This Week in Monster Truck Racing - July 2-7, 2025

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

* Todd Leduc wins World Finals

** Jared Smith beats all the Bigfoot in La Porte

*** Dylan Bartts drives the wheels for wins in Alameda County

CURRENT STANDINGS and WEEKEND RESULTS (PDF): https://tinyurl.com/mtroc250710

===== WEEKEND RECAP FOR JULY 2^nd – 7^th, 2025 =====

Independence Day weekend was highlighted by the Monster Jam World Finals in Salt Lake City where Todd Leduc announced his retirement from racing, received a Lifetime Achievement award, and capped it all off with the World Finals Racing Championship! The veteran driver had 3 of the 4 fastest laps and scored wins against Tyler Menninga, Dalton Widner, and defending World Finals champion Zack Garner in the championship bout. There’s a lot more to say about the World Finals below!

On the independent tours, Jared Smith advanced past not one but TWO Bigfoot at the Full Throttle races in La Porte and gained himself 4 spots in the rankings. 

Out in Alameda County, California, Dylan Bartts returned to racing after a healthy stint with Hot Wheels and quickly won 2 of the 3 events, ending the weekend with a wild axle-sheering cartwheel in the shutdown area! 

We also saw Aaron Basl win the inaugural Edge of Your Seat event in Idaho; Ryan Como win with Edge in Simcoe; Pat Paquet win with the Renegades in North Dakota; Rod Schmidt win the re-scheduled race in Wyoming; and Roger Gauger grab the Full Throttle win in Princeton.

There are a TON of fun events coming up this weekend including the 4-Wheel Jamboree in Bloomsburg; the Outlaw Drags in Canfield; about a million fair shows with the Full Throttle Tour; Throwdown going Figure-8 racing in Slinger; the 16-truck Summer Smash in Evansville; and Monster Jam heads to Saint Paul for the first time in year!

Thank you to everyone who has helped us with reporting events this week: Brandon Gallie, Jeff Bursey, Shane Grunseth, Lee Collins, Donny Hebert, Kristal Carey, Andrew Thornton, Ryan Robinson, J.r. Rouse, Max Gillie, Zane Rettew, Pat Paquet, Kirk Nagy, Phil Vicinanza, and everyone who posted videos and photos online!

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

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

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1 ) Coty Saucier - 13138/208.54 : 1+5=6 : 63/29

2 ) Ryan Anderson - 8110/261.61 : 6+1=7 : 31/12

3 ) Tyler Menninga - 8334/260.44 : 5+2=7 : 32/13

4 ) Triton Robbins - 9442/181.58 : 3+9=12 : 52/22

5 ) Weston Anderson - 10825/180.42 : 2+10=12 : 60/21

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6 ) Tristan England - 6921/238.66 : 10+3=13 : 29/7

7 ) Dalton Widner - 7840/206.32 : 7+6=13 : 38/11

8 ) Jon Zimmer Jr - 8883/153.16 : 4+12=16 : 58/14

9 ) Bari Musawwir - 6600/206.25 : 11+7=18 : 32/4

10) Camden Murphy - 5969/205.83 : 15+8=23 : 29/4

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11) Blake Granger - 6480/166.15 : 12+11=23 : 39/17

12) Bill Payne - 7151/143.02 : 8+16=24 : 50/20

13) Bryce Kenny - 4946/224.82 : 22+4=26 : 22/3

14) Armando Castro - 6146/146.33 : 14+13=27 : 42/2

15) Jimmy Creten - 6478/134.96 : 13+18=31 : 48/31

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16) Colt Stephens - 5265/142.3 : 20+17=37 : 37/3

17) Rob Poutre - 4767/144.45 : 24+14=38 : 33/24

18) Zack Garner - 5327/129.93 : 19+19=38 : 41/6

19) Adam Anderson - 4616/144.25 : 25+15=40 : 32/2

20) Devin Winfield - 7113/101.61 : 9+32=41 : 70/7

===== BURLEY, ID =====

7/5 Sat Ngt: AARON BASL [Night Life] defeated Meesha Pharis [Pretty Obsessed]

The new Edge of Your Seat Tour from Obsession Racing held their first ever event in Burley, Idaho with six top trucks. In the end it was veteran driver Aaron Basl in the awesome-looking throwback Night Life taking home his 14^th win of the season. Meesha Pharis returned to racing after a long stint with the Hot Wheels tour and advanced to her first final round of the season.  

