FREESTYLE COMPETITION (continued)

AVENGER

Jim Koehler came out in Avenger and put on a heck of a show.  Jim got huge air over the cars and even bigger air over the bus.  The truck was landing really well and handling everything Jim was throwing at it.  He hit the FMX hill and got big air off of it too!!  I noticed towards the end of his run that the rear steer wasn't returning to center.  Jim dealt with it and kept on going.  He then hit the crush cars sideways and hit the bus from the backside and parked it on top to end his run!!  His run was scored and he got a 25, which tied him for the lead with his teammate.

GRAVE DIGGER

Next out would be the legendary Grave Digger.  Rod Schmidt had a good run, but it was lacking that "wow" factor.  But then Rod changed that with a killer set of donuts that lasted for about 20 seconds.  He did some good sky wheelies during his run also.  There were no really wild moments during his freestyle aside from the donut, and he only scored a 23.

MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION

Tom Meents in Max D came out flying and got crazy air off of everything.  He hit the crush cars with tons of momentum and hit the busses very hard.  He hit the FMX hill with a lot of speed and got much more air than anyone else.  Max D actually hit Grave Digger a couple times during the run.  Meents also had a couple great saves during the run.  He drove onto the pro arena truck course and hit the double backwards which put him in a pretty good wheelie.  He came around and I knew what he was gonna do.  He hit the bus stack sideways and flipped the truck over backwards, ending his run!! Without a doubt, this was the best run of the night and the scores showed.  Tom scored a 29 for his efforts, winning the Freestyle competition, and becoming the first winner of the 2006 Monster Jam "Double Down" trophy!!

THE FINAL WORDS

In conclusion, I've got to say that this was a great show!!  Excellent racing action including some wild runs and quite a few photo finishes, and Freestyle was great with several wild runs.  I enjoyed myself and I believe my dad did too.  Also, I am definately glad that I got some pretty good pictures too.  I am happy with the pictures but I believe there is a lot of room for improvement.  My next coverage will be from Chattanooga, TN at the Thunder Nationals in February.  I'm excited about that show....it'll be good.  Thanks for viewing!!

PICTURES & COVERAGE BY TOMMY LEE BYRD

Just wanted to send out a special thanks to all the folks from Live Nation Motorsports who helped arrange for our access to the event and who did a fantastic job putting together yet another awesome Monster Truck event.  Also, a big thanks to Tommy for his great work on this coverage, and to all the drivers and crews for putting on a heck of a show!!  I hope everybody enjoyed our latest coverage, please leave Tommy some feedback on the Fan Forum!!  Thanks!! - Ross Z. Bonar, The Monster Blogger

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