The Announcer - By Brian Varmecky

(January 31st, 2007 - www.wmtrl.com)

- Huffaker Still Leads at the End of January!!

     Pablo Huffaker has maintained his lead in the world standings after picking up two wins over Michael Vaters in Little Rock. He has won 6 of his 8 races this season.
     Bigfoot’s Rick Long swept 3 from Jason Grill in Salisbury this past weekend, and has moved into 3rd. Long won Rookie of the Year honors in 2004 and has quickly risen to become one of Bigfoot’s top racers. Teammate Dan Runte had two runner-up efforts in Florence and is ranked 18th, while Dave Harkey is ranked 17th and has yet to miss a final round.
     2004 World Champion Gary Porter also swept 3 events, as he dominated the Greenville Monster Jam. Porter is also yet to miss a final round, and is currently tied up in a very close race with Michael Vaters.
     Neil Elliot broke during introductions in Orlando and has slipped to 6th. Marc McDonald is having another solid winter season, and currently ranks 7th in the world. Linsey Weenk lost in the quarter-finals in Anaheim and has slipped to 8th. Randy Brown was a semi-finalist in Orlando, but is currently ranked 9th. Finally in the Top Ten, David Smith and King Krunch finally has his 3 wins from Reno reported and has made the top group.
     Elsewhere in the standings, Kirk Dabney is showing you how to get a high ranking while running at smaller events. Despite running only with MEI and TBO this winter, he has won 10 of his 13 events and is ranked 13th. Since he competes in smaller fields, Dabney will need to continue to win almost all of his events to maintain a high ranking.
     One might consider Rick Raab’s 15th place ranking a disappointment this season. Raab has traditionally placed in the Top Ten in the early months, thanks to his annual winning streak at smaller events, such as Thunder Nationals. This year, Raab has been moved up to the dome series, and has not had the same winning touch as in the smaller drag tracks. This past weekend in Albany, however, he was able to split the weekend with Diehl Wilson.
     The minimum number of events needed for ranking has been increased to 6 events. Remember that this number will increase periodically until we reach the standard total of 20 events. Currently, 100 drivers have competed in 6 or more events. Teammates David Brown and Kirk Dabney have competed in the most, with 13 events each.

 

- Week In Review

LATE JACKSON (TBO) – Kirk Dabney wins 2 of 3 finals, with David Brown being runner-up twice, and Jim Jack going 1-1.

 

LATE CLEVELAND (IMAGE) – Two big air finals, with Doug Noelke and Rick Long each taking a win.

 

ALBANY (T-NATS) – Diehl Wilson beat Rick Raab on Friday, but the tables turned on Saturday, with Raab taking the win over Wilson.

 

ANAHIEM (USHRA) – A wild and breakage filled night in Anahiem saw Phil Foster come back as fast loser to beat his boss, Dan Rodoni in the semi-finals. In the championship round, Foster was to face Don Frankish in Maniac, but the Canadian had RII problems which let Kelvin Ramer take to the line. In the end, Foster earned the win and 113 points.

 

BATON ROUGE (TBO) – Kirk Dabney again wins 2 of 3, with teammate David Brown picking up 1 final round appearance. Mac Plecker in Ballistic got his first action of the season, and won 1 of his 2 finals.

 

BELTON (CFP) – No report.

 

FLORENCE (CFP) – The Winter Nationals continued in South Carolina, with Rick Long taking all 3 wins. But, keep an eye on Jason Grill, who has been really improving his game, and took all 3 runner-ups. Grill is currently ranked 29th.

 

GREENVILLE (USHRA) – Gary Porter has yet to miss a final, and picks up 3 more wins in South Carolina. Rookie teammate Whit Carlton was in the other lane for two of those wins, and Andy Slifko was runner-up on Saturday night.

 

HIDALGO (USHRA) – Bobby Parr is getting himself noticed in a hurry, as he wins 3 of 4 finals in Hidalgo! After losing to Lupe Sosa on Friday, Parr beat Sosa on Saturday, and then won two more against Gary Wiggins. Parr is currently ranked 19th.