===== DEL MAR, CA =====

This Full Contact Racing event did not include side-by-side racing and so points were not awarded

===== GILLETTE, WY =====

Ryan Robinson took the racing win over Pat Paquet at the Mayhem event in Gillette. Unfortunately with only three trucks scheduled to compete, we weren’t able to score this one for points.

===== GRANITE CITY, IL =====

7/5 Sat Ngt: ROD SCHMIDT [Bearly Tame] defeated Scott Chisholm [Bear Foot]

The Granite City event got pushed back a week due to severe storms two weeks ago. The one big combined event saw Rod Schmidt narrowly defeat Scott Chisholm on the short drag racing track. That’s the 2^nd win of the season for Schmidt.

===== LA PORTE, IN =====

7/5 Sat Ngt: JARED SMITH [Maximus] defeated Thomas Borders [Bigfoot White]

The Full Throttle Tour had a huge event in La Porte! The 8-truck field included TWO Bigfoot trucks (driven by Roger Gauger and Thomas Borders) racing on a wide Chicago-style track. The man of the night was reigning George Carpenter Cup winner Jared Smith in Maximus, who defeated BOTH Bigfoot trucks on way to his 4^th win of the season.

===== LANCASTER, NH =====

This Great American Truck Jam event did not include side-by-side racing and so points were not awarded

===== MONTERREY, MEXICO =====

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

===== PENTICTON, BC =====

7/4 Fri Ngt: We do not have results from this event

7/5 Sat Ngt: We do not have results from this event

===== PLEASANTON, CA =====

7/4 Fri Ngt: DYLAN BARTTS [Rockwell R.E.D.] defeated Shane Plato [Skull Krusher]

7/5 Sat Ngt: CADEN MORRIS [Dragon Slayer] defeated Dylan Bartts [Rockwell R.E.D.]

7/6 Sun Ngt: DYLAN BARTTS [Rockwell R.E.D.] defeated Shane Plato [Skull Krusher]

Dylan Bartts has spent nearly all season on the exhibition Hot Wheels Live tour, but took full advantage of his first time on the race track by winning 2 of 3 with the Monsters of Destruction in Alameda County. Caden Morris grabbed the middle event with a final-round win over Bartts, but the run that had everyone talking was the final round on Sunday night! Bartts won by a healthy margin over Shane Plato, but had to correct on his landing after the finish line to avoid running into the horse racing barricade on the inside. The truck took a bounce before riding up the Skills mound placed in the shut-down area, toppling the Rockwell RED truck and sheering off the front left tire.

===== POMONA, CA =====

This Kaboom! event did not include side-by-side racing and so points were not awarded

===== PRINCETON, IN =====

7/7 Mon Ngt: ROGER GAUGER [Bigfoot] defeated Bryant Rogers [Relentless]

Roger Gauger scores another win with the Full Throttle Tour, beating out Bryant Rogers in Princeton. That’s the 2^nd year in a row that Gauger has won this event and 3^rd time being in the finals. He’ll have several more chances for wins in the upcoming weeks as the Full Throttle tour goes full throttle into fair season with a whole slew of events across the Midwest.

===== SALT LAKE CITY, UT =====

7/3 Thu Ngt-A: COLE VENARD [Black Pearl] defeated Fernando Martinez [El Toro Loco Stars & Stripes]

7/3 Thu Ngt-B: MATT CODY [Grave Digger Stars & Stripes] defeated Triton Robbins [Krazy Train]

7/5 Fri & Sat Ngt: TODD LEDUC [Megalodon Stars & Stripes] defeated Zack Garner [Wild Side]

The Monster Jam World Finals were in Salt Lake City this year and used a strange format for racing, with the Main field split between Friday and Saturday. The winner of the Friday bracket had to wait until the conclusion of the Saturday bracket to meet for the championship round. Also unique this year was the course layout, which was essentially an oval track with trucks competing in separate lanes, but featured an elevated start in the middle of the stadium, and more impressively a huge banked turn that took the trucks into the endzone seating twice on each lap. The course was fast and exciting, with the only major flaw being loose dirt conditions in the Red Lane during the first round on Saturday night that saw all four drivers struggle with oversteering. The track crew compacted the lane after the round and the racing improved for the remaining heats.

