SOUTHERN MONSTER TRUCK SHOWDOWN
Brooksville, FL - Hernando County Fairgrounds



Ah finally a beautiful day for the final round of the Southern Monster Truck Showdown. A chance for me to actually grab some good pictures! The weather was cold for Florida all weekend long, around 40 or 50 degrees all weekend. The day promised just the same but the crowds still tunred out.

Lawn mower racing was a part of the action all week long. Each night they helped fill some time with some exciting racing. They ran a few heats and a feature each night, the final day saw the white # 929 take the final checkard flag.




WHEELIE CONTEST

God, Guts, & Glory

After a hard thrash the night before, God, Guts, & Glory was ready for action...err...well not really. Seems as though there were more problems as after the RII was tested Melissa could not get the truck in gear complaining for a torque converted problem possibly and she had to be towed back to the pits. Another truck gone by the way side.



Sudden Impact

The 3rd time now in the truck for the Ragin' Cajun Brandon Legarde, and yeah, he showed a little improvement, just check out the photos! Brandon floored me with a vertical leap over both sets of cars! Unbelieveable for a 2WD truck!



84 Lumber

John Seasock was also getting the hang of his new ride and the wheelie contest proved it. John got great vertical air on the first jump, and on the 2nd jump...LOOK OUT! John goes COMPLETLY VERTICAL!!!! Thank godness for the external bumber because he planted it into the cars and I thought the front tires were going to land on my head! John Seasock gets the wheelie of the weekend on that move!



Gun Slinger

Now the bar was set at an astronomical height for Scott Hartsock. John was joking in the pits earlier about how if he was going to go out in front of Scott, he was going to make him earn the freestyle wins. He also noted the obvious, Scott will trash $80,000 for the $4.95 plastic trophy! =). Scott did a great job and got some of the best vertical air I've ever seen from the Gun Slinger, but it just wasn't enough to compete with the tailgate draggin performance by the 84 Lumber truck.



CHICAGO STYLE RACING

Gun Slinger Vs. Sudden Impact

First up was the 2WD wonder boy Brandon Legarde and the gunsmith Scott Hartsock. Hartsock was on a mission and once again blew the doors off of Brandon, who did finally get a groove on the set of cars and made a 100% legal pass.




Winner: Gun Slinger

Monkey'n Around Vs. 84 Lumber

The community truck was back as Melissa strapped in for her first ever run in the Monkey'n Around truck since God, Guts, & Glory was out of commission. Melissa could not get used to the truck and slowly made her way around the track, in fact Seasock had to stop and wait for her to go around the track to complete his run. As Melissa said over the PA, she gets the A+ for effort.




Winner: 84 Lumber

Sudden Impact was announced the winner as there would be no consi-race since Melissa was working on getting fit into the truck (more on the in a second). Gun Slinger Vs. 84 Lumber

Scott has gone 0-2 so far against John and was looking to even the score. Both trucks were even off the line, even through the first corner and over the first set of cars. Scott went full tilt into the final corner and made the best turn of the weekend and he kept it legal in route to a narrow victory over Seasock's 84 Lumber.




Winner: Gun Slinger

FREESTYLE

Monkey'n Around



Like I said, Melissa got a wild ride by just limping around the track. Orville is much larger than poor little Melissa, and the belts weren't tight enough for her so she was thrown all over the truck agains 84 Lumber. Melissa solved the problem and grabbed some pillows and stuffed them into her firesuit jacket. Husband Joey joked saying "Alright get your fat ass up in there", knowing its the only time he could say that and not get in trouble!

Melissa went back onto the track and rightfully so took it easy on someone else's equipment. She crawled over the cars and the pryamid a few times just for show.




Melissa went back onto the track and rightfully so took it easy on someone else's equipment. She crawled over the cars and the pryamid a few times just for show.

Sudden Impact

Brandon Legarde didn't want to tear up any more equipment on the weekend so he kept it simple for his freestyle running, making a few laps around the arena and over the ramps of the cars.



84 Lumber

No taking it easy here. Like the reverse of racing, John was 0-2 in freestyle wins against Scott Hartsock. John hit the track and flat went bezerk. John got great air over the cars before going after the pyramid and jumping clear out of my camera view! John went back after the cars getting more great wheel stands before spinning the truck into another massive donut! John wanted another crack at the car-van-van-car pyramid and took it on full force and got HUGE air over it! John wowed the crowd!






Gun Slinger

Once again the bar was set really high for Scott Hartsock but knowing Scott he loved the challenge thrown down by Seasock. Scott ripped around the arena with great air over the cars, then attacking the pyramid before going back to the cars a few more times. Scott ended up with a dust flying donut at the other end of the arena. In the end the crowd had made their choice, John Seasock in 84 Lumber got the Sunday Freestyle trophy!







Overall it was a fantastic weekend of monster truck racing and freestyle action. The new Sudden Impact with Brandon Legarde got thrown into the deep end of driving a monster truck by only having 2WD all weekend. Bruce Haney dropped another big check thanks to another busted rod. Melissa Stathas kept everyone smiling all weekend long with her humor and her great wheel stands. John Seasock debuts his new ride with big time success. Scott Hartsock comes in and does what he does best by putting on a wild show everytime he hits the floor.

I want to thank Orville, Gale, Steven, and Brandi Hill of the Monkey'n Around team for putting on such a great show. I really enjoyed taking shots for the event and helping out on the floor or back in the pits where ever I could. Thanks for reading through the coverage, God Bless!

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