SEASON 2 PREVIEW
Welcome back to NTNT! Wednesday, February 25 marks the return to racing for all of the NTNT superstars for Season 2-the second main season. After an incredible inaugural season, there are so many newcomers, storylines, and other news that it'd be impossible to fit it all in anything less than a novel. Here is just a bit of what's going on now before Season 2 kicks off.
Josh Rhodes, driver of Half Breed 3 and last year's Overall and Freestyle champion, announced that he is taking a hiatus from the game...but not before one last race at the same place we opened as last year-East Coast Monster Jam. NTNT will miss Josh Rhodes and many of his competitors and XFA teammates have shown their support for him and will miss him. Look for Rhodes to go out with a bang in freestyle on Wednesday...maybe literally!
There are a slew of drivers signed up this year after the successful first season, and we'll take the opportunity now to introduce just some of them to you.
Jason Lloyd, aka Mr. Destruction, will be driving Black Stallion 20th Anniversary in limited duty in NTNT, and he will look to put on a show this season after not being able to make it to any shows last season. Jim Hendrix, driving Phil Foster's Bulldozer, did very well in the NTNT/IMMJ Summer Series, especially in freestyle. He may be one to watch in his first Main season. Mattdst had his Nevermore truck made exclusively to run in NTNT, and has promised NTNT officials that he will tear it up doing his best every week. After the recent Team ACM/Team IMTR merger (now called Team IMTR again), Jeremy Murphy brings out Python, the truck he drove to a solid showing at the NTNT/IMMJ World Finals of the Summer Series. The ProMTRA owner has been getting stronger in racing and freestyle and will look to step it up and run with the big boys of the NTNT this season.
Now that we've covered a few things, let's get a look at the season-opening track, East Coast Monster Jam 2003. This is the same layout as the one run last year, St. Louis-style, but with a twist. The trucks' ovals end so that the trucks will cross the finish line facing each other! Each truck makes two left-hand turns instead of one truck making a left and one a right like the normal St. Louis for racing. It should make for exciting racing and some close finishes, living up to the tradition set last season at the first-ever NTNT event. Let's take a look at the racing layout:
After all the exciting racing action, there's still one chance for glory for all the NTNT racers-FREESTYLE! The course is exceptional and includes the East Coast trademark from last season-a new container is out there ready for someone to crush, among other objects...it should be a great course and plenty of moves are possible.
Everyone knows now that it'll be Dig's last race, and who can forget all the action he had in store for us last year? Winning the freestyle and setting the tone for the season, then bringing out the original truck and putting it in the dirt one last time to retire it. Dig wasn't the only one turning heads that night; Corey Davis and Reptoid won the first racing event against Dan DeFalco, heading to within one jump of another racing victory at NTNT World Finals. He and his final-round competitor in the World Finals, Mike Alston, have been relatively quiet lately. Could this be because they've been resting up for NTNT? We'll find out!
Team IMTR recently completed a deal with Aaron Cromer Motorsports to bring their team members on board in a merger to add to their strength, and front man Alex Weber is obviously excited about the deal. In practice sessions he was dialing in his Savage truck and turning in some respectable times. Will his teammates step up their games as he is aiming to? It remains to be seen if his teammates are as committed as he is.
Another team heading into the season is XFA, who will be sending all the big guns to East Coast, among them Robby Haught, Josh Rhodes, Halid Kurtic in a brand new truck, El Toro Loco, Robbie Milburn, and Dustin Hart. All their trucks have been freshened up or are debuting for this event and they're hoping to make it an XFA sweep to send Rhodes home happy for his last show.
Rumor has it that some old ProDRO veterans will be back in action at East Coast, including a man who dominated any races he was in during the second half of last season-Landon Harrison. People shuddered at the thought of facing him for an entire season, and now they may get just what they had nightmares about. Landon was keeping quiet about the other veterans he recruited to run with him in NTNT this season.
Something having to do with Max, Juan Perez, and some other racers may take shape before or during this season. All Max would tell us is that it involves his home state, Texas.
Robby Haught was very pleased with the first season of NTNT and told reporters that he was looking forward to the coming season and after using MDrags as a testing ground for his new Skitso 5, he is ready to roll and wishes everyone the best of luck with the coming season. "I want every race to have 16 or more people at it; last year my goal was 10 to every race and we reached that, this year it's gotta be even bigger!"
Weekly Jam Interview
This week, we caught up with three racers at once-Team XFA's Robbie Milburn (driver of Rare Breed), Dustin Hart (Blackbeard 3), and independent Trevor Andrews (Frightmare) and asked them a few quick questions before they headed back to the pits to get ready for the show.
NTNT-What are your thoughts on Josh Rhodes and the contribution he's made to MTM2 and NTNT?
Dustin-He's been a heckuva teacher *laughs*. He's a great guy and freestyler.
Robbie-He's a MAJOR competitor, one of my idols, and we'll all miss him a lot. I know I will!
Trevor-Dig's awesome; he taught me some things that I never knew could be done before and I've learned a lot from him.
NTNT-How about the coming season? What's running through your minds heading into the first event?
Dustin-Well, I want to do a lot better than I have previously in racing, tear every track up in freestyle, and have a lotta fun.
Robbie-I can't wait to get this season underway. It'll probably be the best season a league has ever had!
Trevor-I look forward to great things in the future and hope to have a lot of fun. Hopefully I'll get better at racing.
NTNT-OK guys. Let's hear your predictions for the coming season, bottom line, no ifs, ands, or buts.
Dustin-I see Robby Haught winning both Overall and Racing, Dig winning the first freestyle event, and then me, Robbie, or Robby taking Freestyle for the season.
Robbie-It will be majorly close, there's tons of new competition out there and everyone who makes NTNT World Finals 2 will be making history.
Trevor-It's gonna be great, hopefully I'll make the World Finals!
Dustin-Under my wing, he will *laughs*.
NTNT-Thanks guys, hope to see you all out there for the first race!
There is an absolutely HUGE field of trucks expected to show for this event, and it'll all kick off on Wednesday at 5 PM CST! We leave you with pictures of just SOME of the trucks that may show for the first event. Hope to see you all there!
Gotta question? E-mail me at RobbyH14@yahoo.com