Carl Van Horn took over the wheel for team Grave Digger as the Monster Jam Europe Tour moved into Antwerp, Belgium, Friday night. He dominated the competition in front of another capacity crowd at the Sportpaleis.

The only contest Van Horn was unable to win during the first of four Belgian events was the Wheelie Contest, which was won by Lupe Sosa in El Toro Loco. Van Horn then came out on a mission in racing as Grave Digger knocked off El Toro and then George Balhan in Escalade to earn a berth in the racing finals. B. Winston drove Monster Mutt through the top half of the bracket, eliminating first Madusa and then Chad Fortune in Superman to arrange a showdown with Digger for the event racing win. In a wild finale Van Horn drove Grave Digger to the win as Winston crossed the finish line trying to make up ground and flipped the Monster Mutt on to its roof as the crowd came to its feet, the first of many standing ovations the Belgian fans gave during the Friday night event.

Two former Freestyle World Champions, Madusa and El Toro Loco, were tied for the lead in the Antwerp Freestyle Competition with scores of 28 when Van Horn attacked the track with a performance that included everything: huge air including a fantastic leap over the van stack, donuts, slap wheelies, even a brilliant save when he got the truck over on to two wheels but kept it from flipping. The crowd was again giving Van Horn a standing ovation as the run came to a close and the judges all held up scores of 10. Grave Digger capped off the night with another victory in freestyle thanks to the perfect score. Earlier Van Horn also drove Digger to a win in the donut competition.

Gent, Belgium, rider Jimmy Verburgh thrilled his countrymen with a high flying assault to take a popular win in Freestyle Motocross.

RACING RESULTS

1st Round: Monster Mutt def Madusa; Escalade def Superman; Grave Digger def El Toro Loco; Superman advanced to round two as fastest loser from round one

Semifinals: Monster Mutt def Superman; Grave Digger def Escalade

FINALS: GRAVE DIGGER DEFEATED MONSTER MUTT

FREESTYLE COMPETITION RESULTS

GRAVE DIGGER 30

Madusa 28

El Toro Loco 28

Escalade 26

Monster Mutt 25

Superman 24

WHEELIE COMPETITION

EL TORO LOCO 26

Superman 25

Grave Digger 24

Escalade 23

Madusa 23

Monster Mutt 20

DONUT COMPETITION

GRAVE DIGGER 29

Madusa 28

El Toro Loco 27

Monster Mutt 25

Superman 24

Escalade 24

Saturday 2PM:

Only El Toro Loco’s win in the Wheelie Competition kept Grave Digger from a clean sweep of the Saturday afternoon event in Antwerp, Belgium as Carl Van Horn again dominated an all-star line-up at the Sportpaleis.

The second event of the Monster Jam Europe Tour in Belgium saw Van Horn drive Grave Digger to wins in racing, freestyle, and donuts, with CVH receiving several standing ovations from another capacity crowd.

Lupe Sosa opened up with the win in the first competition of the afternoon, the Wheelie Competition. Sosa sailed El Toro Loco straight up and put the big bull at almost a 90 degree angle to the crush cars to edge Grave Digger by one point for the win.

In racing Van Horn was back on top of his game, wheeling Grave Digger to wins over El Toro and George Balhan in Escalade to earn another racing finals berth. After Madusa defeated Alex Blackwell in Monster Mutt in the opening round Sosa brought El Toro out of round one as the fast loser and took advantage when El Toro Loco beat Madusa in the other semifinal. This set up a highly anticipated match-up in the finals between El Toro and Digger. Van Horn cut a great light and made it stand up, edging Sosa by the length of one wheel for the win in the finale.

The Donut Competition was phenomenal. Every truck in the field had a great set of donuts and the fans were loving it. Belhan grabbed the early lead in Escalade with an awesome round of donuts highlighted by the former Rookie of the Year taking off the steering wheel and holding it out of the truck through the hatch in his roof. Escalade’s 27 was the lead score when Van Horn brought Grave Digger on to the track. Van Horn said “every other truck’s donuts were so awesome I had to come up with a way to top them”, and he did just that with a lengthy, high speed round of donuts that almost made the fans dizzy. The judges scored Grave Digger with a 29 for a deserving win.

Wrapping up the day’s action Monster Jam freestyle was also incredible, with Sosa and El Toro Loco raising the bar with a brilliant run, but Van Horn was again able to answer the challenge. Included in the Digger freestyle were a pair of unbelievable saves when the truck looked like it was going to flip over, and the run ended with every fan in the house on their feet cheering, and the judges all holding up scores of 10 each for the Grave Digger, his second straight perfect score of 30 in Belgium.

Belgian Jimmy Verburgh is starting to look like he is unbeatable in his native land, defeating Paul Smith in the finals for his second straight Freestyle Motocross victory in Antwerp.

