| | The Black Stallion team returns to Canada…..Flying High in Quebec City!!! | | Quebec City QC - Pepsi Coliseum - May 9, 2009 | 
| The past few weeks have been quite exciting for the K&N Ford Powered Black Stallion team. The high flying action started in Quebec City with Michael Vaters giving the fans one of the tours most intense freestyles. The Monster Spectacular tour then traveled west to Cornwall Ontario for a Friday evening show that featured Michael Vaters setting a huge bar for the other drivers to live up to by pulling off one of his signature moves the “reverser” right off the bat during the wheelie contest – what a way to start the show!!! The team then packed up and quickly made its way back over to Moncton New Brunswick to take part in the Sunday afternoon show that has always sold out- and become a yearly ritual for Michael Vaters- being one of the longest running events for Michael Vaters to attend year after year. Michael Vaters has consistently tried to give back to his fans over the years- and as a new way of doing this, Michael Vaters now takes the K&N flag off of the back of the truck at the end of the show- then runs into the crowd to sign it and give this special gift to a lucky young fan. Needless to say it makes for a show stopping moment with the entire arena going crazy over the chance to get the actual K&N race flag off of the Black Stallion! | Michael Vaters and the K&N Ford powered Black Stallion team traveled to Quebec City to take on 5 top monster trucks. Jim Kohler in the Avenger, Trey Myers driving Iron Warrior, Chris Bergeron in Brutus, Joe Miller driving Iron Outlaw and Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter all gave the defending Monster Spectacular Champion a run for the points. | The show Saturday night started off with a special VIP Pit Party for those extra special fans in attendance. The Pepsi Coliseum quickly filled to capacity before show time and as always in Quebec City you could feel the excitement in the air. The show started off with the Freestyle Motocross riders who brought the crowd to their feet as they performed their dare devil dirt bike stunts in the air. One of the riders was Michael Vaters’ son Mikey who inherited his “need for speed” from his dad. | Iron Outlaw lead the charge in the freestyle competition with a fast paced run. Brutus was next up and not only stood the truck on end but somehow hooked the end car with the back of the truck and flung the car from the race lane dragging it behind him in a colossal sky wheelie. Concrete shows have no ramps and are Michael Vaters’ specialty and this show was no different with the Black Stallion standing vertical then twisting in air coming off the cars at an incredible angle. The winner came down to a cheer off on the floor with Brutus just edging out the Black Stallion. | The racing was very close with the field being so competitive it could have been anyone's night to win. The first round of racing saw Michael Vaters defeat Bounty Hunter, Iron Warrior defeat Avenger, and Brutus defeat Iron Outlaw. In the semi finals the K&N Ford Powered Black Stallion took out the Iron Warrior, and Bounty Hunter defeated Brutus. The finals came down to a match-up that had just taken place 2 weeks prior in Montreal – Black Stallion vs. Bounty Hunter. This time the win would be grabbed by inches by Jimmy Creten and the Bounty Hunter. | The freestyle competition would round out the night’s activities. The highlight of the night early on was Jim Kohler's attempt to do a donut- sending him onto his roof – from the tacky concrete floor. Jimmy Creten then followed with an impressive run, pulling off huge slap wheelies. The star of the night though was Michael Vaters’ freestyle run which contained several reverse jumps and lots of momentum. Michael Vaters wanted to give his Canadian fans all they expected and literally ran the truck non-stop way over the 60 second time limit. After Vaters’ spectacular monster freestyle ending all the trucks were parked back onto the floor for a finale pit party for all of the fans in attendance. | | | Fans welcome Vaters’ in the Stallion back to Cornwall | Cornwall ON - Civic Complex - May 15, 2009 | 
