Holiday Events Wrap Up

With the Holiday Season finally coming to a head the Past Present Racing League has just finished off a one month spread of holiday festivities that being Fall Madness and Christmas Mayhem! When all was said and done top players for the fourth seasons championship chase came out on top of the field week after week yet again! With the third Modern Division Event in the record books lets recap what we saw at Fall Madness and Christmas Mayhem!

Rewind to one month ago. The place Fresno, California. The event Fall Madness. Five years of tradition came to a head inside Fresno Municipal Stadium when racer of the year Tim Smith took on his good friend and teammate in other leagues Jordan Robson for the racing crown. The 360 Round-About course was to much for Bigfoot when Tapout Caged and Robson cemented his name in the history books as a winner at Fall Madness! "It's another feather in my cap and another accomplishment in the record books for me" exclaimed a jubilant Robson in victory lane. "This is the big one everyone wanted to win and I'm proud to say that my truck had the power and maneuverability to win Fall Madness!"

Freestyle at Fall Madness featured trouble for many with scores being low and rollovers abound. Two drivers came from the depths of despair to tie for the lead however. Sean Kozak whose always been a solid Freestyler put on the run of his career in Can-Am Extreme taking his truck to the limit with the ultimate in saves including one roll over save! However not to be outdone and avenging his racing loss Timothy Smith piloted Bigfoot at a frantic pace with big moves to tie! We needed a freestyle-off to determine a winner. When Can-Am rolled over early it left the door wide open for Timmy as he took the freestyle crown at Fall Madness! "A win's a win and I'm happy to have done it at the grandest stage of them all today Fall Madness" said Tim Smith.

One holiday event down and one to go fast forward to December 19th and I-95 Speedway for Christmas Mayhem 3! The third installment of Monster Trucks only version of snow racing saw the biggest snowfall of the season land ontop of PPRL Drivers and Teams right as event time was set to begin! A blizzard was upon Bangor and the action on the track was as frantic as the weather. Austin Grams in Adrenalizer goes 2-1 on the season after he dominated racing in his Dodge. Grams who was nearly ten seconds faster then the field for most of the night put down Half Breed and Josh Rhodes who was his only legitimate competition all night. "To pull this off is pretty sweet. We're going to need to cherish this one as its probably the hardest surface to race on all season" said Grams in victory lane. His win vaulted him back into title contention when Timmy Smith, Dave Collard and Mark Iron all had early round losses on the tricky head-to-head St. Louis Style course.

Freestyle was much the same to Fall Madness except this time we had two surprises vying for gold. Curtis Wagner driving Wrecker is definitely a fan of the first "P" in PPRL as he's one of the longest racers in MTM2 today came to I-95 Speedway just looking to have fun and he had more then that when he tied for the lead with a incredible nose slide pirouette off the bus stack. Mark Iron whose been the pleasant surprise on the season was highly disappointed in his racing effort and vowed to go all the way in freestyle. He did just that filling the clock with a solid performance for the first 90 seconds but then he got crazy. Mark put the big Corvette through some intense maneuvers when he sideways hit the bus stack bicycling on two tires right as time expires. Mark then proceeded to do his own pirouette on the bus stack for the fans. Again a 24 tie and a freestyle-off was required.

A coin toss saw Mark go out first and the XFA driver put on a 60 second clinic picking up where his last run left off. For 60 seconds in a blizzard condition Mark rode Iron Man more on two wheels then four and managed to get a high score. Wagner's no stranger to pressure cooker situations and his Wrecker machine started off big but the snow bit the real life tow truck driver pitching him over. Mark Iron took down a impressive freestyle win and solidifies himself as one of the new top contenders on the PPRL tour with a win in two different divisions! "I'm in physical shock right now" exclaimed Mark. "I'm going to need a new set of lungs, a stomach and a heart after that run. I told myself to not get psyched out and I managed to follow that lead with a really incredible performance. Probably my best ever. This one will live on for a long time!"

