With last week’s freestyle victory in Tampa still fresh in mind, Steven Sims and the Hooked Monster Truck team made their first ever visit to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana for Round 4 of the Monster Jam Fox Sports 1 Championship Series.The freestyle victory was a big boost to Sims confidence and got plenty of attention throughout the industry, but it was a tough outing on parts. A broken front axle housing came as the result of the massive leaps Sims took during his performance in Tampa. Luckily the folks at Patrick Enterprises Inc were able to put together a brand new housing in just a few days and were able to deliver it to the stadium Thursday. It was a lot of work for crew chief Tommy Powers to pull off in just one day but he’s one of the best ever, and Hooked was rolling for practice Friday afternoon.
Saturday would be show day and the stars of Monster Jam started off the day by meeting and greeting with thousands of fans at the Party in the Pits. With this weekend being the first ever visit in Indianapolis, Sims and Hooked got to meet many new fans for the first time and got a warm welcome from the Hoosier State natives. As the fans cleared the floor they geared up for the night of competition ahead.
Qualifying didn’t go as well as Steven anticipated, with a time off the pace of the top qualifiers. As a result Steven would be in the Obstacle Course challenge for a shot at picking up one point. Steven pushed Hooked hard on the Obstacle Course and found himself with a strong time of 26.097 which was good enough for the early lead. The eventual winner would be his dad Steve and Stone Crusher with the only pass of the night in the 25 second range for the Obstacle Course challenge.
As the winner of last week’s freestyle, it would be Steven closing out the freestyle competition in Indy as the final competitor. The pressure was on for Steven to deliver and he was determined to show that last week was no fluke in Tampa. Spectacular runs from former champions Charlie Pauken and Damon Bradshaw had the bar high for Steven to clear, but he didn’t hold back one bit. Steven came charging out of the pits and got some huge air with a big jump over the race lanes, before combo’ing that jump with a hit on the van stack. Steven whipped the truck around and lined up for the biggest jump on the floor, clearing it with ease, and then saving the truck after a bad bounce on the landing. With the great start Steven pushed onward and kept going bigger, but on his final jump he went a little too big, as he went nose high over the race lane with another huge leap. The truck bounced hard off the rear wheels and pitched the truck over onto its side before Steven could try to save it. While only lasting a minute on the clock, it was a spectacular run and was good enough for 7th place in the freestyle competition.
While Steven wasn’t victorious leaving Indianapolis, it was a strong showing for the Hooked Monster Truck team in their first visit to the city. Crew chief Tommy Powers is already hard at work getting the truck back to 100% before they head to St. Louis for Round 5 of the Monster Jam Fox Sports 1 Championship Series at the Edward Jones Dome. Be sure to catch the two newest episodes of Monster Jam on Fox Sports 1 this Sunday February 1st with Tampa at 11:00am EST/8:00am PST and Indianapolis at 12:00pm EST/9:00am PST!
(Photo By: Chris Kaelin – AllMonster.com)
