TMB Road to the World Finals Rankings – Week #8

The month of February is in the books and with only three weeks left on the TMB “Road to the World Finals”, Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction has solidified his hold on the #1 spot. The top 3 in the rankings went head to head this weekend at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas as Meents, Ryan Anderson in Son Uva Digger and Dennis Anderson in Grave Digger were all part of one all-star lineup.

Dennis would actually have the best night in Grave Digger, winning racing and finishing runner-up in freestyle. Meents prevailed in the head to head match-up with Son Uva Digger however, as Max D’s semi-finals in racing and freestyle victory netted far more points than Ryan’s 3rd place in freestyle. The standings are still very close heading into another big weekend to start off March, with Meents up by 19 over Son Uva Digger and 28 over Grave Digger. Gary Porter approaches a jaw-dropping 50 wins while Neil Elliott nearly doubled down again in Oakland, and they round out the top 5 overall.

In the scramble for a spot in the top 24, Feld teammates Chad Tingler and Bari Musawwir used a big weekend in Cleveland to jump IN, knocking Jim Koehler and John Seasock OUT. Seasock, Koehler and Jon Zimmer are all just barely on the outside looking in, all less than 5 points out.

Check out the Road to the World Finals unofficial rankings after Week #8 below:

Here is how points were scored in this weekend’s Elite Level events:

2/25 – Oakland, California

Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Todd Leduc – Metal Mulisha – 20
2nd – Neil Elliott – Maximum Destruction – 15
Semi-Finals – Paul Cohen – Grave Digger – 7.5
Semi-Finals – Dan Rodoni – The Patriot – 7.5

Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Neil Elliott – Maximum Destruction – 20
Tie 2nd – Chuck Werner – El Toro Loco – 12.5
Tie 2nd – Chad Fortune – Captain America – 12.5
4th – Adam Anderson – Grave Digger The Legend – 5

2/25 – Arlington, Texas

Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger – 20
2nd – Marc MacDonald – El Toro Loco – 15
Semi-Finals – Tom Meents – Maximum Destruction – 7.5
Semi-Finals – David Smith – King Krunch – 7.5

Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Tom Meents – Maximum Destruction – 20
2nd – Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger – 15
3rd – Ryan Anderson – Son Uva Digger – 10
Tie – 4th – Marc MacDonald – El Toro Loco – 2.5
Tie – 4th – Frank Krmel – Grinder – 2.5

For results from Normal Level events, check out the 2012 Results Tracker February 24th-26th 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)