The Monster Truck Racing Open Championship (MTROC) is an independent driver ranking system designed to reward excellence in monster truck racing. All monster truck drivers and events are eligible for inclusion in the standings. We gather results, award points, and calculate driver rankings based on a combination of total accumulated points and average points-per-race.
2020 World Rankings
Current Rankings and Event Recaps
Race fans, we have just one more week in the 2020 Monster Truck Racing Open Championship season and it looks like will be plenty of action this weekend with racing events happening in ten cities across the nation!
This past weekend was equally active and saw a handful of drivers making big moves in the standings after wins at marquee events. Cole Venard in Black Pearl was the big winner as he swept both nights of the O’Reilly Nationals in Miami, Oklahoma. Those 584 points move Venard up into the Top 15. In Swedesboro, Steve Thompson and Nick Pagliarulo battled for two days with each driver earning a win. Thompson is now up in the Top 25. Jimmy Creten won twice in Beatice, Nebraska which gave him the highest points total of any driver and allowed the Bounty Hunter to move into 2nd place. The weekend also saw wins from Mikeal Christensen, Mark Cole, Clint Watson, David Olfert, and Denver Echternkamp. Keep reading below for a full racing recap.
This weekend is the final chance for drivers to earn points towards their 2020 totals. We will post tentative final standings next week, but we will continue accepting racing results for the 2020 season until around October 10th and we hope to have the standings finalized by around October 12th.
But remember, there’s no off season in the Open Championship! Racing action will continue on October 2nd and those results will be counted towards the 2021 Open Championship, so please keep sending in results! We won’t be posting updated standings until December or January, but we will post recaps of the racing each week. We’ll have plenty of stats and recaps to share from the 2020 season in the meantime.
===== BEATRICE, NEBRASKA =====
Jimmy Creten won both races in Beatrice and now has the most points of any driver in the world. He won over Darren Migues in Nitro Menace on Saturday afternoon and beat Dawn Creten in Scarlet Bandit in the finals later that evening.
===== CALLAWAY, VIRGINIA =====
Aaron Basl in Xtermigator won the timed trials on Saturday night, but unfortunately we only count side-by-side racing for the Open Championship, so points were not awarded for the events in Callaway.
===== HARRISBURG, ARKANSAS =====
Clint Watson picked up the first of two wins for a Bearfoot truck this weekend, as he drove his blue Bearfoot past Michael Phelps in Monster Patrol for his 2nd win of the season.
===== INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA =====
With the new look for the 4-Wheel Jamboree this season, there’s been an increased spotlight on mega truck racing and monster truck freestyle. Fans were treated to a return of Dennis Anderson to the driver’s seat of his King Sling mega truck. The weekend also included monster truck heat races with the fastest times meeting in the finals. Unfortunately, since this was not a bracket race, we could not award points for the Open Championship. We can tell, you however, that Joe Sylvester won the championship race with a last second pass as Kurt Kraehmer in General Tire got crossed up on the final jump. The Jamboree season will conclude in October this year with the re-scheduled Lima event.
===== MIAMI, OKLAHOMA =====
With 11 trucks going head to head in Miami, this was definitely the biggest event of the weekend, and it was Cole Venard in the Black Pearl who dominated the competition. On Friday night, he eliminated Jon Zimmer Jr in Terminal Velocity, who suffered a wild cart-wheel crash in the shut down area! Venard then advanced past Kristen Hope and local favorite Devin Jones in Barbarian. Tim Jones in Twisted Addiction got to the finals after a bye run and win over Cory Rummel in Avenger. Jones was defeated by Jamey Garner in Over Bored, but a busted drive shaft knocked Garner out of competition. In the finals. Venard powered past Jones in a close, high-flying finish.
On Saturday, breakage in the first round resulted in easy wins for several drivers. Venard once against knocked off Jones, and then added Buddy Tompkins in Razin’ Kane and Cory Rummell to his scoresheet. Zack Garner survived the first round when Over Bored stalled out before the finished, but came back strong with wins over Twisted Addiction and Kraig Champion in Wrecking Crew. In the finals, however, it was Venard again taking the win after a massive hole shot gave him a clear cut victory.
Zack Garner remains in tenth place overall with his runner-up finish. It was his 22nd final in 32 races. Cole Venard moves up 3 spots into 15th after finally getting his first two wins of the season. Tim Jones gained 8 spots this week.
===== SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH =====
Mikeal Christensen tied Cody Holman for most wins this season as he picked up his 21st against stiff competition at the Utah State Fair. The Vendetta driver first knocked off Ron Duncombe who was competing in his farewell event. Christensen advanced to the finals with a win over Wally Turner in Sniper. On the other side of the bracket, another Christensen—father Kreg in Dragon Slayer—picked up wins over Jon Morris in American Solider and Duncombe who returned as fast loser. In the father-son finals, son Mikeal came out on top to earn the 219 points and gain one more spot in the Open standings. Kreg’s runner-up finish was 13th final round in 20 event this season and puts the Dragon Slayer in the Top 50.
===== SHAWNEE, OKLAHOMA =====
After Clint Watson put the blue Bearfoot in the winner’s circle in Harrisburg, Mark Cole followed up with a win of his own driving the red Bearfoot in Shawnee. He defeated Austin Minton in Bounty Hunter to pick up the win. It was Cole’s 1st win of the season in 3 events. It was Minton’s 10th final round.
===== SPRINGFIELD, NEBRASKA =====
Racing on a tricky two-jump track, Denver Echternkamp in Venom picked up a pair of wins on the Nitro Tour. David Olfert was in the final round all 3 events and won on Saturday afternoon and remains in the top 70. Dawson Rayas was the other finalist in the afternoon event and, having now competed in 14 recorded events, joins the standings in 86th with 2 wins in 15 events with his new team.
===== SWEDESBORO, NEW JERSEY =====
Last but not least was the exciting Chicago-style racing put on my the Monster Truck Throwdown crew in New Jersey. On Saturday night, the semi-finals saw a crisscross of teammate races, with Nick Pagliarulo in Kraken beating Tim Mente in Storm Damage, while Steven Thompson in Hurricane Force beat Matt Pagliarulo in Jester. In the night one finals, it was Pagliarulo in Kraken picking up the win, his 2nd of the season.
On Sunday afternoon, Kraken once against got past Storm Damage in the semis while Thompson raced past Jim Koehler in Avenger to set-up the final round rematch. While Pagliarulo won under the lights, it was Thompson in Hurricane Force taking the win under the sun. It was his 5th win of the season.
Nick gained 12 spots with his two final rounds and is now in the Top 70. Steven gained 8 spots himself and is now in the Top 25.
===== THE WEEK AHEAD =====
We’re ending the 2020 racing season with a bang! Ten cities will host racing events this weekend and drivers look to make their last moves in the standings.
The MTE Nitro Tour is in Casper, Wyoming and Nephi, Utah, where MIkeal Christensen will try to win his 22nd event of the season.
2Xtreme Racing has a stellar field in Cochran, Georgia with Jimmy and Dawn taking on Scott Hartsock in the Gunslinger.
The Renegade Tour welcomes newcomer Brandan Tulachka in Get’Er Done as the series heads west to Fargo, North Dakota.
Monster Truck Madness is in Lancaster, South Carolina with a handful of trucks including Jack Brown and Kristen Hope.
Monster Truck Wars are back in action in Robstown, Texas.
Full Throttle Monster Trucks has a 6-truck field lined-up for Terre Haute, Indiana including Allen Pezo, Darren Migues, and Roger Gauger with USA-1.
Versus Monster Trucks will be in action at Thunder Mountain Speedway in Lisle, New York and this event is being broadcast live online for a fee if you’re interested in watching the event from your own home. The line-up is scheduled to be Greg Winchenbach (Crushstation), Triton Robbins (Krazy Train), John Fitzgerald (Turbulence), and Jeff Bursey (Towasaurus Wrex).
Wartburg, Tennessee hosts Mayhem of Monsters this weekend with Black Stallion, Iron Warrior, Full Boar, Split Personality, War Wizard, and Venom.
And Monster Truck Throwdown has three huge events lined-up for North Dinwiddie, Virginia! The Pagliarulo’s will look to carry momentum from Swedesboro against Brandon Budd in Buckshot, John Gordon in Bad Company, Tyler Wind in Walking Tall, Cory Snyder in Toxic, Rick Steffens in Samson, and Jeremy Hosman in Reckless Drivin’, who already has a win on tour this season.
Archived Rankings and Event Recaps (PDFs)
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