Two months of the 2011 Monster Jam season are complete and one driver has established himself solidly as the #1 driver so far this year – that driver is Adam Anderson who has held the top spot in the TMB Road to the World Finals Rankings ever since Week #3. With a huge freestyle win and semi-final racing appearance in Oakland this past weekend, Anderson has extended his lead to nearly 30 points over 2nd place Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction. Meents took home a major stadium freestyle win himself in Arlington after one of the wildest saves and crashes we’ve seen in a long time.
The Icon, Dennis Anderson remains 3rd overall but is making a late charge for the top spot, closing the gap on son Adam to 40 points. However it will be a tall task for Dennis to run down Adam with only 3 weeks of competition left before Vegas. Gary Porter brought his 2011 win total to a jaw dropping 38 racing and freestyle victories which keeps him in the 4th spot this week. Damon Bradshaw’s massive performance in Arlington – a racing victory and a runner-up in freestyle – has the Air Force Afterburner team back up to 5th while Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter falls to 6th.
Lupe Soza was the big mover near the 24th and final spot this past weekend, as his freestyle runner-up in Jacksonville vaulted him back into the top 24, knocking out Steve Sims who fell into a tie with Jeremy Slifko in Backdraft for 25th. Jon Zimmer officially received his World Finals invite from Feld this weekend (congrats Jon!), but has fallen to the bubble spot in the rankings, holding a slim 8 point lead over the aforementioned drivers tied for 25th. John Seasock continues to lurk 10 points back, tied with a driver making a late push for the top 24 – Nick Owens in Iron Outlaw, who is having a great Monster Jam rookie season and is coming off a huge racing victory in Oakland.
Check out the Road to the World Finals unofficial rankings after Week #8 below:
Here is how points were scored in this week’s Elite Level events:
2/26 – Arlington, Texas
Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned
1st – Damon Bradshaw – Air Force Afterburner – 20
2nd – Jimmy Creten – Bounty Hunter – 15
Semi-Finals – Mike Vaters – Safety-Kleen Black Stallion – 7.5
Semi-Finals – Dana Creech – Monster Mutt – 7.5
Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned
1st – Tom Meents – Maximum Destruction – 20
2nd – Damon Bradshaw – Air Force Afterburner – 15
3rd – Chad Tingler – Grave Digger – 10
Tie – 4th – Alex Blackwell – Captain’s Curse – 1.75
Tie – 4th – Tony Farrell – Grave Digger The Legend – 1.75
2/26 – Jacksonville, Florida
Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned
1st – Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger – 20
2nd – Linsey Weenk – Lucas Oil Crusader – 15
Semi-Finals – Chuck Werner – El Toro Loco – 7.5
Semi-Finals – Neil Elliott – Maximum Destruction – 7.5
Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned
1st – Neil Elliott – Maximum Destruction – 20
2nd – Lupe Soza – AAP Grinder – 15
3rd – Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger – 10
4th – Jim Koehler – Avenger – 5
2/26 – Oakland, California
Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned
1st – Nick Owens – Iron Outlaw – 20
2nd – Darren Migues – Stone Crusher – 15
Semi-Finals – Adam Anderson – Grave Digger The Legend – 7.5
Semi-Finals – Charlie Pauken – Grave Digger – 7.5
Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned
1st – Adam Anderson – Grave Digger The Legend – 20
2nd – Charlie Pauken – Grave Digger – 15
3rd – Darren Migues – Stone Crusher – 10
4th – Nick Owens – Iron Outlaw – 5
For results from Normal Level events, check out the 2011 Results Tracker February 25th-27th 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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