TMB TV Episode 3.10 – Pontiac, MI

Event: Monster Truck Fall Shootout
Venue: Pontiac Silverdome
Location: Pontiac, Michigan
Date: November 13th, 2010
Host: Ross Z. Bonar
Videographers: Colby Marshall, Kaedon Berry, Chris Parrish

Lineup: Airborne Ranger (Joe Cypher), Bar’s Leaks Eliminator (Greg Adams), Big Dawg (Dale Gerding), Bounty Hunter (Ben Winslow), Raminator (Mark Hall), Rammunition (Mat Dishman), Rislone Defender (Zach Adams), Shell Camino (Shelley Kujat), Tail Gator (Doug Noelke), Virginia Giant (Diehl Wilson), War Wagon (Andy Hoffman) [Read more…]

Monster Truck Fall Shootout – Pontiac, MI – 11/13/10

Event:  Monster Truck Fall Shootout
Venue:  Pontiac Silverdome
Location:  Pontiac, Michigan
Date:  November 13th, 2010
Photographer:  Paul M. Harry

Lineup: Airborne Ranger (Joe Cypher), Bar’s Leaks Eliminator (Greg Adams), Big Dawg (Dale Gerding), Bounty Hunter (Ben Winslow), Raminator (Mark Hall), Rammunition (Mat Dishman), Rislone Defender (Zach Adams), Shell Camino (Shelley Kujat), Tail Gator (Doug Noelke), Virginia Giant (Diehl Wilson), War Wagon (Andy Hoffman) [Read more…]

Monster Truck Fall Shootout – Pontiac, MI – 11/13/10

Event: Monster Truck Fall Shootout
Venue: Pontiac Silverdome
Location: Pontiac, Michigan
Date:  November 13th, 2010
Photographer: Ross Z. Bonar

Lineup:  Airborne Ranger (Joe Cypher), Bar’s Leaks Eliminator (Greg Adams), Big Dawg (Dale Gerding), Bounty Hunter (Ben Winslow), Raminator (Mark Hall), Rammunition (Mat Dishman), Rislone Defender (Zach Adams), Shell Camino (Shelley Kujat), Tail Gator (Doug Noelke), Virginia Giant (Diehl Wilson), War Wagon (Andy Hoffman) [Read more…]

Dishman, Noelke & Winslow Winners at the Silverdome

Monster trucks returned to the legendary Pontiac Silverdome for the second time in 2010 as Silverdome Events presented the Inaugural Monster Truck Fall Shootout last night. Eleven top trucks competed in racing, obstacle course and freestyle contests as several drivers returned to the Silverdome for the first time in many years and others made their first appearance at one of the most historic venues in monster truck history. The return of the Silverdome has been one of the best stories of the year as Silverdome Events attempts to establish yearly spring and fall monster truck events for hopefully many years to come.

With a lineup of generally more racing-focused teams and drivers, the “Tornado-style” course was sure to produce some great action and did not disappoint. Mark Hall in the Raminator was the odds on favorite going into the weekend and lived up to expectations in his round one bye run, setting a blistering pace. Only Doug Noelke in Tail Gator appeared to be in Hall’s league through the first round. Trouble would strike for Raminator in round two during a defeat of Ben Winslow in Bounty Hunter as the motor gernaded ending Hall’s evening in heartbreaking fashion.

Hall’s exit left Noelke as the favorite and he marched his way to the finals, dispatching Big Dawg, Rammunition and Bar’s Leaks Eliminator along the way. Rookie Mat Dishman in Rammunition would return as the fast loser in the semi-finals and defeated Bounty Hunter, who was replacing Raminator. That setup a re-match from round two as the veteran Noelke would take on the rookie Dishman who had been getting faster every round.

The grand finale of racing saw both trucks neck and neck all the way to the final turn when Noelke bobbled, hitting a turning car and having to do some fancy driving to keep from rolling the Gator. Dishman would have tough to beat even without the missing and he powered Rammunition across the line to capture the huge win in front of the over 100 RAM Trucks represetatives on hand for the event. The win was even more special in that it was Dishman’s first ever racing victory in monster trucks.

Following the big racing competition would be a special timed obstacle course challenge where drivers would follow a set path around the obstacles on the track against the clock. Bounty Hunter and Rammunition were quick and Diehl Wilson in Virginia Giant laid down a great pass, but in the end no one would touch Noelke this time around as he powered Tail Gator to victory.

