| | | | Black Stallion Returns to Albany!!! | Albany NY - Times Union Center - January 31, 2009 | 
| The Black Stallion team traveled to Albany NY to take part in the Monster Jam Thunder Nationals at the Times Union Center. At the pit party over 4000 fans attended to meet the drivers and get pictures with the trucks. | 
| The afternoon show started off with a high flying wheelie competition. Mike Vaters in the Black Stallion came in second to Rap Attacks wheelie over the cars. The Stallion trumped through the elimination rounds to make it to the finals in racing but lost to Rammunition. The Stallion came back with a vengeance turning donuts over the entire event floor and taking the win for the best cyclone. Vaters was on a roll going into monster truck freestyle competition getting major air and cross threading the cars on the floor. Vaters win was stolen when the officials shut him down early just as he landed on the van stack. | 
| | The second show of the day on Saturday night was sold out. Rap Attack once again took the win in the wheelie contest as he dragged his tailgate across the line of cars. Mike Vaters bent a brake rotor in the wheelie contest and missed racing as the crew decided to change it out to be on the safe side. | 
| The second half of the show was ruled by the Stallion. Mike held his steering wheel out the window as he whirled the Stallion to a win in the donut contest. The Stallion kept up the winning run on through the freestyle competition. Mike tore up the floor getting sick air driving both forwards and backwards. The fans were thrilled as Vaters pulled out all the stops and ended the show on a high note. | Pictures by Steve Parry. | | | Black Stallion and Iron Warrior Thrill the Crowd in Houston! | Houston TX - Reliant Stadium - January 17, 2009 |  
| | This past weekend the Stallion & Warrior competed in a special Monster Jam “Thrill” show in Houston Texas. This event was a freestyle extravaganza without the racing and is the second of three Monster Jam events held this month at the Reliant Stadium. The ticket sales combined for all three events totaled over 160,000 spectators. |  
| The monster trucks started off with a twisted version of the wheelie competition wherein the monsters can hit the cars multiple times to get the biggest air instead of a single hit. The Cyclone competition likewise is different from the norm. Two trucks are sent out at a time and they are allowed to use their judgment where and how many donuts they do. As each truck comes off the floor another goes out so there is nonstop donut action. |   | The Jet Show with both the Psycho and Kamikaze was again a huge hit with the crowd. Trey on Psycho started off the show and just when the fans thought it couldn’t get any louder, Mike piloting the Kamikaze came out to thrill the crowd adding double the power, noise and excitement. |  
| | The final activity of the night was monster truck Freestyle! Trey Myers and the Iron Warrior blasted out to take on the track with an awesome exhibition of wild moves until shifter problems cut his run short of the two minute allotment. |  
| Vaters had some problems with the Stallion’s transmission early in the show but had made the needed repairs in time for freestyle. Mike put some major air under the truck and showed Houston’s Reliant Stadium that the Thunder National Champion could dominate on the big dirt floor as well as the concrete. | The team is in Little Rock Arkansas this weekend at the Alltel Arena Monster Jam. Both trucks will be on display in Little Rock on Thursday with Black Stallion being featured at a local Advance Auto Parts and Iron Warrior at the Academy Sports & Outdoors store. | Photos by Kenny Lau at www.monsterjamonline.com | | |
San Antonio roars with Ultimate save by Black Stallion!!! | San Antonio TX - Alamodome - January 10-11, 2009 |  | Michael Vaters and the Black Stallion traveled west this past week to San Antonio TX to take part in a massive 16 truck Monster Jam show at the Alamo Dome. Saturday night’s racing qualification proved just how tight the competition was going to be for the weekend when all the competing trucks placed within just three seconds of the leader Grave Digger. The first round pairing matched up Trey Myers driving the Iron Warrior with Rammunition. Trey beat the big Hemi powered Dodge moving into the second round of racing. Michael Vaters and the Black Stallion also moved on to the second round after defeating Monster Mutt. | | For the Second round of racing Trey Myers took on fastest qualifier Grave Digger and while the race was close Trey Myers pushed the Iron Warrior past the breaking point, losing a transmission input shaft rounding the corner. Michael Vaters and the Black Stallion marched his way through the second round of racing by defeating El Toro Loco. |   | The racing semi-finals matched Vaters up against Grave Digger but the team was hit again with mechanical problems and the Stallion was out. Even though Mike, Trey and the crew thrashed on the trucks until the very last second there would be no freestyle for the team Saturday evening. After Saturday nights autograph session the team worked until 4:30 the next morning replacing parts and making sure both of the trucks would be 100% for Sundays show. | Sundays show featured more high flying action, and was highlighted by a save from Michael Vaters that placed the truck nearly vertical after jumping over the double bus stack. The racing proved to be difficult on Sunday for the team, as Trey Myers in the Iron Warrior lost to Batman in the first round. Michael Vaters was set to move on to the second round in racing taking on Monster Mutt, but alas it was not meant to be and he was defeated. | 
