WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS
Austin Minton and Cory Rummell made a big splash this weekend by driving their Megalodon trucks to 3 wins and 5 final round appearances. Colton Eichelberger was the big winner of the weekend, however, with 2 wins and a jump into 8th place in the world.
For the first time in our short history we had a 100% report rate for events this weekend! Thank you to everyone who helped out! So far since the beginning of the season in October 2018, we have 418 events reported and 52 not reported for a report-rate of 89%. There are still some 220 events left on the schedule and we expect to add some more as the summer season comes around.
NEW MINIMUM CRITERIA NEXT WEEK
Next weekend we will implement a 10-race minimum for inclusion in the brackets. Currently the minimum is 5 races. We use a minimum because it can be easier to maintain a high Average Points score when competing in fewer events, so the minimum helps to ensure fairness in the rankings. As a result of this change, some drivers who are currently ranked may be dropped from the rankings. A notable example will be Dan Runte, who filled in for Larry Swim at 5 events this season. Additionally, with some drivers dropping out of the rankings, this may cause collateral changes in rankings amongst the other drivers. We intend to have 2 more adjustments like this during the spring and summer, increasing to a 15-race minimum and finally to a 20-race minimum.
SCORING CORRECTIONS
Again this week, Monster Jam posted scoring corrections from a few events over the past months. These changes have been made to our records, as well, and points have been adjusted accordingly.
In Tacoma on Saturday afternoon, Tony Ochs did not compete due to mechanical breakage. He had been awarded a first round loss which is now a DNC (did not compete). Points-per-round was adjusted from 96 to 92. Point totals were adjusted for Elvis Lainez, Bari Musawwir, Colton Eichelberger, and Tyler Menninga as a result.
In Tacoma on Saturday night, Austin Minton did not compete due to mechanical breakage. He had been awarded a first round loss which is now a DNC (did not compete). Points-per-round was adjusted from 100 to 96. Point totals were adjusted for Myranda Cozad, Bari Musawwir, Colton Eichelberger, and Tyler Menninga as a result.
In Sacramento on Sunday afternoon, Austin Minton did not compete due to mechanical breakage. He had been awarded a first round loss which is now a DNC (did not compete). Points-per-round was adjusted from 100 to 96. Point totals were adjusted for Myranda Cozad, Elvis Lainez, Colton Eichelberger, and Tyler Menninga as a result.
In Vancouver on Saturday afternoon, Roger Stidell did not compete due to mechanical breakage. He had been awarded a first round loss which is now a DNC (did not compete). Points-per-round was adjusted from 100 to 96. Point totals were adjusted for Rosalee Ramer, Tanner Root, Cam McQueen, and Tyler Menninga as a result.
In Providence on Sunday afternoon, Joe Urie did not compete due to mechanical breakage. He had been awarded a first round loss which is now a DNC (did not compete). Points-per-round was adjusted from 100 to 96. Point totals were adjusted for Bernard Lyght, Jack Brown, Tristan England, and Armando Castro as a result.
In Greenville on Friday night, Kristen Hope did not compete due to mechanical breakage. She had been awarded a first round loss which is now a DNC (did not compete). Points-per-round was adjusted from 100 to 96. Point totals were adjusted for Bernard Lyght, Joe Urie, Tristan England, and Blake Granger as a result.
FRESNO, CA
Tyler Menninga won his 3rd consecutive Monster Jam Triple Threat series championship this past weekend, but it was arch rival Colton Eichelberger making the biggest impact in the MTROC standings. Eichelberger won against Menninga on Friday night and was runner-up to Austin Minton driving Megalodon on Saturday Afternoon. Minton went back-to-back by beating Tony Ochs on Saturday Night in an event that saw lots of breakage and a shortened field. Minton came close to a three-peat on Sunday afternoon, but Eichelberger was the winner, giving each driver 2 wins on the weekend. Eichelberger’s 841 points gave him enough to move into 8th place, while Minton’s 743 points jumped him up to his highest ranking of the season at 39th.
HUNTSVILLE, AL
Cory Rummel drive Megalodon Fire to the win on Saturday night over Kristen Hope and was also the runner-up on Friday night. He earned points in all 4 events and moved up 21 spots into 52nd place. He is only about 125 points away from the Top 50. Matt Pagliarulo was the winner on Friday driving Jester. Brother Nick Pagliarulo came close to winning himself, but fell to Jared Eichelberger on Saturday afternoon. After struggles earlier in the weekend, Krysten Anderson worked out a win on Sunday afternoon over Jack Brown.
SEATTLE, WA
Monster Jam returned to Seattle, Washington for the first time in 20 years this past Saturday, and for the first time all season, the final round featured neither Neil Elliot nor Adam Anderson. Elliot lost by the tip of a chrome spike to Ryan Disharoon in the quarter-finals. Monster Jam timing clocked the margin of victory at 3/100th of a second. Disharoon then knocked off Anderson in the semi-finals when the Grave Digger driver was penalized for hitting the turning tire. The other semi-final saw Steven Thompson in Earthshaker racing Colt Stephens in BroDozer. Both drivers received penalties for hitting the turning tire but it was Thompson advancing to his second final round of the season.