So what did we learn from these Holiday events? We learned a few things. One Austin Grams and Mark Iron are big players in the championship chase for PPRL. Austin is a dominant Modern racer and Mark is settling into the jack of all trades role. Two Timmy Smith can be beat after having a bad night at I-95 when he flipped in racing and freestyle taking a big point loss. Three Dave Collard continues to fade away with his performances over the past month. What started out as a possible championship bid looks to be souring unless he can turn it around in the new year! We've learned that new-comers to the game can race and compete with the veterans of the past on some of the toughest tracks in the world. Finally we've learned that the excitement and prestige of the PPRL still lives on in the hearts of many as attendance at holiday events has grown from years past!

With that we've concluded the 2009 portion of the Past Present Racing League's season. We've crossed the One-Third distance marker and things are still wide open. What will 2010 bring? Who will be champion? January 2nd we'll find out as the Classic Monster Trucks decend upon St.Paul, Minnesota for a drag racing extravaganza! Have a Safe and Happy Holiday Season and a spectacular New Year!

Schedule Alterations

With Monster Jam broadcasting it's first live event ever January 9th, 2010 the Past Present Racing League has been forced to make changes to it's Circuit Event at Castellar Mountain. To accomdate fans of Monster Jam and drivers in PPRL a event start time has been placed at 2PM EST Saturday January 9th rather then the scheduled 9 PM EST start time. "I'm a Monster Jam fan as is nearly every driver in the league is as well. I want to apiece them and myself and enjoy this historic television event" stated Dave Collard from his Rhode Island home. "The new scheduled afternoon start time is something I've always wanted to try in MTM2 and we will go forth with such at Castellar Mountain in a few weeks time."

In other schedule announcements several venues slated for a 2010 race date have been removed and replaced. The drivers of PPRL will be heading to Hawaii a week early for a three week mini tour of PPRL action. Modern Monsters was scheduled to be at a boardwalk venue now we will be at Aiea City Beach where SPHRA and Monster Wars ran in the past. The week following is also on the beach with the Classic Division. The PPRL drivers and teams wrap up their 2010 Hawaii tour with a stop at Cocoa Beach for a Circuit event. Texas Stadium has lost it's Mondern and Classic events in favor of Gillette Stadium and a return trip to Mankato Speedway. Finally Mud Pies Motorsports Park has been removed in favor of Purvis Stadium.

"When originally booking the schedule I knew there would be some dates that would not hold" stated Collard. As many past PPRL drivers know venue changes rule the roost in the later portion of the season. "It's something that winds up happening every year. Sitting down to design a schedule for the most action packed MTM2 league is no easy task so as the competition is gauged the venues wind up changing. It is my firm belief we will see better racing at the above chosen venues then we would have at the originals."

A copy of the PPRL's newly revised schedule maybe accessed on our website by clicking the schedule link!

Three Title Contenders?

At what point can contenders be separated from pretenders? In a season that lasts twenty-one weeks we will reach the one-third distance mark in just six days at Christmas Mayhem. Those who are committed for racing gold need to start showing their hand if they want to catch the front runners. Drivers who are running out front will need to keep applying the pressure and sealing weak spots as we close in on Monster Mania 2010. The time to mount a charge is now!

Timmy Smith picked up his first win of the season at Pine Run Speedway further distancing himself from the pack in the championship chase. The Atlanta native has made no small matter of his quest for a PPRL title and was visibly emotional all evening long as he pours on the coals. When he missed qualifying for the Feature Race and had to go to the Consolation Round he took to task Alex Vester for being a hindrance after having technical difficulties. Those emotions ran over as Tim dominated the field and qualified for the Feature Race but lost ten points he could have earned due to getting a second chance. "These points are important, both times we've ran a circuit event I've had to come from the consolation round and have lost twenty points from my championship lead" spoke Timmy in victory lane. "It's just been bad luck and it's costing me from making maximum points on nights when other contenders have issues!"

Mark Iron who has really turned heads on the circuit courses finished second again. Mark is the master of practice and while he did not have anything for the lightning quick Tim Smith he made sure to make the most points possible vaulting him to the top three in Overall Standings and with Tim Smith's repeated points deductions First Place in Circuit Competition. "I need to just keep focused on doing well and not psyching myself out" spoke Iron. The North Carolina native might just be the sleeper in the Overall Title Run due to his consistency. Mark currently sits in the top ten with every division and continuing his consistency trend coupled with bad luck from other drivers may see him stand tall when its all said and done! "I need to get better at the Modern Racing. The Iron Man truck is constantly being tuned on for every Modern event and I haven't had a ton of time to adapt. If I'm going to be a threat I need to start getting a hold of my Modern Day Truck."