On Thursday night, the Last Chance Qualifier ended up being two separate brackets, as the last-minute withdrawal of Jamie Sullivan—due to an infection from a dog bite—opened up a spot in the main field. Venard beat out fast-qualifier Fernando Martinez in a thrilling race, ending the rising star’s Cinderella story one round short of the Main. In the bottom bracket, Triton Robbins gave Matt Cody a strong test but appeared to have driveline troubles which derailed the Krazy Train’s attempt to make the Main field. Cody was fast through practice and racing with his winning pass over Robbins being the 15^th fastest (out of 68 laps) for the weekend and also the 8^th fastest race overall.

The other highlight from the Last Chance Qualifiers was Chris Koehler beating Brandan Tulachka by a mere 0.146 seconds in the first round—the fourth closest race of the weekend. Koehler was looking bad fast but spun out in the first turn against Matt Cody, ending his night.

On Friday night, the first round have us the 1^st, 3^rd, and 5^th closest finishes of the whole weekend! First, former WF Racing Champion Tristan England began his bid for a third-consecutive final round appearance with a narrow 0.129-second win (3^rd closest) over Colt Stephens. The round finished with Armando Castro’s 0.295-second win (5^th closest) over Kayla Blood. But the talk of the town was Brianna Mahon going toe-to-toe with Adam Anderson, cutting a tighter turn in their final pass through the hill turn, and beating out the former Champion by a mere 0.012 seconds! The closest finish of the whole event!

The only man to make it through both the first and second rounds was Dalton Widner who beat Bari Musawwir in round 2 when the Zombie fishtailed coming off the hill, resulting in a wild side-ways launch over the finish line that resulted in Zombie barrel-rolling through the shutdown area before coming to rest propped up against the back of Widner’s Jurassic Attack.

In the semi-finals, veteran Todd Leduc upset 3-time Open Champion Tyler Menninga by only 0.056 seconds! Leduc announced earlier in the weekend that he would be retiring from the sport following this event. In the Friday night finals, he remained smooth and consistent to beat Widner and advance on to the Saturday racing championship, posting the FASTEST LAP of the weekend with a time of 26.389. Leduc would end up with 1^st, 2^nd, and 4^th fastest laps all weekend.

On Saturday, as mentioned, the Red Lane was a disaster in the first round with every truck spinning out—some more than others. Current World #1 Coty Saucier lost out to hot shoe Jon Zimmer Jr by a mere 0.360 seconds (6^th closest race). Krysten Anderson lost out to Cynthia Gauthier, but Gauthier crashed her Lucas Stabilizer truck on the finish line jump and was unable to continue racing. LCQ winners Venard and Cody were both eliminated in the first round, but Venard’s elimination was particularly frustrating. The Black Pearl spun out in the Red Lane marbles on the first time up the hill, seemingly handing the win to Weston Anderson in the Red Primer Grave Digger. But Anderson had problems in the second turn, bicycling his truck and nearly rolling over. While he made an impressive save, that let Venard catch up and resulted in an unexpected drag race into the final turn! But once again, Venard got bit by the poor dirt conditions and slid all the way to the top of the hill, handing the win—for a second time—to Anderson.

Weston made good use of that 2^nd life as he came out in the second round and upset reigning Open Champion Ryan Anderson! Win by Jon Zimmer Jr and defending WF Racing Champion Zack Garner left veteran Bryce Kenny feeling like an old man in comparison to his young competition in the quarter-finals. More surprises awaited us, as BOTH wins came out of the BLUE lane, with Zimmer and Garner posting nearly identical 27-second wins and Anderson and Kenny posting nearly identical 30-second loses.

The Saturday night final saw Zack Garner advance to his second consecutive Monster Jam World Finals championship round, which is an incredible feat for an independent team in only their 2^nd World Finals! His 27.082 lap was the 7^th fastest of the weekend and the fastest race on Saturday night. It was also the 4^th fastest race of the weekend.

Dalton Widner claimed the bronze medal over Jon Zimmer Jr in the consolation match. The World Finals championship round was a let down as Wild Side lost front steering right off the starting line and could not finish the lap. While Garner’s story of possibly repeating as champion fizzled out, it let the accomplished Todd Leduc end his monster truck racing career on the highest note possible, adding the 2025 Monster Jam World Finals Racing Championship as another accomplishment in his lifetime of racing achievements.