The evening’s big finish would be the freestyle competition as Shelley Kujat in Shell Camino kicked things off with a solid run to set the bar. Zach Adams highlighted his run in the Rislone Defender with a great slap wheelie while father Greg Adams in Bar’s Leaks Eliminator laid down a solid effort as well. Diehl Wilson had the ground shaking with some incredible donuts and Dale Gerding in Big Dawg walked a couple of slap wheelies across the center of the floor. Mat Dishman looked to follow his racing win with a big freestyle but it wasn’t to be as a hard landing snapped the right front wheel off Rammunition.

One of the first contending runs of the night came from what you would probably say was the top performing truck overall on the evening, that being the Tail Gator. Doug Noelke hit a huge slap wheelie across the center of the floor combined with some big air and a wild, wheel out the window cyclone. The Gator would maintain the lead in freestyle the majority of the night.

One driver who fell short of Noelke’s score was Andy Hoffman and War Wagon. Hoffman had what many thought may have been the best run of the evening as he kept up a great pace, hitting everything on the floor. War Wagon had some of the biggest moves as well as Andy cross-threaded one of the big van stacks for the best vertical launch of freestyle at one point and then finished his run with a huge cross-thread reverse move on the same stack.

Noelke’s score would eventually be tied as Joe Cypher in the Airborne Ranger laid down a great freestyle performance with some of the best moves of the night. Cypher hit a couple big slap wheelies across the center of the floor and was the only driver to cross-thread the big blue stack.

The final truck to compete was none other than Ben Winslow in the Bounty Hunter. “Bobo” as he is often referred to as, has been riding a great hot streak since joining 2Xtreme Racing with a big racing win in Montreal and sweeps of smaller shows in Bounty Hunter. Suprisingly Winslow was having trouble getting a good rhythym going for the majority of the run as he tried to work with well used obstacles. But just as time was coming to a close, Winslow launched Bounty Hunter in some of the most extreme air we’ve seen all year long. The tough landing would end the performance but it was enough for the judges to proclaim the victory for Bounty Hunter in yet another huge success for driver Ben Winslow.

The TMB crew had a great time having the opportunity to return to the Silverdome for the second time in 2010 and the privilege to be able to bring you coverage from this historic venue is one we greatly appreciate. For that we send a big thanks to Ryan Westlake and everyone with Silverdome Events for their hospitality. The final TMB TV episode of 2010 will featured the Monster Truck Fall Shootout and will premiere Wednesday, December 8th at 8PM Eastern. Colby, Kaedon, Chris and Ross did some great work on this episode and also be watching for huge photo galleries from Ross and Paul Harry. Stay tuned as plenty of great coverage from the Silverdome is coming your way right here on TMB!

Profile: Bar’s Leaks Eliminator

Truck Name:  Bar’s Leaks Eliminator
Driver Name:  Greg Adams
Team Name:  Truk Wurks Off Road
Hometown:  Greencastle, Indiana
Team Website:  http://www.TrukWurksOffRoad.com

2009 TMB Results Tracker Statistics:
– Competed in 41 shows with 4 racing wins and 1 freestyle victory.
[Read more…]

Profile: Rislone Defender

Truck Name:  Rislone Defender
Driver Name:  Zach Adams
Team Name:  Truk Wurks Off Road
Hometown:  Greencastle, Indiana
Team Website:  http://www.TrukWurksOffRoad.com

2009 TMB Results Tracker Statistics:
– Competed in 20 shows and driver Zach Adams was named the 2009 MTRA Rookie of the Year.
[Read more…]

Champaign, IL Prairieland Monster Nationals Coverage

Last Sunday was the annual Prairieland Monster Nationals at the Champaign County Fair and TheMonsterBlog.com was on hand once again to cover this great fair event. This year Raminator, Rammunition, Bar’s Leaks Eliminator and Rislone Defender would be back and joining them would be Rich Blackburne in the Viper machine.

The event would be a clean sweep for the hometown Hall Brothers Racing team as Geremie Dishman in Rammunition would be the fast qualifier and the racing and freestyle winner, just edging his brother, rookie driver Matt Dishman and the Hotsy Raminator in all three competitions.

