The Bloomsburg weekend for the monster trucks is the most grueling one of the summer. It reminds many of the Penda Point Series in the early to mid-1990's as they held four events over three days. Bloomsburg does that, adding in a freestyle finale on Saturday night.
But, no one could have expected the happenings that occurred at this year's Saturday festivities.
The 12:30 show for monster truck racing began a little late, but with a dry track and some tough competition, it was going to be a big day.
One truck unable to compete at all was the Chalkboard Chuck truck of David Rife. Friday night, the truck threw a push rod right through the bottom of the engine, ending his weekend before it even started.
So, that left eight trucks to compete for the rest of the afternoon.
At the end of the bracket, it came down to an all Dodge final, as teammates Mark Hall and Mat Dishman squared off for what would be the first Dodge victory since Springfield. After the light went green, it was easy to see who would take it. Hall took the red Raminator to victory, his second of the year, and also extending a streak of winning at least one race at Bloomsburg since 2002.
But, the afternoon freestyle would provide some surprises, and some carnage. The Avenger of Rich Hilgendorf had some malfunctions in the drive line at the end of his freestyle, and would be forced to the pits to fix it.
The big wreck came from Nancy Westin in Black Knight. Her run was strong, and the fans loved it. However, after the run was complete, something didn't feel right.
It turned out Westin had fractured a vertebrate in her spine. Rather than risk further injury, she opted to get out of the truck for the remainder of the day. At last check, Westin was doing better, but for safety reasons didn't want to run the truck.
So, Rife would be called upon to take the seat of the Black Knight Ford...and right away found trouble.
Before even getting to race, the truck had transmission problems right after introductions. It would not go into gear and would be towed to the pits, leading to a bye run by Rammunition and Dishman.
Didn't seem to phase the Dodge team as for the second time in one day, the two Hemi-powered trucks went to the line for the finals. Once again, Hall and the Raminator used every bit of the 2,000 horsepower engine to claim the victory.
It's the second straight year that Hall swept the Saturday racing events.
To cap off the night, every truck came out to freestyle, ending with Dan Runte and the E3 Spark Plugs Bigfoot showing off to the fans by freestyling to the sounds of fireworks.
One last day remains in the 2011 Bloomsburg Jamboree. With two out of three wins already, Hall is closing in on Runte's points lead, or could be the leader now since Runte didn't make it past the second round at both shows.
The final monster truck show of the weekend comes Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m.
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