Weekend Race Recap


Saturday - 7:30PM- In Monster Jam terms some call the Georgia Dome in Atlanta "Tom Meents' House", and the six-time World Champion proved it by sweeping both the racing and freestyle competitions in Maximum Destruction Saturday night in front of a sold out crowd of more than 66,000 rabid Monster Jam fans.

Meents started the night by setting the fastest qualifying time on the head-to-head style race course, and rolled through the early rounds with wins over T-Maxx and the big Ford's new driver, Carl Van Horn, and the new Cowboy truck driven by Steve Reynolds to earn his first berth in the racing finals of the new Monster Jam season on Speed. The other half of the bracket was full of surprises as Marc McDonald debuted the new Safe Auto Ford with wins over T-Maxx, Cowboy, and Scott Hartsock's Gunslinger the gain the finals berth against Max-D. Round after round the Georgia crowd was treated to close race after close race, and another photo finish appeared to be on tap in the finale when Meents and McDonald were even entering the final turn. McDonald missed the turn though and Meents blasted across the finish line with another Atlanta win.

Onto freestyle where Michigan teammates Chris Bergeron in Brutus and 2003 World Champion Jim Koehler in Avenger amazed the crowd and brought them to their feet with amazing high energy runs that earned scores of 25 from the judges. Rod Schmidt then brought Grave Digger onto the track and laid down a strong freestyle then ended with a dizzying set of "Digger Donuts", but was hit with a point deduction for going out of bounds and ended up with a score of 23. There was no controversy about the win though as Meents then brought Maximum Destruction out for 90 seconds of huge air and destruction that had all 66,000 fans on their feet again and Meents scored a winner with a score of 29. The win made Meents the first to claim the new Double Down trophy, a huge award that is only claimed when the same driver wins both racing and freestyle during a Speed televised event. The Double Down trophy went unclaimed in the first three events of the year in Montreal, Minneapolis, and Detroit, but now will head to Paxton, IL, and into the Meents trophy case, with the USHRA ready to bring a new Double Down piece to the next Speed event in Tampa.

Living up to the name "Superbowl of Motor Sports", several other competitions complemented the monster action in the Georgia Dome. Former USHRA champion Thomas Ray White drove his Super Twister Jeep to a win over Lionel Easler and the Rancho Chevy in the Pro Stadium Truck finals; Casey Higgins of Kanona, NY, was judged the winner by the crowd of the popular Freestyle Motocross competition; Starr, SC, driver Mike Williamson won the first ever Georgia Dome Demolition Derby at a USHRA Monster Jam event; and Koty Richardson won the mini quad main.

MONSTER JAM RACING RESULTS

Fast Qualifier - Maximum Destruction

1st Round - Maximum Destruction bye; Gunslinger def Avenger; Brutus def Grave Digger; Cowboy def Reptoid; Safe Auto def T-Maxx (T-Maxx advanced to round two as fast loser)

2nd Round - Maximum Destruction def T-Maxx; Gunslinger def Brutus; Safe Auto def Cowboy (Cowboy advanced to semifinals as fast loser)

Semifinals - Maximum Destruction def Cowboy; Safe Auto def Gunslinger

FINALS - MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION DEFEATED SAFE AUTO

MONSTER JAM FREESTYLE RESULTS

MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION  29

Brutus  25

Avenger  25

Grave Digger  23

Cowboy  22

Gunslinger  15

Safe Auto  14

Reptoid  12

War Wizard  10

Hot Wheels  9

T-Maxx  8

PRO STADIUM TRUCK RACING RESULTS

Fast qualifier - Thomas Ray White

1st round: White def Chris Ludford; Jason Makuch def Ross Rugg; Lionel Easler def Roger Cardot; Kenny Sulfridge def Sky Armentrout

Semifinals - White def Sulfridge; Easler def Makuch

FINALS WHITE DEFEATED EASLER