After another big weekend of Monster Jam competition, the 2012 TMB “Road to the World Finals” is setting up to be an incredibly exciting battle as Tom Meents has re-assumed the lead over Ryan Anderson by less than 2 points! Meents and Anderson were both strong in Pittsburgh and Tupelo respectively, but Meents came away with a few more wins which has put Max D back on top after Week #7.
Dennis Anderson had a big weekend himself in Worcester, which has launched him back up to 3rd overall, while Gary Porter’s domination in Hampton has him back up to 4th. Adam Anderson used a final round appearance in Los Angeles to keep the 5th spot in the standings in Grave Digger The Legend.
Looking back to the scramble to get in the top 24, Chad Fortune used a semi-final appearance at Dodgers Stadium to jump IN, knocking Chad Tingler OUT. John Seasock remains on the hot seat while Jon Zimmer made the most of a guest appearance in Grave Digger in Spokane, picking up 8 wins and moving to 25th overall, less than 5 points out of the top 24.
Tom Meents is back at #1 after a big weekend in Pittsburgh.
Check out the Road to the World Finals unofficial rankings after Week #7 below:
Here is how points were scored in this weekend’s Elite Level events:
2/18 – Los Angeles, California
Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned
1st – Neil Elliott – Maximum Destruction – 20
2nd – Adam Anderson – Grave Digger The Legend – 15
Semi-Finals – Chad Fortune – Captain America – 7.5
Semi-Finals – Lee O’Donnell – Iron Man – 7.5
Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned
1st – Damon Bradshaw – Monster Energy – 20
2nd – Linsey Weenk – Lucas Oil Crusader – 15
3rd – Dan Evans – Hot Wheels – 10
4th – Brian Deegan – Metal Mulisha – 5
For results from Normal Level events, check out the 2012 Results Tracker February 17th-19th Weekend Results page (drivers earn 5 points for a racing or freestyle win, 2 points for a wheelie or donut win).
Keep following 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 5-10 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 racing/freestyle each weekend at a Normal Level event is 40 (this based on the usual maximum # of shows being 4–a couple events being the exception with 5–and an available 10 points per show (10×4=40)). Beginning in 2012, we are also awarding 2 points for wheelie/donut contest wins as that information has become more readily available than when the Road to the World Finals was first started.
Wheelie/Donut Finish – Points Awarded
1st – 2
Racing Finish – Points Awarded
1st – 5
Freestyle Finish – Points Awarded
1st – 5
(Photo courtesy Jim Allen)
I almost wish TMB would not do this Finals points stuff, b/c it just serves to irritate me by reminding me that MT have yet to evolve into a real motor sport with real championships, points, etc. Feld makes money selling merchandise for their corporate trucks, so naturally the majority of trucks in the Finals will be their trucks. We all know that, but as stated in the article above it’s the biggest event period for MT. I think anyone with a sense of fairness would prefer a championship for which competitors are chosen based on performance. It seems like it will never happen for our sport.
Madusa: I think this happened last year too where she is tied for dead last place, but is competing in the Finals.
My predictions for the remaining 9 Finals competitors: Son uva Digger, Dalmation, Capt. America, Lucas Oil Crusader, Batman, Superman, Stonecrusher/Steve Sims, Brutus, Shock Therapy. What’s the line on the Finals? :)