This Week in Monster Truck Racing - April 16-19, 2026

=== This Week in Monster Truck Racing ===

* Armando Castro wins 7^th bracket in last 10 races

** Anthony Brunner sweeps inaugural Crush Zone event

*** Colt Stephens stays hot with 2^nd Stadium win in 3 weeks

CURRENT STANDINGS and WEEKEND RESULTS (PDF): https://tinyurl.com/mtroc250421

BLOG POST RECAP: https://www.mtroc.com/blog

===== WEEKEND RECAP FOR APRIL 16^th – 19^th, 2026 =====

Lots of interesting news from this weekend.

Armando Castro has been on a late-season tear, winning 7 of the last 10 Arena West events as he ventured from Vancouver to Mississippi via Des Moines. He is up to 15^th now in the Open Championship. The only one able to beat Castro this weekend was Matt Cody, and the only other driver to win was Cliff Turner who picked up his 2^nd career Monster Jam bracket victory.

On the Stadium East Series, Colt Stephens picked up his 2^nd Stadium win in 3 weeks and has been looking strong over the past couple months. On Stadium West, Zack Garner reprised his performance from New Orleans with another last-second come-from-behind win, this time against Ryan Anderson in Nashville.

The brand-new Crush Zone tour had their first event in Puyallup, Washington this weekend and Anthony Brunner in Crash Test Dummy dominated the asphalt holeshot racing, picking up both wins. The Monster Truck Roundup tour also kicked off, but did not include a bracket, so we could not award points.

Kaley Engstrom is up to 17 wins, which beats her career best of 15 from last year, and is the most wins in a single season by a female driver in our 7 years of the Open Championship. The eastern Monster Truck Wars tour had two sell-out crowds in Manassas watch Devin Jones and Jerry Furajter continue their feud as they exchanged wins on the two-jump drag track.

Paul Craighead broke his 3-race runner-up streak with a 3-race, 2-city winning streak with the X-Tour. Donald Epidendio swept both Malicious Tour events at the All American Speedway in Roseville. This weekend also saw David Olfert, Kory Kinal, and Jeremiah Parah pick up wins with the Renegade and 2X Live tour.

Thank you to everyone who has helped us with reporting events this week: Kaley Engstrom, Stanley Hernandez, Nick Jones, Nick Wishard, Preston Perez, Nate Bay, Brett Mason, Alex Foster, Tyler Wicklander, B.k. Moody, and everyone who posted videos and photos online!

See the bottom of this post for links to YouTube coverage from this weekend.

===== CURRENT STANDINGS =====

RANK : DRIVER : PTS/AVG : SCORE : RACES/WINS

-----------------------------------------------------------

1 ) Tyler Menninga - 7229/314.3 : 5+1=6 : 23/11

2 ) Coty Saucier - 8118/208.15 : 4+6=10 : 39/16

3 ) Jon Zimmer Jr - 9368/191.18 : 2+8=10 : 49/19

4 ) Blake Granger - 11205/164.78 : 1+15=16 : 68/23

5 ) Ryan Anderson - 4922/223.73 : 14+4=18 : 22/4

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6 ) David Olfert - 4521/237.95 : 17+2=19 : 19/13

7 ) Adam Anderson - 5309/183.07 : 10+10=20 : 29/7

8 ) Weston Anderson - 5768/180.25 : 9+11=20 : 32/14

9 ) Zack Garner - 4682/212.82 : 16+5=21 : 22/2

10) Bill Payne - 6047/177.85 : 8+13=21 : 34/16

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11) Alex Bardin - 8315/140.93 : 3+18=21 : 59/13

12) Camden Murphy - 4738/206.00 : 15+7=22 : 23/8

13) Colt Stephens - 4953/183.44 : 13+9=22 : 27/6

14) Donald Epidendio - 3905/229.71 : 23+3=26 : 17/11

15) Armando Castro - 7149/129.98 : 6+21=27 : 55/12

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16) Tristan England - 4435/177.4 : 18+14=32 : 25/4

