Pontiac 2002

Pontiac 2002 was the tenth event of the 2002 Monster Jam season and was held at the Pontiac Silverdome. This event Charlie Pauken jumped from Firemouth to Spider Man (in a twist, Carl Van Horn who drove Spider Man earlier in the season would drive Firemouth at the World Finals) and freestyle time was extended to two minutes versus the usual minute and a half of this season

Field of Trucks
Madusa- Madusa

Destroyer- Dan Evans

Avenger- Jim Koehler

High Roller- Neil Elliott

Spider Man- Charlie Pauken

Blue Thunder- Lyle Hancock

20th Anniversary Grave Digger- Dennis Anderson

Team Meents- Tom Meents

Round 1 Racing
20th Anniversary Grave Digger vs. Team Meents

What would be the finals in most events, this was the opening race. The race was expectedly close but a bad turn from Meents cost him the race

Winner- 20th Anniversary Grave Digger

Spider Man vs. Avenger

Avenger stalled over the cars after the start, giving an easy win to Spider Man

Winner- Spider Man

Madusa vs. Blue Thunder

Madusa appeared to struggle in the turn while Blue Thunder was smooth as can be, getting an easy win

Winner- Blue Thunder

High Roller vs. Destroyer

Destroyer stalled in the turn giving Neil Elliott an easy pass into the semi finals

Winner- High Roller

Semi Finals Racing
20th Anniversary Grave Digger vs. Spider Man

For the second time these two would meet on different teams and Dennis would prove to be the better getting the win over his usual team mate

Winner- 20th Anniversary Grave Digger

High Roller vs. Blue Thunder

Two powerful Fords head to head in this matchup High Roller leaded until the final turn when Blue Thunder was able to sneak by for the win

Winner- Blue Thunder

Finals Racing
20th Anniversary Grave Digger vs. Blue Thunder

In one of the closest races of the season Anderson lead through the start but it would be at the final turn that Blue Thunder would get the win in Ford Headquarters

Winner- Blue Thunder

Freestyle
Destroyer

Dan Evans would begin by attacking the box van tearing it down on two hits and a reverser. Evans would throw in a couple sky wheelies and a huge slap wheelie to end an impressive run in his home state crowd

Score- 8+8+7= 23

High Roller

Elliott proved to be consistent getting some huge air over the cars and what was left of the box van but not quite as varied as Destroyer's run

Score- 7+6+7= 20

Madusa

Madusa seemed to struggle as the truck had a hard time powering over the cars and got stuck on the van cutting her run short

Score- 4+5+4= 13

Spider Man

Charlie broke a rear tie rod after a huge sky wheelie but he would fight on leaping over the box van and dirt hill even saving the truck a couple times while still fighting the broken truck

Score- 8+7+8= 23

Blue Thunder

After a huge racing win Lyle was looking to repeat by starting off with massive air over the box van then soaring over the dirt hill. A huge power wheelie and some more big jumps would close the run but he seemed to lack consistent momentu,

Score- 8+7+9= 24

20th Anniversary Grave Digger

Anderson came out with gusto hitting the cars and the bus with huge air but after a bad bounce over the dirt hill he would snap a tire off ending his run less than a minute in

Score- 9+10+8= 27

Team Meents

Tom came out with huge air over the dirt hill to kick off freestyle, and continued on leaping over the box van and cars and even thrown in a great save for good measure. A back side over the center jump sent him sky high. He would send the truck into a roll where a pair of shocks separated sending him on his side with the rear axle flat and the front vertical

Score- 10+10+10= 30

Damage Report
Team Meents- Rear steering, body panels (roof and sides), broken shocks

Destroyer- Rear steering (fixed)

Avenger- Broken transmission

Madusa- Lost rear wheel drive

Spider Man- Broken tie rod

20th Anniversary Grave Digger- Body panels (roof and side) broken wheel and blown tire