TMB’s Rajeana Bonar snapped some great photos during qualifying and racing and then switched to the video camera for some excellent footage during freestyle. Click the links below to check out all of her great footage, a big thanks to Tim Hall and everyone with the Champaign County Fair for having us at the event this year!!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW RAJEANA BONAR’S CHAMPAIGN,IL PHOTO GALLERY

CLICK HERE TO VIEW RAJEANA BONAR’S CHAMPAIGN FREESTYLE HIGHLIGHT VIDEO

Prairieland Monster Nationals – Champaign, IL – 07/25/10

Event: Prairieland Monster Nationals
Venue: Champaign County Fairgrounds
Location: Champaign, IL
Date: July 25th, 2010
Photographer: Rajeana Bonar

Lineup:  Bar’s Leaks Eliminator (Greg Adams), Hotsy Raminator (Mat Dishman), Rammunition (Geremie Dishman), Rislone Defender (Zach Adams), Viper (Rich Blackburne) [Read more…]

TMB TV Episode 2.11 – On the Road With HBR

Event(s):  Thompson Metal Monster Madness & Prairieland Monster Nationals
Venue:  Bristol Motor Speedway & Champaign County Fairgrounds
Location:  Bristol, Tennessee & Champaign, Illinois
Date:  July 25th-26th, 2009
Host:  Ross Z. Bonar
Videographer:  Ross Z. Bonar

Lineup (Bristol):  Bad Habit (Joe Sylvester), Equalizer (Isaiah Morales), Heart Breaker (Kaila Savage), Ragin Rebel (Brandon Budd), Raminator (Mark Hall), Rammunition (Tim Hall), Samson (Dan Patrick), War Wizard (Randy Moore)
Lineup (Champaign):  Bar’s Leaks Eliminator (Greg Adams), Nitemare (Andy Hoffman), Raminator (Mark Hall), Rammunition (Mat Dishman), Rislone Defender (Zach Adams) [Read more…]

TMB TV Episode 2.10 – Trucks & Tractor Power

Event(s):  NTPA Grand Nationals & Monsters In The Valley
Venue:  Lincoln County Fairgrounds & Grain Valley Speedway
Location:  Troy, Missouri & Grain Valley, Missouri
Date:  July 17th-18th, 2009
Host:  Ross Z. Bonar
Videographers:  Colby Marshall, Kaedon Berry

Lineup (Troy):  NTPA 2WD Trucks, Mini Modifieds, Light Super Stocks, Super Semis
Lineup (Grain Valley):  Bar’s Leaks Eliminator (Greg Adams), Barbarian (Devin Jones), Bounty Hunter (Jay McPherson), Iron Outlaw (Dawn Creten), Mechanical Mischief (Jim Burns), Rislone Defender (Zach Adams) [Read more…]

Monster Photos: RPM Fest – LaPorte, IN 2009

Event: RPM Fest
Venue: LaPorte County Fairgrounds
Location: LaPorte, Indiana
Date: May 29th-31st, 2009
Photographer: Ross Z. Bonar

Lineup: Amsoil Shock Therapy (Jon Zimmer), Bar’s Leaks Eliminator (Greg Adams), Bounty Hunter (Jimmy Creten), Cult Energy Activator (Sean Duhon), Excaliber (Kristy Edge), Geter Done (Mitch Tulachka), Havoc (Butch Tulachka), Hushpower Diesel (Dave Radzierez), Predator (Allen Pezo), Prowler (Lenny Kuilder), Rislone Defender (Zach Adams), Sudden Impact (Ben Winslow), Summit Bigfoot #16 (Dan Runte), War Wizard (Randy Moore) [Read more…]

TMB TV Episode 2.9 – LaPorte, IN

Event:  Monster Truck Nationals
Venue:  LaPorte County Fairgrounds Fairgrounds
Location:  LaPorte, Indiana
Date:  May 29th-31st, 2009
Host:  Ross Z. Bonar
Videographers:  Colby Marshall, Shane Skinner

Lineup:  Amsoil Shock Therapy (Jon Zimmer), Bar’s Leaks Eliminator (Greg Adams), Bounty Hunter (Jimmy Creten), Cult Energy Activator (Sean Duhon), Excaliber (Kristy Edge), Geter Done (Mitch Tulachka), Havoc (Butch Tulachka), Hushpower Diesel (Dave Radzierez), Predator (Allen Pezo), Prowler (Lenny Kuilder), Rislone Defender (Zach Adams), Sudden Impact (Ben Winslow), Summit Bigfoot #16 (Dan Runte), War Wizard (Randy Moore) [Read more…]