 

HUNTSVILLE (TNT) – Devin Jones lost the opening night to Steven Hill, but drove his Barbarian Ford into the Winner’s Circle on Saturday and Sunday, with wins over Larry Swim and Steven Hill. Jones is currently ranked 32nd.

 

INDIANAPOLIS (IMAGE) – Tony Farrel knocks off Tom Meents, but neither driver is currently ranked due to the new minimum of 6 events.

 

KNOXVILLE (USHRA) – While Allen Pezo has struggled with only 2 wins in 9 events, his teammate Dale Mitchell in the blue Predator has been picking up the slack. Mitchell won 1 of his 2 finals in Knoxville, beating out Bruce Haney, but losing to Ed Eckert. Mitchell is ranked 40th and has competed in half of his finals.

 

LAREDO (USHRA) – A breakage filled weekend in Laredo made for interesting brackets, with 2005 World Champion Carl Van Horn sitting out much of the weekend with a broken transmission. Teammate Fletcher Lewis earned 2 of 3 wins, losing only to CVH in the final race of the weekend. Lewis has advanced to the final round in 3 of his 4 races.

 

LITTLE ROCK (USHRA) – Pablo Huffaker continues his strong performance, with two wins over an equally impressive Michael Vaters.

 

MADISON (IMAGE) – No report.

 

ORLANDO (IMAGE) – With Neil Elliot out of racing due to breakage suffered in introductions, 11 trucks competed at the Citrus Bowl for 115 points. Lionel Easler replaced a broken Gun Slinger in the semis, but lost to fast loser Steve Reynolds. Lee O’Donnel upset Randy Brown in the other semi-final match-up, and then beat Reynolds in the finals for his first win of the season! O’Donnel has been running steady this winter, and is currently ranked 11th.

 

PHOENIX (USHRA) – 2Xtreme Racing was in full force in Phoenix, with all three trucks in competition. However, Dawn lost to Daron Basl in the first round, and Adam Anderson knocked off Linsey Weenk in the second round. In the semi-finals, Creten defeated Chad Fortune (the fast loser), and Adam Anderson got past Daron Basl to set-up a great final round. In the end, it was Anderson getting a huge 112-point win over the Bounty Hunter.

 

SACRAMENTO (USHRA) – Alex Blackwell defeated Chad Tingler on Friday, but that’s the only event we have in. I know that Norm Miller and Chad Tingler each had wins later in the weekend, but we need more information to count the events.

 

SALISBURY (CFP) – Rick Long with three wins over Jason Grill as Team Bigfoot looks to move up in the point standings on the CFP Winter Nationals tour.

 

- Upsets of the Week

Phoenix – There may be some dissention about this selection, but I’m going to list Adam Anderson defeating Jimmy Creten and Linsey Weenk as a big upset this week. Anderson is coming off a Rookie of the Year award last season, and was then thrust into the Digger seat when Dennis got hurt. He has filled the roll nicely, and racked up two big wins over 2Xtreme Racing in Phoenix.

Orlando – Lionel Easler in the new Instigator knocks off Jim Koehler in the opening round. In only his second stadium event, Easler knocks off a crowd favorite and would advance all the way to the semi-finals.

 

- Spotlight

     Jason Grill is still relatively new to the sport of monster truck racing, but he’s been having a great season so far on the CFP Winter Nationals tour. Grill has competed in 6 finals in only 8 races. While the Public Disturbance driver has yet to win, he has earned enough points to be ranked 29th in the world, a big improvement over his 80th place finish in 2006. In fact, last year, Grill only advanced to 8 finals in 45 events. Competing on the CFP Winter Nationals circuit has given Grill plenty of stiff competition this winter, but he has been rising to the challenge and looks to be a contender for the championship and a berth in the big show at Pocatello.

 

- NEXT WEEK

- Steel Thunder Tour in Amarillo, TX and Flint, MI
- Thunder Nationals in Chattanooga and Rockford
- Monster Jam in Houston, Charleston, Columbia, Dallas, Edmonton, Fargo, Peoria, and Tallahassee
- Motor Spectacular in Vancouver, BC
- AMP in Green Bay, WI
- CFP Winter Nationals in Kearney and Loveland

 

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