SIR Starts Strong in 2010-Full Weekend Update!
All four trucks in Sudden Impact Racing’s stable began 2010 on a good note, challenging the best of the best for victories during the first full weekend of racing in the 2010 Monster Jam season. Ben Winslow (Ground Pounder) and Sean Duhon (Cult Energy Activator) made the trip to Council Bluffs, Iowa for a grueling four-show, three-day weekend.
“It’s always a little harder running so many shows in such a short amount of time, but luckily, we’ve got a lot of great sponsors behind us, and it showed this weekend,” said Duhon.
Duhon would make two trips to the final round of racing, and finish in second place in freestyle four times.
“Anyone can tear a truck up or roll it over, but that’s not what I try to do in freestyle,” said Duhon. “I ran hard all weekend and we had minimal breakage, so I was pleased.”
Winslow had an exciting weekend as well, debuting the hot new Ground Pounder look from Redcat Racing. Being an R/C monster truck addict already, Winslow thinks he’s found the perfect identity courtesy of Redcat.
“I am very excited to get the opportunity to drive for a great team with an identity I can get behind,” he said. “I am excited to show people that the monster truck version of Ground Pounder can do the same stuff the R/C one can!”
Winslow also made all of his passes in each show despite a broken axle at the beginning of one of his freestyle runs. As it turns out, Winslow and Ground Pounder are both as tough as they come.
“I always want to please the fans and every sponsor we have,” said Ben. “We have the truck set up to take some abuse, and we hang in there even if things don’t go according to plan sometimes.”
Winslow took three trips to the semifinals in racing and put on a nice run during the final show in freestyle, catching some big air and waving to the fans, who were on their feet cheering for the hot new Ground Pounder.
In Houston, Texas, Carl VanHorn and Jon Zimmer took the Cult Excaliber and Amsoil Shock Therapy to Reliant Stadium with hopes of building on their momentum from their show the previous week in Alabama. They achieved that goal and more, wowing the huge crowd in Houston with great driving and spectacular moves as well. VanHorn took Excaliber all the way to the racing finals in a 16-truck field, losing narrowly. Zimmer and Amsoil Shock Therapy took out the Rob Ryan radio truck in the first round, then was defeated in the second round, but not before pulling off an incredible save to keep the truck from rolling over.
“I had a bit of an issue keeping the truck under control in racing, but freestyle-wise that plays to your advantage,” said Zimmer. “We love the big air, and it showed this weekend there.”
Indeed it did, as VanHorn went out first and was just getting started in the Cult Excaliber when an entire housing came apart on a sky wheelie, something Zimmer simply chalks up to bad luck.
“Carl was ready to put on a great show and we worked hard to have everything ready, but sometimes it’s just a matter of us putting such a beating on the trucks,” he said. “Week in and week out, we hammer these things all over the place, and we’ll have the truck fresh for next week.”
Zimmer was ready in Shock Therapy, nailing three huge hits before succumbing to a broken spindle. Still, the crowd loved the spectacular, go-hard-or-go-home attitude that both drivers put on.
“We have great sponsors like Cult and Amsoil behind us, so we aim to please every time out,” said VanHorn. “We believe you need to be aggressive, and if the truck will hold up, we’ll make everyone happy.”
With all four trucks in action, Brandon Lagarde didn’t have any time to check them out, as he was piloting the Cult Energy Tank in Huntsville, Alabama. Brandon competed against the rest of the monster truck field and won the wheelie contest and freestyle, proving that good energy always wins.
With a whirlwind weekend for the SIR team and great support from our sponsors, we got the job done. Much more is to come next weekend. Stay tuned!
