This Week in Monster Truck Racing - December 4, 2025 to January 4, 2026
- MTROC Staff
- 1 minute ago
- 7 min read
=== This Week in Monster Truck Racing ===
* Donald Epidendio starts year in #1 rank
** Blake Granger and Brandon Arthur duel on International Tour
*** Alex Bardin finishes weekend with 3-race winning streak
CURRENT STANDINGS and WEEKEND RESULTS (PDF): https://tinyurl.com/mtroc260105
BLOG POST RECAP: https://www.mtroc.com/blog
===== WEEKEND RECAP FOR JANUARY 2nd – 4th, 2026 =====
The new year has arrived and so we are now posting the weekly Open Championship standings! Defending champion Coty Saucier is off to a solid start and comes in third place, but its independent Donald Epidendio who starts the year in the #1 ranking after having won 6 of his first 10 races with the Malicious Tour.
Alex Bardin had a great start to 2026 as he finished off the Monster Jam weekend in Salt Lake City with 3 consecutive wins, which is his first career Monster Jam winning streak. That has him starting the season in 7th place.
Blake Granger won the Monster Jam International Series last year, but he has a challenger this year in Brandon Arthur. The two won all the racing events in Chile, Argentina, and UAE with Granger barely coming out on top. Both drivers start the year in the Top Ten.
Speaking of International events, reigning Open Champion Coty Saucier begins the year in 3rd place following his 5 wins in Mexico and Puerto Rico. He is only the 3rd driver to win the Open Championship after Tyler Menninga and Ryan Anderson dominated it for the first six years and will look to be only the 3rd driver (along with Menninga, Anderson, and Mark Hall) to defend his title.
This week’s recap includes December races, too, since our 2026 Open season actually started back in October. Many drivers have already reached 10 races, but we’re expecting to see a lot of shake-ups in the standings over the next few weeks as the winter tours—especially the Monster Jam series—start racking up events in quick succession.
Thank you to everyone who has helped us with reporting events this week: Phil Vicinanza, Austin Dahlgren, Seth Foss, Stanley Hernandez, Josh Baumgartner, and everyone who posted videos and photos online!
===== CURRENT STANDINGS =====
RANK : DRIVER : PTS/AVG : SCORE : RACES/WINS
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1 ) Donald Epidendio - 2325/232.5 : 3+1=4 : 10/6
2 ) Jon Zimmer Jr - 2750/211.54 : 2+3=5 : 13/8
3 ) Coty Saucier - 1756/195.11 : 6+4=10 : 9/5
4 ) Blake Granger - 2983/149.15 : 1+9=10 : 20/7
5 ) Bill Payne - 2146/165.08 : 4+7=11 : 13/4
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6 ) Weston Anderson - 1516/216.57 : 10+2=12 : 7/3
7 ) Alex Bardin - 1753/194.78 : 7+5=12 : 9/4
8 ) Jimmy Creten - 1674/186.00 : 9+6=15 : 9/6
9 ) Brandon Arthur - 1909/146.85 : 5+10=15 : 13/5
10) Charlie Pauken - 1681/120.07 : 8+14=22 : 14/1
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11) Armando Castro - 1217/152.13 : 15+8=23 : 8/0
12) Nick Jones - 1476/134.18 : 12+12=24 : 11/3
13) Dawn Creten - 1429/119.08 : 13+16=29 : 12/5
14) Tim Hall Jr - 1491/114.69 : 11+18=29 : 13/4
15) Kaley Engstrom - 921/131.57 : 20+13=33 : 7/4
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16) Jon Zimmer Sr - 1146/88.15 : 17+23=40 : 13/3
17) Jacob Ladwig - 730/146.00 : 30+11=41 : 5/2
18) Colt Stephens - 846/105.75 : 24+19=43 : 8/2
19) Kory Kinal - 1259/78.69 : 14+29=43 : 16/3
20) Carson Williams - 778/97.25 : 26+20=46 : 8/2
***** DECEMBER *****
===== CABOOLTURE, AUSTRALIA =====
This Monster Truck Promotions Australia event did not include side-by-side racing and so points were not awarded
===== CASA GRANDE, AZ =====
We found reports of some match races with the Nitro Tour in Casa Grande but not a bracket and so points could not be awarded.
