The Allen Report: San Diego County Fair Monster Trucks – Del Mar, CA 2017

(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)

Weekend Recap

This time on “The Allen Report”, we head to the annual San Diego County Fair in the picturesque town of Del Mar, CA. Our friends at WGAS Motorsports have been entertaining fans at the annual fair for 22 straight years with a vast variety of motorsports entertainment, from tuff truck racing, to UTV racing, to freestyle motocross, and much more. But on the closing days of the fair, the shows held at the Del Mar Arena were headlined by six dirt slinging, high flying, bumper dragging monster trucks in freestyle action.

From just up the road in Menifee, CA were the father and son team of Rick and Eric Swanson. Twenty year old Eric continued to run his 1968 Ford F-100 body on Obsessed while Rick carried on with his Top Notch Tee’s sponsored yellow body. For the first time ever, Jim Creten had all four of his trucks in the house. 2Xtreme drivers Mikeal Christensen, Christian Norman, Austin Minton and Sinjan Gergick all took turns driving Knucklehead and Iron Outlaw. Once more, Dawn Creten took the helm of her usual Scarlet Bandit and Jim Creten lead the charge in his traditional Bounty Hunter, complete with the updated version of his American Sniper Chris Kyle Foundation body.

As with years past, the afternoon shows were exhibition only while the evening shows would utilize the sport’s traditional freestyle scoring system to crown an Overall Day Champion. A tabletop jump, two wheelie bumps, a small roller with a kicker and the customary Del Mar huge hill were all in play. This meant that winning the Overall Day Championship would not come easy for any of the participants.

The first day of monster truck action got things off to a roaring start. Rick Swanson made several admirable attempts at slap wheelies while Mikeal Christensen made some massive leaps off the tabletop. Eric Swanson turned in a high speed, high energy run from start to finish with huge air and Dawn Creten combined consistent huge air and dirt churning cyclones to stay in the hunt for the Overall Day Championship.

But, the crowd favorite and former World Finals Champion was waiting in the wings. Jim Creten dug his truck’s wheelie bar into the dirt, shot for the sky multiple times and continued long after his two minute time expired. In the evening show with scores and a trophy on the line, the 2Xtreme Racing team owner and founder had just enough points altogether to take the Overall Day Championship on the first day of monster action.

As the next few days marched by, the action inside the arena only got progressively hotter. The second day of action saw each driver step up their game and great performances all around, but Jim Creten, even with the strong performances by all of those who went before him, was able to repeat as the Overall Day Champion.

The third day of action saw a special twist to the show format. Eric and Rick Swanson began the spectacular trend of team trucks performing freestyles at the same time. Their respective runs were topped off by Eric putting his truck’s tires on top of those of his father’s vehicle. In the evening show with judges watching, both trucks were scored together as a team and did very well. But Jim and Dawn Creten, ever the competitors, accepted the challenge. When they took to the track, the husband and wife team got frequent huge air and ended their runs with simultaneous, lightning fast cyclones. When the couple’s winning score was handed down by the judges, the capacity crowd roared with approval.

On the fourth and final day of the 102nd annual San Diego County Fair on Independence Day, WGAS officials had a surprise ready for the fans who showed up to the arena for the final time this year. From the opening freestyle onward, the action inside the arena only got more and more exciting. Each truck was almost done with their freestyle time when the next truck in line came roaring into the arena. This process continued on until the father and son Swanson were the only trucks still on the track. As one last thanks to the fans for coming, all the monsters did one noisy parade lap around the perimeter of the arena, bringing the curtain down on another successful year of WGAS monster truck action at the San Diego County Fair.

While the monsters were waiting their turn to take to the track, the crowds were entertained by several different kinds of scaled down race cars with young gals and guys at the wheel. Mini dwarf cars and junior outlaw sprint races showcased future race drivers in the kids behind the wheels. With many battles for position and several races ending in photo finishes, it was clear that these kids have just as big a will to win as the adult racers.

With Del Mar behind us for the year, we don’t get much time to rest as only two weeks later we take a familiar trip at a new time of year. We have followed monsters to the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds in Turlock, CA in both the spring and fall, but this is our first time seeing them during the fair itself in late July. Coverage from there will be coming soon. That said, thank you for reading, a huge, heartfelt thanks to John and Charlene Borba, Chelsea Kessler, Greg and Carol Atherton and all of the WGAS Motorsports family for their warm hospitality, enjoy the photos and cheer on!

