Round eight of the Monster Jam Fox Sports 1 Championship Series brought the Hooked Monster Truck team to Detroit, Michigan for the second to last chance to score valuable points towards a spot in the Monster Jam World Finals XVI. Driver Steven Sims scored two points earlier in the season with a huge freestyle victory but was on the outside looking in hoping to improve in the standings to get one of the four bids to Las Vegas.A packed Ford Field saw over 50,000 wild and crazy Monster Jam fans pack the stands Saturday night and the atmosphere was electric when the trucks took to the floor in introductions. Qualifying saw a number of trucks struggle with the course but Steven was able to keep Hooked under control and get a sixth place qualifying pass which put him into the racing bracket. Round one was an ugly race for Steven and Hooked after an early spin out but they stayed the course to finish the round only to have their opponent Madusa suffer an electrical failure just feet from the finish line. Hooked would get the victory and advance into the semi-finals against Grave Digger. Knowing how fast Grave Digger had been all night Steven pushed hard to try and put up a fast pass in the semi-finals, but they broke traction and spun out once again handing the win to Grave Digger.
The third place freestyle performance from the week before in Alrington meant Steven and Hooked would be one of the final trucks to freestyle as they were due to go out 13th in the competition. After watching some great runs get turned in by the previous 12 drivers the pressure was on to go big and get the victory. Steven was fearless and charged out of the pits with a ferocious pace to start off his freestyle run with a huge jump followed by wild endo save. Wasting no time Steven whipped Hooked around and hit the next obstacle in front of him, and pulled off a slap wheelie upon the landing. As Steven started to ride out the wheelie the rear end kicked out from underneath him and put the truck onto two wheels and eventually onto his roof. The run might have only lasted forty seconds, but it was arguably the most exciting forty seconds of the night as the crowd cheered on the effort from Steven and Hooked.
Next up the Hooked Monster Truck team heads to Syracuse, New York for the final stop on the Monster Jam Fox Sports 1 Championship Series. We can’t wait to meet some new Hooked fans at the Carrier Dome so come on out and see us!