The Allen Report: Maverik Clash of the Titans – West Valley City, UT 2014

(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)

Weekend Recap

This time on “The Allen Report”, we once again make our way to motorsports venue Rocky Mountain Raceways to watch eleven monster trucks do battle on the sport’s only figure-eight race track. Jimmy Creten, as always, was driving Bounty Hunter Yellow while his wife Dawn Creten was right behind in Scarlet Bandit. Trent Montgomery returned behind the wheel of Bounty Hunter Black and newcomer Nate Kirchner took the reigns of Iron Outlaw. Representing Team Bigfoot were Kevin Koszala in Odyssey Batteries #11, Darren Schnell in Vi-Cor #15 and Larry Swim in Lucas Oil #19. Doug Charles arrived piloting Wild Thang. Hometown driver Ron Duncombe returned at the helm of Maverik Monster Trakker. Darren Migues drove his newly bought Just Get ‘R Done and Kreg Christensen took time off from his brand new truck Wicked to take control of RoboMachine to wrap up the field.

On Saturday, Trent Montgomery showed how quickly he’s learning from the best as he took the number one qualifier spot. From there, he went all the way to the semi-finals before getting knocked out by Vi-Cor Bigfoot, who had advanced as fastest loser from the quarter-finals. To advance to the finals, the 2Xtreme Racing owner had to face every Bigfoot truck once, but won all three match-ups to make it to the two lap super final, where a rematch with Vi-Cor was there waiting. A mistake free run ensured that Jimmy Creten took the night one Racing win.

Closing Saturday night was a wheelie contest. Late in the truck lineup, Trent Montgomery continued to show he was for real with a 9.7 score. However, the big boss and new Racing champion continued his three year domination of wheelies, edging Trent by just five hundredths of a point at 9.75.

On to Sunday where they raced all over again and went for broke in freestyle. Again, Trent Montgomery in Bounty Hunter Black was fastest qualifier but, his Sunday night Racing ended a little sooner when he followed his teammate, Nate Kirchner and Iron Outlaw, across the finish line. Both semi-final heats were 2Xtreme vs. Bigfoot races. Vi-Cor “Bessie” Bigfoot won his race and Bounty Hunter Yellow did the same, setting up a rematch from the night before. The multi-year Bigfoot driver fought all the way to the end, but Jimmy Creten won racing for the second night in a row. Now, Jimmy set his sights on the clean sweep.

With two minutes to work with and the entire track fair game, the Maverik Clash of the Titans was sure to end with high competition in freestyle. Midway through the battle, the sophomore driver in Bounty Hunter Black put the crowd on its feet with an exciting, fast run where he hit everything. His efforts were rewarded with a score of 35.5 out of a possible 40.0. Maverik Monster Trakker, Iron Outlaw and the three Bigfoot trucks gave it their best shot. But dusty donuts, huge air and slap wheelies, all in a class of their own, ensured Bounty Hunter Yellow was unstoppable. With a score of 37.5, two whole points above his teammate, the 2005 World Freestyle Champion finally took the clean sweep at RMR that had eluded him for so many years, until now.

We at “The Allen Report” look forward to the annual event at RMR every year, and this weekend was a blast to watch. Thanks so much to Rocky Mountain Raceways for their hospitality, thank you for reading, enjoy the photos and cheer on!

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Monster Photos: Monster Jam – Phoenix, AZ 2014

Event Information

Event: Monster Jam
Venue: Chase Field
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Date: January 25th, 2014
Photographer: Jim Allen

Truck Lineup

Bad Habit (Joe Sylvester), Blue Thunder (Dan Evans), Bounty Hunter (Jimmy Creten), Captain USA (Travis Groth), Devastator (Mark Schroeder), Double Trouble (Tyler Groth), El Toro Loco (Lupe Soza), Geter Done (Mitch Tulachka), Grave Digger (Carl Van Horn), Madusa (Debra Miceli), McGruff (Rod Wood), Metal Mulisha (Todd Leduc), New Earth Authority (Norm Miller), The Patriot (Dan Rodoni), RoboMachine (Shane Phreed), Tropical Thunder (Andrew Peckham) [Read more…]

The Allen Report: Monster Jam – Phoenix, AZ 2013

(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)

Weekend Recap

This time on “The Allen Report”, the biggest field in the history of Monster Jam in the “Valley of the Sun” played their game to a sold-out crowd at Chase Field. The field of 16: Charlie Pauken represented Team Grave Digger. Familiar faces Batman with Norm Miller at the helm and Devastator driven by Mark Schroeder were also in the house. West Coaster Daron Basl drove King Krunch while sharing the seat of team truck Nitro Hornet with former Bigfoot and FELD driver Sky Hartley. Rookie Shane England rounded out the camp in Big Kahuna. Todd Leduc was back driving Metal Mulisha. Scott Buetow came piloting Team Hot Wheels Firestorm. Steven Hill took the wheel of Ground Pounder. Right behind him in the teammate Amsoil Shock Therapy was Dave Radzierez. Damon Bradshaw was present in Monster Energy. Hometown driver Rod Wood was there as always in McGruff. Mitch Tulachka and Shane Phreed returned in Jus’ Geter Done and Robo Machine. Pat Gerber and Shocker appeared and rounding out the field was first year driver J.P. Ruggiero in El Diablo.