RACING RESULTS

1st Round: Madusa def Monster Mutt; Escalade def Superman; Grave Digger def El Toro Loco; El Toro Loco advanced to round two as fastest loser from round one

Semifinals: El Toro Loco def Madusa; Grave Digger def Escalade

FINALS: GRAVE DIGGER DEFEATED EL TORO LOCO

FREESTYLE COMPETITION RESULTS

GRAVE DIGGER 30

El Toro Loco 28

Escalade 24

Superman 24

Madusa 22

Monster Mutt 21

WHEELIE COMPETITION

EL TORO LOCO 25

Grave Digger 22

Superman 21

Escalade 20

Madusa 20

Monster Mutt 18

DONUT COMPETITION

GRAVE DIGGER 29

Escalade 27

Madusa 25

El Toro Loco 25

Superman 24

Monster Mutt 22

Saturday 8PM:

Carl Van Horn drove Grave Digger to a sweep of all four competitions Saturday night as the Monster Jam Europe Tour continued at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp, Belgium in front of another capacity crowd.

After Lupe Sosa in El Toro Loco won the Wheelie Competition during the first two events in Belgium, Van Horn raised the bar Saturday night and launched Grave Digger into a huge air sky wheelie that outscored the field, including El Toro, for the win. On to racing where Van Horn remained unbeaten on Belgian soil, grabbing racing wins over Chad Fortune and Superman and then Madusa to set up another showdown with El Toro Loco in the racing finals. As it was Saturday afternoon Van Horn got off the starting line like a rocket and held on to beat Sosa by about the length of Grave Digger’s huge wheel for the win.

The excited fans actually chose Grave Digger as the winner in both the Donut and Freestyle competitions when other superstars turned in brilliant performances to tie Digger in scoring by the three judges. In the Donut Competition George Balhan in Escalade earned a perfect score of 30 from the judges which Van Horn matched in Grave Digger, and Grave Digger then won the crowd cheer-off by a slight margin over Escalade. In freestyle El Toro Loco also garnered a 30 from the judges, only to have Grave Digger get another standing ovation and match the score, then he again won the tie-braking crowd cheer-off.

Belgian Jimmy Verburgh wowed the crowd in the Freestyle Motorcross finals, first with a brilliantly executed “Stripper” and then with a unique move he does where he executes a “Superman” while putting his bike into a tail whip at the same time. He edged Paul Smith in the finals despite Smith bringing the crowd to its feet with an exciting “Rock Solid”.

RACING RESULTS

1st Round: El Toro Loco def Monster Mutt; Madusa def Escalade; Grave Digger def Superman; Superman advanced to round two as fastest loser from round one

Semifinals: El Toro Loco def Superman; Grave Digger def Madusa

FINALS: GRAVE DIGGER DEFEATED EL TORO LOCO

FREESTYLE COMPETITION RESULTS

GRAVE DIGGER 30 (won cheer-off)

El Toro Loco 30

Madusa 28

Escalade 27

Monster Mutt 24

Superman 24

WHEELIE COMPETITION

GRAVE DIGGER 29

Madusa 26

Escalade 26

El Toro Loco 26

Superman 23

Monster Mutt 18

DONUT COMPETITION

GRAVE DIGGER 30 (won cheer off)

Escalade 30

Superman 27

Madusa 26

El Toro Loco 24

Monster Mutt 21

Sunday 2PM:

Lupe Sosa and El Toro Loco ended Carl Van Horn and Grave Digger’s Belgium winning streak in racing, but Van Horn came back to win freestyle in front of a fourth straight capacity crowd at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp Sunday afternoon.

Grave Digger and El Toro worked their way through the bracket to set up a meeting in the finals for the third straight event, Digger having won the first two. This time Sosa found a little extra, got off the line even with the quick starting Van Horn, and pulled off the close win that had to be verified by video tape replay. The tape showed El Toro Loco getting across the finish line just a few inches ahead of Grave Digger for the win.

The Freestyle Competition was also a Grave Digger vs. El Toro Loco showdown. The judges were unable to decide a winner between them, scoring both trucks with a perfect 30, so a cheer off from all the fans in attendance was necessary to declare a winner. The cheer-off was as close as the competition between the pair was all afternoon, and took two tries on the cheer-off to be able to separate the two, with Grave Digger slightly outpolling El Toro Loco for the win.

In other competitions Sunday afternoon Grave Digger edged out George Balhan’s Escalade and Chad Fortune in Superman to win the Donut Competition. Earlier in the Wheelie Competition it was another Digger-Toro battle with Grave Digger winning by one point over El Toro Loco. Belgian Jimmy Verburgh made it a clean sweep in his homeland, winning his fourth straight Freestyle Motocross final.

RACING RESULTS

1st Round: El Toro Loco def Escalade; Madusa def Superman; Grave Digger def Monster Mutt; Superman advanced to round two as fastest loser from round one

Semifinals: El Toro Loco def Superman; Grave Digger def Madusa

FINALS: EL TORO LOCO DEFEATED GRAVE DIGGER

FREESTYLE COMPETITION RESULTS

GRAVE DIGGER 30 (won cheer-off)

El Toro Loco 30

Madusa 27

Escalade 27

Monster Mutt 26

Superman 26

WHEELIE COMPETITION

GRAVE DIGGER 28

El Toro Loco  27

Escalade 24

Superman 24

Madusa 23

Monster Mutt 22

DONUT COMPETITION

GRAVE DIGGER 30 

Escalade 27

Superman 27

El Toro Loco 26

Madusa  25

Monster Mutt 23