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The Allen Report: San Diego County Fair Monster Trucks – Del Mar, CA 2016

(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)

Weekend Recap

This time on “The Allen Report” we travel to San Diego, California, a city with no shortage of sport and entertainment venues, from football’s Qualcomm Stadium to baseball’s Petco Park. But on the first few days of July at the San Diego County Fair, the big crowds were inside the Del Mar Arena. Six monster trucks arrived to do head to head battle in roof scraping, dirt slinging freestyle competition.

Making the trip from Tonganoxie, Kansas, were Jimmy Creten piloting Bounty Hunter with wife Dawn Creten right behind in Scarlet Bandit. From just up the road in Watsonville, California, were the father and daughter team of Kelvin and Rosalee Ramer. Kelvin was in his sleek 1934 Ford coupe Time Flys and Rosalee, the 2016 Monster Jam Rookie of the Year, in her usual Wild Flower. Finally, Rick and Eric Swanson arrived looking to bring the title back to their home state. Rick, once more, was driving his 20th Anniversary Obsession with Eric at the wheel of the Baja bodied Obsessed.

In the opening show on Friday, Obsession kept his speed up and turned in his customary great donuts for a reasonable score of 19. But Wild Flower was not as lucky. The camshaft got jammed within the engine that cut the power of the truck, causing internal motor damage and Rosalee was unable to fire back up. Kelvin’s luck wasn’t much better, for an attempt to crush the anti-breast cancer car in the middle of the arena floor tore a steering hose. But the Swanson family wasn’t safe from mechanical gremlins either. Obsessed had a great run going with lots of air when a head gasket blew, finishing the truck for the weekend. Driver Eric wasn’t finished, however, as he hopped in his father’s vehicle for the rest of the weekend. But Jimmy Creten could not be stopped. His signature coasting slap wheelies, incredible speed and multiple trips to the sky had the crowd roaring by the time the red flags waved, signifying the end of his two minute time. The crowd continued to cheer when Jim’s scores of tens across the board came up, giving him the win.

Over the course of the weekend, Jimmy Creten used terrific wheelies, ongoing high speed, great air and, most of all, kept his truck together through the whole run again and again to take the clean sweep of freestyle victories. Time Flys and Wild Flower would get fixed but as Kelvin was doing a wheelie on the second, a champagne snapped and the monster lost his left front wheel. Multiple teams pitched in and Kelvin’s ride was repaired in good time. Eric continued to showcase his talent for monster driving in his father’s truck, getting very good air, picking up the family tradition of great cyclones and often getting good scores for it. Wild Flower was put back together eventually and the crowd favorite Rosalee didn’t miss a beat, consistently putting together all around exciting runs.

During breaks in the monster action, the audience was treated to the future of auto racing as kids of various ages raced mini dwarf cars and junior outlaw sprints. The small scale of the race cars didn’t have much impact on the racing action itself; however, as multiple battles for positions, the occasional spin and great action all around had the crowd cheering again and again. Also performing were Shane Plato and Corbin Shockey in the Skull Krusher and Monster Buddy mini monster trucks. Based on the good performances of these two youngsters, the future of the sport is in good hands.

Also in attendance throughout the weekend was a retired FDNY firefighter who had been trapped by World Trade Center debris for three days after 9/11 before being rescued. Before each show, he gave a passionate speech on how blessed we as Americans are. We at “The Allen Report” were thrilled to hear such an American hero speak on Fourth of July weekend.

Next for us at “The Allen Report” is a show just up the road in Pomona, California, a town steeped in motorsport tradition. More monster action is expected to come from there. That said, thanks for reading, a special thank you to John Borba, Chelsea Kessler and all of WGAS Motorsports, not just for their great hospitality but also for letting your humble writer announce in front of the crowd for the very first time, enjoy the photos and cheer on!

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All content copyright TheMonsterBlog.com 2016.