The Red Lane won 6 of 10 on Thursday and 9 of 11 on Friday, but the Blue Lane had more wins (7 of 13) on Saturday, thanks in large part to that first round debacle. The Red Lane was faster overall with a quicker average time (28.878 to 30.148), faster median time (27.992 to 28.287), and better fast lap (26.389 to 26.838).

Tyler Menninga 2-lap average of 26.868 was slightly better than Todd Leduc’s 4-lap average of 26.904. Dalton Widner had a 5-lap average of 27.211 and Zack Garner a 2-lap average of 27.440 (but that excludes his one DNF). 5^th best was Jon Zimmer Jr’s 5-lap average of 27.913 and he was the last driver to average under 28-seconds.

Cole Venard, Dalton Widner, Jon Zimmer Jr, Matt Cody, Weston Anderson, and Zack Garner all recorded wins in both the Red and Blue lane. Jon Zimmer Jr was the ONLY driver to win twice in the Blue lane. Todd Leduc won all of his heats from the Red Lane. Tyler Menninga had the fastest laps in the Blue lane (26.838 and 26.897) with the second of those being the fastest losing time of the weekend as it came up just shy of Todd Leduc’s 26.841 in that incredible quarter-finals race.

===== SIMCOE, ON =====

7/5 Sat Aft: RYAN COMO [Rat Nasty] defeated Mat Briand [Train Wreck]

Two of Canada’s top racers met in the drag racing final in Simcoe with Ryan Como coming out on top for the 3^rd time this season. Como still trails Briand in head-to-head racing 1-2, however.

===== STOUGHTON, WI =====

7/2 Wed Ngt: We do not have results from this event

===== WAYCROSS, GA =====

This Kevin King event did not include side-by-side racing and so points were not awarded

===== WEST FARGO, ND =====

7/7 Mon Ngt: PAT PAQUET [Psycho Pat] defeated Rod Schmidt [Bearly Tame]

Pennsylvania’s Renegade Monster Truck Tour went all the way out to North Dakota for the first time since 2020 and booked in many teams who are unfamiliar to the Renegade Tour. Rod Schmidt, Brandi Schmidt, and Scott Chisolm had classics Bearly Tame, Monster Patrol, and Bear Foot on hand. Canadian Pat Paquet and Perry Como brought down Psycho Pat and Loud & Dirty. And Paul Craighead re-debuted the Wild Thang skull which we haven’t seen in ages.

Como beat his countrymen in the semi-finals but could not return due to breakage. That put Psycho Pat back into the bracket and Paquet got past veteran Rod Schmidt for his 4^th win of the season.

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

Alloway, Australia (Extreme Monster War on Wheels)

Berryville, VA (Monster Truck Bash)

Bloomsburg, PA (Summer 4 Wheel Jamboree Nationals)

Canfield, OH (Outlaw Monster Truck Drags)

Clio, MI (Monster Truck Nitro Tour)

Crownsville, MD (Renegade Monster Truck Tour)

Darlington, WI (Legends of Monster Trucks)

Evansville, IN (Summer Smash)

Greenville, SC (Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live: Glow Party Arena Event)

Hepworth, ON (Monster Trucks All Out Tour)

Ionia, MI (Monster Truck Throwdown)

Lloydminster, SK (RAM Monsters & Mayhem)

Maple Park, IL (Monster Truck Throwdown)

Mexico City, Mexico (Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live International Tour: Glow Party Arena Event)

New Orleans, LA (Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live: Glow Party Arena Event)

Sacramento, CA (California State Fair)

Saint Paul, MN (Monster Jam Arena Series)

Swift Current, SK (RAM Monsters & Mayhem)

Terre Haute, IN (Full Throttle Monster Trucks)

Toole, UT (Monster Truck Family Tour 2025)

Troy, MO (Full Throttle Monster Trucks)

===== EVENTS NEXT WEEK =====

Carrollton, OH (Full Throttle Monster Trucks)

Faribault, MN (Legends of Monster Trucks)

Independence, IA (Legends of Monster Trucks)

Oak Harbor, OH (Full Throttle Monster Trucks)

Owensboro, KY (Full Throttle Monster Trucks)