===== DADE CITY, FL =====
12/13 Sat Aft: DAWN CRETEN [Scarlet Bandit] defeated Dan Dahlgren [Shark Bite]
12/13 Sat Ngt: DAWN CRETEN [Scarlet Bandit] defeated Austin Minton [Roarin' Rex]
Dawn Creten continues her impressive career with two early season wins in Dade City. She starts the year in 13th with 5 wins already on the books.
===== LA PLATA, ARGENTINA =====
12/13 Sat Aft: BRANDON ARTHUR [JCB DIGatron] defeated Chelsea VanCleave [Thor]
12/14 Sun Aft: BLAKE GRANGER [Megalodon] defeated Brandon Arthur [JCB DIGatron]
===== LIWA OASIS, UAE =====
12/26 Fri Aft: BLAKE GRANGER [Megalodon] defeated Michael Vaters II [The Amazing Spider-Man]
12/26 Fri Ngt: BLAKE GRANGER [Megalodon] defeated Michael Vaters II [The Amazing Spider-Man]
12/27 Sat Aft: BRANDON ARTHUR [JCB DIGatron] defeated Charlie Pauken [Grave Digger]
12/27 Sat Ngt: BRANDON ARTHUR [JCB DIGatron] defeated Charlie Pauken [Grave Digger]
As you can see from these two sets of events, Blake Granger continues to be a dominating force on the Monster Jam International tour, but Brandon Arthur is coming on strong to challenge that title. The two exchanged wins in Argentina and the United Arab Emirates and ALSO earlier in the month in Chile! Granger ended up with more wins (6) but Arthur raced in more finals (7).
Granger starts 2026 in 5th place with the most points of all drivers (2983) through 20 races. That’s higher than he was all of last season, which was already a great year for Granger as he finished in 14th which was a 24-spot improvement from 2024.
Arthur also had a great season in 2025, improving 18 spots to 39th with 5 racing wins. This year he starts in 9th place and is already up to 5 wins before January.
===== OGDEN, UT =====
12/5 Fri Ngt: JACOB LADWIG [Rat Attack] defeated Josh Baumgartner [Bigfoot]
12/6 Sat Ngt: JOSH BAUMGARTNER [Bigfoot] defeated Tim Manchester [Hillbilly]
The Insanity Tour raced in the insanely-small Golden Spike Events Center on a short roundy-round track. Tour champion Jacob Ladwig grabbed the first win, but Josh Baumgartner in Bigfoot won the weekend with a win and runner-up finish. Baumgartner was Team Bigfoot’s winningest driver last year with 10 wins, including 6 on the Insanity Tour.
===== OKEECHOBEE, FL =====
12/6 Sat Aft: JIMMY CRETEN [Bounty Hunter] defeated Dennis Anderson [Extreme King Sling]
12/6 Sat Ngt: We do not have results from this event
Jimmy Creten was the winningest driver in 2025 with 40 wins (only the 3rd driver in the Open Championship to reach that mark) and is already flying with 6 wins in 9 races for 2026. He might even have a 7th, we’re not sure, since we do not have a report from the Saturday night race in Okeechobee.
===== ROSENBURG, TX =====
This Hot Wheels Live event did not include side-by-side racing and so points were not awarded
===== SANTIAGO, CHILE =====
12/5 Fri Ngt: BRANDON ARTHUR [JCB DIGatron] defeated Charlie Pauken [Grave Digger]
12/6 Sat Aft: BLAKE GRANGER [Megalodon] defeated Charlie Pauken [Grave Digger]
12/6 Sat Ngt: BLAKE GRANGER [Megalodon] defeated Brandon Arthur [JCB DIGatron]
12/7 Sun Aft: BRANDON ARTHUR [JCB DIGatron] defeated MJ Solorio [El Toro Loco]
12/7 Sun Ngt: BLAKE GRANGER [Megalodon] defeated Charlie Pauken [Grave Digger]
As mentioned above, the Monster Jam International tour saw a real duel between Brandon Arthur and Blake Granger. But let’s not overlook veteran and hall-of-famer Charlie Pauken who returned to the Grave Digger seat and made the finals 5 times. Pauken starts his umpteenth season ranked 10th.