From the first green light of the So-Cal style of racing, the monster from the Mulisha compound and the black and green wrecking machine were on a collision course with each other. Just four-tenths of a second separated them in qualifications. From there, the two bulldozed down the opposition. However, as Grave Digger came back to the pits after defeating Monster Energy in the semi-finals, there was smoke pouring from GD’s motor area. Unable to get fixed in time, Monster Energy took Digger’s place at the starting line where Metal Mulisha was there waiting. Halfway home at the “jammer” obstacle, Todd, a former short course off road racer, drifted a little too far out. From there, the win was Monster Energy’s. But the night’s action was far from over.

Nitro Hornet stung the field early with a score of 23. The Oregon native would remain the “hot seat” for a large part of the night. Then came the truck conceived by “the General” Brian Deegan and the other straight from the top secret Hot Wheels test facility. They both scored a 27 with the “coolest” monster truck around having a hair-thin edge of a single bonus point. Then on came the “Bad to the Bone” music. With the crowd roaring and the engine running on only seven cylinders, the 2010 Freestyle World Champion nailed huge air and had incredible speed followed by dizzying three-wheeled cyclones to take the winning score of 31, twenty-seven in regulation and no less than four bonus points for the win.

In other action, Team USA defeated Team Mexico in fast and furious quad war action. In addition, Tom Cunningham won the “off road truck-cross” main. From here, we at “The Allen Report” head out to Firebird Raceway for the last ever two day monster truck marathon on the merciless drag strip in Chandler, AZ. Till then, thank you for reading, enjoy the photos and cheer on!

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The Allen Report: Monster Jam – Phoenix, AZ 2012

(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)

Survival is crucial to success in monster truck racing. If you can’t keep your truck in one piece the whole night, someone else will walk onto the winner’s stage. And this year’s show at the Chase Field Monster Jam was a prime example of that. The show featured both Grave Digger and Son-Uva Digger with Carl Van Horn and Ryan Anderson driving. The “General” himself, Brian Deegan drove the Metal Mulisha for the first time in his career. Former World Finals fastest qualifier Marc McDonald brought El Toro Loco back. Linsey Weenk returned to Phoenix with the Lucas Oil Crusader. Former sprint car driver Taryn Laskey filled in for Nicole Johnson in Tasmanian Devil. The other teams were: Mitch Tulachka and Shane Phreed in Geter Done and Robo Machine. Allen Pezo and Ron Nelson drove Predator and Pouncer. Kelvin Ramer drove Time Flies and former California Kid driver Garrett Ladelle drove Detour. Rounding out the field were Mark Schroeder and Rod Wood driving the Felon and McGruff.

Grave Digger was ready to face the former Bustin’ Loose driver in Pouncer in the semi-finals when he lost oil pressure coming to the start line due to a rollover during introductions and had to be replaced by Felon, whom he had beaten the round before. Mark took advantage of the opportunity and won. In the other half of the semis with Son-Uva Digger taking on Crusader, Ryan spun out coming down the main straightaway of the so-cal style track only to get the win back when the former Canadian hit the jammer obstacle and flipped over. In the finals a broken ring and pinion in the back axle of Felon meant Predator, who had lost to him back in the opening round, had to take his place. In the final, it was neck and neck until the third member of the Anderson equation spun out again, giving Allen Pezo a huge win.

Brain Deegan set the bar early with a lead score of 20 and held the lead most of the night. El Toro Loco took the lead with only the two “Diggers” to go thanks to a score of 23. The man they call “CVH” saved his truck from another rollover, but was unable to fire back up and keep going with time still on the clock. When all was said and done, Ryan Anderson took the win by just one point, extending his perfect record of freestyle wins to five. But in true Anderson fashion, trophy or not, he came back out and unleashed his inner beast, giving the Digger-maniacs in the stands a wicked encore.

Monster Jam at Chase Field gets bigger every year this year’s show is one of the reasons why. For us at “The Allen Report”, Firebird Raceway is next on our schedule in April. Until then, thanks for reading, enjoy the great photos by Jim Allen and cheer on!

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