Doug’s review from last week-end
Posted by doug | Filed under Live Blog, doug denance
Monster Spectacular 2010 Update – Medicine Hat/Red Deer
By Doug de Nance
It was Monster Spectacular in stereo this past weekend. Two cities. Two teams. Two teammates. Two winners.
The monsters rolled into the rolling foothills of Southern Alberta with two cities to rev up before the off week on the western leg of the 2010 tour. First up was Medicine Hat, named the gas city for all the natural gas resources nearby. Lots of “gas” in the form of methanol racing fuel was about to be burned there on Friday night.
The two teams that had been frequently battling it out in the West squared off to do the dance again. The US pairing featured the Sudden Impact team of Sean Duhon driving Cult and Ben “BoBo” Winslow piloting Ground Pounder.
While the two boys from the southern states were set to compete against each other, they had the famous Maniac Racing team from Canada set to spoil their fun. Veteran driver Don Frankish had Maniac tuned to perfection, using the wonderful weather to hide out in the sunshine away from the pits to do his final tweaks. True to his legacy of grooming up and coming drivers, Don Frankish had invited the driver of Western Renegade to come and learn from the master. Barry Parkin leaped at the chance and had the honor this weekend of driving side by side with Frankish in the other Maniac team truck, Jurassic Attack.
Parkin was going to have a great opportunity to learn on the fly. A new wrinkle was to be included to challenge the drivers. Not only would they have to contend with the slick cement surface of a hockey rink. But the cars had been set on plywood that was placed on some sort of powder or dust that caused the car stacks to move like they were alive under the tires of the monsters. Track officials would not reveal the nature of the material, but it certainly challenged the drivers as it was like trying to hit wheelies on the back of a greased pig.
Due to this unique set up, Barry Parkin had his learning delivered by the school of hard knocks on his very first hit during the Monster Wheelie Contest. As the cars shifted under the back tires of Jurassic, Parkin pounded on the throttle. When the spinning back tires grabbed the edge of the first car, Parkin stayed on the throttle and snapped a rear axle, putting him all but out of the game. Then Winslow aggressively approached the cars. Again the liquid nature of the obstacles caused Ground Pounder to not get as vertical as Winslow would have liked. With Frankish preoccupied about his second team truck, his wheelie was not of the form we are used to seeing from Maniac. Sean Duhon, watching the other trucks struggle, took a more finesse approach to the cars and stood Cult at 12 o’clock to take the win by cheer off.
Regardless of being in his rookie year, Winslow as a quick study, experience as well as his team mate. He feathered Ground Pounder’s throttle over the cars to win without much of a challenge from the mechanically challenged Jurassic Attack. Duhon had his work cut out for him, but beat Maniac to advance Cult to the racing final.
What a contrast the two team mates were who sat staged across from each other for the Monster Spectacular Racing Final that night. While dubbed the “Rajun Cajun”, Duhon hardly breaks a sweat when driving. Winslow on the other hand, is literally dripping when he emerges from the cab. Perhaps this intensity is what Duhon worked on this night. As they waited for the light to go green, Duhon stabbed the throttle while still standing hard on the brake. Cult lurched hard but appeared not cross the start line. Winslow however, reacted to the sound of Cult’s engine revving and jumped across the cars a fraction of a second before the light turned green.
It appeared that Winslow had false started and the win would be handed to Cult. But the chief track official ruled that Cult actually did move the tires onto the start line and therefore also had false started. To the delight of the fans, the race would have to be re-run. But the fact that Winslow had actually crossed the cars meant he would have a five foot penalty and have to start back that distance from the line. Cult took the checkered flag and the racing win.
After an amazing monster freestyle and greeting the fans at the post show VIP pit party, the monster drivers and crews had to tire down and load up to make the trek to Central Alberta for a Sunday afternoon matinee performance in Red Deer.
The Maniac team was the last to arrive at the arena on Sunday morning, having spent many late hours repairing the broken axle on Jurassic. Frankish’s blue eyes looked cold and menacing as he tired up the trucks. The Maniac looked more like his namesake every minute as the clock ticked down to show time.
Maniac put a huge challenge down to Duhon in the Wheelie contest, grabbing the biggest air of the day in his pass. With Frankish drawing the final order position, it seemed that the win would have been a given. But Duhon again wowed the crowd with the verticality of his truck position. During the second round of the cheer off, Duhon actually reached out and shook Don’s hand thinking that Maniac had won. But when the track officials consulted the sound meter, Cult had won another Wheelie contest by the slimmest of margins.
Racing pitted the two wheelie finalist against each other, but this time Maniac left no doubt as to who won – defeating Cult by a quarter truck length. Barry Parkin was inspired by the driving of his mentor, but could not keep the front end of Jurassic as low to the cars as Ground Pounder. Winslow would face Maniac in the final.
Winslow had the look of a deer in the headlights as he sat on the line. A few feet away sat the winningest monster truck driver that Canada has ever produced. And Frankish was motivated. He wanted the points that he needed to keep him in the running for the Monster Spectacular 2010 title. Maybe it was the adrenaline that makes Winslow sweat so hard, maybe it was youthful reaction time. Maybe it was the young drivers other career of having to keep out of the way of raging bulls when he performs as a rodeo clown that gave him the edge. Whatever it was, it was enough as Bobo grabbed the racing win by the width of a terra tire tread over Maniac.
Freestyle saw everything from flat track turns to cyclone donuts to slap wheelies to sky wheelies. When the smoke cleared, the fans were on their feet waving their Monster Spectacular souvenir pennants, hats, DVDs and anything else they could lay their hands on to show their love for the drivers.
Monster Spectacular fans were asked by the announcer if they were entertained in both cities. With sport bike and motocross freestyle, plus ATV races in addition to the intense monster truck competition how could they say no.
The Western leg of the tour takes the next weekend off, but the competition rages hot and heavy on the east coast. This time it’s three cities in three days in New Brunswick. Why join the tour trek and catch all three performances of Monster Spectacular as the 2010 tour continues.