The Allen Report: Monster Truck Show – Del Mar, CA 2015

(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)

Weekend Recap

This time on “The Allen Report”, we travel back to the San Diego County Fair, a place that, for one hundred years, has delivered on fun rides, great food and exciting entertainment. And on the first, second and third of July, the entertainment was in the Del Mar Arena, where seven ground pounding monster trucks arrived to do battle in wheelie contest the first day, freestyle the second and, on the third day, qualifying in the afternoon and racing in the evening. The husband and wife team of Jim and Dawn Creten came to town, Jim in his sleek new black and yellow Bounty Hunter and Dawn in her traditional Scarlet Bandit. The “Flying Spaniard” Tony Canedo drove his newly purchased Survivor and Roger Stidell, as usual, piloted the trophy truck bodied Destroyer. The father-daughter team of Kelvin and Rosalee Ramer were in the house to defend their southern California home turf, Kelvin in his 1934 Ford Coupe Time Flys and Rosalee in her usual Wild Flower. Finally, Rick Swanson and his crowd-amazing Wrongway Rick arrived.

On the first day, the wheelie competition was heated. Rosalee Ramer showed how far she has come in only three years of competition with almost perfect verticality and great distance. Not to be outdone, her father Kelvin managed to get his monster on its back tires incredibly well, going vertical more than once. But Jim Creten had his wheelies down pat, often coasting mid-wheelie and not wasting any time. A perfect score of thirty saw Jim Creten take the afternoon show win. Only a few hours later, the crowd was back in the arena and so were the monsters. The Wild Flower driver gave admirable efforts, successfully going vertical on a couple occasions. But Jim Creten was unstoppable, shoving his wheelie bar deep into the dirt, not letting off the gas and delivering fantastic distance to get the double victory.

The second day saw high flying freestyle. Rick Swanson proved the namesake of his truck by getting good air, established great flow from one jump to the next, and, as always, finished off his run with some great donuts. Or reverse donuts, depending on which way he was going. Tony Canedo gave honorable attempts in Survivor’s freestyle run, but numerous teething problems hindered the trucks performance, and it showed on the judges’ scorecards. But Jim and Bounty Hunter are former World Champions, and they threw down. Cyclones, big air, great wheelies, you name it, Jim Creten did it. Even though his streak of perfect scores came to an end, it was still high enough to get the double victory.

During first show qualifying on the third and final day, Rosalee Ramer had officials looking at their stopwatches in amazement as she clocked in an incredible 13.40 seconds on the roundy-round course. Even Jim Creten and Bounty Hunter couldn’t overtake the multitalented eighteen year old, just more than one tenth of a second off the fastest time. With an odd numbered field, it was decided that Bounty Hunter would get a bye into the final round where the winner of a standard four truck bracket would face him. With the chance to face the winner from the past two straight days on the line, Rosalee Ramer and Dawn Creten faced off in an all female semi-final. In the first turn, Rosalee rolled hard into the freestyle ramp. Only the truck was damaged in the rollover and Rosalee was A-OK. Spectacular as it was, Dawn Creten won by default and with it the right to face her husband for the championship. The black and yellow Bounty Hunter crossed the finish line first, but WGAS officials concluded that Jim hit the second ramp with only one tire, costing him the race and the clean sweep. The overall Racing victory went to Dawn Creten, in only her third set of shows since April of this year, proving that the unbelievable horsepower extends to all members of Team 2Xtreme.

The crowd was also treated to Mini Dwarf car and Junior Outlaw Sprint car racing preceding each set of monster chaos. Numerous attempts to overtake and several close finishes had the crowd on edge from flag to flag more than once. The lack of repeat winners in either class showcased how competitive motor racing is, no matter the size of car.

And that’s a wrap from us here in Del Mar, as we next head north of Los Angeles to Pomona, where Fourth of July fireworks, backflipping freestyle motocross, even more monster action and a brand new stunt await us. That said, thank you for reading, a sincere thanks to John Borba and WGAS Motorsports for having us, enjoy the photos and cheer on!

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All content copyright TheMonsterBlog.com 2015.

The Allen Report: Monster Truck Show – Del Mar, CA 2013

(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)

Weekend Recap

This time on “The Allen Report”, we make our annual trek to the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar, California for a series of showdowns between a national name and a home state hero. For the past several years, Kelvin Ramer and his Time Flys machine have made several attempts to replace Jimmy Creten and Bounty Hunter as King of the Del Mar monster trucks. And he was going to try again this year. However, this was no two truck show. Right behind Jimmy was Trent Montgomery in Iron Outlaw. But Kelvin had backup of his own. That was his own daughter, young Rosalee Ramer, driving Detour. Rick Swanson returned with Wrongway Rick to the place where it debuted one year ago. Son Eric Swanson drove his trophy truck bodied-monster wearing the normal Obsessed logo to round out the field.

