=== This Week in Monster Truck Racing ===
* Team T-Rex goes 4-for-4 on Monster Truck Wars tour
** Blake Granger wins 3 and joins the Top 10
*** A new winner on Stadium East as Musawwir scores first win
CURRENT STANDINGS and WEEKEND RESULTS (PDF): https://tinyurl.com/y99yje4s
BLOG POST RECAP: https://www.mtroc.com/blog
===== WEEKEND RECAP FOR JANUARY 31st – FEBRUARY 2nd, 2025 =====
Coty Saucier is back into the #1 ranking after a win in Fargo. He was also aided by Tyler Menninga getting up onto two wheels (and then some!) in both quarter-final heats in Houston. For the first time in 11 races, NRG Stadium saw a winner who was not Menninga or Ryan Anderson as Dalton Widner picked up the win on Saturday. Sunday then saw only the 3rd racing winner on tour when Bari Musawwir broke his 0-for-5 streak in the finals. Bryce Kenny also broke his winless streak with a narrow 0.013-second victory over Ryan Anderson in the semi-finals in Tampa, Florida which set him up for a win over Tristan England in the finals.
Aaron Basl and Devin Jones swept in Lexington and Cordova on the Monster Truck Wars tour to make it a spotless weekend for Team T-Rex. Jacob Ladwig, Jon Zimmer Jr, Carson Williams, and Bill Payne also had twin wins this weekend.
One surprise this weekend was Mikayla Tulachka grabbing her first win since 2022! She raced past Rammunition, eliminated El Toro Loco as he rolled, and then sank her teeth into series favorite Blake Granger as the Monster Mutt nearly rolled over in the final turn. Another surprise this weekend was the cameo return of veteran Rob French driving Carolina Crusher in Albany, Georgia! French often dominated on the lower tours during his heyday and showed that he has not missed a beat as he swept all three competitions.
There’s plenty more interesting events from this past weekend, so check out our race-by-race review below to find out who won!
Thank you to everyone who has helped us with reporting events this week: Ricky Fowler, Josh Baumgartner, Pat Paquet, Kory Kinal, Bryan Wagner, Preston Perez, Connor McNeil, Chevy Side, Ben Wimp, Sean Green, Chris Yuhas, Kirk Nagy, Phil Vicinanza, and everyone who posted videos and photos online!
===== CURRENT STANDINGS =====
RANK : DRIVER : PTS/AVG : SCORE : RACES/WINS
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1 ) Coty Saucier - 5890/218.15 : 1+2=3 : 27/17
2 ) Tyler Menninga - 3726/232.88 : 3+1=4 : 16/9
3 ) Jon Zimmer Jr - 3854/202.84 : 2+4=6 : 19/8
4 ) Ryan Anderson - 2946/173.29 : 5+6=11 : 17/5
5 ) Dalton Widner - 2820/165.88 : 7+7=14 : 17/5
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6 ) Bari Musawwir - 2715/150.83 : 8+10=18 : 18/1
7 ) Weston Anderson - 2583/151.94 : 10+9=19 : 17/4
8 ) Blake Granger - 2150/153.57 : 14+8=22 : 14/8
9 ) Tristan England - 1946/176.91 : 18+5=23 : 11/3
10) Jimmy Creten - 2266/141.63 : 11+12=23 : 16/11
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11) Jerry Beck - 1834/203.78 : 23+3=26 : 9/4
12) Tyler Groth - 2245/140.31 : 12+14=26 : 16/2
13) Preston Pérez - 1972/140.86 : 16+13=29 : 14/8
14) Colt Stephens - 2898/126.00 : 6+23=29 : 23/2
15) Matt Cody - 3170/117.41 : 4+26=30 : 27/5
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16) Camden Murphy - 1935/148.85 : 20+11=31 : 13/1
17) Armando Castro - 2658/126.57 : 9+22=31 : 21/1
18) Adam Anderson - 1871/133.64 : 21+18=39 : 14/1
19) Triton Robbins - 2104/123.76 : 15+25=40 : 17/4
20) Rob Poutre - 1845/131.79 : 22+19=41 : 14/9
===== BIGGEST IMPROVEMENTS =====
+18 – Cory Rummell (Earthshaker) – 66th
+14 – Blake Granger (Monster Mutt Dalmatian) – 8th
+13 – Bryce Kenny (Monster Mutt) – 24th
+9 – Jim Koehler (Avenger) – 33rd [2nd Week on List!]
