Mat Dishman has yet to miss a final round on the Jamboree tour this season and that consistency has enabled him to become just the third non-Monster Jam truck in the Top 10. The Raminator/Rammunition driver now sits in 8th place. Current world #1 Tyler Menninga struggled with early exits during the five-race weekend in Los Angeles before finishing strong with two wins on Sunday. Darren Migues picked up a pair of wins on the Full Throttle series while Dawson Rayas was a double-finalist with the Malicious Tour.
Mark Hall was the biggest mover of the week, raising up 10 spots in the standings thanks to his win in Evansville. Matt Cody was a finalist in Evansville and moved up 9 spots. Jim Koehler also gained 9 spots with his second win of the season in Saint Clair County. Bari Musawwir and Christian Norman both had strong showings this weekend and moved themselves into the Top 30.
All Star Monster Truck Tour
Zane Rettew picked up a win and runner-up finish at the Oakland County Fair in Davisburg. He beat out Tim Jones in the afternoon, but spun out in the final turn against Mike Miller in Bigfoot. There was no racing in Darlington, Wisconsin or Jefferson, Iowa.
Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Monster Truck Madness
Bristol Motor Speedway always puts on a stellar event and for the past six years Team Bigfoot has dominated the racing led by veteran driver Larry Swim. This year Darron Schnell took the Original Monster Truck to the asphalt track and was given a rude welcome as Matt Pagliarulo knocked him out in the opening round. Pagliarulo lost to Aaron Cain in semis while Tim Missentzis drove Dirt Crew into the finals with a win over Steve Sims. In the finals, Cain eliminated Missentzis for his fourth win of the season.
Expo Lachute Fair
The Como Brothers came together for a four-truck shootout in Lachute, Quebec on Saturday night. Perry Como driving Loud & Dirty took the holeshot racing win over Jordan Healey in Ridin’ Dirty.
Full Throttle Monster Trucks
In Daviess County, Kentucky, Darren Migues won his 15th win of the season over Roger Gauger in USA-1. It was Gauger’s fifth consecutive runner-up finish on the Full Throttle tour, and unfortunately severe damage later in the event prevented him from continuing to the next stop on tour. Nitro Menace also suffered damage in Owensboro, and so Darren Migues took the wheel of Jailbird as the tour moved to Columbus, Indiana on Friday night. There he picked up a second win by defeating Allen Pezo in Predator who was called in at the last minute to replace the damaged USA-1 truck.
KSR Motorsports
There were four top trucks at the Riverhead Raceway on Saturday night, but as far as we can tell, there was no side-by-side racing and so points could not be awarded.
Malicious Monster Truck Tour
The spacious grounds of the Northwest Regional Airport played host to the Malicious Tour as they rolled through Terrace, British Columbus. Dawson Rayas in High Voltage made the final round both afternoons but could not claim victory either time. Marvin Anderson claimed his third consecutive victory on Saturday. It was also the first time in eight races that neither Bill Payne nor Dwight Mathews competed in the finals. Payne returned to the winner’s circle on Sunday for his 12th win of the season.
Michigan Monster Truck Shootout
The most-recent event was at the Saint Clair County 4-H Fair on Tuesday night. Jim Koehler advanced through the six-truck bracket and ended up beating Paul Breaud in Backdraft twice. Breaud had returned as fast-loser from the first round after breakage kept Samson from continuing and beat Chris Koehler in Axe. Jim Koehler had taken on Allen Pezo in Prowler in the semi-finals.
Monster Jam Triple Threat
Tyler Menninga’s big points lead means that for anyone to catch him in the standings, they will likely need to do it through average points. Unfortunately for the field, Tyler also had a very high ranking in average points, but—unlike a points total—the average can both rise and fall. A few bad nights could let others catch up to Tyler and put his top ranking in jeopardy.
That scenario looked to be playing out in the first few races in Los Angeles. On Friday night, Armando Castro took advantage of hesitant turns by Menninga to eliminate Grave Digger in the opening round. Tony Ochs was debuting the new Solider Fortune Ice body and eventually took the racing win over Tanner Root in Monster Mutt.
On Saturday afternoon, Menninga knocked off Ochs in the first round, but lost to Root in the semi-finals, meaning he had only scored 100 points in 2 races for a 50.00 average. Root advanced to the finals again, but lost out to Buddy Tompkins in Megalodon.
With pressure starting to mount, Menninga returned to form on Saturday night and reached the finals with wins over Colton Eichelberger and Tony Ochs. However he wiped out a turning box in the final round which gave Bari Musawwir in the win and cost Menninga 100 points.
Sunday arrived and Menninga was back on top, scoring both event racing wins over Musawwir. Since the 888 points in 5 events averaged out to 177.6, Menninga did lose a bit of ground in Average Points, but the two wins and three finals at the end of the weekend helped to minimize the damage and keep him well in the lead.
Bari Musawwir gained 8 spots thanks to his win and three final round appearances, which was the fourth best gain of the week. Tanner Root gained 6 spots and Tony Ochs moved up 4. Colton Eichelberger struggled in his return to the arena format, scoring only 1 heat win in the 5 events, and dropping from 8th place down to 12th.
Monster Truck Insanity
Mikeal Christensen and Paul Jensen added another page to the rivalry book in Lehi, Utah. Christensen picked up his 12th win of the season and stays in the Top 20 and is now only 326 points behind his brother.
Monster Truck Throwdown
Jamey Garner and Deidra Ballard swapped wins at the Ionia Free Fair, with Garner in Over Bored beating Ballard on Friday night, and Ballard in Miss Over Bored returning the favor on Saturday. It was Ballard’s first win of the season. For Garner it was his fourth win of the season and bumped him up to 17th place in the Open Championship.
Monster Truck Racing League
The MTRL sold out the Lee County Fair in Donnellson, Iowa, where fans saw Rodney Tweedy pick up the racing win over Kevin King. The next night in Hilliard, Ohio, it was Kristen Hope taking home her second win of the season over Devin Jones. The MTRL events in Bellefontaine and Proctorville did not have side-by-side racing and so they did not count for points, but we know that Kristen Hope and Devin Jones won the timed racing events, respectively.
Summer 4-Wheel Jamboree Nationals
Unlike Lima which saw a three-race sweep, Bloomsburg was treated to three different winners over the course of the weekend. Christian Norman took Bigfoot to the winner’s circle on Friday, Michael Vaters II picked up the win on Saturday, and Mat Dishman beat out Vaters on Sunday after returning as the fast loser from round 1. Although the winner was different each day, Dishman once again advanced to the final round in every event. Those points moved him up to 8th place in the world standings. There are three more events left on the Jamboree schedule in Indianapolis in September.
Vanderburgh 4H Club
There were two big nights of racing in Evansville, Indiana with some of the top names in the business. On Friday, World Finals XX champion Jimmy Creten defeated Doug Noelke driving Smashosaurus in the drag racing finals. On Saturday, Dawn Creten upset her husband in the first round before falling to Matt Cody in the semis. In the finals, however, it was former champion Mark Hall picking up the win in Raminator, which earned him 10 spots in the Open Championship standings.
West Coast Monster Trucks
At the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds in Turlock, California, the Groth brothers battled for the Friday night title with Tyler in Double Trouble taking the win over Travis. On Saturday, Tyler knocked off Travis again but this time in the first round. Meanwhile, Daron Basl in The Patriot—competing in only his second event of the year—found his stride and blew past the competition, defeating Tyler in the semi-finals and Rick Swanson in the finals for his first win of the season.
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