Dave Collard who sits third in the standings is losing ground on the front runners. Bad luck at Pine Run coupled with sub-par finishes since Mankato Speedway has left the Rhode Islander dropping back from Tim Smith in the Overall Title Hunt. "We had awful luck at Pine Run. The fastest truck was ours no doubt about that, but you can not win a ten lap race in the first three turns and by getting aggressive we crashed and had to recover to get fifth. Nobody is going to cut us slack and I know we're a capable bunch but I need to stop making mistakes."

But what happened to other sure bets for the Overall Championship? Josh Rhodes was committed to other obligations and missed a chance to gain ground after winning last week in Glendale. Austin Grams who started with a win in Mouton has not shown the consistency to win a championship yet and seems to be falling farther behind. Travis Sewlio has missed racing again and Ryan McCauley who everyone thought was finally going to make it and become a champion is sitting out on a three week ban. These drivers still have shots at Divisional Title's but the Overall seems to be officially out of grasp as the front three continue to race weekly and collect points.

With goers there are comers though and going further into Pine Run's evening we saw new faces make the Feature Race with the likes of Bert Wojcik and Damien Bowers. Both of these drivers had impressive displays in heat and consolation round appearances and earned respect from peers. "It's good to see new faces finally make a splash in the game" says Dave Collard. "These guys have been racing for awhile and with so many of the older drivers running more a partial schedule it gives guys like them a chance to race for wins and elevate to a higher status in the grand scheme of things." Bowers who finished sixth had a incredible display in his consolation race holding off charges from Alex Vester and Kevin Milloy both of whom knocked on his tail-gate but were unable to waver the Indiana Native. Bert Wojcik of Pennsylvania was strong all evening placing second in his heat and transferring to the feature race where he finished third. These guys might not be title contenders yet but they're finally learning how to get the job done on the race track!

With Pine Run over we shift our attention to next weeks final Holiday Special event Christmas Mayhem. The third running in four years will prove to be another challenge for the Modern Monster Trucks as they've been off for nearly a month. I-95 Speedway in Bangor is snow packed and with a snowstorm predicted for Saturday look out for slippery sliding action at the third mile Oval! More information will be forthcoming later in the week stay tuned!

Titan's Clash Grave Digger Emerges Victorious!

The history book was reopened last night in Glendale, Florida when Grave Digger and Bigfoot waged war in the Monster Final for PPRL's fifth week of competition! Tonight Josh Rhodes piloted the Panel Van to victory over Tim Smith driving Bigfoot Four. A night that was full of heated tempers and bad bounces caused some unexpected drivers to falter early making way for a new face to the final four Sean Kozak driving The Toy. In this weeks taping of Thunder Trax Grave Digger took on the tractor tired Toyota and just edged the win at the line while Bigfoot Four made short work of Clodbuster vaulting to the national points lead!

The final round now being set saw the battle for supremacy not often seen in modern times take place again Bigfoot versus Grave Digger! Both drivers were the fastest trucks of the evening but a bad bounce into the down ramp caused Bigfoot Four to lose valuable time with Grave Digger pulling away for the victory!

"I'm pretty proud about this one" flaunted Rhodes in the winners circle. "The last time I won a classic event it was a (darn) wheelie competition and it didn't have near the meaning that winning on a figure eight does." Josh with his victory vaults to third place in the division's standings just five points out of the lead!

"I knew the ramps would eventually bite me before the night was over" lamented Tim Smith. "It's happened every year we come to this track. I'm pretty disappointed because it cost me a win last time too!" Tim Smith with his second place finish re-assumes the overall point lead and classic division's point lead. Currently Tim Smith leads three of the five points championship races and trails by less then five points in Freestyle and twenty points in circuit racing. Could an unprecedented title sweep be in Smith's cross-hair's bettering inaugural multi-title Chris Kaelin's effort in 2006? We'll have to wait and see in the coming weeks if Timmy can keep it up!

Next week the tour heads to Pine Run Speedway in the foothills of West Virginia. Circuit racing last time provided us with one of the most fantastic finishes in the division's history and this return trip to the high banks of Pine Run leaves many wondering can it happen again? Find out next week as we forge on into week six of competition!