Day one of three at Del Mar was the unique High Jump competition under NCAA rules. Bringing the bar down three times meant elimination. Clearing the bar meant raising it. The last truck that could still clear the bar was the winner. In the afternoon show, Bounty Hunter not only won but kept all four tires still on with a height of 8 feet, 2 inches. The evening show started the showdown. First, the 1934 Ford Coupe with Kelvin at the wheel threw down the gauntlet of 9 feet, 3 inches. Jimmy had the officials raise the bar even higher and still cleared it. Not to be outdone, Iron Outlaw and Detour jumped in to help their teammates. But when those two left the building, the game of “Top this!” truly began. It went on and on until the bar couldn’t go any higher. At a venue record 10 feet, 9 inches, Jimmy and Kelvin would tie for the win. But things were just getting started.

Day two was a wheelie competition. Longer distance plus higher vertical equaled more points. Trent Montgomery had come a long way in one day from smashing the High Jump bar the day before with an honorable run in the evening that held the lead until the last two and finished the day in third place. The elder Ramer showed he meant business, getting the loudest applause of the show up to that point in Time Flys. But Jimmy Creten won the Wheelie Competition at Del Mar last year and started the repeat with the crowd roaring for him. In the evening show, Time Flys gave it one last shot with power, slap and sky wheelies all in the same run. But Bounty Hunter rarely shares the trophy a second time. Double wheelies, tons of momentum and excellent pre-wheelie air gave the Tonganoxie, KS native the Wheelie contest win for the second year in a row by better than 10 points over second place. With only a day of all or nothing freestyle to go at Del Mar, Kelvin had only one more try to prevent Bounty Hunter from cleaning house.

Day three was all out freestyle. Bounty Hunter only pulled further into the lead in his first run with a very high score. But the win did not come without a price. Moments before his time expired, Jimmy blew a rod in his engine. Despite the crew’s best efforts, Bounty was out for the day, ending his chances of a clean sweep. With that, all signs appeared to point to Kelvin Ramer sharing the crown with the Bounty Hunter driver. But Time Flys would also find engine trouble. Eric Swanson and Obsessed had finished third place every competition they entered. This was the third day of at least one competition for Eric. By getting scores on the board and finishing his run, third time was the charm for Eric to take the day win. With three different winners in three days, the competition in the Del Mar arena remains tighter than ever.

Along with the monsters, trophy karts started the show on days one and two, while scaled down versions of mid-twentieth century dirt racing jalopies called mini dwarf cars did on day three. Next on the calendar for us is just a few hours up the road at the Fairplex in Pomona, CA, for the annual KaBoom with freestyle motocross, monster trucks and fireworks extravaganza. Well then, thank you for reading, a warm thank you to John Borba and WGAS Motorsports for their hospitality, enjoy the photos and cheer on!

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The Allen Report: Monster Truck Show – Del Mar, CA 2012

(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)

Weekend Recap

This edition of “The Allen Report” comes to you from Del Mar, California where Jimmy Creten in the Bounty Hunter is thinking San Diego County Fair Championship three-peat. Rick Swanson has introduced a new body design called WrongWay Rick. The other participants were Kelvin Ramer and Time Flys, the Youngest Female Professional Monster Truck Driver in the World, Rosalee Ramer in Detour, Eric Swanson the Youngest Professional Male driver in the World in Obsessed and Russell Steeley in Iron Outlaw.

The monsters would be competing at the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar in two shows a day for four days with a different contest each day. The combined scores from both shows in the same day would determine the day’s winner. Day 1 consisted of a high jump contest. Detour jumped 9 feet 2 inches in the first afternoon show and a roof-raising 12 feet 8 inches for a day total of 21 feet, 10 in to take the first win.

Day 2 was a wheelie contest day. This saw Eric Swanson nail a well executed wheelie in Obsessed, but broke a ring and pinion a monster at the same time. However, Jimmy Creten had his game together, never once getting a wheelie that was less than vertical and the length of the floor to take the win.