| Michael Vaters had not attended the Cornwall show in several years and the local fans showed a warm welcome as they came out in droves to see the Black Stallion truck on display for 2 days before the event. To promote the show the Black Stallion was placed on display next to a very busy boulevard and several media/press conferences were arranged in the days prior to the show. All of these promotional efforts paid off and the show was sold out before the gates opened on Friday evening. As soon as the team arrived in town Michael Vaters met with long time friend and sponsor Mr. Lazard of Lazard's Law Firm. The Black Stallion team appreciates the support we get from Mr. Lazard whenever we are in the area and are happy to promote and advertise for him in his local Cornwall Ontario business market region. | | On Thursday before the show the Iron Warrior was on display for a group of high school seniors from six different neighboring school districts to have a seminar on the dangers of drinking and driving. The seminar included a demonstration by the local fire company, ambulance services and local police in a mock car crash that involved a fatality. At the conclusion of the seminar the students then came down on the floor to meet with different safety youth organizations. | Friday evening the Black Stallion team was excited to get the show underway! Due to some last minute changes in truck scheduling conflicts by other teams the show would be reduced in size made up of Michael Vaters and the Black Stallion, Trey Myers and the Iron Warrior and Steve Hearly driving Godzilla. “The show must go on…” as we say and with only three trucks competing at the show Michael Vaters knew he would have to pull something special off so that the fans would not be disappointed. | The show started off with a wheelie contest that featured one hit on each race lane. Michael Vaters felt that just wasn't enough so for the second wheelie he lined up the Stallion backwards nearly clearing the five cars in reverse. Once the truck landed Michael Vaters brought the truck around for a third and final wheelie over the enter van stack which were placed for the freestyle competition. The crowd went crazy - and that was just the start of the show! | 
| The racing portion of the show was highlighted by Trey Myers in the Iron Warrior taking the win in the finals over Godzilla. Freestyle kept the crowd on their feet with stellar jobs by all three trucks with Michael Vaters and the K&N Ford powered Black Stallion wrapping up the end of the show with several jumps off of the van stack nearly hitting the overhead scoreboard. Although a couple of trucks short the show was a great success and the fans couldn’t have been happier. |
| | | Stallion races back east to Moncton New Brunswick | Moncton NB - Coliseum - May 17, 2009 | | After a quick trip back across Canada Michael Vaters and the Black Stallion was ready to take on teammates Jimmy Creten in the Bounty Hunter and Joe Miller in the Iron Outlaw. The Monster Spectacular has made Moncton one of the premier stops on tour and Vaters was determined to work towards getting enough points away from Bounty Hunter to have a shot at this years’ Championship. | The show got underway with Trey Myers and the Iron Warrior standing the truck vertical and launching over the cars. Joe Miller sent the Iron Outlaw out over the cars as well. But it was Michael Vaters who stood the Black Stallion past vertical with the tailgate literally smashed into the cars that secured his wheelie win. Bounty Hunter would have his moment in the spotlight by taking out Iron Warrior in the first round of racing then defeating Iron Outlaw in the finals. | The packed house knew what they wanted and that was …Monster Freestyle and with the time clock bumped up from 60 seconds to 90 second the fans knew that the runs would be extra special. Michael Vaters and Jimmy Creten both pushed their runs to well over 2 minutes with combinations of sky wheelies, donuts and even “reversers” which induced a spectator frenzy. | 
| The past few weeks have been quite exciting for the Black Stallion race team and it was good to get home. The trucks have been getting some much needed maintenance in the shop by the crew and Vaters has been getting caught up on some office work. The team is splitting up next week with Michael Vaters and the pit crew heading back to Canada for more stops on the Monster Spectacular tour and Trey Myers will be flying across the Atlantic to take part in the Monster Jam tour in Europe. He will be piloting the teams Psycho Jet 4-Wheeler in Poland, England, and Sweden. | |
Reigning Champion returns to Olympic Stadium! | | Montreal QC - Stadium Olympic - April 18, 2009 | 
