Weekend Race Recap

Thunder Nationals back in Pensacola

By: Joe Lowe

The night began with Charlie Pauken rolling Grave Digger in the opening moments of Thunder Nationals friday night in the Pensacola Civic Center. Charlie was attempting to do a few donuts for the fans only to have the tires hook up a bit too well throwing the truck into roll rather than a cyclone or donut. One should have known by that first move things were going to be crazy the rest of the night.

Grave Digger made an incredible recovery from the mishap in intros to come back strong to dominate the first half of the Thunder National event. He won the first contest, wheelie, by just a couple of points over Taz. Grave Digger had Taz driven by Adam Anderson hot on his tail the entire night. Everywhere Charlie Pauken and Team Grave Digger looked Taz was right there on his heels. Digger won racing and the Donut Contest but could not get a clean sweep after falling to Taz in the Monster Freestyle competition.

Highlights of the night, other than Grave Diggers roll during intros, included Scott Hartsock's Gunslinger losing an entire wheel in the freestyle competition. The big Ford landed hard during his cross lane jump in the :60 run.  Landing hard the tire weighing in at close to 900 lbs rolled into the tunnel before coming to a rest along the wall. Nobody was hurt but everyone is a bit more aware of those hard landings now. Hartsock vowed to have Gunslinger fixed and ready for the 7:30pm Saturday event.

Thunder National fans were also treated to Quad Wars where both Team Georgia and Team Florida squared off. Team Florida battled their way to victory earning enough points to be in the lead nationally.

King Krunch driven by David Smith was given the Qualifier flag during ceremonies before the event.

Another great event was BMX competition featuring the best of the best.

Jody Donally, Tyler Sparr and Bryan Perscott brought fans to their feet with the BMX demo sure to please anyone. While we will NOT give out secrets it have been reported that several folks side who are in the know, that this BMX team is one of the finest touring today.

Results:

Truck                           Wheelie                     Donut                  Freestyle

King Krunch                   18                            24                       16

Air Force                      18                            19                        21

Gunslinger                    13                            8                          15

Donkey Kong                16                            7                          20

Taz                            23                            26                         24

Grave Digger                25                            29                         22

Racing Results: 

Round One:

Grave Digger defeated Gunslinger

Air Force beat King Krunch

Taz defeated Donkey Kong

Round Two (Semi-Finals)

Grave Digger beat round one Fast Loser King Krunch

Taz downed Airforce

Final:

Grave Digger beat Taz.

The Southern Ford Dealers and Subway Sandwich Restaurants Thunder Nationals will resume again Saturday afternoon in the Civic Center.

Saturday Night Thunder Nationals Rocks The Pensacola Civic Center

By: Joe Lowe

It began with a sold out crowd and ended with the sold out crowd cheering for more more more. It was a Thunder Nationals event for the history books as four qualifiers for the NGK Spark Plugs World Finals in Las Vegas in three weeks showed why they were deemed among the best in the world. From the beginning it was every man for himself on the track with competition lively and spirited. The donut contest showed fans early that all competitors had a goal to win and win big. Grave Digger driven by Charlie Pauken got the only perfect 30 of the night with his wheelie squeezing by Adam Anderson aboard Taz.

Taz evened the score in the donut contest beating David Smith aboard King Krunch by a point. Taz also dominated at the end of the evening with the Freestyle competition win.

Frank Krmel scored high in every contest driving Donkey Kong hard and impressing the fans as well as the other competitors.

Tough break of the night went to Charlie Pauken and Grave Digger who spun a tranny in the donut contest and could not return for Freestyle. In fact, Grave Digger only scored an 8 in the donut contest.

The freestyle competition was tough on several trucks. King Krunch locked up the right rear tire forcing him out of competition with a low score of 6. Gunslinger had the drivers side front go flat with another low score of 12.

The night featured BMX's Jody Donally, Bryan Prescott and Tyler Sparr. Backflips by all three riders ended the BMX portion with everyone standing. Quad Wars Team Florida was the winner.

Results:

Truck                    Wheelie                         Donut                Freestyle

King Krunch            19                                26                     6 broke

Air Force               19                                24                      24

Gunslinger             12                                18                      12 broke

Donkey Kong         20                                18                       20

Taz                     28                                27*                     27*

Grave Digger         30 *                             8                        broke

Race Results:

Round One:

Grave Digger beat Airforce

Donkey Kong over Gunslinger

King Krunch defeated Taz

Semi-Finals:

Grave Digger beat Gunslinger (round one fast loser)

Donkey Kong over King Krunch

Finals:

Grave Digger beat Donkey Kong