As the sun rose on day 2 of the Shafer Motorsports World Finals, nerves and anticipation were high on what Sunday had in store. Teams were hard at work preparing themselves and their trucks for a wild day of intense Freestyle.

Kyle Chandler and crew were pulling the plugs out of the big Hemi motor as is a basic maintenance requirement of those engines. Chandler was not too keen on running his truck into the ground and the large obstacles were something he would rather stray away from. With a 22-hour drive back to Maine and a full winter of events lined up, I don't blame him for being in the conservative mind set.

There would be two trucks out of the Freestyle competition, unfortunately. Bruce Haney had planned to not participate from the beginning due to engine testing while Doug Charles had to pack up Extreme Overkill 2 due to breakage. Busted steering, broken drive shafts and planetary would end the debut weekend for the radical truck and it was a debut I certainly did not expect. With no attention paid to the truck in the months leading up to this event, it is no wonder it all fell apart. It was simply not ready to race.

No rest for the Champion. Larry Swim, fresh off his racing victory, was back to the grind and lent James Tigue a hand in figuring out the transmission bugs which plagued Carolina Crusher during racing. Swim's trucks were repaired and he was ready to pull double driving duty again with two shots at winning his second championship of the weekend.

TV crews were busy setting up including Masters Entertainment Group. They were on hand to capture mainly the Super Truck Challenge but would also be recording the monster trucks for some airing on the Sunshine Network late in 2005. Great to see Doc Riley and catch up with him for a few minutes too.

The Outdoor Channel did a feature with Dave Harkey talking about some of the technical features on Bigfoot including the 66'' tires which are always a topic of conversation for new monster truck fans or first time viewers.

Mike Hawkins' crew was going over every inch of the truck to make sure it was ready for what could be a show-stealing performance. Hawkins was definitely a favorite to win this competition and with his wild driving style, Equalizer may have to be scooped up and put in the trailer at the end of the day. If it meant the win, Hawkins would do it in a heartbeat.

After the Super Truck Challenge finished up their final rounds, it was time for the monsters to take to the track and flat out destroy everything on it. The 13 drivers representing 15 trucks drew numbers out of a hat for their freestyle running order. Lucky Charlie Miller drew number one while Rodney Tweedy would have a good long while to sit and wait for his #15 spot.

The freestyle obstacles were mainly positioned in the same area the racing lane jumps were on Saturday. The extensive overhaul left the jumps much bigger, longer and crazier than simple racing lanes. At the start of the "right" lane was now a 7-car pyramid with a minivan wedged on the top. The end of the right lane was the scaled down, but still ominous to look at, 14-car pile! The middle of the track was pretty open. There was a single car near the starting line and then the large super truck hill in between the 14-car pile and the bus pyramid. The bus pyramid was at the end of the "left" lane while the start of the left lane had a car-minivan-car pyramid that looked pretty mild compared to everything else out there.

The event would be scored by 7 judges, 2 from Amsoil, 2 from the East Bay Raceway (a nearby race track), and 3 people from a fairgrounds in Virginia that has hosted PSM shows for years.  They would judge each run from 1-10, with the high and low scores being thrown out, for a maximum score of 50.

Freestyle would start under relatively dry conditions, but rain continued to be in the area. All the drivers would have a maximum of two minutes for their runs.

Monster Truck Freestyle

Rampage-- Miller was the first to go and got a fresh shot at everything. He cleared the car-van-car pyramid easily and then headed right for the bus and launched the front of the truck WAY up in the air and nosed the front end of Rampage down hard on the other side of the stack. The unique suspension on the truck soften the blow quite a bit, but still an ugly looking landing. Miller blasted over the 7-car stack with some nice air and laid waste to the single car as well. He took on the 14-car pile but did not attack it very hard and just rolled across it. Miller nailed the 7-car pile with another good jump but on the landing the left front wheel snapped off! Our first carnage of the day as the wheel & tire went rolling down the track before finally stopping beyond the bus pyramid. Rampage would need a tow out after digging the front axle into the dirt. Decent opening run from Charlie but it would certainly not be taking the win. My score: 3 out of 10. Judges: 23 out of 50.

