The first month of the season is in the books and Adam Anderson has become the first driver to hold the #1 spot for two weeks running in one of the most competitive TMB “Road to the World Finals” power rankings seasons yet. Anderson and Grave Digger The Legend swept the entire weekend in Washington D.C. to retain the top spot by just over 15 points. Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter keeps the #2 spot after a semi-final appearance and runner-up in freestyle in Indianapolis this past weekend.
Linsey Weenk continues to hang around the front of the pack after a big racing win in Indianapolis while Chad Tingler moves up to 4th after following up his San Diego double down with a final round appearance and freestyle victory in Phoenix. Rounding out the top 5 is former #1 Damon Bradshaw in Air Force Afterburner, who also had a great weekend in Indianapolis.
Randy Brown continues to barely hang in the top 24, currently fighting it out with John Seasock and Scott Hartsock for that final position. Alex Blackwell and George Balhan are now on the outside looking in, with Kelvin Ramer now joining them after a strong weekend in Anaheim.
Check out the Road to the World Finals unofficial rankings after Week #4 below:
Here is how points were scored in this week’s Elite Level events:
1/29 – Anaheim, California
Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned
1st – Pablo Huffaker – Grave Digger – 20
2nd – Kelvin Ramer – Time Flys – 15
Semi-Finals – Andrew Peckhum – Tropical Thunder – 7.5
Semi-Finals – Ryan Huffaker – TMNT – 7.5
Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned
1st – Pablo Huffaker – Grave Digger – 20
2nd – Tony Farrell – Grave Digger The Legend – 15
3rd – Ryan Huffaker – TMNT – 10
4th – Kelvin Ramer – Time Flys – 5
1/29 – Phoenix, Arizona
Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned
1st – Todd Leduc – Blue Thunder – 20
2nd – Chad Tingler – Grave Digger – 15
Semi-Finals – Jim Koehler – Avenger – 7.5
Semi-Finals – Alex Blackwell – Captain’s Curse – 7.5
Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned
1st – Chad Tingler – Grave Digger – 20
2nd – Jim Koehler – Avenger – 15
3rd – Kreg Christensen – Maximum Destruction – 10
4th – Todd Leduc – Blue Thunder – 5
1/29 – Orlando, Florida
Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned
1st – Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger – 20
2nd – Scott Hartsock – Gun Slinger – 15
Semi-Finals – Neil Elliott – Maximum Destruction – 7.5
Semi-Finals – Chuck Werner – El Toro Loco – 7.5
Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned
1st – Jeremy Slifko – Backdraft – 20
2nd – Neil Elliott – Maximum Destruction – 15
3rd – Steve Sims – Stone Crusher – 10
Tie 4th – Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger – 2.5
Tie 4th – Cam McQueen – Nitro Circus – 2.5
1/29 – Indianapolis, Indiana
Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned
1st – Linsey Weenk – Lucas Oil Crusader – 20
2nd – Damon Bradshaw – Air Force Afterburner – 15
Semi-Finals – Tom Meents – Maximum Destruction – 7.5
Semi-Finals – Jimmy Creten – Bounty Hunter – 7.5
Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned
1st – Charlie Pauken – Grave Digger – 20
2nd – Jimmy Creten – Bounty Hunter – 15
Tie 3rd – Linsey Weenk – Lucas Oil Crusader – 7.5
Tie 3rd – Damon Bradshaw – Air Force Afterburner – 7.5
For results from Normal Level events, check out the 2011 Results Tracker January 14th-16th Weekend Results page (drivers earn 5 points for a racing or freestyle win).
If you haven’t followed along with TMB’s Road to the World Finals in the past, we’re sure that you have many questions about how we put this together: How does it work? Which events are we including? How are the points awarded? etc. At the bottom of each week’s update, you’ll see the detailed rationale and explanation that should answer most of these questions.
Stay tuned each week to TMB’s “Road to the World Finals” for all the results and current standings each week. Keep in mind this is all unofficial and is just for fun and enjoy as we track the Monster Jam series all the way to the World Finals in March!
About TMB’s Road to the World Finals:
For some time, fans across the country have wondered why the USHRA does not run a public points system of some kind for their Monster Jam series. We are included in the group that would love to be able to follow the standings of such a series each week. We are of the belief that a berth in the Monster Jam World Finals should be earned based on performance throughout the year in both racing and freestyle. Regardless of what portion of the monster truck industry you favor, there is no denying that the Monster Jam World Finals is the biggest and highest profile event our sport has to offer. A chance to compete at this event is a big deal for many drivers out there, and it is our opinion that they should be able to earn their way in. We’re not saying that Feld Motorsports doesn’t pick the World Finalists based on performance currently–we’re simply saying that we don’t know how they make up the field because the process isn’t made public.
So with that in mind, we have created an UNOFFICIAL points system that is simple (although it may seem complicated) and that rewards performance in all Monster Jam events across the country leading up to the World Finals. In our Standings, we will show the cut-off after the 24th truck, indicating that IF entry to the World Finals was based SOLELY on performance, these are the drivers that would be headed to Las Vegas. Keep in mind that this is just for fun and has no actual bearing on the selection of World Finals participants. See below for a breakdown of our points system and our rationale for the decisions we made in creating it.
Elite Level Events
What is an Elite Level event? We define an Elite Monster Jam event as any with a field of 12 of more trucks. We have chosen to award these events the highest amount of points, because these are the highest profile Monster Jam events. These events are the ones held in the major stadiums in front of the biggest crowds, some of which are even televised on SPEED. It is our belief that performance in the highest profile shows should be weighted most heavily toward a World Finals berth because these events are most similar to the World Finals itself. The most points any one driver can score in an Elite Level event (and thus in any event) is 40. If an event meeting all of this criteria holds 3 or more shows over the course of a single weekend, the points for each show are worth half of what is listed below.
Racing Finish – Points Awarded
1st – 20
2nd – 15
Semi-Finals – 7.5
Freestyle Finish – Points Awarded
1st – 20
2nd – 15
3rd – 10
4th – 5
Normal Level Events
What is a Normal Level show? The majority of Monster Jam events held around the country are Normal Level shows. These events are typically held in smaller arenas around the country, consisting of multiple shows held over the course of the weekend (anywhere from 2-5), with fields of anywhere from 5-8 trucks. Looking at the points awarded for these shows, you will notice they are much less than the upper levels. We equate the significance level of an entire 4 show weekend of Normal Level events with the significance of one Elite Level show–thus, the maximum points a driver can earn in a weekend at a Normal Level event is 40 (this based on the usual maximum # of shows being 4 (Tacoma being the exception with 5), and an available 10 points per show (10×4=40)).
Racing Finish – Points Awarded
1st – 5
Freestyle Finish – Points Awarded
1st – 5
