It was a Louisiana Saturday Night when the 6 ton Monster Jam Trucks roared their way back to New Orleans in the Caesars Superdome. 12 of the most outstanding drivers, and loudest and proudest monster machines were set to challenge in 3 Monster Jam competitions.
Coty Saucier, driver of Dragon, was determined to make an impressive showing in his home state of Louisiana. He's traveled around the world driving these monster trucks and now he has an opportunity to show his friends, family and fellow Louisianans exactly what he can do. The icing on the cake would be to leave the Superdome as the night's overall winner.
However, the other 11 Monster Jam Truck drivers were not going to take it easy on Coty in his home state. The drivers of El Toro Loco, Zombie, Bakugan Dragoniod and Kraken were prepared to bring their 'A' game. But all would have to step up to the level of the fan favorite, Grave Digger, celebrating a 40th anniversary Monster Jam run.
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I had an opportunity to catch up with Louisiana's own, Coty Saucier, and got the see the Dragon truck up close and personal. Needless to say that my testosterone level increased 20% just standing next to the damned thing.
The 3 competitions for the Monster Jam event were Racing, 2 Wheel Skills, and Freestyle. The Racing event pitted 2 of the 12 truck drivers against each other in tournament bracket rounds with the winner of each race advancing to the next. The winner of the tournament would be awarded 12 points that would go to their overall score at the end of the event.
In the 2 Wheel Skill competition, each driver had an opportunity to show off two different tricks that involved using, you guessed it, 2 wheels. That includes wheelies, sky wheelies, bicycle, moonwalks and donuts.
In the Freestyle competition, the drivers had an entire 2 minutes to do whatever the hell they wanted to do to impress the rowdy Superdome crowd.
Both the 2 Wheel Skill and Freestyle competitions were judged by the crowd. After each truck performed, the crowd would have 20 seconds to score the performance using their smart phones. Which ever driver had the highest score would get an addition 12 points to their overall score. Whoever had the highest overall score at the end of the night was declared the winner of the entire Monster Jam event.
Home state hero, Coty Saucier, driving the Dragon truck, started strong in the 1st round of the Racing competition, beating out Kraken who took a nasty spill at the end of the final lap.
The 2nd round saw Dragon go head-to-head with Grave Digger. Grave Digger was looking to solidify the 40 year legacy, but Dragon squeezed out the win by a fang's length.
The final round of the racing competition was the Battle of the Dragons, with Dragon meeting up with Bakugan Dragoniod. During the last leg of the race, Dragoniod overshot a turn allowing Dragon to take advantage. The fire breathing Dragon and home state hero won the first competition.
Everything seemed to be headed in the right direction for Coty Saucier, but Bakugan Dragoniod wasn't going to let the results of the Racing competition deter from the objective. Dragoniod received the highest score from the judging crowd in the 2 Wheel competition (overshadowing El Toro Loco who'd held the highest score up until that point) with an impressive Stoppie followed by a 'moonwalk' over a double-ramped obstacle. Easily one of the most amazing things I've ever seen a Monster Jam Truck do. Bakugan Dragoniod earned the 12 points and was in range to take down Dragon.
The Battle of the Dragons continued as Dragon had to defend the top spot against Bakugan Dragoniod on its home 'dirt'. The Freestyle was the final competition and Coty knew he had to lay it all on the line if he wanted to be crowned champion in his Dome.
What's one way to get the crowd's attention? GET NAKED! Not Coty, but the Dragon laid it all out in an intense Freestyle performance causing the fiber glass frame to fly off the body of the truck! After a crowd-pleasing back flip, Dragon darted across the dirt, even smashing its own fiber glass frames with the giant BKT tires.
There was no question about it, Coty Saucier dominated the Freestyle competition that night. In his victory speech, he gave a good send off for everyone to enjoy their 'Louisiana Saturday Night' and even gave members of the crowd some of the fiber glass pieces of the destroyed Dragon frame.
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