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Weekend Race Recap
Friday:

The house was rocking in Grand Rapids. The Thunder Nationals in GR draws some of the best drivers and truck. 5 of the 7 trucks here this weekend are headed to the WF in Vegas. All 7 are WF caliber, but the ones with their qualifier flags have a lot to prove each and every time out. And hang it out they did on Friday. Of the 4 events, we had 3 different winners, and GraveDigger ended up on his lid!! The crowd got what they came to see. Thunder National Destruction!!! Wheelie Scores: Full Boar 22 Captains Curse 24 Blue Thunder 22 Escalade 23 Brutus 27 Avenger 22 GraveDigger 28 One of the home state boys nearly came away with a win in Brutus, as Chris Bergeron received his WF flag tonight then came out right off the bat to show why he is WF material. The dog nearly came away with it as I said if it would not have been fro the GraveDigger. Rod did his normal romp of the throttle and walked the Digger truck across the crush cars and won it by one point! Racing Brackets Round 1 Escalade bye run Captains Curse lost to GraveDigger Blue Thunder beat Full Boar Avenger beat teammate Brutus Semi Final Escalade beat Digger Avenger took out Blue Thunder Final Avenger took the holeshot win over Blue Thunder 2nd event, 2nd winner Donuts Scores Brutus 24 Captains Curse 16 Blue Thunder 21 Escalade 26 Full Boar 18 Ed broke the tranny and would not return Avenger 27 GraveDigger 22 Freestyle Scores Brutus 18 Avenger 17 Blue Thunder 23 Captains Curse 21 Escalade 27 GraveDigger 21 George Balhan and Escalade put on a killer freestyle, he had the fans on their feet, and then they went wild after his run when he took the shirt off his back and went into the stands and gave it to a fan! All of the drivers used every bit of the floor and hit every obstacle. The freestyle competition is a main reason I LOVE Thunder Nationals!!

Sarurday:

The boys put on a stellar show all day long. Massive amounts of mechanical damage was done, over $24,000 in 1 show!! Torn up rear ends, dropped trannys, blown motors, electrical and steering problems could not keep the stars of the Thunder National down. The crews and drivers did an admirable job of giving the fans what they came to see.
Lindsey Weenk and Alex Blackwell split wins on Saturday night, both drivers winning 2 events a piece. Alex is going to be a contender this year at the WF, as is Linsey and 3 of the other drivers here this weekend that have qualified for the WF. The amount of talent and the top level trucks have been giving the fans a reason to go to the WF and at the very least, come back to the Van Andel Arena next year.
Some of the skywheelies and donuts could have turned into metal carnage, but the drivers are all on their game. Michigan has 3 drivers representing in Grand Rapids. Avenger, Brutus and Full Boar are all from right here and the fans have appreciated their efforts over the weekend.

Saturday 2pm Wheelie Scores:
Full Boar 22
Captains Curse 26
Blue Thunder 25
Escalade 22
Brutus 22
Avenger 25
GraveDigger DNS due to tranny issues

Saturday Night Wheelie Scores:
Full Boar 19
Captains Curse 24
Blue Thunder 27
Escalade 24
Brutus 19
Avenger 25
GraveDigger 10

Saturday 2pm Racing Brackets
Round 1
Captains Curse Bye run
Avenger beat Blue Thunder
Escalade beat Brutus

Semi Final
Captains Curse won over Avenger
Escalade beat Blue Thunder Thunder returned as fastest loser

Final
Captains Curse wins the main event over Escalade

Saturday Night
Round 1
Captains Curse bye run
Avenger defeats Blue Thunder
Escalade wins over Brutus
Full Boar won against GraveDigger

Semi Final
Captains Curse wins against Avenger
Escalade won his race vs. Full Boar

Main event
Captains Curse keeps the winning ways going by defeating Escalade

Donut Scores 2pm:
Brutus 24
Captains Curse 28
Blue Thunder 29
Escalade 27
Avenger 21
GraveDigger 30

Donuts Scores Saturday Night:
Brutus 19
Captains Curse 30
Blue Thunder 24
Escalade 29
Full Boar 28
Avenger 29
GraveDigger 27

Freestyle Scores 2pm
Full Boar 21
Brutus 27
Blue Thunder 28
Captains Curse 26
GraveDigger 26

Freestyle Scores Saturday Night
Full Boar 16
Brutus 20
Blue Thunder 26
Captains Curse 23
Escalade 21
GraveDigger 3, yes a 3

Sunday:

With nearly $78,000 worth of damage to trucks on Saturday, the Thunder National officials had to come up with a few fixes. First, Avenger blew the motor in the truck on Saturday night and was unable to return to action on Sunday, so Frank Krmel and Donkey Kong who were in Saginaw on Saturday made the trip to GR to take over duties for Avenger. Take over is what Frank did. He came out and won racing, taking out George Balhan and Escalade. 2nd, Charlie Paukin came into fill the Digger driver responsibilities after Rod Schmidt was not feeling well enough to run the truck. Charlie did an outstanding job, putting on one of his patented freestyle runs and winning the event.

Wheelie Scores:
Full Boar 17
Captains Curse 22
Blue Thunder 22
Escalade 22
Brutus 20
Donkey Kong 23
GraveDigger 26 Charlie and Digger had 2 great hits, but even Charlie himself admitted that Captains Curse's 2 hits AND rollover was better.

Racing Brackets
Round 1

Escalade Bye run
Full Boar lost out to Blue Thunder
Captains Curse took care of business vs. Brutus
Donkey Kong went ape on Digger

Semi Final
Escalade and George Balhan knocked out Linsey Weenk and Blue Thunder
Donkey Kong continued climbing the latter by beating Captains curse

Final
Donkey Kong saved the princess by winning the main event over Escalade

Donut Scores:
Brutus 22
Captains Curse 27
Blue Thunder 26
Escalade 24
Full Boar 19
Donkey Kong 12
GraveDigger 22
The sheer amount of revolutions and the amazing speed, approaching cyclone status, Alex and the Captain were simply amazing in the Donut Contest!!

Freestyle Scores:
Full Boar 16
Brutus 22
Donkey Kong 21
Blue Thunder 25
Captains Curse 24
Escalade 20
GraveDigger 26 Pure Charlie!!!