Virginia Beach, Virginia kicked off a five-show, four-day monster weekend with many of the biggest names in the sport in attendance. Although today’s show is canceled due to weather, Thursday’s lived up to its billing, with Paul Cohen in Pastrana 199 taking a win over Gary Porter’s Grave Digger in the finals after Porter blew a transmission. Freestyle was unjudged, but highlights included George Balhan nailing a long slap wheelie and save, Carl VanHorn and Blue Thunder planting the truck into the cars on a sky wheelie, and Paul Cohen, reportedly 7-8 feet straight up and down in the air off of a wheelie bump. More details and photos will appear on AllMonster courtesy of Dustin Hart and Trevor Andrews as the weekend rolls on.
Starting Line Returns
Robert Haught’s Starting Line column is back for the summer. This week he weighs in on the World Finals and previews the summer season, and much more. Check it out by clicking the Starting Line link to the left, and enjoy
Cincinnati Gallery Now Online, Photo of the Week, and More!
Check out our Photos section for a short gallery of the Cincinnati Monster Jam from Paul M. Harry. We thank him for his photos and support; enjoy the photos. Also, Starting Line will make its return for the summer season tomorrow!
At Long Last…Vegas
Silverdome to Close
The Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, home to many Detroit-area events including the origin of monster trucks and current Monster Jam events, will be closing soon. Click the link below for the full story:
World Finals 6 Freestyle Champion Speaks Out – Creten’s Thoughts
TMS Milwaukee Highlights
Torgeson Motorsports (TMS) came to Milwaukee for two days of action this weekend, and the first night started with a bit of excitement from Kevin Poore in Project X. Poore stood the truck straight up on the cars in the wheelie contest (see photo from Robert Haught above) and took a soft roll to the right to begin the night. Mark Schroeder and Devastator would win the wheelie contest at his hometown show. Racing would be next, and Devastator would make the finals against Dan Runte’s Summit Bigfoot, with Runte taking the win. Geremie Dishman in Raminator and Devastator would make the freestyle finals after each truck ran once, and Dishman’s hits on the vans and a donut on the tacky track sealed his victory. More photos and coverage from Milwaukee will be available soon, along with Vegas photos and more, but that’s not all. AllMonster.com will be in Milwaukee again for tonight’s final TMS show, and will have the scoop there too!
Las Vegas World Finals Report
We have received another report with some more information on Vegas, and have the racing brackets and freestyle scores for those of you that missed them (original brackets and photos from ushra.com); the link to the racing brackets is above, as are freestyle scores below:
WORLD FINALS 6 FREESTYLE SCORES
1. Bounty Hunter-31 (tiebreaker 37)
2. Blue Thunder-31 (tiebreaker 36)
3. King Krunch-27
3. Black Stallion-27
5. Destroyer-26
6. Scarlet Bandit-25
6. Escalade-25
6. Avenger-25
9. Superman-24
9. Monster Mutt-24
11. Power Forward-23
11. Grave Digger-23
13. Maximum Destruction-22
14. Brutus-20
14. Pastrana 199-20
14. Hot Wheels-20
17. Black Smith-18
18. Madusa-13
19. El Toro Loco-8
20. Gunslinger-DNS
Reports indicate that a majority of the trucks finished their allotted time or close to it in freestyle, and most trucks were also able to drive off the track afterwards. Jim Koehler finished his freestyle run and took a refreshing swim in the rock pile pool. It rained during the entire racing portion of the program, but stopped during freestyle. Madusa had lane choice in the finals against Dennis Anderson and Grave Digger, and was simply quicker through the turn and took the victory. We congratulate every driver at the world finals and thank our reporters for their help; keep checking back for more!
Around the USHRA, AllMonster-Style
AllMonster is awaiting their reporters and photographers from Vegas to come back, and will have information on that as soon as possible, however, there were some interesting stories at other USHRA events this weekend as well, and AllMonster has the scoop thanks to a few other reporters! In Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the drivers’ meeting is just now concluding, and results from the first three shows are as follows:
Friday-Wheelie Contest-Grave Digger XIV
Racing-American Guardian
Freestyle-Grave Digger XIV
Saturday-Wheelie Contest-Grave Digger XIV
Racing-Grave Digger XIV
Freestyle-Grave Digger XIV
Saturday evening-Wheelie Contest-Safe Auto
Racing-T-Maxx
Freestyle-Grave Digger XIV
In the Saturday afternoon show, Safe Auto won the wheelie contest, damaging the body slightly. Reports are that driver Chad Tingler was past vertical on his wheelie, and received a perfect 30, as did Grave Digger XIV. Carl VanHorn of Grave Digger said that no cheer-off was necessary and to give the win to Tingler; he deserved it!
In other action, AllMonster.com’s Dustin Hart and Trevor Andrews have the scoop from last night’s show, where Virginia Giant won the Racing, Donut, and Freestyle competitons, and Jason Childress (Subbing for Rod Schmidt) in Grave Digger 7 won the Wheelie contest. More to come!