Day 3 featured a long jump contest with football field style measurements. Fan favorite Time Flys jumped a respectable 64 feet but that was only good enough for 4th place in the early afternoon show. But then came the late afternoon show and the 1934 Ford flew a neck wrenching 71 feet. These two distances made him the 3rd different winner in 3 days of competition.

The 4th and final day was a full blown freestyle. The trophy cart races were fast and furious, but the crowd was anxious to get down to the meat and potatoes. Bounty Hunter did not disappoint. His perfect 40 in both shows of the day made Jimmy Creten a 3 time San Diego County Fair Undisputed Champion.

Next up for us at “The Allen Report” will be the 4th of July celebration called simply KaBoom! at the Fairplex in Pomona, CA. Many thanks for reading, a special thanks to John Borba and WGAS Motorsports for their hospitality and access to the pits and drivers, enjoy the photos and cheer on!

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All content copyright TheMonsterBlog.com 2012.

The Allen Report: WGAS Monster Truck Tour – Del Mar/Pomona, CA 2011

(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)

The 4th of July is always an important date on the modern calendar and monster trucks are about as American as they come. That is why six of the best monsters this side of the Mississippi River arrived for the annual show at the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar, California, followed by the KaBoom show at the Fairplex in Pomona, California. The six combatants are Jimmy Creten and Bounty Hunter, Darren Migues in Iron Outlaw and the father and son duo Rick and Eric Swanson in Obsession and Obsessed. Kelvin Ramer drove Time Flys while Hog Wild ride truck owner Bob Johnson and Chris Etchison shared driving duties in Fired Up.

For three days and two shows a day, the monsters made the Chevrolet Del Mar Arena their stomping grounds. The first day saw decent efforts, but Jimmy Creten had his cyclones down pat and took both shows that day. Business picked up tremendously on the second day when Darren announced through amazing runs that he would lay down to no one, his teammate included. With just a few points separating the two halves of 2Xtreme Racing, the final day saw sold out shows in both the afternoon and evening. In the end, the win was awarded to the Bounty Hunter, having a perfect six-for-six record to wrap up the Del Mar shows for another year.

Independence Day was celebrated with exactly those same monsters at the packed Fairplex in Pomona. The show opened with the high-flying, death-defying Freestyle Motocross riders, including Nikki Danielson and Jimmy Fitzpatrick of the famous Metal Mulisha doing what they do best, despite a close encounter with Mother Nature’s fury. Roundy-Round racing saw Eric Swanson in Obsessed take down Fired Up, but the end for him in racing came when Iron Outlaw, who had knocked off Time Flys, defeated him to take on Bounty Hunter in the finals. Jimmy Creten crossed the finish line first, but in the process, he hit a turning pole handing the win to Migues in Iron Outlaw. However, even that could not stop him from literally jumping over his own team truck to finish freestyle. As always, fireworks closed the incredible KaBoom event.

During the weekend, Kelvin Ramer said he is building a yet to be named third truck that, like Time Flys, will be a 1934 Ford Coupe. However, the body will be roofless and the nose will be slanted banana style. Until next time, thank you for reading, enjoy Jim Allen’s great photos, and a big thanks to John Borba and WGAS Motorsports for their hospitality. Cheer on!

All content copyright TheMonsterBlog.com 2011.

Video of the Week – 07/09/11

Week Ending: July 9th, 2011
Truck(s) Featured: Bounty Hunter (Jimmy Creten)
Video Type: Fan Video
Courtesy: www.YouTube.com

Description: Jimmy Creten tears it up in Bounty Hunter at the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar, winning this freestyle and sweeping the entire six show weekend.

Obsession Racing Press Release 10

(Menifee, CA) Obsession Racing celebrated the Fourth of July holiday weekend with two big shows at the San Diego State Fair on the 2nd and 3rd. Then on the 4th we were in Pomona California for their Annual Forth of July Kaboom show for WGAS Motorsports. For the Friday show Rick only ran our Obsession truck for an exhibition run. He once again pleased the crowd with his performance. On Saturday we were booked to run Obsession and Obsessed.

