Larry Swim ended his monster truck career with one final win at Mansfield Motor Speedway. Teammate Christian Norman took the first step towards fill his shoes with a pair of wins himself in Myrtle Beach which moved the Bigfoot driver up 19 spots into the Top 40. The Original Monster Truck team was shut out of the finals in Springfield, however, as Cole Venard with Black Pearl picked up a pair of wins and moved up 8 spots into 15th. Adam Anderson is back in the #2 position after his win in Kansas City and Coty Saucier returned to form with a win in Foxborough. It was a busy Father’s Day weekend in the monster truck world, so keep reading to see who else came out on top.
Albany, Kentucky (Extreme Monster Truck Nationals)
Allen Pezo stole the show in Albany with the awesome Predator truck. He beat out Thomas Borders in the new Never Satisfied truck. This was Pezo’s 6th win of the season.
Berlin, New Jersey (KSR Motorsports)
Miller Farm’s Monster Truck Show had a fast, fun straight-line drag course, but we were only able to get results from Sunday afternoon when Brandon Derrow beat out Billy Braukmann in the finals. If you have any information on the Friday or Saturday event, it’s not too late to report them so we can add them to the standings.
Coos Bay, Oregon (Malicious Monster Truck Tour)
Bill Payne beat out James Zyski in Spitfire on Saturday Night in Coos Bay for his 10th win of the season. Unfortunately, we could not count Payne’s win on Friday Night for points due to an irregular bracket. Dwight Mathews won his semi-final heat but was unable to return to the finals, and so Myles Parker in High Voltage was brought in as a replacement. The problem is that Myles had not competed in the first round of racing and so there was no justification for placing him in the finals. As a result, we are not able to award points for this event. It was recorded in our books but will not count against the drivers. On the plus side, the Malicious Tour still has plenty of events left of the schedule for the west coast drivers to earn points.
Dacono, Colorado (Super Sunday Show)
Limited reports indicated that Jacob Ladwig picked up the win at the Colorado National Speedway, but we do not have enough information to award points. If you have bracket information, please send it our way so we can include this event in our standings.
Eagle, Colorado (Checkered Flag Promotions)
The No Limits Tour was at the Eagle County Fairgrounds for two events, but with only three trucks in competition, this event did not meet criteria for awarding points.
Foxborough, Massachusetts (Monster Jam)
After a busy winter season, Coty Saucier was out of the seat all through May and not earning any points. He was able to hang on to his Top Ten spot however, and finally got back on the ledger with an impressive win at Gillette Stadium. It was his 13th win of the season and first since Des Moines two months prior. He advanced past Michael Vaters II, Matt Pagliarulo, and Cynthia Gauthier before knocking off Tom Meents in the finals. This was the first time Coty had raced Vaters, Pagliarulo, or Gauthier this season. It was his third time meeting Meents and he remains undefeated. Top-ranked Tyler Menninga won his first round race against Ryan Disharoon but could not return due to breakage.
Gothenburg, Sweden (Monster Jam)
Neil Elliot picked up another win on tour by knocking off Alex Blackwell in Megalodon. The Chicago-style victory moved Elliot up 2 spots into 12th place. This is his third time winning back-to-back races this season.
Kansas City, Missouri (Monster Jam)
Monster trucks returned to the historic Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City with fourteen top Monster Jam trucks competing in St Louis Style racing. Scott Buetow advanced to fourth final round of the season after eliminating World Finals XX champion Jimmy Creten in the second round. In the finals, however, he faced off against Adam Anderson who raced Grave Digger back into the winner’s circle for the 7th time in 18 races. Those points moved Anderson up two spots into 2nd place in the world. He is approximately 1300 points out of the top spot.
Mansfield, Ohio (All Star Tour)
Larry Swim announced his retirement from full-time monster truck racing and then ended his stellar career on a winning note by defeating Bounty Hunter driving by Rod Schmidt in the final round at the Mansfield Motor Speedway. This was his 14th win in 23 races this year and has Swim ranked 5th in the world. Since he has reached the 20-race plateau, he will be included in the final rankings this season. He is currently the highest-ranked Bigfoot driver ahead of teammates Christian Norman (38th) and Darron Schnell (51st) who are both still working towards the 20-race minimum.
Minot, North Dakota (Night of Fire and Thrills)
This was also a three-truck event and did not include racing, so points were not awarded.
