2020 Wrapped

It seemed as if 2020 was going to be a major year for monster trucks in Australia.

Riding off the 2019 season, there was big news from every part of the industry this year. Last year, the first-ever Monster Truck Masters show back in August at Darwin got a lot of people excited for its high-flying action, and the conceptually new Monster X: Real Racing Action tour turned a lot of heads for its unique racing-focused show format. The ever-fantastic Monster Truck Rumble show that is a yearly tradition was a major hit yet again at the Adelaide Showgrounds. Not to mention the other shows that were put on around the country entertaining the people in different towns and cities.

New trucks were also announced for this year. Some rebranded into new identities, others brand new built from the ground up.

The unfortunate outbreak of COVID-19 had a major impact on the global entertainment industry, and the monster truck world was put on halt for months. But before the outbreak began, let's rewind back to the start of the year to review some show highlights, and what has happened since!

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Credit: Paris Charles

2020 MONSTER TRUCK RUMBLE - 8th February

Wicked - Hayden McLeary

Buddy - Brock Thomas

MisMayhem - Kim Carter-Bard

Madusa - Madusa

Raptor's Rampage - Hayden Francis

Monster Patrol - Mark Gilbert

Extreme - Michael Stratte

The Convict - Hayden McLeary

The Monster Truck Rumble this year was no different to previous years. With the usual 8 truck line up, 7 from the Monster Events fleet and the South Australian Mark Gilbert in Monster Patrol, the show was another success for GIlbert Racing. Adelaide is a commonplace for trucks to show off any new looks. This year, the famous wing on Monster Patrol returned, and a certain name returned to competition this year, which rocked the monster truck world when the announcement was made on social media.

Madusa, former professional wrestler and veteran in Monster Jam made her monster truck return at Adelaide in a new Madusa truck. It was run on a Monster Events truck with a brand new wrap designed by a local Adelaide designer, which meant she had some of the best equipment in the line up of trucks on the night.

The Adelaide fans roared in excitement throughout the whole night. The introductory jumps made by the trucks proved that this event would be one to remember. Some great moments including Hayden in Wicked laying down some great slap wheelies.

Through to the racing competition and the bracket had come to the two relatives, Hayden Francis in Raptor's Rampage up against Brock Thomas in Buddy in the final race. The Best of Three racing style ended with Buddy mastering the turns and winning racing at the 2020 Monster Truck Rumble.

Onto freestyle, and some of the earlier action had affected a few trucks mechanically, such as Madusa running with a locked rear steer for her run. Extreme had some body damage as the right rear-fender came off mid-run. The final truck to come out was Wicked, which had a run filled with great jumps and more of the slap wheelies from earlier in the show. This wasn't to last long however, as the truck broke a tie rod after a hard landing on the rear.

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Credit: Paris Charles

Monster Trucks Unleashed 2020 - 7th March 2020

Wicked - Hayden McLeary

Buddy - Brock Thomas

MisMayhem - Greg Baker

Madusa - Madusa

Raptor's Rampage - Hayden Francis

Extreme - Don Frankish

Monster Lubricants - Michael Stratte

The Convict - Hayden McLeary

The next show on the Monster Events calender would be out west, to the Perth Motorplex in Kwinana Beach in southern Perth. Fans of young and old were looking forward to 8 trucks battling out in arguably one of Australia's finest motorsport venues. Some were dissapointed after last years subpar show due to wet weather, but that wouldn't be the case this year.

This show would also be the return of former Maniac driver and creator of Jurassic Attack, Don Frankish. Along with him came fellow Canadian Greg Baker. Two Canadians, one American and 5 Australians. By now it would be clear that no car could be salavaged and parts would be abused.

Opening up the night included each truck having some warm up jumps to impress the crowd for later on. As each truck came out, they all had great air and skywheelies.

Qualifying was held before moving onto the racing and what a competition it was. In the end, it was all Buddy and Brock Thomas yet again taking the win in the final round. Taking the win over Hayden McLeary in Wicked, this would be Brock's second win in a row.

Freestyle was the last competition for the trucks. No truck held back on the night, with each driver throwing down killer freestyles. The Angry Canadian Don Frankish put down a solid run which sent Extreme up 30ft in the air. Fellow Canadian Greg Baker had already lost his front clip in racing and was not hesititant about losing any more body parts, as he launch MisMayhem off a dirt mound into a car stack, tumbling the truck over before regaining leverage back onto all fours. The freestyle session ended with Hayden McLeary coming out in Madusa performing the traditional Perth backflip. The dumpster was a solid wall, but was no match for Hayden as he made a full rotation, the landing damaging a four link bar in the process.

The night also came with UTV racing heats, the jet powered dragster and Toyota Yaris and daredevil stuntman Chris Morena flipping and stacking sedans and 4WDs into other cars. What a night!

Geelong and Echuca's Night of Daredevils -

Credit: Monster X Tour

Bushranger - Simon O'Neil

Missy - Dave Nictora

Tom Cat - Anthony Bousfield

Devil's Taxi (Geelong) Tropical Thunder (Echuca) - Michael Xuereb

Spirit Of Australia - Troy Garcia

Aussie Thunder - Jason R Mungus Ellis

Bad Attitude - Dave Preston

While the other forementioned shows were going on, Victoria had its fair share of shows during the month of March, with Geelong and Echuca occuring right before the national COVID-19 shutdown.

The stars of the show were fairly similar for both, which notably included Michael Xuereb piloting his fathers truck, Devil's Taxi, for both Geelong and an earlier show at Queanbeyan in NSW. Others included the entire fleet of South Coast Monster Trucks, including the jet powered Tom Cat and Flyin' Simon in Bushranger as well as Spirit Of Australia driven by event promoter Troy Garcia at both shows.

Both shows had their wild moments, including an awesome stunt which involved Aussie Thunder launching into two standing cars. Some great air was being served up by the likes of Bushranger, Missy and Spirit. Of course, we can't forget the awesome rollover cars owned by Jet Car Promotions, as well as Benny The Clown acting like a fool in front of the Victorian spectators.

Since the lockdown began, work has begun on various things from different promoters and teams from across the country. Monster Trucks Australia from Victoria have built and completed their new truck which is a spectacular looking piece of machinery. You can keep track of what the Xuerebs are up to by follow @monstertrucksaus on Facebook and Instagram!

A new Jet Powered Husqvana Lawnmower has been built and is still being thoroughly tested and corrected. "Lucifer" will be coming to your local showground or speedway next year. You can check out the entire build process on Dave's channel, JetA1Terminator on YouTube!

Zakk Marcovich out of Queensland has completed his brand new Concussion monster truck which is hopefully set for a 2021 debut. As of now, the teammate truck is still being pieced together. For those who didn't know, Zakk previously owned the Bomb Squad/Powertrip ride truck which appeared in the 2017 Australian Monster Jam tour. We can't wait to see his trucks perform!

We are equally as done and exhausted with this year as you and we cannot wait to see what exciting things are ahead for 2021. From us at Down Under Monster Watch, we hope you have a good rest of your holidays.

Make sure to check back to downundermonsterwatch.net as news surrounding shows and trucks will be posted here.