
Stadium Series Open 2020 Campaign
Authored by Larry Jewett on January 13, 2020
Monster Jam’s Road to World Finals XXI stretched to six tours as Stadium Series Red, Stadium Series Green and the Arena Championship Series opened their seasons this past weekend.
Stadium Series Red
“Mr. Excitement” Jim Koehler (Avenger) started his year on the right foot by claiming his first-ever Stadium Event Championship during the tour’s opening date at Angel Stadium in Anaheim. Koehler captured the Skills Challenge and backed it up with a second place in Freestyle. The night opened with exciting racing as teammates Jamey Garner (Over Bored) and Cole Venard (The Black Pearl) met in the Finals with Garner recording his first-ever Monster Jam Racing Championship.
Next stop: San Antonio, TX, Jan. 18-19.
Stadium Series Green
After the debut of the BroCamino™, driven by Diesel Dave, the action settled in with racing on the unique Figure 8-style track in Tampa. Morgan Kane (Grave Digger®) put up some of the fastest times of the night in marching to the win. Neil Elliott (Max-D™) showed his 2 Wheel mastery to take the Skills Challenge. Freestyle saw Matt Pagliarulo (Jester) with a spectacular run early on that no one could top. It gave Pagliarulo his first Stadium Freestyle win and those 14 points propelled him to his first Event Championship.
Next stop: St. Louis, MO, Jan. 18-19
Triple Threat Series West
Triple Threat Series West headed to Tacoma for five shows on a busy weekend. When the final show was completed, a new leader was sitting on top of the points as Tristan England (EarthShaker®) outdueled Brandon Vinson, who lost the point leader on Friday evening. Vinson won three of the next four Event Championships, but England was always within three points. Tony Ochs (Soldier Fortune Black Ops™) captured his first Event Championship of the year in the Sunday finale.
Next Stop: Sacramento, CA, Jan. 17-19
Triple Threat Series East
The Greensboro Coliseum would play host to a pair of weekend events, which included a surprise military homecoming on Saturday night. Tyler Menninga (Grave Digger) dominated the opening show, but the Sunday afternoon affair came right down to the wire. A Freestyle win by Kayla Blood (Soldier Fortune™) gave her enough points to tie Menninga, but allowed her to win the tiebreaker because of the better Freestyle finish. This could become a theme for the remainder of the tour.
Next stop: Kansas City, MO, Jan. 17-19
Triple Threat Series Central
A back-to-backflip by Krysten Anderson (Grave Digger) got plenty of social media attention at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte. The on-track story was Colton Eichelberger (Max-D), who captured nearly half of the events on the weekend. The performance earned enough points to close on leader Justin Sipes (Megalodon®), who scored a Freestyle win to help his cause. Newcomer Brittany Marcotte (Zombie™) scored her first Monster Jam victory by winning a Racing competition.
Next stop: Milwaukee, WI, Jan. 18-19
Arena Championship Series
The start of the Arena Championship Series gave the fans at Times Union Center in Albany a good look at second generation racers Brandan Tulachka (Get ‘er Done Second Generation) and Zack Garner (Wild Side), who were making their Monster Jam debuts. Garner picked up a Racing win on Sunday afternoon. Randy Brown (Grave Digger) came out of the weekend with a slight lead over Linsey Read (Scooby-Doo™) as both were able to secure six wins on the weekend.
Next stop: Hampton, VA, Jan. 17-19.