17) Triton Robbins - 5053/123.24 : 12+23=35 : 41/5

18) Matt Cody - 6437/110.98 : 7+29=36 : 58/8

19) Jimmy Creten - 3562/178.1 : 26+12=38 : 20/14

20) Dalton Widner - 3850/160.42 : 24+16=40 : 24/1

===== BIGGEST IMPROVEMENTS =====

+10 – Michael Pagliarulo (Excaliber) – 52^nd

+4 – Jerry Furajter (Shark Attack) – 26^th 

+3 – Zack Garner (Wild Side) – 9^th 

+3 – Cliff Turner (Velociraptor) – 39^th 

+3 – Cory Rummell (Ringling Bailey Circuit) – 43^rd

===== NEWLY RANKED =====

63^rd - Austin Minton (Brutal)

65^th - Paul Craighead (Bear Foot)

70^th - Jeremiah Paras (Shark Bite)

===== COLUMBIA, SC =====

This Monster Jam Arena Series event did not include side-by-side racing and so points were not awarded

===== GEORGETOWN, DE =====

The Monster Truck Roundup tour run by Bill Braukmann kicked off their first full season at Georgetown Speedway in Delaware with 6 top trucks. The racing for this weekend was run with qualifying heats and the fastest two trucks going directly to the finals, and since this was not a bracket we could not score the event for points. The three final rounds saw Justin Perkins in Backdraft and Brandon Derrow in Bad News Travels Fast split the two Saturday races followed up Perkins defeating Jessica Millard in Be Aware in the weekend finale on Sunday.

===== GRASS VALLEY, CA =====

4/18 Sat Aft: KALEY ENGSTROM [Shark Attack] defeated Colton Fowler [T-Rex]

4/18 Sat Ngt: KALEY ENGSTROM [Shark Attack] defeated Colton Fowler [T-Rex]

Kaley Engstrom is the winner of 4 of the last 5 Monster Truck Wars races and appears to have the Shark dialed in now. She won both of the Chicago-style races in Grass Valley, putting her up in 35^th rank in the Open Championship. Her 17 wins this season is already ahead of her total of 15 wins from last season and is now the new single-season record for women drivers in the Open Championship!

Colton Fowler was runner-up both times in Grass Valley and has been to the finals in 10 of his last 11 events.

===== HAMILTON, ON =====

This Monster Jam Arena Series event did not include side-by-side racing and so points were not awarded

===== LANCASTER, CA =====

4/19 Sun Ngt: PAUL CRAIGHEAD [Bear Foot] defeated Stanley Hernandez [Werewolf]

After a two-race day in Ridgecrest, California on Saturday, the Monster X crew loaded up and headed 90 south to the Poppy Festival in Lancaster for a Sunday race. Paul Craighead took the change of scenery in stride and swept the weekend, giving him 5 wins this season.

===== MANASSAS, VA =====

4/18 Sat Aft: DEVIN JONES [T-Rex] defeated Jerry Furajter [Shark Attack]

4/19 Sun Aft: JERRY FURAJTER [Shark Attack] defeated Devin Jones [T-Rex]

The Monster Truck Wars tour had two big sell-out crowds in Manassas, Virginia and the fans got to see not only exciting two-jump drag racing but also Colten Budd debuting the new version of Equalizer. While the introduction of a 5^th truck to the usual 4-truck bracket gave the tour a different look with some new match-ups, the finals came down to the two usual rivals in Devin Jones and Jerry Furajter. They each won once.

This was the 9^th time in the past 10 races that these two have been in the finals together. So far this season, Furajter leads the head-to-head racing 15-10 based on the reports we have received.  

===== MEXICO CITY, MEXICO =====

This Hot Wheels Live event did not include side-by-side racing and so points were not awarded

===== NASHVILLE, TN =====

4/18 Sat Aft: ZACK GARNER [Wild Side] defeated Ryan Anderson [Son-Uva Digger]

Thrilling racing in Nashville this weekend as Zack Garner came from behind on the final jump to beat Ryan Anderson in the finals! World #1 Tyler Menninga had his string of 8-consecutive Stadium Series finals broken by a roll-over in the final turn of his quarter-final race against Sparkle Smash. Last weekend’s surprise finalist Jamey Garner met the same fate in the first round.

