Aaron Cain literally flew in to a sizeable points lead during the opening weekend of the 2018 Toughest Monster Truck Tour in Rio Rancho, NM.
On Friday night the World’s largest ATV didn’t take any individual wins, but consistency paid off in the end for a narrow event title by one point over Utah’s Paul Jensen in Kamikaze. Jensen, in his first TMT appearance, reached the racing finals against Larry Swim in BIGFOOT and took the freestyle win with a 31 point score.
The flying dump truck and Jerry Beck returned to the track Saturday afternoon after being sidelined by engine problems on Friday. The Dirt Crew was on fire, taking both Wheelies and Freestyle for the overall Toughest title at 71 points. Swim in Bigfoot claimed the racing win over Quad Chaos.
In the finale, the new-look bright green Quad Chaos came out strong early with a wheelie contest win, and then tied for freestyle with Jensen in Kamikaze AND Kreg Christensen in Dragon Slayer for the overall win at another 71 points. “Big A” came out on top in both contests, winning a crowd cheer-off for freestyle and the overall event title by tie breaker.
Perhaps the most shocking news of the weekend was Team Bigfoot missing half of the weekend’s competition due to parts failure. The team worked tirelessly to replace broken kingpins that were manufactured incorrectly. Someone from the St. Louis shop even flew in with spares on Saturday morning to get the blue Ford back in action. Ultimately the front axle housing was too damaged to continue, putting Larry Swim on the trailer early during Saturday afternoon’s event. BIGFOOT ended the weekend in a deep hole, currently 6th place with 83 points.
The tour heads to the Covelli Centre in Youngstown, OH on February 2nd and 3rd.
Current points after 3 of 24 events:
1. 201 Quad Chaos Aaron Cain Lafayette, IN
2. 182 Dragon Slayer Kreg Christensen Harrisville, UT
3. 158 Kamikaze Paul Jensen Willard, UT
4. 137 Snake Bite Kris Kopperhead Cobra Creek, CO
5. 125 Dirt Crew Jerry Beck Lafayette, IN
6. 83 BIGFOOT Larry Swim Pacific, MO