NTNT Season 2 RACE 5-Laurance County Fairgrounds
Welcome to NTNT! Tonight is a first for NTNT during the Main seasons-A straight-line drag, but with NTNT you can always count on a twist being thrown in. Tonight that twist was a huge roller after the trucks took off from the starting line, then a trip through no man's land to a long car jump and the finish line. 22 trucks wowed the crowd all night long. Let's meet our field of trucks:
-Robby Haught (Skitso 5)
-Robby Haught (BlackBeard 3, subbing for Dustin Hart)
-Bill Haught (Maximum Destruction)
-James Hannon (Art of War)
-Trevor Andrews (Frightmare)
-Matt Stewart (Nevermore)
-Matt Stewart (Grave Digger 20th Anny, subbing for Kevin Kaffenberger)
-Kyle Carr (TRT Monster Patrol)
-Kyle Carr (TRT truck, subbing for Vio)
-Scott Bergman (BackDraft)
-Landon Harrison (Mechanical Stimulation)
-Robbie Milburn (Rare Breed)
-Jeremy Waring (Bounty Hunter 2003)
-Robbie Milburn (Scarlet Bandit 2004, subbing for Glen Milburn)
-Jeremy Murphy (Python)
-Harrison Widelitz (Hammer 3)
-Charlie Wagner (Goldberg)
-Mike Alston (Team Meents)
-Eddie Carmichael (Bigfoot 10)
-Josh Coleman (Titanic)
-Juan Perez (Black Bear Foot)
-Alex Weber (Savage [Weber])
RACING:
On a straight line course, reaction time and picking the right lane prove crucial in most cases, and tonight was not an exception. Bill Haught isn't usually known for racing as much as freestyle, but this was his first time on a straight line course, and with some teaching and practice before the race, he paced the field with an amazing time, his brother Robby close behind in both of his runs, and also Scott Bergman, who has done very well in his rookie season in BackDraft:
ROUND 1 HIGHLIGHTS
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The big story of the night turned out to be the lanes. The left lane on the course gave the drivers a more consistent launch and a big advantage time-wise. Lane choice went to the fastest qualifiers, so it paid to study the track and use the information gathered for each new run. Scott Bergman took out Jeremy Murphy's Python Ford in round one.
Here we see the Checker, Schuck's, and Kragen Scarlet Bandit with Glen Milburn driving hard but coming up short to Landon Harrison and Mechanical Stimulation.
ROUND 2 HIGHLIGHTS
Jeremy Waring has been making a push towards the top of the overall standings, and showed his resilience tonight by working his way back into things as a fast loser. He matched up with Scott Bergman and took the win after Scott made the questionable decision of choosing the right lane for his run. The consensus was on the left lane, and it didn't fail often.
Jeremy gave NTNT a quick interview and was asked about lane choice before his next matchup.
"The lanes are definitely different; it's been about .2 seconds on average for most trucks looking at the times between lanes. It may not seem like much, but that's tough to overcome. Hopefully I'll get lane choice all night but we'll see."
Landon Harrison has been a top contender since his first race in NTNT, and he showed why by knocking out Waring in the final race determining the final four.
Waring gave it his all and it ended up being one of the closest finishes of the night, but it wasn't enough. Charlie Wagner and Matt Stewart, driving Goldberg and Nevermore, respectively, are both in their first seasons in NTNT and making a push to the World Finals. They both had strong performances tonight although they just missed making the final four.
Moving through the brackets on the other side were Harrison Widelitz, Robby Haught, and Bill Haught; that set up the final four.
SEMI-FINALS HIGHLIGHTS
VS.
Bill Haught hadn't been to a semifinal race since International Monster Jam near the end of last season, and he was very excited to even have the opportunity to race Harry. He seemed to get over that rather quickly though, as he pulled a slight hole shot, and combined with the lane difference, put Hammer 3 on the trailer and headed to his first finals of his racing career.
VS.
Robby put Landon in the bad lane and made it two in a row against Mechanical Stimulation after Landon took a bad bounce from the first dirt ramp, setting up a first in NTNT-The Haught brothers would meet in the finals!
FINALS
Robby taught Bill to race, but apparently he taught him too much! Bill had qualified just a bit faster, and lane choice was all that was needed on this night for Bill to take his first racing win! Congratulations to Bill Haught and Maximum Destruction!!!
After being a frustrating racing night for some and a historic one for others, all the drivers knew that there were no lanes in...FREESTYLE!