The original plan was for Rick and Jeff to drive. After Eric doing the Albuquerque show he was itchin’ to drive again but he thought that he wouldn’t be able to do the Del Mar event. Dad was happy to fulfill another one of his dreams by telling him that John Borba agreed to let him drive because he was confident in Eric’s driving abilities, and knew he would put on a great show! Eric and Rick were put up against each other in racing. It was a round a round course. Eric had Dad on the line but slid out in the last turn and Dad took the win!

This made Eric all the more eager to out shine Dad in freestyle! Racing ended with Rick and Jimmy in Bounty Hunter in the finals for Racing. For freestyle Eric caught some wicked air off the back side of the racing jump. I think he caught some of the biggest air that day! Then he had to try one of Dad’s famous donuts, but the truck slid into the jump and popped the bead off the wheel which the crowd thought was really cool! It was a cheap fix so Mom and Dad were ok with it. Rick had to one up Eric with a donut by taking the steering wheel off and throwing it out of the window! Obsession happily placed second in freestyle!

For more information on Obsession Racing, visit www.ObsessionRacing.com.

Jim & Christopher Allen’s Del Mar / Pomona Coverage

TMB is always proud to bring you great coverage from our friends out west, Jim and Christopher Allen, and this week that means lots of great photos and all the details from the 2010 Del Mar and Pomona, California events. Check the coverage out below and thanks to Jim and Chris for another job well done:

“Once again WGAS Motorsports invited teams of monster trucks to perform at Del Mar California’s San Diego County Fairgrounds and the fan favorite July 4th “KaBoom!” in Pomona. The teams were “Living the Dream Racing’s” own “Time Flys” and “Fired Up” driven by Kelvin Ramer and Justin Cluster, both “Obsession” and “Obsessed” with Rick Swanson and Eric Swanson behind the wheels and representatives of “2Xtreme Racing” in the form of Russell Steeley in “Iron Outlaw” and Jim Creten, as always, driving “Bounty Hunter”.

Shout-outs go to Ron Johnson in his old school monster truck, the T-C Pig Ranch sponsored “Hog Wild”, who had some t-shirts to give away and Jake Blackwell’s awesome ride truck, the Thrasher Racing owned “Extinguisher” , who gave rides to fans young and old all weekend long.

The first monster out was “Fired Up” and his freestyle performance set the stage as each driver tried to top the next. Rick Swanson showed why he was the Undisputed Champion from this event one year ago, doing very nice cyclones and rarely laying off the throttle; so much in fact, that steam was coming from the engine area as “Obsession” left the arena. Russell Steeley put Iron Outlaw through its paces, not stopping until everything on the track was hit. However, during the second show of the day he took the big mountain in the middle of the floor, hard broke the right front wheel off and rolled over slowly. Kelvin Ramer was up next and drove over every obstacle, finishing his final run in the evening show with a cyclone with his hands out the window. But the potential winner possibility goes to the former World Champion in Bounty Hunter, using tons of pure horsepower over every jump, getting great air and continuing long after the 90 second time period. It was a great first day in Del Mar.

For the final day of monster trucks in Del Mar, the first afternoon show was racing only and the second afternoon show was freestyle only. Since only five trucks were competing, this created an interesting race bracket. “Bounty Hunter” would automatically be seeded into the semi-finals. Two winners of the heats would join him along with the fastest loser. From there, two finalists would advance and a racing champion would be crowned succeeding that race.

WGAS officials created a Chicago style race course with the finish lines on top of each trucks’ respective starting jumps. In the opening round, fan favorite Kelvin Ramer in “Time Flys” took out his own teammate, “Fired Up” driven by Justin Cluster to advance to the semi-finals and a shot at Jim Creten and “Bounty Hunter”. In the other quarter-final race, 14 year old Eric Swanson with “Obsessed” was on his way to victory over his own father in the team truck when he aver drove the final turn. Rick swapped trucks and raced “Obsessed” for the remainder of the racing show.

The top half of the semis would see a close race between the former Monster Jam World Champion Jim Creten and the driver of the 1934 Ford, Kelvin Ramer. It was close, but the win goes to “Bounty Hunter” after Ramer spent too much time in the air over the second jump. Fastest loser “Fired Up” was denied a second shot at the championship round after following “Obsessed” across the finish line. The final race was dead even until the final turn when Jim Creten pulled away for the racing trophy.