In the finals, Disharoon had an awkward jump after the first turn that sent him careening off the dirt, but he recovered quickly and used the mistake to his advantage by making a slightly wider turn and powering past Thompson for his second win of the season. The 392 points he earned also moved the Saigon Shaker back up into the Top 50 for the first time since February 26th.
LOUISVILLE, KY
We finally have a report from the Hot Wheels tour! Derick Anson swept both races on Saturday in Louisville with wins over Cody Holman and Darron Schnell. Those are his third and fourth wins on tour for which we’ve been able to award points, and they were enough to squeeze the Demo Derby driver into the Top 50 for the first time since February 14th.
ALBUQUERQUE, NM
Randy Brown opened with a win over Devin Jones on Friday night, but was unable to advance out of the first round for the rest of the weekend. Zane Rettew was runner-up on Saturday afternoon against Scooby-Doo but won later that day over Aaron Basl for his 5th win of the season. That effort gives him the 8th-highest points total in our standings and has him now sitting in the Top 20. Linsey Read was the start in New Mexico, however, winning both Saturday and Sunday afternoons, which doubled her season wins-total to 4. She has earned 1700 points this month alone. Kaylyn Migues was runner-up on Sunday afternoon.
SAN ANGELO, TX
Rodney Tweedy swept both races at the No Limits Tour in San Angelo, TX. In the holeshot-style racing, Tweedy was quicker than the Quicks (Shannon and Larry) who beat on successive nights. Tweedy has competed in the final round in every event we have on record for him and is now in 19th place and is only 162 points behind teammate Larry Swim.
FORT WAYNE, IN
The Traxxas tour was busy with 3 events this weekend. In Fort Wayne, Justin Murphy won both events and jumped up 24 spots into 29th. He defeated Paul Craighead in Red Solo Truck on Friday and raced past an ailing Predator driven by Hall of Famer Allen Pezo on Saturday night.
PUEBLO, CO
The Traxxas tour in Pueblo saw Preston Perez win his first event of the season with a win over Ty Cornelius, Jr driving X-Maxx. Cornelius took the evening’s race by defeating Brandan Tulachka in Jus Get Er Done and moved up 9 spots in the standings.
REDMOND, OR
The western leg of the Traxxas tour had plenty of great competition and it was Paul Jensen picking up a win and runner-up finishes. He beat out brother Mikeal Christensen on Friday but lost to Tyler Groth on Saturday. Jensen moved up another 7 spots in the standings, leapfrogging his brother into 12th place. Christensen is in 14th. Tyler Groth’s victory earned him 7 spots and he is now in the Top 25.
ROBSTOWN, TEXAS
Michael Harper and Tom Herzog exchanged wins on the Monster Truck Wars circuit. Harper won his 5th event of the season and joins the rankings in 43rd.
OTHER EVENTS
In Grantsville, Utah, they contested racing but had only 3 trucks scheduled to compete. MTROC rules require a minimum of 4 trucks and so points were not awarded. In Victorville, California, they had enough trucks but this was a freestyle-only event and so points were not awarded.
COMING UP THIS WEEKEND
For the first time in 20 years, the Monster Jam World Finals will not be held at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, but the Stadium Series 1 will be making an appearance this weekend as part of their western tour. Camden Murphy will have another opportunity to close in on Tyler Menninga but will have to get through the likes of Jimmy Creten, Ryan Anderson, and last week’s winner Bryan Wright to do it.
Monster Jam’s Arena series heads down to Hidalgo, Texas for the weekend. In Grand Rapids, Michigan top-ranked drivers Brandon Vinson and Coty Saucier will look to make up ground on the leaders. And current World #1 Tyler Menninga will lead a field of 8 into Reno, Nevada.
Monster Truck Wars rolls into Fredericksburg, hopefully including series star Outlaw driven by Michael Harper, who suffered a nasty crash last weekend in Robstown.
The Toughest Monster Truck Tour is back in action at the Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana with Larry Swim trying to keep his winning streak alive.
The Traxxas Tour will be rocking in the TRAC Center in Pasco, Washington as Paul Jensen, Mikeal Christensen, and Tyler Groth will continue their rivalries.
The No Limits Tour will be in Powderly, Kentucky for two events on Saturday.
Last but not least, the South Carolina Monster Truck Madness tour has five trucks scheduled in Sumter, South Carolina with Illuminator, Mrs. Culture Shock, Nothing But Trouble, Venom, and War Wizard set to do battle.
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
A reminder as always that the most-challenging part of running the MTROC is gathering event results. As you can see, we missed out on two events from this weekend. Our goal is to have all events from around the world recorded and scored. If you attend any monster truck racing event, whether as a fan, driver, crew member, promoter, or any other function, we ask you to jot down the racing results (if you’re able) and send a report in to us via email (staff@mtroc.com) or our Facebook page. Help us make every race count!