The Road to the World Finals charged into February this weekend and Adam Anderson held onto the top spot for the third straight week after a dominant performance in Hampton, Virginia. Anderson took Grave Digger The Legend to wins in 5 of the 6 racing competitions and now leads second place Jimmy Creten by just over 20 points. Creten had a strong weekend himself in Bounty Hunter, with 2 racing and 2 freestyle wins at the Fargodome.
Trouble is lurking for the top 2 however as Tom Meents is making his move, flying up to 3rd overall after a huge Max D stadium freestyle win in Tampa. Chad Tingler’s strong performance in Houston keeps him 4th while Linsey Weenk remains in the top 5, slipping back from 3rd last week.
The battle for the 24th and final spot is heating up in a big way as Lee O’Donnell and George Balhan are just barely hanging inside while an ever growing group of drivers is trying to break their way in, including Lupe Soza, John Seasock, Scott Hartsock, Steve Sims and rookie driver Todd Leduc.
Check out the Road to the World Finals unofficial rankings after Week #5 below:
Here is how points were scored in this week’s Elite Level events:
2/5 – Houston, Texas
Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned
1st – Alex Blackwell – Captain’s Curse – 20
2nd – Neil Elliott – Maximum Destruction – 15
Semi-Finals – Todd Leduc – Blue Thunder – 7.5
Semi-Finals – David Smith – King Krunch – 7.5
Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned
1st – Alex Blackwell – Captain’s Curse – 20
Tie – 2nd – Neil Elliott – Maximum Destruction – 10
Tie – 2nd – Steve Sims – Stone Crusher – 10
Tie – 2nd – Chad Tingler – Grave Digger – 10
2/5 – Tampa, Florida
Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned
1st – Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger – 20
2nd – Jon Zimmer – Amsoil Shock Therapy – 15
Semi-Finals – Tom Meents – Maximum Destruction – 7.5
Semi-Finals – Chad Fortune – Superman – 7.5
Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned
1st – Tom Meents – Maximum Destruction – 20
2nd – Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger – 15
Tie – 3rd – Jeremy Slifko – Backdraft – 7.5
Tie – 3rd – George Balhan – Mohawk Warrior – 7.5
For results from Normal Level events, check out the 2011 Results Tracker February 4th-6th Weekend Results page (drivers earn 5 points for a racing or freestyle win).
If you haven’t followed along with TMB’s Road to the World Finals in the past, we’re sure that you have many questions about how we put this together: How does it work? Which events are we including? How are the points awarded? etc. At the bottom of each week’s update, you’ll see the detailed rationale and explanation that should answer most of these questions.
Stay tuned each week to TMB’s “Road to the World Finals” for all the results and current standings each week. Keep in mind this is all unofficial and is just for fun and enjoy as we track the Monster Jam series all the way to the World Finals in March!
About TMB’s Road to the World Finals:
For some time, fans across the country have wondered why the USHRA does not run a public points system of some kind for their Monster Jam series. We are included in the group that would love to be able to follow the standings of such a series each week. We are of the belief that a berth in the Monster Jam World Finals should be earned based on performance throughout the year in both racing and freestyle. Regardless of what portion of the monster truck industry you favor, there is no denying that the Monster Jam World Finals is the biggest and highest profile event our sport has to offer. A chance to compete at this event is a big deal for many drivers out there, and it is our opinion that they should be able to earn their way in. We’re not saying that Feld Motorsports doesn’t pick the World Finalists based on performance currently–we’re simply saying that we don’t know how they make up the field because the process isn’t made public.
So with that in mind, we have created an UNOFFICIAL points system that is simple (although it may seem complicated) and that rewards performance in all Monster Jam events across the country leading up to the World Finals. In our Standings, we will show the cut-off after the 24th truck, indicating that IF entry to the World Finals was based SOLELY on performance, these are the drivers that would be headed to Las Vegas. Keep in mind that this is just for fun and has no actual bearing on the selection of World Finals participants. See below for a breakdown of our points system and our rationale for the decisions we made in creating it.
Elite Level Events
What is an Elite Level event? We define an Elite Monster Jam event as any with a field of 12 of more trucks. We have chosen to award these events the highest amount of points, because these are the highest profile Monster Jam events. These events are the ones held in the major stadiums in front of the biggest crowds, some of which are even televised on SPEED. It is our belief that performance in the highest profile shows should be weighted most heavily toward a World Finals berth because these events are most similar to the World Finals itself. The most points any one driver can score in an Elite Level event (and thus in any event) is 40. If an event meeting all of this criteria holds 3 or more shows over the course of a single weekend, the points for each show are worth half of what is listed below.
Racing Finish – Points Awarded
1st – 20
2nd – 15
Semi-Finals – 7.5
Freestyle Finish – Points Awarded
1st – 20
2nd – 15
3rd – 10
4th – 5
Normal Level Events
What is a Normal Level show? The majority of Monster Jam events held around the country are Normal Level shows. These events are typically held in smaller arenas around the country, consisting of multiple shows held over the course of the weekend (anywhere from 2-5), with fields of anywhere from 5-8 trucks. Looking at the points awarded for these shows, you will notice they are much less than the upper levels. We equate the significance level of an entire 4 show weekend of Normal Level events with the significance of one Elite Level show–thus, the maximum points a driver can earn in a weekend at a Normal Level event is 40 (this based on the usual maximum # of shows being 4 (Tacoma being the exception with 5), and an available 10 points per show (10×4=40)).
Racing Finish – Points Awarded
1st – 5
Freestyle Finish – Points Awarded
1st – 5
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