FRIDAY NIGHT:
The Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway came to life Friday night as the Monster Jam crew returned to the resort area for a two night stay. By 4pm fans had lined up to get the best seats in the house. At 6pm, gate opening time, the line to get in extended back to the parking lot. You could feel the excitement in the air. It was going to be magic under a full moon. Beautiful cool clear weather combined with the great facilities of the Kentucky Lake track made for a backdrop to be remembered. By the 7:30 start time even the professional Monster Jam competitors were excited as their many fans.
Action began early with a Wheelie Contest featuring two hits on the cars by each truck. Only one truck, War Wizard, driven by Randy Moore scored less than 20. Wizard earned a 19 from the judges for his efforts as the truck broke a hydraulic line and limped back to the pits. It was Steve Sims driving his Stone Crusher truck to a win with a score of 27.
Excitement continued in the form of Ultimate Terrain Vehicles and Quad Wars. The Quad Wars contest, the only team event in Monster Jam, featured Team Tennessee against Team Kentucky. It was ultimately Kentucky winning the nights competition.
Monster Truck racing took a toll on the trucks. Dave Rappach and his Rap Attack truck broke two sway bars during his bye run in round one. His problems forced the other trucks to take note of the long, fast, and challenging track. Teammates Mopar Magic and Stone Crusher battled it out with Mopar Magic winning. It was Stone Crusher going to the race finals after a win in the loser race in round two. At the end of the race portion of the program Gary Porter and Grave Digger were in the winners circle.
After racing several trucks have problems and it was looking bad for Freestyle runs. Mopar Magic was jacked with steering problems, Rap Attack was out for the night, and Stone Crusher had drive shafts problems. Monster Jam fans know crews can work miracles and this time they did it again. By the end of intermission everyone except Rap was running at 100%.
As the UTI Freestyle began, a full :90 for each truck, driver Dave Rappach came to the announcers stand to provide some color commentary for fans.
Ricky Onely had a great run aboard Mopar Magic going but rolled toward the end of his time as the track conditions had dried out during the night creating much more grip than earlier. Another roll over by Randy Moore in War Wizard demonstrated just how hard these drivers work to take contests to the “next level”.
Stone Crushers Steve Sims, celebrating his birthday, earned a 28 from the judges after repairing the truck during intermission. His high score with one truck left to go made one and all wonder if Grave Digger even had a chance at the win. Grave Digger was up to the challenge.
Gary Porter driver the wheels of the black and green wrecking machine. High jumps, wheelies, donuts combined with the anticipated and expected Grave Digger driving style brought fans to their feet and earning a perfect score of 30 from the, by now, seasoned judges.
Results:
Truck Wheelie Freestyle
Mopar Magic 23 24 rolled
Rap Attack 20 broke
War Wizard 19 27 rolled
Stone Crusher 27* 28
Grave Digger 24 30*
Race Results:
Round One
Rap Attack bye (broke)
Grave Digger beat War Wizard
Mopar Magic over Stone Crusher
Semi-Finals
Stone Crusher beat War Wizard (losers bracket from round one)
Grave Digger downed Mopar Magic
Finals:
Grave Digger defeated Mopar Magic.
SATURDAY NIGHT:
Calvert City was rockin Saturday night as Monster Jam Summer Heat rolled in to the Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway!!
The haulers rolled in with some of the best monsters in the world…….
Mopar Magic with Ricky Ownly from Elizabeth City North Carolina
Rap Attack with Dave Rappach from Youngstown Ohio
War Wizard and Randy Moore from Bristol, Tennessee
Stone Crusher with birthday boy Steve Simms from Virginia Beach Virginia
AND...GRAVE DIGGER with Gary Porter aboard from Kill Devil Hills North Carolina
In addition to the Monsters… Calvert City was treated to some awesome Ultimate Terrain Vehicles racing presented by Advance Auto Parts. The McDonalds’s Quads invaded the raceway too!!
The Ultimate Terrain Vehicles tore up the gorgeous dirt track with a tricky race course that included two rollers and to chicane style turns……. Wow what a show!!
The McDonalds’s Quads brought Team Tennessee and Team Kentucky together for a wild weekend!! The two teams were nearly dead even going into the weekend…..after some fender rubbin, bump and grind all out quad wars…..Team KENTUCKY swept the weekend to pull ahead of Team Tennessee in a big way!! Congrats to Team Kentucky!!
On to the Monsters…….
The Built Ford Tough Wheelie contest was spectacular!! With plenty of room for the monsters to roam they got 4 hits each for the wheelie contest……… The Monster drivers took full advantage of the LARGE course to give us some incredible tailgate standing, high flying wheelies. The wheelie competition was particularly fun as the race course was so large that the Monsters ripped some great slap wheelies off the cars this weekend. Scores ranged from 19 to 25 for the Monsters but in the end….GRAVE DIGGER , AND Gary Porter took the Wheelie competition with a score of 25!!
It was on to 1-800-Safe Auto Monster Racing in Calvert City. The Monsters had a big night Friday night and destroyed some drive train components, tore up some sway bars, fried a tranny and more….so it was a long night Friday night but the Monsters were ready to race on Saturday!! WOW….. again thanks to plenty of room to roam the Summer Heat fans were treated to Chicago Style Rondy Round Racing….. The course allowed the Monsters to start on opposite sides of the course and do laps across all the crush cars as they did a 2 lap race to the finish!! Up on two……….slap wheelies……..rollers that provided a bit of extra challenge…woooooo hoooooooo…….. Steve Simms and Stone Crusher took it all in what was a very exciting night of Monster racing!!
Let’s see…….what’s left…… Oh yeah THE UTI FREE STYLE!!
All 5 trucks were prepped and ready to go as this Freestyle course was big and challenging for the monsters….. it included 4 sets of crush cars and a twist….THE MCDONALS’S BIG MAC STACK right in the center of the front stretch…… what a great night of free style!! Each Monster was given 90 seconds to let er rip…….and guess what….they did!!
These guys took the big bad boys through their paces and continued the “Decade of Destruction” right here in Calvert City. War Wizard led things off and had a great run…although a bit shortened by a mechanical issue….but while he was out there….slap wheelie heaven….in particular Randy had it dialed in tonight for those slap wheelies!!
All 5 trucks did an awesome job and the UTI free style went down to the wire. When Digger hit the track his friend Steve Simms had already set the bar at 28…….Digger did his free style and about two minutes more……what a show in Calvert City. Despite his best and I mean a GREAT effort Gary and Grave Digger came up one point short of the tie and two points shy for the win. Steve Simms and Stone Crusher had an incredible UTI Freestyle and took the session with a score of 28.
Thanks to everyone for coming out and celebrating a “Decade of Destruction” with us in Calvert City. Can’t wait to get back there next year and have a party with you guys!!
Mitch
