Weekend Race Recap
Saturday 1:00 p.m. - After Charlie Pauken drove Grave Digger to victory in the wheelie and racing competitions reigning World Freestyle Champion Damon Bradshaw powered El Toro Loco to the freestyle win in front of a capacity crowd Saturday afternoon as Monster Jam returned to the Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.
The immense popularity of Monster Jam in Sweden was again in evidence as a huge crowd turned out for the pit party, then filled the seats as they have done year after year. The loud crowd was treated to a great wheelie competition right off the bat and it looked like Candice Jolly was set to grab the first win of the weekend after her picture perfect sky wheelie in Monster Mutt Dalmatian got the crowd rocking. But Pauken was not to be denied. After watching Jolly Pauken knew he would have to go big and he did exactly that, Grave Digger's great positioning and huge air earning one more point that the the Mutt from the judges, Pauken claiming the first win of the weekend.
Onto the racing bracket where Pauken had Grave Digger on a rail from the start, eliminating first El Toro Loco, then former two time World Racing champion John Seasock in Batman to advance to the Championship Race. Waiting for the match-up with Digger for the racing triumph was Dan Evans, having another impressive run in Disney XD. The trucks were even to the final turn on the Chicago style oval in the thrilling finale, and with the capacity crowd on its feet and cheering it was Pauken who powered Grave Digger across the finish line the winner by one truck length.
The freestyle competition had the fans buzzing even before it started, everyone focused on a huge, elevated obstacle in the center of the arena, the tallest obstacle the fans had ever been treated to in the Globe. Evans set the bar high, combining the afternoon's best save with big air and donuts to take the lead in Disney XD. The world champ was on his game though, and Bradshaw showed the Swedes how he claimed this year's title with a high energy, huge air assault to put El Toro Loco in the top spot as Grave Digger rolled onto the floor. Pauken started hot but the truck broke early and even though he tried to continue, Pauken could not do much with only front wheel drive and had to shut the run down early, Bradshaw and El Toro Loco left standing as the weekend's first freestyle winner.
RACING RESULTS
1st Round - Grave Digger def El Toro Loco; Thor def Monster Mutt; Disney XD def Batman (Batman advanced to semifinals as fastest loser)
Semifinals - Grave Digger def Batman; Disney XD def Thor
CHAMPIONSHIP RACE - GRAVE DIGGER DEFEATED DISNEY XD
FREESTYLE RESULTS
EL TORO LOCO 24
Disney XD 23
Batman 18
Monster Mutt 17
Thor 17
Grave Digger 16
WHEELIE COMPETITION RESULTS
GRAVE DIGGER 29
Monster Mutt 28
El Toro Loco 24
Thor 20
Disney XD 17
Batman 15
Saturday 7:30 p.m. - It was total Digger Domination in front of another rockin' Swedish crowd Saturday as Charlie Pauken drove Grave Digger to a clean sweep of all three competitions in Stockholm's Globe Arena.
The dynamic performance was a tribute not only to Pauken's driving skills but also to Crew Chief Coty Saucier, who along with the hard work of other crews pitching in made major repairs to the Grave Digger truck after it suffered rear end breakage in the afternoon show. The Grave Digger team showed it was back at 100% right off the bat Saturday night when Pauken hit a huge 90 degrees to the car stack sky wheelie with some big air to boot to win the wheelie competition.
In racing it was a repeat from the afternoon event as Pauken mowed through the top half of the bracket while Dan Evans in Disney XD dominated the bottom part of the ladders, the pair squaring off again in the Championship Race. As it was in their afternoon battle Evans kept it close all the way to the end, and even though the margin of victory was narrower, it was again Grave Digger claiming the win.
Early on Candice Jolly had the Monster Mutt on top, coming out first in freestyle and setting the bar high, holding the lead almost the entire way, but then World Champion Damon Bradshaw hit the floor in El Toro Loco and wowed the crowd with another sensational big air, cross threading performance to take the number one spot away from the Mutt, But this time El Toro would not keep the top spot as Pauken ripped Grave Digger through a ragged edge performance with the night's biggest air and a couple of tailgate rattling sky wheelies to take the freestyle win and complete Digger's Saturday night sweep.
RACING RESULTS
1st Round - Grave Digger def El Toro Loco; Disney XD def Batman; Monster Mutt def Thor; (Thor advanced to semifinals as fastest loser)
Semifinals - Grave Digger def Thor; Disney XD def Monster Mutt
CHAMPIONSHIP RACE - GRAVE DIGGER DEFEATED DISNEY XD
FREESTYLE RESULTS
GRAVE DIGGER 28
El Toro Loco 26
Monster Mutt 23
Thor 21
Disney XD 21
Batman 20
WHEELIE COMPETITION RESULTS
GRAVE DIGGER 29
El Toro Loco 24
Thor 23
Monster Mutt 22
Disney XD 21
Batman 16
Sunday 2:00 p.m. - Charlie Pauken completed an undefeated racing weekend but the other drivers in the all-star line-up were clearly tired of Grave Digger's dominance and stepped up to deny Pauken any other wins Sunday as World Champion Damon Bradshaw won freestyle in El Toro Loco and Candice Jolly wowed the crowd with Monster Mutt Dalmatian's win in the wheelie competition before another capacity crowd at the Globe in Stockholm.
Sunday's event opened with the wheelie battle that proved to be the best of the weekend with several drivers nailing their best wheelies of the entire weekend. That list included Dan Evans, whose huge leap had Disney XD in the early lead. Then Jolly raised the bar even higher, hitting a an awesome sky wheelie that shot the spotted dog straight into the air, landed on it's tail, then she walked it across the car stack until the truck hooked on a car and rocked over onto it's side. Before the Mutt went all the way over though Jolly was able to use her steering wheel and throttle to bring the truck back onto all fours wheels and the crowd onto its feet. Even another sensational wheelie from Pauken couldn't deny Jolly the win, and Candice was ecstatic, more about the amazing save than even the win.
In racing it was again, all Grave Digger as Pauken mowed through the field again, this time besting El Toro Loco in the Championship Race.
Bradshaw would exact some revenge in freestyle though, using a pair of amazing slap wheelies and the biggest air of the weekend to show the Swedish fans how he claimed this year's World Freestyle Championship, El Toro Loco winning freestyle in 2 of the 3 Stockholm events.
RACING RESULTS
1st Round - Grave Digger def Monster Mutt; El Toro Loco def Disney XD; Batman; def Thor; (Disney XD advanced to semifinals as fastest loser)
Semifinals - Grave Digger def Disney XD; El Toro Loco def Batman
CHAMPIONSHIP RACE - GRAVE DIGGER DEFEATED EL TORO LOCO
FREESTYLE RESULTS
EL TORO LOCO 26
Grave Digger 25
Disney XD 22
Monster Mutt 21
Thor 21
Batman 18
WHEELIE COMPETITION RESULTS
MONSTER MUTT DALMATIAN 29
Disney XD 28
Grave Digger 27
Thor 24
Batman 23
El Toro Loco 22
