Weekend Race Recap
Saturday 7:30 p.m. – An El Paso Monster Jam record crowd of over 50,000 fans was treated to a rematch of the 2008 World Championship race, this time with Jim Creten driving Bounty Hunter to victory over two-time defending World Racing Champion John Seasock in Batman, then the fans were thrilled to sensational freestyle performances start to finish with Dennis Anderson, back in the west Texas city for the first time since 1997, powering Grave Digger to the freestyle victory in the first of a two event weekend on the campus of the University of Texas – El Paso.
Anderson looked like he was ready to go for another Double Down trophy to add to the four he’s already won this year when Grave Digger set the fastest qualifying time for the race bracket to earn the number one seed and a first round bye in the 13 truck field. After completing the bye run Anderson and Crew Chief Dustin Brown realized the Grave Digger transmission wouldn’t last much longer so the icon made the decision to abandon the race competition at that point, Anderson saying that he could have probably won another race or two before the tranny gave out, but he wanted to make sure the crew had time to replace the transmission so he could freestyle. With Anderson out of the way the two competitors who fought it out last March for the world title in Las Vegas mowed through the field on a collision course to the Championship Race, with the crowd buzzing as Batman and Bounty Hunter squared off. Unlike the result in last year’s Vegas battle this time it was Creten who got the better of the rivalry, Bounty Hunter taking yet another 2009 stadium triumph.
The freestyle action then featured huge air and big performances throughout with the scores very tight. Both women in the field, Madusa and Candice Jolly in Monster Mutt Dalmatian finished their runs by flipping their popular trucks onto their roof, but it appeared we might be headed for more World Finals déjà vu when Tony Farrell in Blue Thunder equaled Creten’s score in Bounty Hunter, the pair tying for the lead with scores of 26 and Farrell reminding the crowd that when Creten won the World Freestyle Championship in 2005 that Farrell had scored the same number only to see his Blue Thunder lose the title to Bounty Hunter in a tie-breaker. This time, though, the tie-breaking judge would not be necessary because the final performer of the night was Anderson with the new transmission in Grave Digger. Anderson filled both the regulation time and bonus with huge air and the expected ragged edge run, flipping the black and green wrecking machine as the bonus time expired to earn one more point than Bounty Hunter and Blue Thunder to score yet another freestyle triumph for Grave Digger.
RACE RESULTS
Fast qualifier – Grave Digger
1st round – Grave Digger bye run; Batman def El Matador; Blue Thunder def Iron Outlaw; Pit Bull def King Krunch; Monster Mutt Def El Toro Loco; Madusa def Backwards Bob; Bounty Hunter def Monster Mutt Dalmatian (Backwards Bob advances to round two as fastest round one loser and King Krunch returned due to Pit Bull’s broken drive shaft)
2nd round – Backwards Bob bye run due to Grave Digger transmission problems; Batman def Blue Thunder; Monster Mutt def King Krunch; Bounty Hunter def Madusa
Semifinals – Batman def Backwards Bob; Bounty Hunter def Monster Mutt
CHAMPIONSHIP RACE – BOUNTY HUNTER DEFEATED BATMAN
FREESTYLE RESULTS
GRAVE DIGGER 27 (24 + 3 bonus points)
Bounty Hunter 26 (23 + 3)
Blue Thunder 26 (25 + 1)
Monster Mutt 23
Monster Mutt Dalmatian 23
King Krunch 22 (20 + 2)
Backwards Bob 21 (18 + 3)
Batman 20 (19 + 1)
Madusa 19 (17 + 2)
El Matador 18 (16 + 2)
Iron Outlaw 17
El Toro Loco
Sunday 2:00 p.m. - Having publicly stated his goal of winning the Double Down, taking both racing and freestyle, at this year's upcoming 10th annual Monster Jam NGK Spark Plugs World Finals in Las Vegas, Dennis Anderson tuned up for his run at that accomplishment by taking home the Double Down trophy in his final stadium tune-up before the finals by powering Grave Digger to both the racing and freestyle victories Sunday afternoon at the UTEP Sun Bowl in El Paso.
The highly anticipated race bracket featured the three hottest race drivers during the first quarter of 2009: Anderson, Bounty Hunter's Jim Creten, and two time defending World Racing Champion John Seasock in Batman. Anderson made his only mistake of the afternoon with a slight bobble on his qualifying run, which was enough to cost him a shot at the number one seed in the race bracket, Grave Digger's time trials run ending up two-tenths slower than the lap posted by Creten, Bounty Hunter earning fast qualifier honors.