+9 – Jared Smith (Dirt Crew) – 69th
+9 – Perry Como (Loud & Dirt) – 83rd
===== NEW THIS WEEK =====
34th – Brandon Swick (Geronimo)
79th – MJ Solorio (El Toro Loco)
96th – Pat Paquet (Psycho Pat)
===== ALBANY, GA =====
2/1 Sat Aft: CHRIS KEYES [Carolina Crusher] defeated Paul Strong [Quad Chaos]
2/1 Sat Ngt: ROB FRENCH [Carolina Crusher] defeated Kaila Savage [USA-1]
Team Carolina Crusher added two wins on the concrete track in Albany this week with two new drivers! New to the team, that is, as both are experienced drivers with other teams. Chris Keyes picked up his first Open Championship win in 3 seasons on Saturday afternoon, but then handed over the steering wheel to veteran driver Rob French who we have not seen driving in at least 6 years. French showed no rust as he won racing and swept all the evening events.
===== ALEXANDRIA, LA =====
This Extreme Monster Truck Nationals event did not include side-by-side racing and so points were not awarded
===== AMARILLO, TX =====
1/31 Fri Ngt: JACOB LADWIG [Rat Attack] defeated Brandon Swick [Geronimo]
2/1 Sat Aft: BRANDON SWICK [Geronimo] defeated Josh Baumgartner [Bigfoot]
2/1 Sat Ngt: JACOB LADWIG [Rat Attack] defeated Josh Baumgartner [Bigfoot]
Jacob Ladwig won both races he competed in at the Kicker Nationals in Amarillo and gained 8 spots to reach the Top 50. That’s the 5th year in a row at Amarillo has seen a driver win 2-of-3. The Rat Attack was broken on Saturday afternoon which let Friday’s runner-up Brandon Swick race on to his 3rd win of the season and join the rankings in 34th. Josh Baumgartner’s 2 runner-ups keep the Bigfoot team member inside the Top 50.
===== ATLANTA, GA =====
This Hot Wheels Live event did not include side-by-side racing and so points were not awarded
===== BROOKLYN, NY =====
1/31 Fri Ngt: JON ZIMMER JR [Terminal Velocity] defeated Jamie Sullivan [Sparkle Smash]
2/1 Sat Aft: MONTANA ROBBINS [Plane Krazy] defeated Jon Zimmer Jr [Terminal Velocity]
2/1 Sat Ngt: JON ZIMMER JR [Terminal Velocity] defeated Fernando Martinez [El Toro Loco]
2/2 Sun Aft: TRITON ROBBINS [Krazy Train] defeated Matt Cody [Grave Digger]
Monster Jam was inside the Barclay Center in Brooklyn for the first time every this weekend with the exciting Arena Central tour! A broken rear steer on Sunday knocked Jon Zimmer Jr out of competition before he even got started and was the only time he did not race in the finals in Brooklyn. Zimmer is ranked 3rd overall in the sport and now has 8 wins in 19 races. He is the only member of the Arena Central tour to have won at least 1 race in each stop on tour and he has been in the finals in 9 of the 14 events.
The Robbins brothers each picked up 1 win and made gains in the standings with Montana up to 39th and Triton up to 19th.
===== CHARLESTON, WV =====
This Hot Wheels Live event did not include side-by-side racing and so points were not awarded
===== CORDOVA, TN =====
2/1 Sat Aft: DEVIN JONES [T-Rex] defeated Preston Collins [Shark Attack]
2/1 Sat Ngt: DEVIN JONES [T-Rex] defeated Preston Collins [Shark Attack]
Devin Jones swept the Chicago-style racing on the Monster Truck Wars tour in Cordova, giving him 3 wins in his last 4 races. For runner-up Preston Collins, his streak is 7 finals in a row.
===== COTTONWOOD, AL =====
2/1 Sat Aft: KORY KINAL [Jekyll & Hyde] defeated Jimmy Creten [Bounty Hunter]
Kory Kinal gets win #5 on the season and gains 2 spots in the standings in Cottonwood. He improved his record against tour patriarch Jimmy Creten to 3-11. This also marks 4 different winners in the 4 2Xtreme races in Cottonwood since 2021.
