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THUNDER NATIONALS
(cont.)
UTC MCKENZIE ARENA - CHATTANOOGA,
TN - 2/02-03/07
By Tommy Lee Byrd
This is it! The final
show of three held in the McKenzie Arena in Chattanooga, TN for 2007. All
five trucks were still in great running order after the 1:30PM show and
were ready to turn up the heat for the evening show. The format for the
show would remain the same with wheelie competition, racing and finally
freestyle. Virginia Giant has been on a role so far with wins in every
category of every event. Could he continue his winning streak? Let's find
out!
WHEELIE CONTEST
The first truck on the track for the wheelie competition would be
Full Boar with Ed Eckert behind the wheel. Ed pushed the truck harder than
the shows previous and performed an awesome wheelstand. Score: 17
Glen Logan came out next in Cowboy to try and take over the lead.
He hit the cars with a little more momentum than usual and brought the
front end up nicely but couldn't sustain the wheelie. Score: 10
Bad News was next in the lineup and Bruce Haney was eager to win
since he had placed second in many of the previous shows. Bruce performed
an awesome wheelie but the judges didn't seem to think so by only giving
him a 16 for his efforts.
Scott Hartsock tried hard for his wheelie competition attempt but
couldn't keep it going and only scored a 15.
Again, Diehl Wilson would be the last truck to compete and
performed another impressive wheelie and carried the front end all the way
across the cars. His efforts were rewarded with a score of 22 and by
winning the wheelie competition, he would get a bye in the first round of
racing.
RACING COMPETITION
ROUND ONE
Diehl's bye run was pretty tame but it was good enough to give
Virginia Giant a berth into the semi final round of racing.
The first pair to race was Gun Slinger and Full Boar. Ed got a nice
jump off the crush cars and that propelled him to the victory against
Scott Hartsock.
Cowboy and Bad News were next and Bruce Haney launched the truck
hard and got the holeshot. With this style of racing the holeshot usually
wins the race and that was the case here with Bad News advancing to the
Semis.
SEMI-FINALS
Scott Hartsock and Gun Slinger would come back from his loss in the
first round since he was the fastest loser. His luck was about to run out
because Diehl Wilson was on a role in Virginia Giant. In one of the closer
races of the night, it was Virginia Giant taking the win and advancing to
his third final round appearance in a row. Let's find out who he'll face.
What I thought was the closest race of the night was no comparison
to the next race which paired Full Boar and Bad News. The trucks left
together and crossed the finish line together but it would be Ed Eckert in
Full Boar taking the win.
FINAL ROUND
The finals are set and features the unique Full Boar truck facing
off against the Virginia Giant. In another close race, Diehl Wilson's many
years of experience paid off as he beat Full Boar off the line slightly,
giving him the edge and the win. Another win for Diehl meant he was still
undefeated in Chattanooga.
DONUT CONTEST
The donut competition was next and Cowboy would be the first to
attempt a donut on the floor of McKenzie Arena this evening. Glen Logan
did a great job but the Cowboy truck just isn't set up for donuts and had
trouble getting the truck to stay on all four wheels. He recovered but
could never get a great donut going. Score: 20
Ed Eckert in Full Boar came out next and performed some of his best
donuts of the weekend. Once he got the truck rotating, he held the
steering wheel outside of the truck and finally threw the steering wheel
out and the crowd loved it! Score: 26
Gun Slinger was next and like it's team truck, Cowboy it has more
of a racing set up and it doesn't always work for donuts. Through years of
experience, Scott was able to really get some good donuts going and the
crowd thought he was finished but he came back and pulled off some more
tire smoking donuts to receive a score of 22.
Bruce Haney is a master at donuts and his truck is setup to perform
super fast ones. The steering wheel was out the window before his first
revolution was over and he kept the donuts going for a long time. Bruce
finally let out of the gas and brought Bad News to a halt and was able to
take the lead with a score of 28.
That score was great but it still left room for the donut king,
Diehl Wilson, to take the win if he could outdo Bruce's attempt. Diehl
whipped the truck into another tire blazing, high revving set of donuts
that lasted for about 6 revolutions before he had to back out before he
hit the crush cars. His run was amazing and scored a perfect 30 to keep
Diehl's streak alive.
FREESTYLE COMPETITION
Freestyle was next and Glen Logan was the first to make a freestyle
run. The Cowboy truck was running good and Glen was carrying a lot of
momentum. He got more air on this run than he had all weekend long and
more than filled the freestyle clock. Score: 16
Full Boar was the second truck out and Ed was on the gas hard
during the entire run. He made a few hits on the cars and finished his run
with another set of donuts. Score: 18
Bad News was next and Bruce pushed the truck hard to try and claim
a spot on the leader board in freestyle. He jumped the cars with more
momentum and came very close to clearing them several times. Score: 22
Scott Hartsock came blasting out of his pit stall in Gun Slinger
and spun the truck around to make his first hit on the cars. He slid
around the track and got some great air. Gun Slinger was running great and
on nearly every jump, the front end was pointed skyward. Scott even
cleared the cars a couple times during his run, which was a first for the
weekend. When the run neared its end, Scott jumped the cars and just
barely got it stopped before hitting the crushed cars that lined the walls
of the arena. Scott saw a neat opprotunity and crawled onto the already
crushed cars for a moment to end his run. He would be awarded with a score
of 26 and the lead.
The final truck to compete would be Virginia Giant and Diehl Wilson
wanted to seal off his weekend in Chattanooga, TN with another win to make
it a full sweep. He started his run with some high flying action and was
hard on the throttle, making sure everyone could here the powerful Hemi
that powers the Giant. Diehl cleared the cars numerous times, always
keeping the front end pointed up. Making sure he had it wrapped up he hit
the cars one final time only for the truck to get kicked sideways and land
on the left rear tire. Diehl stayed in the gas and pulled out of the
situation and ended his run with another set of smokin' donuts. His
awesome run was the best of the weekend and the score of 30 meant he won
the freestyle competition.
FINAL WORDS
Well, that brings an end to the Chattanooga, TN Thunder Nationals
for 2007. The results were basically the same as last years with one truck
winning every aspect of the shows. Last year it was Pablo Huffaker taking
the wins in Grave Digger 16, but this year it would be Diehl Wilson in
Virginia Giant. My cousin and I had a great time and I know the screaming
fans had a blast as well. I'd like to thank the drivers for putting on
such a great show in the tight confines of the McKenzie Arena. Also, thank
you to the USHRA and Live Nation for media access to the event. It is very
appreciated. Finally, thanks to all of you for checking out another one of
my coverages.
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