This past weekend was the big showdown to see who would be the #1 driver in TMB’s 2011 Road to the World Finals unofficial rankings – with the top three contenders all having next weekend off to prepare for the World Finals, it would all come down to Syracuse and Baton Rouge. What resulted is the closest finish for the top spot in all five years we’ve doing these unofficial rankings – the winner is Dennis Anderson by less than two points over son Adam Anderson and only five points over Tom Meents! Dennis and Tom laid down big performances in Syracuse to gain on Adam who swept freestyle in Baton Rouge, but was shut out in racing as Mike Vaters swept the weekend. What an incredible season it has been for these three drivers as they have far and away established themselves as Monster Jam’s top drivers this season.
Meanwhile there is still one week of competition left on the Road to the World Finals, giving all the other drivers competing this coming weekend a chance to gain spots in the rankings. Jimmy Creten picked up a racing and freestyle win in Winnipeg to stay in the #4 spot overall while Gary Porter had another big weekend in Wilkes-Barre to remain in the top 5 overall.
The action continues to be hot and heavy back around the 24th and final spot as the drivers try to prove that they earned a spot in the World Finals this year, whether they ultimately end up getting the invite from Feld or not. Steve Sims’ final round appearance in Syracuse put him back in the top 24, knocking out John Seasock. Lupe Soza also moved up, knocking Jim Koehler back to the bubble spot. Seasock is less than 2 points out of the top 24 while Jon Zimmer is only 5 points out, with a big gap back to Jeremy Slifko and Nick Owens.
This weekend is the last before the World Finals, so next week we will have the final rankings! Check out the Road to the World Finals unofficial rankings after Week #10 below:
Here is how points were scored in this week’s Elite Level events:
3/12 – Syracuse, New York
Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned
1st – Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger – 20
2nd – Steve Sims – Stone Crusher – 15
Semi-Finals – Chad Fortune – Superman – 7.5
Semi-Finals – Tom Meents – Maximum Destruction – 7.5
Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned
1st – Alex Blackwell – Captain’s Curse – 20
2nd – Tom Meents – Maximum Destruction – 15
Tie – 3rd – Linsey Weenk – Lucas Oil Crusader – 5
Tie – 3rd – Chris Bergeron – Brutus – 5
Tie – 3rd – Steve Sims – Stone Crusher – 5
For results from Normal Level events, check out the 2011 Results Tracker March 11th-13th 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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