| | With the problems and disappointment from Saturday night in Trey’s mind Iron Warrior placed a very strong showing scoring a very solid 19 in freestyle to place him in the top 10 for the afternoon. Freestyle competition is Michael Vaters favorite and the Stallion raced from the pit area getting major air over the obstacles. The center double bus stack in the middle of the floor was the last major item that Michael had his sights set on during freestyle. Upon clearing the buses the truck pitched upright and rode on the front bumper before Michael Vaters could rein in the Black Stallion. The save was a true testament to Mike’s 26 years of experience driving the Stallion. Michael Vaters antics paid off with a score of 22 which placed him in the top half of the field in freestyle competition. | 
| Kamikaze and Psycho piloted by Mike and Trey were the highlight of the San Antonio Monster Jam. The jets thrilled the spectators in the Alamo Dome with their spectacular display of power and speed. | 
| After a hard weekend the team left out for Marty Garza’s premier TRUCK TOYZ PERFORMANCE shop in Mc Allen Texas. Marty was gracious enough to open his doors and let the team invade the shop and work on the trucks. While at TRUCK TOYZ PERFORMANCE the Iron Warrior truck was put on display and the Stallion was torn down for repairs. The transmission was replaced and the transfer case pulled out and rebuilt, both drive shafts were sent out and replaced, and a new front center section was installed. TRUCK TOYZ’ in house graphic artist reworked the Iron Warrior vinyl lettering which will debut in Houston TX. | 
| Once again a big thanks to Marty Garza, and if you are ever in need of premier cutting edge lifted performance trucks contact the guys at www.trucktoyzperformance.com | Photos by Kenny Lau at www.monsterjamonline.com | | |
| Black Stallion brings New Year in with multiple wins!!! | Rochester NY - Blue Cross Arena - January 3-4 2009 | Michael Vaters and the Black Stallion rocked the house in Rochester NY this past weekend at the Blue Cross Arena. Six top monster trucks competed throughout the weekend. Along with Black Stallion, Trey Myers and the Iron Warrior, Randy Brown in Grave Digger, Chris Baker in El Toro Loco, Pure Adrenaline and Bad News Travels Fast were in attendance. The first weekend on the Monster Jam tour had Michael Vaters taking wins in all three shows Wheelie contests, Saturday’s Freestyle contest, and final round racing appearances in all three shows. |  | | Of special note the new Aero Exhaust performed flawlessly, and the crowd response was incredible, they loved it!!!! As for the new paint job, new body, and various upgrades on the Iron Warrior, the fans couldn’t stop talking about how much the truck has changed and is one of the top paint schemes in the industry. Overall the weekend was a success for both Black Stallion and Iron Warrior. |    | | On Friday night the Stallion started off the weekend with the win in the wheelie contest. Mike came in second in the donut com-petition and got some serious air in freestyle scoring him third place. The flashy new Iron Warrior came in fourth in free-style. |  | | In racing Iron Warrior went out in the first round to El Toro Loco and the Stallion moved to the semi-finals after beating Bad News Travel Fast. In the semi-finals Mike beat out El Toro Loco to move to the finals where he lost to Grave Digger. |   | | Mike in the Black Stallion took the wheelie competition again on Saturday night. The Stallion’s freestyle performance was the highlight of the night starting with a “Saturday night special” reverse jump over the cars and ending with a donut and the win. The sold out show watched Mike move up through the ranks to the finals where he lost to Grave Digger in a very close finish. | | Sunday afternoon Mike driving the Black Stallion started off strong with the wheelie contest win. Mike’s luck didn’t hold our though and he missed the donut contest due to a failing tranny. The Iron Warrior took a third in the donut competition. After the crew worked on the Stallion he was able to make it to the line in the first round of racing but lost to El Toro Loco. Mike came back as fast loser to the semi-finals to eliminate his team mate Trey Myers in the Iron Warrior. The Stallion worked hard but was unable to pull off the racing win in the finals and lost to Digger. |  | | Michael Vaters and the team are now on the way to San Antonio Texas for their first stadium show of the Monster Jam tour for this year. The show will also include both of the teams Jet Powered ATV’s, Psycho & Kamikaze. | Rochester NY Photos by Jason Miller | | |
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