===== FARGO, ND =====
2/1 Sat Aft: COTY SAUCIER [Dragon] defeated Weston Anderson [Grave Digger]
2/2 Sun Aft: CORY RUMMELL [Earth Shaker] defeated Tim Hall Jr [Jurassic Attack]
Coty Saucier regained the #1 ranking thanks partly to an early loss by Tyler Menninga and mostly thanks to Saucier’s racing win on Saturday in Fargo! Sunday saw Cory Rummell continue his fill-in role with Earthshaker and pick up the racing win over teammate Tim Hall Jr. Team Throttle Monster has had 6 trucks in the last 6 final rounds in Fargo over the past 3 seasons. The win gave Rummell a huge 18-spot increase in the Open Championship standings, which was the biggest improvement this week.
===== HOUSTON, TX =====
2/1 Sat Ngt: DALTON WIDNER [Jurassic Attack] defeated Armando Castro [El Toro Loco]
2/2 Sun Aft: BARI MUSAWWIR [Zombie] defeated Camden Murphy [Classroom Crusher]
For the first time since 2021, NRG Stadium in Houston saw a winner not named Ryan Anderson or Tyler Menninga. Those two (who have each won 3 Open Championships) have won the past 11 consecutive events in Houston. Menninga came into the weekend ranked #1 in the world with a chance to continue the streak, but he bicycled around the embankment in his quarter-final race against El Toro Loco on Saturday, and then rolled completely over in the quarter-finals against Zombie on Sunday. Those two errors both broke the streak and let Coty Saucier reclaim the #1 spot.
Dalton Widner had been the only other driver on tour to win racing aside from Tyler Menninga and he did so again on Saturday night, posting the 2nd and 4th fastest runs of the night in his semi-final win over Jim Koehler in Avenger and Armando Castro in El Toro Loco in the finals. For former Arena superstar Castro, this was his first time in the finals since graduating up to the Stadium Series this year. Jim Koehler also had another great night of racing as he posted the fastest lap of the night in the quarter-finals with a blister 20.708 run in his win against Colt Stephens.
The last person prior to Anderson or Menninga to win in Houston had been Camden Murphy back in October of 2021. Murphy was in Bakugan Dragonoid then but advanced to the finals again this year driving the Classroom Crusher. He entered the finals as the favorite, having posted all sub-21-second runs including the fastest two of the weekend (20.537 and 20.586) but he rolled the monster school bus and failed to finish the lap. Instead it was Bari Musawwir who finally found victory lane. He had been 0-5 in finals rounds up to this point, but now has his 1st win of the season and had moved up into 6th place overall in the standings.
===== LAKE CHARLES, LA =====
2/1 Sat Aft: CARSON WILLIAMS [Velociraptor] defeated Byron Cadigan [Bear Foot]
2/1 Sat Ngt: CARSON WILLIAMS [Velociraptor] defeated Cliff Turner [Kamikaze]
Lake Charles, Louisiana has been a great place for racing for Team Throttle Monster. They had won 4 of the last 7 Nitro Tour events coming into this year and Carson Williams added two more on the tight J-turn track. For Williams, these were his first two wins of the season and gives him a 3-race final round streak.
===== LEXINGTON, KY =====
2/1 Sat Aft: AARON BASL [T-Rex] defeated Kaley Engstrom [Shark Attack]
2/1 Sat Ngt: AARON BASL [T-Rex] defeated Kaley Engstrom [Shark Attack]
Like his teammate in Tennessee, Aaron Basl gave Team T-Rex a weekend sweep with the Monster Truck Wars tour in Lexington. Basl has won 5 of his last 6 races and moves up 3 spots in the standings. For Kaley Engstrom, that’s 8 finals in a row and now 4 runner-ups in a row in Lexington, Kentucky.
===== PENSACOLA, FL =====
2/1 Sat Aft: CORY SNYDER [Illuminator] defeated Brett Falvey [The Haymaker]
2/2 Sun Aft: PRESTON PÉREZ [Toxic] defeated Brett Falvey [The Haymaker]
After battling mechanical problems the past couple weekends, Warped Motorsports was back in full force in Pensacola on the All Star tour and shared the podium as both Cory Snyder and Preston Perez took wins. Brett Falvey has been in the finals in 5 consecutive races now, but has only managed to beat out the Marylanders once. Here in Pensacola, he beat Perez in the semi-finals on Saturday only to lose out to Snyder in the finals. The inverse was true on Sunday, with a win over Snyder and loss to Perez. The All Star Tour continues in Mobile, Alabama next weekend.
