It's that magical time of year again for everyone involved in the Monster Truck Madness 2 community! For four of the past five years the Past Present Racing League has been putting together one of the largest multi-day format events in the history of online Monster Truck racing, and this year it returns to Ohio! Many top MTM2 superstars plan to invade Shell Stadium tomorrow night through Saturday vying for valuable PPRL Points and a shot at a Monster Mania crown. Let's take a brief look at the months of February and March and see who got hot and whose not so hot heading into Monster Mania weekend.Topping the charts in our whose hot category is Mark Iron. The North Carolinian started his trek towards a possible Overall Championship in February dominating the Milwaukee Mile, winning the next week in LA in the Circuit Division then consistently placed in the higher points positions in the weeks inbetween. Mark's been so dominant in the Circuit Division he wrapped up the championship last week in Castellar Mountain. Finishing one entire event ahead of second place rival Dave Collard. While Iron has a shot at the Overall title we've learned he has connection issues heading into tomorrow's Circuit Main Event and might miss his chance to race. If that is the case and Tim places well it might be all over for Mark whose admittedly struggled in Modern Racing.
The other driver whose hot and still within Overall Title contention is Dave Collard. While the Rhode Islander hasn't had his fair share of wins this season he's been consistantly apart of final games and a top placing finisher in Circuit Division events. Skull Crusher paces the Freestyle Championship Race with a slim lead over Canadian Jordan Holland using consistent and full freestyle runs every time the Modern Division gets together. Struggles have been abound for Dave in Racing both for Classic and Modern, falling to Austin Grams, Mark Iron and Tim Smith on several occasions.
Finally our last driver who tops the whose Hot list is Austin Grams. Austin may be out of Overall Title contention but a shot at Modern Racing and Freestyle still our within grasp for the Utah native. Austin has put all of his focus on the Modern division and while it does show and he wins quite often it's when the Adrenalizer is not in victory lane that costs him the most. Consistency is the key in PPRL and stringing together final round appearances is what leads to championships. Often Grams finds himself out of the running early if he over drives the course within the first few rounds of racing or the first few seconds of freestyle. However due to winning so often he still finds himself in a position to Modern Racing as he's tied with Timmy Smith for the points lead there and sits ten out of the lead in Freestyle. Grams has admitted that St Louis Style racing isn't his foray and with the Monster Mania Modern Racing Track being just that it might be tough to hold onto the lead.
One driver who walks into Monster Mania on the cool side of our momentum list is Tim Smith. The Overall Point leader has struggled lately to connect to games costing him over one hundred valuable championship points and a chance to wrap things up early heading into the big event this weekend. Tim's been dominant in Racing especially the Classic Division and has been a shoe in for a top four finish in Modern Racing but the last two weeks of missed opportunities have cost the Atlanta native. If connection problems arise for Tim at Mania it might spell the end of a well deserved Overall Championship crown. The pressure is on in the Bigfoot camp and Smith has been known to rebound in a flash so we'll await with bated breath come Thursday night.
Now that we've recapped whose got momentum lets turn our focus quickly to the events that are a little under 24 hours away from happening in Ohio. Shell Stadium was home to PPRL's Second Finale event in May of 2007 and hosted Monster Truck action for over two weeks time. The unique venue with it's downhill "bunny slope" will be playing host for the first time to Circuit Monster Truck action tomorrow night. The course for our Circuit Division is a high paced obstacle course littered with traditional Monster Truck obstacles, mud pit and rock pile. The option lane will be pertinent to race outcomes many drivers are feeling as each has it's unique challenges that a driver can chose to compensate for to improve overall lap times. With the title wrapped up for Mark Iron tomorrow's event is just about bragging rights and having a good time for those who chose to participate. PPRL's expecting a large turnout of curious racers who want to try their hand on the unique indoor stadium course.
Chat time is 7:30 PM EST with the Miller High Life Pre-Show taking place at 8:00 PM EST sharp. Racing will commence at 8:30 PM EST with heat races qualifying participants for the 15 lap main event race! We hope to see you there!