Frankenstein-- The Boss man was up next. Shafer is not known for wild freestyle but this was a good time to start if he wanted to keep the money for himself. Shafer soared Frankenstein over the single car with a nice hit to get the run going. He blasted over the huge stack with bigger air than Miller and nearly cleared the whole stack. He ran Frankenstein down the right lane and cleared the 7-car stack and flew completely over the 14-car pile! Shafer managed to slap up a wheelie on the hard landing and ride it down into the shutdown area. He brought the truck back around and lined up the bus. Shafer mashed the throttle much harder than Miller did and almost cleared the top of the bus with all four tires. But, the rear tires just clipped the top of the bus and that meant nose dive. Frankenstein pogo'd extremely hard into the ground, but Shafer maintained control and stabbed the gas on the rebound which shot the truck completely vertical and off the ground and ripped the bumper off! The rear tires hit the ground and Shafer was still on the throttle and rode out the pogo for a slap wheelie! Incredible move out of a landing that looked painful and awful. Shafer ended the run there and receive a big applause and some very generous scores. My score: 5 out of 10. Judges score: 40 out of 50.

Wild Thang-- Harwood had a career day in racing and was one of the stronger forces coming into freestyle. He has put this truck on the ragged edge many times before and to win this event, he would need another career run. Harwood tore onto the track and went for the single car and grabbed some nice air. He landed the truck perfectly and yanked up an excellent slap wheelie. He held onto the wheelie as long as possible before letting the front end down right before jumping over the big dirt hill in the center of the track. Harwood spun Wild Thang around quickly and lined up the 14-car heap from the opposite direction. He never slowed down and launched the orange skull straight up into the sky and handled landing on top of the pile very well. Harwood lined up the bus and sailed Wild Thang completely over top of the bus, never touching anything until the ground. Harwood again got a great bounce and pulled up a wild slap wheelie. The momentum Harwood carried was astounding. There was no setup time to his jumps and he went big on everything. Harwood aired out Wild Thang on the center hill with some great distance. He swung the truck around and took on the 7-car stack and then went full tilt towards the huge stack! Up the ramp and into the air with a RIDICULOUS amount of air!! He never touched anything besides the first car in the pile and had to be 20+ feet in the air and cleared well over 50 feet!
The landing was very rough and it blew out shock mounts and several shocks in the rear end. Wild Thang was very squirrely as Harwood turned the truck around and he was shut off via RII right there. The decision was made that it was not safe for him to continue. Brian had a fantastic run in the works and was only 1 minute in. No longer was it a possible winner, just a real disappointment for the fans and Harwood. My Score: 7 Judges score: 32.

Equalizer-- Mike Hawkins would be the first non-Shafer truck to hit the track and even with such a low number in the order, had to be considered a favorite to win. I decide last second to run all the way across the track and shoot pictures from the other side to change things up a bit. Hawkins started the run with a big hit on the 7-car pile and continued with a good jump on the 14-car set and cleared the entire thing but not nearly in a fashion as Harwood had just done. The side of the bus had turned into a ramp of sorts with the side caved in and the roof smashed down. But, Hawkins chose not to use the smooth way and took on the bus from the other direction! It was a rough climb over the tilted side of the bus but Hawkins powered Equalizer over the top and down the minivans. Hawkins went to turn the truck around near the staging area but it quickly rocked up on two wheels. Hawkins walked the truck on two wheels before it all came slamming down to the ground!
Equalizer rolled onto its side and all the way over the roof and to the other side. A very unexpected and costly roll for Hawkins to say the least. The body was shredded in all places and there was very noticeable damage to the engine area, shocks and body mounts. Hawkins was helped out of the truck and was unharmed. Probably more pissed off than anything. He tried to drive the truck out of the roll but the RII was used too soon so there was no power to try and steer out of it. Track crew righted Equalizer after a couple minutes and the full damage was revealed. Hawkins gathered up his things and sulked back into the truck and drove it off to the pits very dejected. My Score: 2 Judges score: 29

Monster Patrol-- Kirk Dabney slaved through the night to put Monster Patrol back together to take a run a the Freestyle title. He had battled the breakage and now he had to battle the rain! The sky really opened up for the first time of the day and a steady shower fell right as Dabney hit the track. He started with a big hit on the 7-car pile and pogo'd hard up into a small slap wheelie and then right into the 14-car jump and cleared that nicely and yanked up a slap wheelie on the end as well. Nice combo to start off. Dabney got some good air over the center hill and also on the single car. He lined up the big bus but did not accelerate nearly hard enough to get over the slippery stack! The front end popped up and over the bus but the back end never made it. Monster Patrol's chassis was lodged on top of the bus and there was nothing Dabney could do to get down. Very disappointing ending to a promising run. My Score: 3 Judges score: 26

