Under sunny skies and high spirits 25 drivers began their journey's to Monster Mania in Mouton, New Hampshire in epic fashion. When the gates opened one would have never expected
to see such a turnout of drivers after nearly a year and a half absence from existence in the Monster Truck Madness 2 World. But the Past Present Racing League has a way of pulling people out of the wood work and Mouton was no exception as everyone settled into their appropriate role in the evenings event. After two hours four drivers were victorious and many more will be heading back to their race shops around the US and Canada for much needed repairs and fine tuning!
Earlier we talked about possible players in this years championship chase and already we're seeing one member come from the darkness with his first PPRL win that being Austin Grams. Austin pilot of Adrenalizer and member of Project Mayhem Racers raced his way to a victory over veteran driver Dave Collard in Skull Crusher in a very close final round race. Austin earned major victories over Travis Sewlio in Snake Bite, Tim Smith in Bigfoot in previous rounds to make his way to the finals on this weeks taping of Thunder Trax. It appeared however Tim Smith was destined for a shot in the final round week one when he beat Adrenalizer but under a penalty review the Retro Bigfoot Ford had been disqualified for taking out a turning pole. Tim who was the fastest qualifier was dejected but confident this small misstep would not be a hindrance in his quest for a title.
Austin Grams who many know for his successful league CFMTS and amazing freestyles really did not appear on anyone's radar for a racing victory but some may want to put him on the most wanted list. "I'm pretty ecstatic about this win, I'm just thinking about moving onto next week and hopefully going out and getting another racing win" spoke the Midwest native in victory lane. "I actually wasn't that happy with the truck during the first few rounds of racing before the final eight, the truck was a bit squirrely and I didn't have the right feel through the first half of racing and qualifying, but when we got to qualifying the truck seemed really good and I was very happy with the performance of the truck. I wanna thank Ryan McCauley for setting up this truck in the first place we've gotten because if he hadn't I would really be lost out there." Austin comes off as a quiet character on tour. He doesn't say much or get to vocal about many things but watch out for this guy when the time arrives and a champion needs to be crowned he knows what needs to be done. "Yeah definately, I think the confidence will be high and I think we can carry this momentum into the following weeks but, we do need to step it up in freestyle to get the overall title."
In Freestyle we saw a three-way tie amongst two veterans and one fairly new comer to PPRL between Josh Rhodes, Dave Collard and Travis Sewlio all with 27's for a final score. Josh Rhodes who didn't make it to the final game had a solid freestyle performance in Half Breed 3 with lot's of wheelies and side surf maneuvers before rolling over backwards. Josh who had been a freestyle slump all summer kicks things off in a positive fashion with this run that will be featured on Thunder Trax in the upcoming weeks. Travis Sewlio had what some may call a spectacular run in a Bigfoot owned truck when he took Snake Bite to the freestyle co-win. Travis got hung up on the box truck like several drivers but managed to wiggle free and balance the Ford powered Snake on it's nose not once but twice. After several large big air moves he wound up baseball sliding on his side into the dirt mound. Dave Collard who isn't always known for Freestyle proved you can not count him out with a incredible display of driving on the car sets. Collard jumped up but got snagged on the final car spun around on the sidewalls doing a complete one-eighty before settling back down on all fours. To top it off the Dodge Motorsports backed Dodge Skull Crusher nearly back flipped off the same carset to close out the run. One may say it was smart the judges kept things spread the same across all three drivers as each run had it's extremely impressive moments!
When the dust settled the points were tallied and currently with his racing win Austin Grams sits atop the Modern Monster Truck standings. Collard, Rhodes and Sewlio sit atop the Modern Monster Freestyle Standings but the real interesting point to make and this is what makes PPRL a real drivers league is the overall standings. With Austin Grams poor freestyle performance he is out of the points lead by one point over Dave Collard in Skull Crusher whose second place effort coupled with the amazing freestyle victory pushed him to the top of the heap for week one. As drivers settle in it will be interesting to see who can be the most consistent across all four divisions of competition and earn the overall crown!
Next week the Classic Monster Trucks will invade Mankato Speedway in Mankato, Minnesota. Two years ago this track was run and provided some of the most epic classic racing we had ever seen in PPRL. Hopefully next week will be just as good! Stay tuned for more information about Thunder Trax and when it will debut on YouTube in the coming weeks!
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