FREESTYLE HIGHLIGHTS

Freestyle is always something everyone involved in it enjoys, and tonight was no exception. The NTNT officials put a ton of objects on the track to hit, and it made for some very interesting runs. Corey Davis had the Reptoid freestyling pretty good, but a minute into his run he hit a set of cars at a funky angle and flipped over early, receiving an 18.

Another run that came to an end a bit early was Bill Haught's first-ever online freestyle in Freak of Nature. He had a great run going, including some wheelies and a huge vertical jump over the container, but flipped on a car ramp with 30 seconds left in his run and scored a 21. Still though, it was a nice debut for an 8-year-old!

Next up was another relative newcomer to racing, Alex Weber and his Monster Patrol. He sure didn't act like he was lacking experience, and earned a 22.

Mathew and his Grave Digger 20th Anniversary machine love to freestyle, and it showed tonight. He ran the truck hard and scored a 25, which included the longest wheelie of the night across the whole track after hitting the black container.

Next up was Joe Smith and High Roller, and Joe had something unique planned for his freestyle-A jump over Corey Davis' Official's Truck! He had a nice solid run and scored a 22.

Eddie Carmichael was disappointed with his showing in racing, and came out and had one of the best freestyles we've seen from him in Bigfoot 10, wowing the crowd with a couple of saves and a 24.

Other scores were as follows:

Dan Defalco (Grave Digger XIV)-25

Halid Kurtic (Bulldozer)-24

John Everett (Blue Thunder)-24

Dixie Spirit (Whisky Business)-22

Dustin Hart (Pure Adrenalin)-21

Robert Fredericks (Avenger 2002)-20

Mike Alston (Team Meents [WF3])-17

Two trucks were left to run, and both had to beat a score of 25 to win the first ever NTNT freestyle competition. Those trucks were Skitso 4 and Half Breed 3. Skitso 4 went first and blasted out onto the track, pulling a slap wheelie to start out with on the hard packed East Coast dirt. He kept up great momentum and caught some huge air. He also saved the truck from flipping a couple of times, and when the dust settled, Robby came away with a 27 to take the lead with one truck still to run.

Josh "Dig" Rhodes is known as a crazy freestyler, but tonight he outdid even his high expectations. He came out for Half Breed 3's first freestyle with the foot to the floorboards and nailed the truck, sending it flying everywhere. He kept up great momentum and hit everything out on the track, including saving the truck after doing a NOSE-wheelie and a wheelie off of the container that he rode out nicely. The highlight came at the end of his run though, when he replicated Jill Canuso's crash from World Finals 2 coming off of some huge air from the container and flipped hard. He crawled out and acknowledged the crowd, then waited for his score...10...10...9...29!!! Josh Rhodes takes the freestyle win at East Coast Monster Jam!!!

The action wasn't quite done yet though-Josh brought out a surprise just for the NTNT fans at East Coast. NTNT interviewed him and found out his plans.

   "I'm really happy to have won the freestyle, but I have a truck that I need to retire-Half Breed 1 needs to go out in style, and I'm gonna give her one last good freestyle just for the fans!"

Josh proceded to do just that, and tore up the track in his old truck, catching huge air and saving the truck from flipping, keeping it on the ragged edge constantly. The crowd roared its approval as Dig put the truck through its paces, and he finally ended the night with a huge flip over the container and stuck the truck upside down on top of it, a fitting end to a wild, incredible first week of NTNT action. That's all from East Coast, good night everybody.