Monster Spectacular II was just Spectacular!

R/C Monster Motorsports had the honor to perform and hold an R/C Monster truck racing event at the Monster Spectacular II this past weekend at The Lakeland Center in Lakeland, Florida. Monster Spectacular II had plenty of real Monster Truck excitement. Monster Patrol, Wild Thang, Geter Done, Monster Bucks, Nail It, and Equalizer were all in attendance. R/C Monster Motorsports friend and long-time sponsor Kirk Dabney, driver of Monster Patrol did a fantastic job all weekend. Friday’s show featured Geter Done who won the wheelie contest and the Freestyle event while Monster Patrol won racing. In Saturday’s show Kirk Dabney turned up the heat! Geter Done won the wheelie contest; Monster Patrol won Racing and Freestyle with a standing ovation from the crowd for the “Grave Digger like” performance.

For R/C Monster Truck fans, Saturday was the “Win to Get In” R/C Monster Truck racing event. Five spots were up for grabs for R/C monster truck drivers to win. Each driver received a ticket and an arm band to perform in the 8:00pm half time show sponsored by Monster Spectacular II. Trophies sponsored by Kirk Dabney and R/C Monster Motorsports were awarded first through third place in all classes. Overall winners of the Side by Side racing and Carpet Drags events were awarded special plaques commemorating the Monster Spectacular II event.

Show n’ Shine was the first event of the day. Show n’ Shine was judged by Kirk Dabney driver of Monster Patrol and David Brown driver of Wild Thang. Rip Koepke was the first to be awarded the “Win to Get In” prize. Kirk and David were highly impressed by Rip’s attention to detail on the Wolf Truck. Kirk Dabney commented to the crowd, “If monster trucks were as pretty as this, we wouldn’t be able to afford to run them”. Second place was awarded to Gene Foust with Team Magic I and third place went to Rich Muller with the eXtreme Hobby Zone truck and trailer setup.

The Side-by-Side race track in Lakeland was configured in a high speed “U” turn drag race format. Drivers staged at the RaceAmerica R/C Christmas tree. Once the light turned green drivers drove over a small diamond plate hill approximately 20 feet down the track. The mini monsters then jumped over the first of two sets of crushed Parma Chevy Caprice bodies. Once driver’s made the 180 degree “U” turn drivers pushed their trucks to the max for the 40’ dash to the finish over the final set of crushed cars.

Small block racing finals featured Frank Poruba driving Oh-S against Tyler Koepke’s Ugly Truck. Poruba was top qualifier, took the win, and set track record with a time of 6.028 seconds over Koepke’s time of 7.179 seconds. Great job Frank!

In the Big Block Side-by-Side racing finals the one and only “Polk County Mad Man” Tommy Feichtel put two of his trucks in the finals. Feichtel’s eXtreme Hobby Zone truck would take first place with a time of 6.063 seconds over his Southern Flames truck with a time of 7.523 seconds. How did he do that?

Buggy / Truggy Side-by-Side racing paired the Koepke father/son combo of Rip against Austin’s buggy driven by Tommy Feichtel in the finals. Feichtel would put Austin’s buggy in the winner’s circle with a time of 6.209 seconds to Rip’s 6.937 second run.

Feichtel won the overall Side-by-Side competition between the winners of the Big Block vs. Small Block vs. Buggy / Truggy. Feichtel’s eXtreme Hobby Zone Big Block truck won in the finals with a time of 6.393 seconds over Frank Poruba’s Oh-S Small Block with a time of 23.20 seconds. Tommy Feichtel became the day’s second recipient of the “Win to Get In” Prize.

The parking lot at the Lakeland Center gave R/C Monster Motorsports the opportunity to bring back Carpet Drags. The Carpet Drag track measured 20’ long. Chris McFalls driving his Haven Pallet, Traxxas Jato set the quickest time ever with a time of 0.922 seconds. McFalls ran consistently in the low 0.9’s every run! The finals featured Frank Poruba driving his Oh-S truck to against McFalls. McFalls took the Small Block win with a .999 second run. Big Block finals paired Tommy Feichtel driving Roebuck against the “King of Sand” Gene Foust. Feichtel would win with a time of 1.223 seconds to Foust’s 1.662 seconds. Buggy/Truggy would again be a Koepke family event. Tyler Koepke would take first place over his dad Rip with a time of 1.072 seconds to Rip’s 1.080 second run. “Now that’s close!”

Chris won the overall Carpet Drag competition with a time of 0.986 seconds to Tyler Koepke’s buggy time of 1.069 seconds. Chris McFalls would be the third recipient of the “Win to Get In” prize.

New comer Eddie Inman won the fourth spot in the “Win to Get In” Prize for the Small Block Truck Pull class. Inman pulled 45 lbs. to a full pull with his Traxxas T-MAXX. Chris McFalls would take second with a distance of 23’6” @ 45 lbs. Rip Koepke would take third place. In an exhibition run Koepke’s Small Block truck “Puller” pulled an incredible 55 lbs. 29’11”. The clutch in Koepke’s truck was glowing bright red at the end of the pull.

In the Big Block Truck Pull class Craig Lowe took home first place and the fifth and final “Win to Get In” prize. Lowe’s Big Blue pulled 80 lbs. 29’4” passing Tommy Feichtel’s Money Pit which pulled 80 lbs 26’1”. Gene Foust’s Team Magic I would take third place with a distance of 23’3” at 80 lbs.

R/C Monster Motorsports would like to thank the following: Rev and the AMTA, Monster Spectacular II and Staff, Kirk Dabney driver of Monster Patrol, David Brown driver of Wild Thang, Frank Poruba, Rich Muller owner of eXtreme Hobby Zone, Team Magic Racing, and of course the R/C Monster Motorsports racers. Thanks for the great event! See you at Performance Hobbies and Atlantic Speedway this Saturday, October 20th!

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