Local drivers steal the show at Monster Jam

By Jason D Searcy

Two drivers from the Upper Midwest stole the hardware in front of their hometown fans during Monster Jam at US Bank Stadium.

Brainerd Minnesota native Becky McDonough (above) thrilled the crowd by tearing the horns off her Monster Truck El Toro Loco while also nailing the backflip in route to achieving the top score and taking home another Monster Jam Freestyle Trophy at US Bank Stadium.

This was her second Freestyle win in Minneapolis after winning in the Sunday December 11 2016 event and winning the Two Wheel Skills competition during the Saturday Dec 10th event 2016 Monster Jam Returns to MPLS

Freestyle Results:
1- El Toro Loco - Becky McDonough 9.483
2- Hot Wheels - Scott Buetow  8.933
3- Grave Digger - Charle Pauken 8.720
4- Max D - Tom Meents 8.544
5- Black Pearl - Cole Venard 8.457

Another local driver, Cole Venard from Murdo South Dakota, was the upset winner of the Racing portion of Monster Jam at US Bank Stadium, he won all four races in this bracket style competition driving the Black Pearl.  Fourteen Monster trucks participated.

Venard beat Monster Truck royalty Ryan Anderson in Son-uva Digger in the Racing final.

The Two Wheel Skills Competition was won by Tom Meents from Paxton IL driving Max D.  His car control was nothing short of amazing by doing the reverse nose wheelie and moonwalk.

Two Wheel Skills results:
1- Tom Meents - Max D 9.638
2- Charlie Pauken- Grave Digger  8.966
3- Becky McDonough - El Toro Loco 8.504
4- Linsey Weenk - Lucas Oil Crusader 8.369
5- Ryan Anderson - Son-uva Digger 8.343

Ryan Anderson had electrical and mechanical problems all night long but there was a very nice crowd in attendance, the program started right on time at 7pm and concluded at 9:35pm.

*photos from Dean Reller and Jason Searcy

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Monster jam Minneapolis (1-23-10) recap

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ez8alDf62Y

January 23 2010

Jason D Searcy (speedtalkon1360.com)

The Monster jam at the Metrodome in Minneapolis featured 18 trucks taking to the new Mall of America field inside, as the cold rain poured outdoors.

Maximum Destruction won the racing portion of the show beating Avenger in the finals. Grave Digger was out in the semi-finals.

Albany MN racer Paul Strong in Martial Law broke in the introductions, so he was out for the racing but came back for the free-style. He did a crazy slap-wheelie and slammed into the wall, thrilling the crowd.

Jim Koehler driving Avenger was the big winner in free-style. The crowd exploded and jumped to their feet when he rolled over and got back on his wheels not once, but twice!

Grave Digger driven by Randy Brown tried to follow Avenger but couldnt quite capture the same energy as usual. He hit some big jumps but did not tear-up the truck.

Tom Meents with Maximum Destruction lived up to his name... he cross-threaded a massive jump and rolled... tearing the entire body of his monster truck off, then continued to hit jump after jump leaving the crowd in a frenzy of excitement.

As the scores were posted, some people seemed in shock that Avenger held the top spot, edging Maximum Destruction by one point and Grave Digger by two.

Click on the Link at the top of the page to a Youtube video of AVENGER FREESTYLE

Unofficial Final Scores:

Avenger 32

Maximum Destruction 31

Grave Digger 30

Bounty Hunter 25

Felon 23

Wrecking Crew 22

Spike 22

El Toro Loco 20

Martial Law 20

http://www.monsterjamonline.com/