The final show from Del Mar for the year would be the only time freestyles were scored. Eric Swanson, back in “Obsessed”, got some great air with a sky wheelie and was in the middle of his first donut when he hit one of the racing ramps, breaking the bead on the left rear tire, flattening it. The judges gave him a 14 out of a possible 40. The “Fired Up” driver continued to with the freestyle competition and took the lead with a 28 point score. Next came “Time Flys” and “Obsession”, both of which hit all of the obstacles and took the lead with a score of 38.5. But there was a former Freestyle champion in the house, and he hit everything the track threw at him and got the undisputed big air of the weekend. He missed the perfect score by just one point, but it was enough to get back on the winner’s stage at Del Mar.

What better way to celebrate Independence Day than with five of the top monster trucks in the world? But not just monster trucks, also on hand were four high-flying, death defying FMX riders including Jimmy Fitzpatrick as the sole representative of the infamous Metal Mulisha. Finally, the “KaBoom!” tradition continues with a fireworks display as the grand finale.

The five trucks competing in Chicago-style racing and freestyle on some of the biggest obstacles Pomona monster truck fans have ever seen include Kelvin Ramer with “Time Flys” and the teams of “Obsession Racing” with Eric Swanson behind the wheel of “Obsessed” along with his father Rick driving “Obsession” and the “2Xtreme Racing” trucks of Iron Outlaw driven by Nick Owens and Jim Creten, as always, behind the wheel of Bounty Hunter. Before the monsters hit the track, some of the FMX riders performed amazing airborne stunts including back flips.

As “Time Flys” got the bye in the racing bracket and would wait to race until the semi-finals and would take on the winner of the first heat in Round 1. A fast loser would also advance and face the winner of the second heat of Round 1, making a four truck competition in the semi finals. From there, a standard four truck bracket was in place. All hopes of Eric Swanson avenging his loss to his father in Del Mar were dashed as he took the last turn too wide and “Bounty Hunter” showed who was boss in the second heat against his team truck, “Iron Outlaw”. “Obsession” would move to the finals as Kelvin Ramer made the same mistake as Eric during the run of “Time Flys”. The next scheduled race was the rematch Nick Owens wanted with the Bounty Hunter, but it never happened as a problem with the RII prevented Iron Outlaw from making it to the starting line and forfeiting the race. WGAS officials went straight to the finals between “Bounty Hunter” and “Obsession”. “Bounty Hunter” was too fastest and crossed the finish line first and was the racing champion.

Freestyle featured both the small jumps from racing, two additional wheelie obstacles, two sets of motor homes, a large single jump and a HUGE double jump. There was also a “concession stand” on the dirt arena. That’s correct, a concession stand! Iron Outlaw put on an excellent opening freestyle. Eric Swanson emerged next, and got some huge air over the double jump. He earned a 35 out of a possible 40 for his efforts. Rick wanted to keep up the momentum but the transmission had other ideas, breaking an input shaft after just a single jump. “Time Flys” earned a perfect 40 from the judges, but Jim Creten had other ideas about who would be the victor. He hit every obstacle and did some great wheelies and donuts. He then hit the concession stand setting off the first fireworks of the evening. The crowd’s ovation left no doubt as to who was the winner. Scores were never given for “Bounty Hunter”, but Jim didn’t care. No fan was sitting down as Jim had done what he needed to do.

WGAS creator and primary promoter John Borba was on hand, and was told by an anonymous fan that this was the best freestyle motocross and monster truck show the fan had ever seen. Fans were then treated to a great 4th of July fireworks show. Thank you for reading, enjoy the photos, and cheer on.” – Christopher Allen

CLICK HERE TO VIEW JIM ALLEN’S DEL MAR, CA PHOTO GALLERY

CLICK HERE TO VIEW JIM ALLEN’S POMONA, CA PHOTO GALLERY

Monster Truck Show – Del Mar, CA – 07/02-03/10

Event:  Monster Truck Show
Venue:   San Diego County Fairgrounds
Location:  Del Mar, California
Date:  July 2nd-3rd, 2010
Photographer:  Jim Allen

Lineup:  Bounty Hunter (Jimmy Creten), Fired Up (Justin Cluster), Iron Outlaw (Russell Steeley), Obsession (Rick Swanson), Obsessed (Jeff Jones), Time Flys (Kelvin Ramer) [Read more…]