were left to answer the call. The home town monster truck Larry Jarzel had the crowd cheering for Predator. It was close… real close. When the checkered flag dropped the crowd roared as Predator took his second racing victory of the day.