Kevin Harvick Kid Rock #29-- The rain let up shortly after Monster Patrol was pulled from the bus stack which gave a little extra ray of hope for Larry Swim to pull off an incredible sweep of the weekend and this would be his first shot in the #29 truck. Swim worked the small jumps early and got nice air off the single car and the center ramp. Had some bounces that looked slap wheelie worthy but he did not look to be trying for one. Swim started unleashing the big air with a big leap over the 14-car pile which was getting pretty smashed and leveled down but was still the jump providing the biggest air. Swim followed that up with an aggressive hit on the back side of the bus, which twisted and turned the truck in several directions while in the air. Very rough landing but Swim kept the momentum flowing and whipped the truck around to tackle the bus from the other way. He blasted into the the vans and then the bus getting some great lift in the front end. More big air on the 14-car pile and the single car led to his final jump, another moon shot over the giant stack. No jump lacked the entire run and Swim should've been put in first place but the judges screwed up big time. My score: 8 Judges score: 34! They scored Frankenstein higher! Unfortunately, only the first of several scoring blunders to come...

Tuff Country Dragon Slayer-- The Team KCM trucks of Spiderman and Dragon Slayer were a top draw for me to attend this event as I had never seen them perform live before and knew the skill Jensen and Christensen brought to the table. Kreg's freestyle was one I had high hopes for and he definitely had to be considered one of the top 3 choices to win it. Rain began to fall hard yet again as Christensen opened the run with a nice hit on the single car. He soared over the center hill and then spun the Hummer around in the slick grass and headed right back for more. He cleared the hill again and then went for the backside of the car-minivan-car pyramid, the first driver to do so, and stood the truck up in a perfect 90degree wheel stand and walked the truck across the three vehicles! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Might look like a small move but it was completely under control and just seemed in slow motion the whole time. Christensen turned Dragon Slayer around and prepared to slay the bus with a high speed attack which knocked the side of the bus almost flat as he flew across. The side of the bus looked like an extension of the ramp after that hit. He hit the 14 cars from the back side and nearly walked the truck across the whole pile. Christensen took a full speed run going the other way on the pile and unloaded a massive air assault! Crazy kind of air underneath Dragon Slayer as he easily rivaled the jump by Harwood earlier. He nailed the bus again with more good air and distance and then set his eyes on something no one had been able to do yet and that was donuts! Kreg found a good spot in the front of the track and ripped off a fury of donuts that sprayed mud and grass everywhere. The tires dug down deep enough to even find dust! Solid run for Dragon Slayer and yet another freestyle that should have taken the lead but was wrongfully denied. My Score: 8 Judges score: 37

Bigfoot #14-- After falling just short in Racing, Dave Harkey looked to rebound in freestyle. I have seen Harkey pull some excellent runs in smaller venues, but never seen him tackle a track of this magnitude. He started with a very good jump over the single car and almost had his first slap wheelie. He jumped the center hill and then surprisingly lined up the bus from the back side. The angle of the bus was now well past the 90 degree mark from that side and the awkwardness showed immediately. Harkey did not approach the bus very fast and tried to just climb over it but the minivans crumbled beneath Bigfoot and the truck was left positioned on the rear tires in a perfect vertical wheel stand! Harkey managed to reverse his way out of the situation and tried to get over the bus 3 times but was unsuccessful. He decided to hit the bus from the folded in side and had some good air with a wild nose first landing. He went for the 14-car pile but also did not hit it very hard and slid Bigfoot off to the left and nearly rolled it. Harkey hit a small jump on the 7-car pile and then grabbed his best air so far on the huge stack. Harkey was not showing good momentum nor were the jumps going to put him anywhere near the lead. He took a small jump across the center hill and then went for the donuts. His best move was probably the donuts as Bigfoot really ripped up the grass through several revolutions. A mediocre run to say the least. My score: 4 Judges score: 32.

Freestyle Scores through first half:
Frankenstein: 40
Dragon Slayer: 37
Kid Rock #29: 34
Wild Thang: 32
Bigfoot #14: 32
Equalizer: 29
Monster Patrol: 26
Rampage: 23

We're only half way through the Freestyle field and many more trucks are yet to run. The freestyle coverage has been broken up to alleviate the load time for all the pictures. Check out all the action from the second half of Freestyle on the next page.

Freestyle Championship Part 2!