THE FREESTYLE COMPETITION

This show started with Monster Truck Freestyle.  The crowd would again be determining the winner.  First out was Holman's Beast and Bobby had gotten his truck fixed and came out charging.  He carried good momentum and did some good wheelies.  He also hit the three-car setup for Freestyle.  He hit it once and got stuck, then backed off of it and hit it harder to get over the obstacle.  Overall, a very good run from Bobby Holman.

Mac Plecker was up next in Ballistic.  Mac kept good momentum and got some good air, but he didn't hit the other freestyle obstacle out there which might have hurt his score.

Cowboy came out next and had a good run but didn't do anything really exciting or different.

Next up was Shane Smith in Venom.  He started off with a good sky wheelie and then hit the two-car set from the back-side and did a really nice sky wheelie.  He circled around and did the same thing again doing an even better sky wheelie and landing past the two cars on the rear wheels.  Shane had a very good run in Venom.

The rookie, Keith Sturgeon came out next and carried more momentum than anyone so far.  He got some really good air off the crush cars clearing all five of them.  He then came around to the three-car Freestyle setup, hit it and performed a nice sky wheelie.

Scott Hartsock came out last and really put on a show.  He came out flying and got some great air off the cars even though they had been mashed down a lot.  He made a few passes at the cars and then went into a set of very dusty donuts on the far end of the track.  He went to the starting line area and tried a donut there but the truck was hooking to good and the truck wouldn't break loose.  He hit the cars one last time and that ended his Freestyle run.

The crowd cheer-off decided who won and Scott Hartsock and the Gun Slinger came out on top.  Side by side racing is up next!!

THE RACING COMPETITION

The first race paired up Holman's Beast against Cowboy.  Steve Reynolds just couldn't get it lined up fast enough for the second set of cars and that let Bobby Holman take the win.

Next was supposed to be Bigfoot vs. Ballistic.  After testing the RII, Ballistic had a problem with the starter and the truck wouldn't fire back up.  So that gave Keith a bye run in Bigfoot.

Venom and Gun Slinger were up next to do battle and Venom came out on top in a very close race.

The loser's bracket was next and that put Ballistic who got the starter fixed against Cowboy.  Mac took it easy on the first set and got settled down quicker than Steve which gave Ballistic the advantage and the win.

The first half of the Semi-Finals had Gun Slinger going against Holman's Beast.  Gun Slinger had a good run and came away with the win and advanced to the Finals.

The second half matched up Bigfoot and Venom.  Shane Smith gave it everything he had but Keith just got Bigfoot settled down quicker in between the two sets of cars.  Keith advanced on to the Finals.

This would be the Final race of the day and it was the rookie going against the veteran.  It was a close run but Keith Sturgeon came out on top with Scott Hartsock following very close behind.  You can't see Gun Slinger in the picture but he's on the far side and just got beat by a tire's length.

That concluded the Monster Trucks Gone Wild show in Jasper, TN.  After the finals, there was another autograph session and I said farewell and headed back to Dayton.  I had fun, for sure.  I liked the laid-back atmosphere of this show, and a big thanks to the promoters for their hospitality.  Hanging out with the drivers was also very cool.  Plus, I got to meet Eric Meagher, who is a super nice guy and used to be one of my favorite Bigfoot drivers.  I hope you enjoyed this coverage, I'm just happy I got some good pictures!!  Thanks for reading, and be sure to stop by the Fan Forum and let me know what you thought!!
 

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