Weekend Race Recap

Lee O'Donnell, a mid-week replacement for Linsey Weenk driving Blue Thunder, was 90 seconds away from his first Monster Jam career Double Down Trophy. Unfortunately for O'Donnell, that 90 seconds was the time it took for Tom Meents to again rock a capacity crowd for another Atlanta freestyle win in Maximum Destruction following O'Donnell's Blue Thunder race victory in the sold out Georgia Dome.

Racing on the new "cyclone" style race course Scott Hartsock opened the night as the fast qualifer, but had the misfortune of drawing Meents in the first round due to Meents' spinning Maximum Destruction out during his time trials run. Meents had things back on track for round one and Max-D eliminated the number one qualifier in the first race of the night. Meents had problems later in the semifinals when the truck lost power during his final four loss to O'Donnell, with the off road racing star advancing into his first Speed televised racing final since he won the racing championship at Orlando's Citrus Bowl almost a year ago filling in for Adam Anderson in Taz. This time O'Donnell was summoned in the middle of the week to replace regular Blue Thunder driver Linsey Weenk who was brought up to Detroit by his sponsor to help unveil the new Ford F-Series Super Duty. O'Donnell proved to be the perfect choice as the fill-in shoe when he defeated veteran Allen Pezo and Predator by one truck length in the 1-800 Safe Auto Championship Race.

Nathan Weenk brought El Toro Loco out first and set the bar high with a brilliant freestyle to start the night's final competition, and driver after driver rose to the occasion to treat the Atlanta fans to a start to finish top level freestyle event. Weenk's incredible save at the same time he blew the left rear tire on El Toro brought the crowd to its feet for the first of several standing ovations during freestyle. Weenk moved to the hot seat as the leader, but his stay on top was short lived as the Monster Jam stars continued to turn in one awesome run after another. Randy Moore's War Wizard lost a wheel late in the run but he wouldn't stop and the fans loved the Wiz's three wheeled donuts.....Ricky Ownley nailed a series of tailgate dragging wheelies before flipping Mopar Magic.....Mike Wine flipped the Monster Mutt as the 90 clock expired on his run.....while Allen Pezo's broken tie-rod and Hartsock's early rollover held the scores down for Predator and Gunslinger.

Dan Evans claimed the lead in his new Destroyer when he closed out an excellent, clock filling run by jumping a bus stack in reverse. Then it was O'Donnell's turn to go for the Double Down trophy, which can only be won when the same driver wins racing and freestyle on the same night in the same venue. Clearly O'Donnell was going for the sweep with his phenomenal run highlighted by a save when it seemed impossible to keep the truck from flipping, and Blue Thunder had the lead and a shot at one of the toughest trophies to win with two drivers left to go. O'Donnell dodged the first bullet when a blistering Randy Brown Grave Digger freestyle was cut short as the Digger rolled over with 30 seconds left on the clock. After the track crew rolled the truck back onto its wheels Brown thrilled the crowd with an encore, not for points, just for the fans, that wrapped up with the Digger on its lid again. So O'Donnell was one run away from the big trophy, but Meents, who earlier became the second competitor to be officially invited to the 2008 Monster Jam NGK Spark Plugs World Finals, was on his game and the Georgia Dome crowd was deafening, standing and cheering a huge air assault that included several more amazing saves, Meents' truck ending upside down as well and the seven-time World Champion recorded yet another freestyle win in a place that has to seem like a second home to him, Atlanta's Georgia Dome.

In other action during the jam packed event North Carolina driver Ricky Brantley took the checkered flag in the Pro Stadium main event; Eric Williams from Cocoa Beach, FL, won a crowd pleasing Democross trailer race; and 13 year old Jordan Rager from Loganville, GA, won the regional Monster Jam Video Game competition to earn a trip to Las Vegas where he will compete in the Monster Jam Video Game national championship tournament.

RACING RESULTS

Fast qualifier - Gunslinger

1st Round - Maximum Destruction def Gunslinger; Monster Mutt def Pouncer; El Toro Loco def Destroyer; Predator def Mopar Magic; Blue Thunder def Stone Crusher; Grave Digger def War Wizard

2nd Round - Maximum Destruction def Monster Mutt; Predator def El Toro Loco; Grave Digger def Blue Thunder (Blue Thunder advanced to semifinals as fastest round two loser)

Semifinals - Blue Thunder def Maximum Destruction; Predator def Grave Digger

CHAMPIONSHIP RACE - BLUE THUNDER DEFEATED PREDATOR

FREESTYLE RESULTS

MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION  28

Blue Thunder  24

Destroyer  22

Grave Digger  22

Mopar Magic  21

War Wizard  21

Stone Crusher  21

El Toro Loco  20

Monster Mutt  20

Predator  12

Gunslinger  8