Pauken is one of the few drivers who also competed in the WMTRL from 2004 – 2007 and he was a great racer then, too. His best finish was 5th in 2004, but also placed 14th in 2006 and 2007, and has recently had 3 Top-25 finishes in the Open Championship.
===== SULPHUR SPRINGS, TX =====
We do not have results from these Monster Truck Wars events
===== YUMA, AZ =====
We have results from the Nitro Tour in Yuma but the brackets could not be scored.
***** JANUARY *****
===== CHANDLER, AZ =====
1/3 Sat Aft: AUSTIN MINTON [Brutal] defeated Kory Kinal [Jekyll & Hyde]
1/4 Sun Aft: DAWN CRETEN [Scarlet Bandit] defeated Kory Kinal [Jekyll & Hyde]
The 2X Live Tour returned to the offroad race course at Firebird Raceway for another wild offroad drag racing course reminiscent of the Swedish Monsterrace courses. Kory Kinal made the finals both times but came up short at the finish line. Austin Minton took the opening race in Brutal, but was knocked out off the Sunday event with breakage. Instead, Dawn Creten came back as fast loser and eventually won for the 5th time this season, putting only 1 win behind husband Jimmy’s 6.
===== CHARLOTTE, NC =====
This Hot Wheels Live event did not include side-by-side racing and so points were not awarded
===== MANCHESTER, ENGLAND =====
This Hot Wheels Live event did not include side-by-side racing and so points were not awarded
===== SALT LAKE CITY, UT =====
1/2 Fri Ngt: BLAKE GRANGER [Monster Mutt Dalmatian] defeated Armando Castro [El Toro Loco]
1/3 Sat Aft: ALEX BARDIN [Earth Shaker] defeated Blake Granger [Monster Mutt Dalmatian]
1/3 Sat Ngt: ALEX BARDIN [Earth Shaker] defeated Armando Castro [El Toro Loco]
1/4 Sun Aft: ALEX BARDIN [Earth Shaker] defeated Tim Hall Jr [Jurassic Attack]
After his dominating performance on the International Tour, this weekend started out looking like Blake Granger might do the same on a slick track in Salt Lake City. He won the opening race and was runner-up to Alex Bardin on Saturday afternoon, but from then on out it was Bardin dominating the weekend with 3 consecutive wins. This was Bardin’s first three-race-winning-streak with Monster Jam, but certainly not the first of his career. Last summer driving Stone Crusher he won 6-in-a-row during the summer months. And during his previous stint with the Monster Truck Wars tour, he won 3-in-a-row no less than 13 times. The first time was a 4-race streak in March 2020 right before the COVID shutdown, and his longest was an 8-race winning streak in February and March 2022. He starts the 2026 season in 7th place.
===== SAVANNAH, GA =====
This Hot Wheels Live event did not include side-by-side racing and so points were not awarded
===== EVENTS THIS WEEKEND =====
Albany, GA (Monster X Tour)
Austin, TX (Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live: Glow-n-Fire Event)
Dallas, TX (Monster Truck Wars)
Doha, Qatar (Monster Jam International)
Greensboro, NC (Monster Jam Arena Series Central)
Highland Heights, KY (Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live: Glow-n-Fire Event)
Kansas City, MO (Monster Jam Arena Series East)
Kelowna, BC (RAM Motorsports Spectacular)
Lebanon, MO (Monster Truck Insanity Tour)
London, England (Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live: Glow-n-Fire Event International)
Naples, FL (All Star Monster Truck Tour)
Orlando, FL (Monster Jam Stadium Series East)
Pensacola, FL (Monster Truck Wars)
Prescott Valley, AZ (Toughest Monster Truck Tour)
Reno, NV (Monster Jam Arena Series West)
San Angelo, TX (Monster Trucks Maniac)
San Diego, CA (Monster Jam Stadium Series West)
Tucson, AZ (2X Monster Trucks Live)