Missoula, Montana (Monster Truck Nationals)
Kreg Christensen took top honors on Friday night at the Missoula Fairgrounds with a win over Tyler Groth in Double Trouble. Traveling delays had kept Team Throttle Monster out of the bracket on Friday, but Mikeal Christensen came out with a vengeance on Saturday night and beat out father Kreg in the finals for his 11th win of the season. Although Vendetta did not gain any spots in the standings, he is within striking distance of the next 6 or 7 trucks in Total Points and could make some moves over the next few weekends.
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (Toughest Monster Truck)
Christian Norman swept the racing weekend at the historic Myrtle Beach Speedway with drag racing wins over Jack Brown and Steven Snellen driving Heavy Hitter. Those two wins and 564 points jumped Norman up 19 spots into 38th and now has him 3 events away from the 20-race minimum. Despite a full winter schedule with the Hot Wheels tour, many of his early events and wins were unreported, so he has his work cut out for him during the summer as he tries to take Bigfoot towards the top of the standings.
Salida, Colorado (Monster Truck Racing League)
Although there was racing at this event, there were only three trucks in the bracket which is one-too-few for Open Championship criteria, and so points were not awarded.
Springfield, Missouri (MAP O’Reilly Outlaw Nationals)
Cole Venard was unstoppable in Springfield and took home his 6th and 7th wins of the season and jumped up 8 spots into 15th. Jamey Garner was runner up both nights and moved up 3 spots. In a tale of teammates, Venard is 7-1 in final rounds this season while Garner is 1-8. Next week the Outlaw Nationals are in Miami with a 14-truck field on the schedule. Two full weekend is expected to be worth 784 points. If Venard can keep his winning streak going, he may find himself in the Top Ten before the month is out.
York Haven, Pennsylvania (Monster Truck Racing League)
Central Pennsylvania has seen plenty of rain this summer and the drivers on the MTRL circuit had to contest with some sloppy conditions at the BAPS Speedway. Kevin King in Fluffy won the Saturday event over Clint Watson in Bear Foot. King was back in the finals on Sunday, but this time was runner-up as Tyler Wind won his first event of the season driving Walking Tall.
LOOKING AHEAD
We are expecting to implement the 20-race minimum by or before the second week of August. Keep in mind that the Open Championship season runs from October 1st to September 29th this year, so we only have 15 weeks remaining in the points race.
Without question the big event for this weekend will be the two-race extravaganza in Miami, Oklahoma. Main Attractions has a field of 14 trucks scheduled for the big event, including Springfield finalists Cole Venard and Jamey Garner, plus Barbarian, Team Bigfoot, Team Scream, and DRF Motorsports. With a 14-truck field, each event is expected to be worth 392 points.
Also important will be Monster Jam in Nashville where Adam Anderson will try to pick up another Stadium win. He’ll have Colton Eichelberger, John Gordon, and last week’s finalist Scott Buetow to contend with. Also watch for Alex Bardin and Brandon Budd who will be making rare Monster Jam Stadium Series appearances and could benefit from a big points day.
Tim Missentzis has been slowly but surely building up his points total, earning points in 5 of his last 6 events including 2 wins and a runner-up. He does not have enough events for the rankings yet, but will get closer this weekend with a pair of All Star events in Lake Erie, Pennsylvania.
Grand Junction, Colorado will see lots of family rivalries this weekend as Paul Jensen and Mikeal Christensen face off against Tyler and Travis Groth. Ron Duncombe is coming off a final round appearance in Dacono and will look to play spoiler.
Brandon Derrow is inches away from the Top 25 and will try to get closer in Imperial, Pennsylvania this weekend. Bob Holman will have his Beast on hand as well as Mike Phelps and Clint Watson running equally-legendary names of Monster Patrol and Bearfoot.
Veterans Kreg Christensen and Allen Pezo are slated for a showdown in Kalispell, Montana. Plus Monster Truck Battlegrounds in Hamburg, Pennsylvania; Monster X Tour in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and Flagstaff, Arizona; MTRL will be in Middlebourne, West Virginia; Full Throttle Series will be in Rushville, Indiana; the Malicious Tour rolls into Meridian, Idaho; 2Xtreme Racing is in Washington, Missouri; and a four-race weekend for Monster Jam in Toronto.
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