The racing itself provided many intriguing match-ups in the early rounds, maybe the one that had the crowd buzzing the most was the second round pairing of the two women in the field, Madusa and Candice Jolly. The pair put on one of the days most thrilling races, a photo finish that had to be reviewed on video several times before Monster Jam officials determined that Jolly's Monster Mutt Dalmatian had recorded the narrowest of victories over Madusa in her self-named Ford. Another second round highlight was a rematch of the 2007 World Championship race between Anderson and Seasock, but unlike the year when Seasock won his first world title, this time Grave Digger took the win over Batman. Grave Digger than eliminated Monster Mutt Dalmatian to put Anderson into the El Paso matinee Championship Race against Creten after Bounty Hunter beat Mike Wine and Backwards Bob in the other semifinal.
With an extra lap added to the finale the two superstars who had also battled in a Vegas Championship Race (in 2006 when Anderson defeated Creten for his second World Racing Championship) thrilled the fans with a classic showdown that stayed completely even until the final turn when Creten's slight bobble sealed Bounty Hunter's fate, Grave Digger grabbing the racing triumph.
An extremely competitive freestyle got underway with an outstanding performance from Wine in Backwards Bob who occupied the hot seat as the event leader throughout the first half of the competition. Lee O'Donnell finally snatched the lead away with his run in Monster Mutt, but it was the other Mutt, Candice in the Dalmatian, that wowed the crowd with a freestyle that started with a huge leap, the biggest of the day to that point, and continued the Monster Mutt Dalmatian eliciting even more screams from the crowd with a series of massive leaps, the last one finally flipping her over in the bonus period and Jolly took the lead, a lead she would hold almost all the way to the freestyle winner's trophy. A series of former World Freestyle Champions then took to the floor and all delivered, but Bounty Hunter, Madusa, and Lupe Soza in El Toro Loco all came up short of Jolly's leading score. Soza in particular, wildly popular in west Texas, appeared headed for a finish that would challenge Candice for the lead, but after sheering off El Toro body panels on huge jumps Soza's run ended with a wild roll over with :20 second still remaining on the regulation clock, and the Dalmatian was still in the lead with only Grave Digger left to perform. Anderson was on a mission though and earned his 5th Double Down trophy of the year with a freestyle that filled all of the regulation clock with breathtaking leaps and amazing cross thread moves, Anderson also ended with Grave Digger on it's lid, another crazy flip, but this one happened just as Anderson started into bonus time. Fortunately for Anderson he did not need any bonus points, Grave Digger edging Monster Mutt Dalmatian by one point for the freestyle victory and the Double Down.
Tony Farrell took advantage of an experimental rule change where official froze the clock on rollovers in regulation time, got the driver out of the truck, and officials inspected the machine for any damage to determine if the run could continue. Farrell flipped Blue Thunder with :43 on the clock, and after the truck was rolled over the official inspection determined the truck was safe to continue. Farrell filled the clock and rolled the Built Ford Tough ride again, this time as the clock went to :00, but despite flipping his truck twice in the same freestyle perfromance Farrell fell four points short of Anderson's winning total.
RACING RESULTS
Fast qualifier - Bounty Hunter
1st round - Bounty Hunter bye run; Iron Outlaw def El Toro Loco; Backwards Bob def Monster Mutt; Monster Mutt Dalmatian def Blue Thunder; Madusa def El Matador; Batman def King Krunch; Grave Digger def Pit Bull (Blue Thunder advanced to round two as the fastest first round loser)
2nd round - Bounty Hunter def Blue Thunder; Backwards Bob def Iron Outlaw; Monster Mutt Dalmatian def Madusa; Grave Digger def Batman
Semifinals - Bounty Hunter def Backwards Bob; Grave Digger def Monster Mutt Dalmatian
CHMAPIONSHIP RACE - GRAVE DIGGER DEFEATED BOUNTY HUNTER
FREESTYLE RESULTS
GRAVE DIGGER 27
Monster Mutt Dalmatian 26 (24 + 2 bonus points)
Monster Mutt 24 (21 + 3)
Blue Thunder 24
Bounty Hunter 23 (21 + 2)
Backwards Bob 22 (19 + 3)
King Krunch 21 (19+2)
El Toro Loco 20
King Krunch 19
Madusa 19 (18 + 1)
El Matador 18 (17 + 1)
Pit Bull 14
Iron Outlaw 14 (13 + 1)