===== PROVIDENCE, RI =====
1/31 Fri Ngt: BLAKE GRANGER [Monster Mutt Dalmatian] defeated Brandan Tulachka [Just Get Er Done II]
2/1 Sat Aft: BLAKE GRANGER [Monster Mutt Dalmatian] defeated Kurt Kraehmer [Rammunition]
2/1 Sat Ngt: MIKAYLA TULACHKA [Megalodon] defeated Blake Granger [Monster Mutt Dalmatian]
2/2 Sun Aft: BLAKE GRANGER [Monster Mutt Dalmatian] defeated Tony Ochs [ThunderROARus]
Blake Granger has been dominating the Arena East tour with Monster Jam. He easily won 3 of the 4 races in Providence and moves up 14 spots into the Top Ten! His only loss came during a surprising bracket on Saturday night. Mikayla Tulachka—who had only been out of the first round twice in her previous 14 races—beat out Kurt Kraehmer in the opening round, then got past El Toro Loco in the semis when Fernando upset in the turn. In the finals, Tulachka herself got into a bicycle on the final turn, but unbelievably so did Granger at the other end of the Arena. Mikayla was able to correct faster and crossed the line for her first win of the season and first win overall since she won with the All Star Tour in Crown Point, Indiana way back on August 6th, 2022!
===== TAMPA, FL =====
2/1 Sat Ngt: RYAN ANDERSON [Son-Uva Digger] defeated Adam Anderson [Grave Digger]
2/2 Sun Aft: BRYCE KENNY [Monster Mutt] defeated Tristan England [JCB DIGatron]
Reigning Open Champion Ryan Anderson lost his undefeated streak last weekend but was right back to his winning ways with his 5th win of the season on Saturday night in Tampa. His 19.631-second pass against Tristan England in the semi-finals was the only sub-20-second run of the night and improved his record against England to 4-1 this season.
On Sunday, Bryce Kenny finally had his break out moment for the season. After alternating between loses in the quarter-finals and semi-finals all season, Kenny squeaked past Ryan Anderson in the semi-finals with a wild 19.659 to 19.672 photo finish! Tristan England met him in the finals after getting past Adam Anderson in the semis, but Kenny would finally get over the hump and beat England for the first time this season (1-2) and claim his first 12-truck Stadium Series victory since last January at the Alamodome.
===== VIENNA, AUSTRIA =====
This Hot Wheels Live event did not include side-by-side racing and so points were not awarded
===== WINNIPEG, MB =====
1/31 Fri Ngt: BILL PAYNE [Rock Star] defeated Dallas Glenn-Rogers [Spitfire]
2/1 Sat Aft: BILL PAYNE [Rock Star] defeated Marvin Anderson [Identity Theft]
2/1 Sat Ngt: We do not have results from this event
We still don’t know who won on Saturday night, but Bill Payne took both of the first two races in Winnipeg with the RAM Motor Spectacular series. Payne is 4-for-8 in finals rounds in his 10 races this season. He’ll have a chance for more this weekend as the RAM Spectacular moves to Penticton, British Columbia for a pair of events.
===== YOUNGSTOWN, OH =====
1/31 Fri Ngt: TIM JONES [Tailgator] defeated Jerry Beck [Dirt Crew]
2/1 Sat Ngt: JERRY BECK [Dirt Crew] defeated Tyler Groth [The Veteran]
Jerry Beck is taking his Toughest Tour title defense very seriously and is in a tight battle with Tyler Groth in The Veteran for the series lead. In racing, however, Beck has become the dominate driver on tour, having won 4 of the 6 races on tour. He gained 5 more spots this weekend and is now up to 11th place overall. Importantly for the series points, Beck is 7-1 in head-to-head races against Tyler Groth which has kept the two neck-and-neck for the points lead. The Toughest Tour will be off a couple weeks until they regroup in Saginaw later this month.
====== EVENTS THIS WEEKEND =====
Adelaide, Australia (Monster Trucks Unleashed)
Belmont Park, NY (Monster Jam Arena Championship Series Central)
Denver, CO (Monster Jam Arena Championship Series West)
Glen Rose, TX (Monster Truck Wars)
Glendale, AZ (Monster Jam Stadium Championship Series West)
Hobbs, NM (Kicker Monster Truck Nationals)
Houston, TX (Monster Jam Stadium Championship Series East)
Las Vegas, NV (Monster Truck Chaos)
Madison, WI (Monsters of Destruction)
Mobile, AL (All Star Monster Truck Tour)
Penticton, BC (RAM Motorsports Spectacular)
West Monroe, LA (Monster Truck Nitro Tour)
Williamston, NC (Monster Truck Wars)
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