| The Monster Spectacular Champion, Michael Vaters, returned to Montreal April 18th to defend his 2008 title. The Black Stallion took on 11 other monster trucks including Avenger, Brutus, Bounty Hunter, Iron Outlaw, Amsoil Shock Therapy, Excalibur, Iron Warrior, Wrecking Crew, Spike, Aftershock, and Screamin’ Demon. The night was full of excitement with Michael Vaters being the crowd favorite carrying the decals of the local hockey team the Montreal Habs. To build the rivalry and get the fans even more fired up teammate Trey Myers was sporting the opposition’s stickers in the form of the Boston Bruans logos. The two hockey teams were competing the same night as the Monster Spectacular event. |  | | The show started off with over 10,000 fans flooding the floor of the stadium to meet the drivers and get a chance to see the trucks up close. Monster Spectacular is known for putting on the best dome shows in Canada. The sold out event with over 54,000 spectators were anxious to get the show started and were screaming as the first trucks pulled to the line for racing. The racing course was set up as a very large Chicago style track which featured not just one set of cars in each lane, but two. Each of the drivers made 5 hits on the cars before crossing the finish line. Right from the start of racing it was clear that the two top trucks that would make it to the finals were none other than Michael Vaters in the Black Stallion and Jimmy Creten in the Bounty Hunter. The course was incredibly technical and it seemed as if the two trucks were on rails as they took out all the competition. During the elimination rounds of racing the turns became really tacky which took a toll on the competing trucks. Brutus tumbled onto the roof then went for a long slide until the truck finally came to a stop. Aftershock also bent front steering parts that would haunt him later during his freestyle run. | 
| | As Michael Vaters and Jimmy Creten pulled to the line in the final round of racing the announcer recounted all the trash talk between the two during the pit party. The crowd was on their feet with the reigning and the previous Monster Spectacular Champions staged and ready to go. Michael Vaters had one of those runs that was just excellent, not a missed turn of bobble anywhere, but coming out of the last turn, Jimmy Creten got the advantage and took the win. The spectators were ecstatic as they knew they had just witnessed one of the greatest monster truck races and the start of a battle that will rage over the next 3 months as the two drivers compete for the 2009 Monster Spectacular Championship. | 
| The freestyle exhibition was the final event of the night. The Aftershock truck started things off but steering problems left over from racing kept him from really putting it in the air. Screamin’ Demon followed next and Jay Snyder put on an incredible fast paced show with great air. Trey Myers and the Iron Warrior was determined to win over the crowd but the unpopular Boston Bruans stickers on the truck kept the place as quite as a church. At the end of Trey’s run he stopped in the center of the floor got out of the Warrior and slapped the Bruans decals to taunt the crowd. The crowd came to life and erupted with cheers as Trey ripped the decals off the truck and stomped them into the floor. | 
| Next the fans were treated to the driving skills of Kristy Edge in Excalibur. She didn’t waste any time wowing the crowd with an incredible save as she throttled out of potential roll after dancing the 10,000 pound truck on its nose. Steve Koehler skillfully saved Wrecking Crew after blasting through a cube van and tipping his truck up onto two wheels. Brutus performed a perfect cyclone donut lifting the inside front wheel off the ground even after tearing up his steering. Jon Zimmer wanted to make a statement after making it all the way to the semi-final in racing and he didn’t let a flat tire slow down the Amsoil truck. | 
| After the amazing racing by the two trucks dominating the night it would only seem fitting that Michael Vaters and Jimmy Creten would go out and freestyle both the Black Stallion and the Bounty Hunter at the same time. Chris Arel even had something a little extra for the crowd by bringing out his own personal motor home he had named “Babu's Fun Machine” for the event. After having one of the announcers Babu drive the motor home around the dome floor he had it parked directly in the middle of the floor so everyone could get a good look at it being destroyed. Jimmy Creten took it on first but after launching up in the air to clear it he got stuck in the middle of the motor home. Michael Vaters attempted to nudge the Bounty Hunter free by bumping his rear tire but the Hunter wouldn’t budge. Vaters did what any friend would do he drove around to the side where Creten was stuck then punched the gas launching the Stallion into the motor home destroying what was left. As the motor home collapsed it freed up the Bounty Hunter and the two trucks then decimated every other obstacle in sight. The fans were treated to some incredible freestyle action that will be sure to bring them back for the fall Monster Spectacular event in the dome. | 
| | The Black Stallion team will be in Quebec City QC at the Pepsi Coliseum on May 9, 2009....see you there. | Photos courtesy of Flagworld.com | | |
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