THE RACING COMPETITION (continued)

ROUND 2

SAFE AUTO VS. GRAVE DIGGER

Down from ten to six trucks, the first match-up of Round 2 featured Mark McDonald in Safe Auto going up against the Fast Loser Rod Schmidt in Grave Digger.  It appeared that Safe Auto had the lead going into the first turn, but Grave Digger took the turn nice and tight, while Safe Auto went out wide.   As they accelerated off the turn, Safe Auto went too wide to the left having to try to straighten out, but hitting the jump at an angle.   McDonald landed the truck on two wheels, but made a nice save.  Grave Digger took the win, looking very strong on this run.

IRON OUTLAW VS. BOUNTY HUNTER

Second pairing will see the Team CSK trucks doing battle.  Lindsey Weenk looked to continue his winning streak in Iron Outlaw, but would have to defeat his boss, Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter to do so.  It would be a very easy win for Iron Outlaw however, as Creten spun Bounty Hunter out around the turn and was way out of shape the rest of the way.  Bounty Hunter hit the jump with the right side two wheels, making for a very wild jump.  He completed the run, but it sure wasn’t pretty.

BATMAN VS. DRAGON SLAYER

The last run of Round 2 would see Jason Childress in Batman versus Kreg Christensen in Dragon Slayer.  Batman would take this one, however it was very close, and would have been much closer, but Christensen had a little bit of trouble in the turn.  It seemed like the drivers on the third base side of the field had more problems with the turn.  I don’t know if it was because it was a left turn instead of a right turn, or if the turn was sharper than the other, but possibly there was a rut there that was hard to steer out of.  Kreg Christensen still made it close even with the problems.  Kreg would still move on to the Semi-Finals, however, as the Fast Loser of this round.

SEMI-FINALS

GRAVE DIGGER VS. DRAGON SLAYER

The show was moving right along, and the first run in the Semis featured two trucks that had previously been awarded the title of "Fast Loser".  Grave Digger and Rod Schmidt versus Dragon Slayer and Kreg Christensen.  Once again Kreg Christensen was on the third base side of the field and while this time has he made the turn, the Dragon Slayer kicked to the left really bad coming out of it and the engine died.  This gave Grave Digger an easy win, even though Rod Schmidt had a little trouble with his turn, going wide left after the turn, but getting it straightened out to take the victory and a berth in the Finals.

IRON OUTLAW VS. BATMAN

The battle for the other Finals berth would take place between Lindsey Weenk in Iron Outlaw and Jason Childress in Batman.  This was the closest race of the night in my opinion.  Jason Childress takes the win, ending Weenk's incredible winning streak that he had carried into the show tonight.  Jason had the third base side of the field this time and he did have problems with the turn.  But, at the same time, Lindsey Weenk in Iron Outlaw had trouble after the turn, going wide left and was not lined up for the jump.  Jason Childress had gained control of Batman and was in the process of making a very high jump over the cars while Lindsey Weenk was ahead in the jump, but way off balance.  Lindsey landed first, but on two wheels, causing him to lose speed.  Batman flew high to the victory, ending the "Iron Streak", and sending Childress to the Finals against Schmidt and Grave Digger.

THE FINALS

GRAVE DIGGER VS. BATMAN

It all came down to this to decide the evening's Racing Champion.  Grave Digger versus Batman. Schmidt versus Childress.  This looked to be the match-up of the night, but it wasn't meant to be for Rod Schmidt in Grave Digger.  The race was very close coming out of the first turn.  Again this time, Jason Childress came out of the turn on the third base side of the field.  It was obvious he was getting used to Batman kicking out in the turn, and he had adjusted quickly.  Grave Digger took the turn too fast, and spun sideways coming off the turn.  Jason Childress in Batman pulled another trick out of his utility belt as he flew to victory once again, this time for the Racing Championship!!  After the victory, Batman showed he really is in the business of law enforcement, as he spun the truck into donut after donut (think about it for a second, lol).

Congratulations to Jason Childress for taking the big win, as he really seems to be making the most of the great opportunity he was given when he was tapped to drive the new Batman truck.  He certainly looks to be on his way to the World Finals in Las Vegas this year!!

ATV QUAD WARS

We always try to give a little bit of coverage to the side acts that go on during the Monster Truck show, and tonight the filler would be the love 'em or hate 'em Quad Wars.  They were introduced as teams and each team had a captain.  There was the Los Angeles team and the Phoenix team, each team having five or six Quads.  Through out the evening each team had won a race, the final race was won by LA, much to the dismay of the Arizona crowd.  However there was a claim made that they had cheated, so they script called for a two-lap shootout between the team captains.  Phoenix captain won the race with ease and the crowd went crazy.  Phoenix teams cheating complaint was justified with the victory (wink, wink)!!

THE FREESTYLE COMPETITION

Now, it was time for the part of the event that really tests man and machine.  The Monster Truck Freestyle Competition!!  This night would prove that picking fans out of the audience to fill the spot as a judge, isn't quite the best system.  Sure this has always been a point of contention at USHRA events, but it seems to have intensified this year more than ever, and the Phoenix event would be another case study in this growing problem.

Other systems used as purely by fan applause, but these leave something to be desired as well.  Even in the few shows we have been to, I have seen hometown trucks taking events they have performed poorly in.  I feel there is enough media and people knowledgeable about the sport to fill in as judges, making the contest fair for drivers, even those who do not drive the big name trucks.  Having said that, let's take a look at the competition and then revisit that issue afterwards.

For Freestyle runs, the drivers were given 90 seconds to do all they could do to impress the judges.  They can keep driving after the 90 seconds, but can only be judged for the initial 90 seconds.  Some drivers get going and give the fans their money’s worth, even after their official time expires.

CYBORG

First up to kickoff Freestyle was Jack Koberna in Cyborg.  Even though the truck did not seem to be running in top condition, Koberna still put on a pretty good show with his two wheel drive Cyborg.  After Jack’s performance, I looked at the judge’s scorecards and one of them had given him a score of 1.  The numbers read 6, 6, and 1.  If that was meant to be humorous by the one fan "judge", it wasn’t.  Jack Koberna put on the best show he could, with Cyborg running the way it was, and with two scores of 6, the score of 1 was uncalled for.

Click below to continue on with the Freestyle competition!!

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FREESTYLE!!