In the finals, Anderson and Garner were even heading into the final turn. Anderson took the short path while Garner swung out a bit wider and built speed. Anderson then got slowed up by clipping the center freestyle ramp, which let Garner fly past at the last second for the win, reminiscent of his victory a few weeks ago over Tyler Menninga in the memorable New Orleans race.

With the win, Garner gained 3 spots in the Open Championship and returns to the Top Ten.

===== OLD WASHINGTON, OH =====

4/18 Sat Aft: DAVID OLFERT [Dirt Crew] defeated Preston Pérez [Velociraptor]

The Renegade Tour continued their summer season in Ohio this weekend with Chicago-style racing. David Olfert and Preston Perez made it through the field to meet in the finals. It was their 8^th head-to-head match-up this season and ended the same way the first seven did with Olfert taking the win.

Olfert is having his best season in 7 years of the Open Championship. He has 13 wins, which is his 3^rd best in his Open career. More importantly, he is ranked 6^th overall which is higher than any previous year. His season highest was 3^rd place which he held for 1 week in late March.

===== PHILADELPHIA, PA =====

4/18 Sat Aft: COLT STEPHENS [ThunderROARus] defeated Michael Pagliarulo [Excaliber]

Colt Stephens is a man to watch on the Monster Jam tour right now. He took home the win in Philadelphia, giving him 2 Stadium Series wins in the last 3 weeks and 3 of the last 7. He is up from 21^st place in the Open Championship one month ago to 13^th now.

Mike Pagliarulo in Excaliber has been having a great run in Monster Jam Stadium freestyle recently, but has had trouble in racing despite making consistently fast passes. This week finally found some luck for the Excaliber crew as he advanced to the finals for the first time since early February in Minneapolis. The 288 points from that performance moved Pagliarulo up 10 spots, which was our biggest improvement of the weekend.

===== PUYALLUP, WA =====

4/18 Sat Ngt: ANTHONY BRUNNER [Crash Test Dummy] defeated Tony Canedo [Play'n' For Keeps]

4/19 Sun Ngt: ANTHONY BRUNNER [Crash Test Dummy] defeated Tim Manchester [Hillbilly]

The new Crush Zone tour kicked off with their inaugural event in Puyallup, Washington. The 8-truck field had to tackle a punishing no-ramp car-stack holeshot track on asphalt. Winning on that kind of track takes someone who will throw caution to the wind and who better to do that than a crash test dummy? Anthony Brunner flew through the field both nights to pick up his first racing win since last August in Palmer, Alaska (although he only had 3 other events between then and now).

===== RIDGECREST, CA =====

4/18 Sat Aft: PAUL CRAIGHEAD [Bear Foot] defeated Stanley Hernandez [Werewolf]

4/18 Sat Ngt: PAUL CRAIGHEAD [Bear Foot] defeated Brian Leach [Boss Gator]

Paul Craighead had 3 runner-up finishes coming in to this weekend, but left with 3 consecutive wins. He started with these two victories in Ridgecrest before traveling Sunday morning down to Lancaster, California where he completed the 3-race, 2-city sweep.

===== ROSEVILLE, CA =====

4/18 Sat Aft: DONALD EPIDENDIO [Titan] defeated Gavin Sell [Mixed Up]

4/18 Sat Ngt: DONALD EPIDENDIO [Titan] defeated Nick Jones [Spitfire]

Donald Epidendio has won 11 of his 17 events, taking both in Roseville with the Malicious Tour. Gavin Sell and Nick Jones each posted runner-up finishes on the long SoCal style track. Bill Payne won his only heat on Saturday afternoon but could not return due to breakage and was kept out of racing that night with breakage from the Skills competition.

===== SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO =====

This Hot Wheels Live event did not include side-by-side racing and so points were not awarded

===== SOUTHAVEN, MS =====

4/17 Fri Ngt: ARMANDO CASTRO [El Toro Loco] defeated Matt Cody [Grave Digger]

4/18 Sat Aft: CLIFF TURNER [Velociraptor] defeated Tim Hall Jr [Jurassic Attack]

4/18 Sat Ngt: ARMANDO CASTRO [El Toro Loco] defeated Matt Cody [Grave Digger]

4/19 Sun Aft: ARMANDO CASTRO [El Toro Loco] defeated Blake Granger [Monster Mutt Dalmatian]

Armando Castro is coming on strong here in the 2^nd quarter and has posted 7 wins in the last 10 Monster Jam Arena West racing brackets! He won twice in Vancouver, twice in Des Moines, and now THREE times in Southaven, Mississippi. Vancouver to Mississippi is a long way to go for all those wins, but it has Castro up to 15^th place in the Open Championship.  

The Sunday afternoon final was particularly thrilling as the tacky turns gave both he and Blake Grangers problems. Granger came out of the first turn hard on the throttle and got into a bicycle before bringing the truck back down. He had the lead out of the final turn, but this time the truck bit in and pivoted too tight, pushing the Dalmatian up against the pod and forcing Granger to back off. Meanwhile Castro—in the turn Granger had the first time around—also got bucked up onto his outside two wheels, but in a gutsy move for the end he powered into it and rode the bicycle across the finish line for his 12^th win of the season!

===== STATE COLLEGE, PA =====

This Hot Wheels Live event did not include side-by-side racing and so points were not awarded

===== TULSA, OK =====

4/18 Sat Aft: JEREMIAH PARAS [Shark Bite] defeated Austin Minton [Brutal]

4/18 Sat Ngt: KORY KINAL [Jekyll & Hyde] defeated Austin Minton [Brutal]

Kory Kinal had an uncharacteristically quick exit from racing last weekend in Colorado, but came out on top Saturday night in Tulsa with the Creten’s 2X Live tour, picking up his 5^th win of the season. He beat out Austin Minton who was runner-up both nights after spending the past few weeks taking fans for the ride of a lifetime in the Extreme King Sling truck. Dan Dahlgren had those duties this weekend, so Jeremiah Paras took his seat in Shark Bite and posted the afternoon win.

===== EVENTS THIS WEEKEND =====

Baton Rouge, LA (Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live: Glow-n-Fire Event)

Canton, OH (Monster Truck Wars)

Evansville, IN (Monster Jam Arena Series Central)

Gaithersburg, MD (Renegade Monster Truck Tour)

Glendale, AZ (Monster Jam Stadium Series West)

Greensville, SC (Monster Jam Arena Series East)

Guadalajara, Mexico (Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live: Glow-n-Fire Event)

Huntsville, AL (Monster Jam Arena Series West)

Kansas City, KS (2X Monster Trucks Live)

Marysville, CA (Malicious Monster Truck Tour)

Memphis, TN (Monster Truck Wars)

Monticello, KY (Monster Truck Freestyle Mania)

===== VIDEO LINKS =====

Monster Jam Races: https://www.youtube.com/@MonsterJam (Monster Jam)

Georgetown, DE Race 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTxEhUS-Rms  (Tim Horn)

Grass Valley, CA Race 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4RG-_urA6k (Riley Pitz)

Lancaster, CA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RaFSd626_4 (The Jesus Esparza Show)

Old Washington, OH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIWNUyFqrrA (fourwheelerjock)

Puyallup, WA Race 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFNzG1cTQTo (FusionZFoxy Plays)

Puyallup, WA Race 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffGgxSy2KOE (VelocityRaptor32)

Roseville, CA Race 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-APiQFWeJ8 (Critical Creeper)

Tulsa, OK Race 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvgyX04Q9Bo (NB Productions)

Tulsa, OK Race 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOAXkhiO6jY (NB Productions)