The unpredictability of PPRL carried on into the great Midwest and the St.Paul Civic Center Saturday night for Classic Side by Side Monster Truck racing action. St.Paul has been a stop for the PPRL teams since the first season of competition and much like it's previous events the ultra tight side-by-side drag racing course provided many upset finishes and surprise winners. After a lengthy ban from competition Ryan McCauley in Heartbeat took down the big win in his Chevy truck.
Ryan had a tough path to the final round on Thunder Trax qualifying fourth fastest of six trucks in the opening stages. McCauley was matched up against returning veteran Alex Vester in Equalizer and was subsequently beaten by the always fast Texan. Ryan earned his way to a Fast Loser position beating Damien Bowers and then upset the fast Dave Collard in Clodbuster to solidify a spot on Thunder Trax. From there Ryan and Heartbeat faced a relative unknown with Brad Shaw in his "Brad's Bronco" Ford and put down another faster truck handily! Following more races Alex Vester and Ryan eventually crossed paths again not once but twice when the fast loser of the quarter final round Equalizer TIED with the Heartbeat Chevy at the finish line thus requiring a re-race to determine a winner. McCauley proved to be one tough customer taking Vester to school off the line and earning his way to the Monster Finals!
Curtis Wagner in Blown Profits had a quiet evening steadily progressing through the field and brought his vintage Monster Tow-Truck to the final round to face flying Ryan. Both drivers staged and ready left the line at the same time but the unpredictable and wild ramp setup in St.Paul sent Wagner flipping across the finish line with McCauley nabbing the victory.
Media and Reporters attempted to get a quick word with the triumphant Ryan but were shrugged off by the bitter Pennsylvanian after his first week back from a three week ban from competition for unsportsmanlike conduct. Heartbeat drove straight off the arena floor and to his hauler where Ryan resided until late into the night time hours. His win coupled with bad luck by the top three in Classic Racing Points saw him vault to the points lead.
Speaking of bad luck that is what Tim Smith, Dave Collard and Mark Iron experienced in St.Paul. Tim Smith was a non-factor all evening and succumbed to his second weekend in a row of bad luck and not earning maximum points. Collard was snubbed from Thunder Trax by Heartbeat and was left wondering what might have been after he qualified in a top five position. Mark Iron was disqualified from his round one race when he red-lighted against Thunder Beast. With these drivers troubles the top five in overall points remains close with Tim Smith leading by just 35 points over Austin Grams. Collard and Iron sit a mere 40 points behind and Josh Rhodes is nearly within one race of the front runners just being behind by 65 points.
Next week the series moves to Castellar Mountain, Utah for intense circuit racing action. A special start time of 2PM EST has been called due to the first ever live running of real monster truck series Advanced Auto Parts Monster Jam running on SPEED TV that night at 7PM EST! Stay tuned for who just may be in victory lane when new faces come to the afternoon running of the circuit division!
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