This Week in Monster Truck Racing, October 24-26, 2025

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

* Tyler Menninga grabs first win in Glendale

** Jon Zimmer Jr defends his crown in Wheatland

*** Colton Kiser gets first weekend sweep in Elko

CURRENT STANDINGS and WEEKEND RESULTS (PDF): https://tinyurl.com/mtroc251028

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

===== WEEKEND RECAP FOR OCTOBER 24^th – 26^th, 2025 =====

Former three-time Open Champion Tyler Menninga won his first event of the 2026 Open season by taking down Zack Garner in the Glendale finals. Garner had beat Camden Murphy in the semi-finals, marking the only time in the Fall Stadium Series that Murphy did not make the finals. MJ Solorio was crowned the overall Series Champion including Skills and Freestyle.

Jon Zimmer Jr defending his win in Charlotte a few months ago, and now he has done the same in Wheatland, winning the event for the second year in a row. Zimmer had a 3 race winning streak with 3 different promoters and will be a serious contender for the Open championship this year.

Colton Kiser went undefeated through six rounds of racing at Elko Speedway to record his first career weekend sweep. He finished it off with a win over local favorite Josh Baumgartner in Bigfoot in the Saturday night final.

This weekend also saw the debuts of Sean Roth, Jeremiah Paras, of Rylan Hawkins (son of former Equalizer owner and driver Mike Hawkins), plus another appearance of veteran John Seasock in Hughesville, Pennsylvania.

Thank you to everyone who has helped us with reporting events this week: Bryan Wagner, Nick Jones, Preston Perez, Andrew Thornton, Mark Werner, John Brown, Kory Kinal, Nate Bay, Kirk Nagy, Phil Vicinanza, and everyone who posted videos and photos online!

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

New standings for the 2026 season will be posted beginning in January. We are still recording results every week but we will not be compiling the points until enough drivers have had time to accumulate at least five events to ensure that the Average Points calculations are fair.

===== ALBANY, NY =====

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

===== BRENHAM, TX =====

10/24 Fri Ngt: BRANDON PEZO [Predator Black] defeated Allen Pezo [Predator ProMT]

10/26 Sun Ngt: NO POINTS; This event did not meet the minimum of 4 trucks scheduled to compete

Brandon Pezo has been in the finals in his last 5 events with 2 wins. His win on Friday in Brenham ended his father’s 3-race winning streak with the Monster Trucks Maniac tour.

===== BRIDGEPORT, CT =====

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

===== ELKO, MN =====

10/24 Fri Ngt: COLTON KISER [High Roller III] defeated Chris Whatley [Mississippi Nightmare]

10/25 Sat Ngt: COLTON KISER [High Roller III] defeated Josh Baumgartner [Bigfoot]

Elko Speedway has seen lots of exhibition monster truck performances over the recent years but this weekend they got a full racing program. Local favorite Josh Baumgartner in Bigfoot made the finals on Saturday night, but the weekend of asphalt J-turn racing was dominated by Colton Kiser who went undefeated through his 6 rounds of racing. These were his first wins since late May and his first back-to-back wins in his career!

===== EUREKA, CA =====

10/24 Fri Ngt: DONALD EPIDENDIO [Titan] defeated Bill Payne [Rock Star]

10/25 Sat Ngt: BILL PAYNE [Rock Star] defeated Gavin Sell [Identity Theft]

Things got muddy in Eureka but the results were the same as usual with Donald Epidendio staying unbeaten and both he and Bill Payne picking up wins. The Titan broke after his semi-finals win on Saturday night which prevented him from competing in the finals.

===== GLENDALE, AZ =====

10/25 Sat Ngt: TYLER MENNINGA [Grave Digger] defeated Zack Garner [Wild Side]

Zack Garner knocked out Camden Murphy in the semi-finals of the P-Chicago style racing which was the first and only time on the short Fall Stadium Series that Murphy did not advance to the final round. Garner came up a bit short to defending Stadium East Series champion Tyler Menninga who grabbed his first win of the season.

MJ Solorio was crowned the Fall Stadium Series champion, claiming the 5-race championship by 4 points over Camden Murphy.

===== GRANTS, NM =====

This Unhinged Monster Truck Tour event did not meet the minimum of 4 trucks scheduled to compete

===== HUGHESVILLE, PA =====

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

===== JACKSONVILLE, TX =====

10/24 Fri Ngt: RYAN DIETERICH [Outlaw Wrangler] defeated Dylan Bartts [Texas Outlaw]

10/25 Sat Ngt: COLTON FOWLER [Lethal Injection] defeated Ricky Fowler [GunSlinger]

All four drivers on the HyLite Rebellion Tour took a turn in the final round on the short Chicago-style track in Jacksonville.

===== MILLGROVE, ON =====

10/25 Sat Aft: NO POINTS; This event did not use a bracket to determine the winner and so points were not awarded. Ryan Como won the first place race over Kevin Lubsen.

===== OCALA, FL =====

10/25 Sat Aft: JIMMY CRETEN [Bounty Hunter] defeated Kory Kinal [Jekyll & Hyde]

10/25 Sat Ngt: DAWN CRETEN [Scarlet Bandit] defeated Jimmy Creten [Bounty Hunter]

The 2X Live tour ran their unique head-on Z-Track in Ocala once again this year. Jimmy Creten extended his winning streak to 5 in the afternoon before suffering his first loss of the season to wife Dawn later that night.

===== PHOENIX, AZ =====

This All Star Motorsports Productions event did not include side-by-side racing and so points were not awarded

===== RALEIGH, NC =====

10/24 Fri Ngt: CHRIS DEHOYOS [Higher Education] defeated Michael Vaters I [Black Stallion]

Chris DeHoyos won his first race just 2 events into the 2026 season with wins against both generations of Mike Vaters.

===== SHELBYVILLE, TN =====

10/25 Sat Aft: DEVIN JONES [T-Rex] defeated Kaley Engstrom [Shark Attack]

10/25 Sat Ngt: We do not have results from this event

We only have results from 4 of the 10 Monster Truck Wars events this season, but of those 4 we know that Devin Jones has half the wins. He won the afternoon race in Shelbyville over Kaley Engstrom. This event also saw the debut of Mike Hawkin’s son Rylan Hawkins.

===== TURLOCK, CA =====

10/25 Sat Ngt: SHANE PLATO [Skull Krusher] defeated Stanley Hernandez [Lone Wolf]

Breakage from qualifying limited the Nitro Tour bracket in Turlock but did not slow down Shane Plato from taking the win.

===== WHEATLAND, MO =====

10/25 Sat Ngt: JON ZIMMER JR [Terminal Velocity] defeated Tim Jones [Tailgator]

A big ten truck bracket from the MAP Outlaw Nationals paid out the biggest points total for any independent event so far this season. Jon Zimmer Jr has a three race winning streak with three different promoters, beginning with the All Star Tour in Sophia, NC; then a huge win over Camden Murphy in Syracuse with the Monster Jam Stadium Series; and now he adds the Wheatland crown, as well. Zimmer was the winner of this event last year, too!

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

Bakersfield, CA (Malicious Monster Truck Tour)

Belton, TX (Monster Truck Nitro Tour)

Bradenton, FL (Tour of Destruction)

Hampton, VA (Monster Jam Arena Series)

Hickory, NC (Monster Truck Wars)

Inverness, FL (CFP No Limits)

Kennedale, TX (2X Monster Trucks Live)

Lancaster, SC (SC Monster Truck Madness Fall Fury)

Redmond, OR (Monsters of Destruction)

San Juan, Puerto Rico (Monster Jam Arena Series)

Viera, FL (Space Coast State Fair)