FREESTYLE HIGHLIGHTS

After a final round like that, the crowd was amped up for some awesome freestyle, and the drivers didn't disappoint. Dustin Hart got things started off with a bang, pulling a reverse jump over the double that bounced him over backwards on the landing ramp...and then flipped him back onto all fours! An amazing move, but after that he flipped early into his run and scored a 16.

Bill Haught came out next, and had a couple of great saves, but could only manage a 21, and he was obviously disappointed in the judges' scoring after hopping out of the truck. "That was one of my best runs!" he said.

John Everett was disappointed at not making the finals, and he turned Blue Thunder loose, getting a 25 with some of the longest wheelies of the night, including one straight into the huge Titanic boat on one side of the track! He ended up on his lid just as time expired, and took the early lead.

Next out to tear it up was Corey Davis and his Reptoid Ford. He found plenty of obstacles that had been untouched, but the highlight of his run was the very start of it...he took on a huge black semi trailer and launched the truck to the other side of the bridge, then tried to walk the truck off of the filled-up railcar on the other side and fell off the side, pulling a beautiful flip and save on his nose and continuing his run. For this incredible move and using the whole time, Cory raised the bar again with a 27 and was the new leader.

Curtis Wagner impressed a lot of people with his NTNT debut in racing, and he had a solid freestyle also, getting a 23 with moves like this:

John Everett was subbing for Dan Defalco in Grave Digger XIV tonight in addition to driving Blue Thunder, and he got used to the truck quickly freestyle-wise, netting him a solid 24.

Robbie Milburn had some trouble getting out of the early rounds of racing, but lived up to the name on the side of his truck, Demolition Man, and tied Corey Davis for the lead with a 27.

Robert Fredericks had his best freestyle so far in NTNT in his Avenger Chevrolet, scoring a 25.

Other scores were as follows:

Robby Haught (Skitso 4)-20

Eric Thiele (Grave Digger 20th Ann.)-9

Halid Kurtic (The Rock)-22

Mike Alston (Team Meents)-14

David Stewart (Hot Shoe)-17

Cory Schwab (Bigfoot T-Wrecks)-25

Robbie Milburn (Bear Foot, subbing for Alex Weber)-no score, could not fix truck in time for freestyle.

Josh Rhodes has been in a "slump" lately....that is, if you consider a slump not WINNING three events after winning the first three, yet still scoring 25 or higher on every run so far. Tonight was different though; "Dig" came out with both barrels blazing and scored a 29 with a great run that almost filled up all the time, something difficult to do with all the carnage that had happened before his run. Josh won tonight's freestyle competition and stretched his points lead out in that category. Good night from Haught Stadium 2, pictures of Dig's run are below. See you next week in Las Vegas!