Lumberjack with the sky wheelie on the stack of cars right in front of the grandstands for all to see. RANSOMVILLE, N.Y. — The Versus Monster Trucks Tour launched its 2026 campaign Saturday night at Ransomville Speedway, marking the tour’s fifth consecutive visit to the Western New York facility. A near-capacity crowd filled the grandstands as seven trucks from across the United States and Canada stormed into town: Bad News Travels Fast (Brandon Derrow), Crushstation (Zach Winchenbach), Hurricane Force (Steven Thompson Jr.), Joe Fly (Jordan Healey), Loud and Dirty (Perry Como), Lumberjack (Greg Winchenbach), and Rat Nasty (Ryan Como). The program opened with side-by-side racing, eventually narrowing to a final between Bad News Travels Fast and Crushstation. In a tight finish, the Monster Lobster claimed the victory “by a claw,” giving Winchenbach the first win of the season. The Best Trick contest followed, with each truck receiving two attempts and the crowd determining the winner. Brandon Derrow earned the loudest response after carrying a slap wheelie down the frontstretch, securing the victory for Bad News Travels Fast. Intermission featured kids’ Power Wheels races and a three-race quad showdown between Team New York and Team New Jersey. New York won the first two races, New Jersey claimed the third, and a captain’s challenge was ordered to settle the dispute. In the two-lap runoff, New York prevailed after the New Jersey quad broke down. Freestyle closed the night with three-minute runs for each truck. Jordan Healey opened the segment with a backflip attempt that came up short, leaving Joe Fly turtled and ending the run early. Hurricane Force followed with Steven Thompson Jr. delivering a strong wheelie attack across the frontstretch. Loud and Dirty battled motor issues throughout the evening, and Perry Como’s truck finally gave out after only a few hits. The finale belonged to Crushstation, as Zach Winchenbach delivered the strongest combination of high air, momentum, and speed. His run earned the loudest crowd reaction and secured the freestyle championship. The Versus Monster Trucks Tour returns September 19 for two shows at Stateline Speedway in Jamestown, N.Y., before concluding the season October 10 at Fonda Speedway with a two-show championship finale. Gallery

Brandon Darrow and Bad News Travels Fast hit the jammer stack and get the slap wheelie that he takes down the front stretch for all to see. Gallery

Hurricane Force and Steve Thompson perform the stoppie without a shell on the truck for everyone to see the truck. It would be the second show of the day from the Clinton County Fair for the Versus Monster Trucks Tour as they battle it out in two-wheel skills, racing, and freestyle action. The trucks in attendance would be Aggravated Assault, Metal Monster, Hurricane Force, Virginia Giant, and Sabotage. First up for the evening would be racing and with humid conditions on the track the trucks were having trouble running it would be a battle just to keep going and we would have an upset winner with Metal Monster getting his first-ever racing win over Loud and Dirty. Then we would have the two-wheel skills contest and for the second time on the day, the winner would be Hurricane Force and Steve Thompson with the stoppie. Then to finish off the night it would be the popular wheelie poppie axle snapping high-flying freestyle action and the winner on this night for the second time would be Hurricane Force over Loud and Dirty. The Versus Monster Truck Tour will continue its carnival ride in a couple of weeks as they head to the Herkimer County Fairgrounds on July 26th and 27th for another high-excitement weekend of action. Gallery

Hurricane Force and Loud and Dirty in the semi-finals of side-by-side racing that would see Loud and Dirty head to the finals. Gallery

Jesse Como and Rat Nasty stuff it on the nose for the stoppie off the jump. The Versus Monster Truck Tour would make their first-ever stop at the Franklin County Fair in Malone, NY for a one-night-only show and they would bring in a class lineup with Stone Crusher, Hooked, Rat Nasty, Loud and Dirty, and Excavator in two-wheel skills, racing and freestyle action along with the quad racing action. The night would start with the two-wheel skills contest as each truck would get to hits to do their best trick for the crowd and the winner would be Rat Nasty and Jesse Como as he would do the stoppie. Next up would be side-by-side qualifying and racing on a J style and straight line and the fastest in qualifying would be Hooked and Frank Krmel. Then it would be onto racing and it would come down to a pair of team trucks as Hooked and Stone Crusher would line up in the finals and Hooked would get the win by a nose. Then to finish off the night it would be freestyle action with a good amount of room to play and jumps to play with as Hooked would take his high-flying action to the track and get the win. It will be a short turnaround for the teams as they are back in action in three days as they head to the Oswego County Fairgrounds on the next stop on August 10th and 11th. Gallery

Alex Bardin and Stone Crusher say Rat Nasty and your stoppie I will see yours and up it. Gallery

Virginia Giant and Hurricane Force would launch over the cars during the semi-finals of side-by-side racing that would see Hurricane Force get the win. It would be the first of two shows on the day for the annual return of the Monster Trucks with the Versus Monster Truck Tour but with a twist this season as it would be a completely different lineup of trucks compared to years past with Aggravated Assault, Metal Monster, Hurricane Force, Loud and Dirty, Sabotage and Virginia Giant as they battle the course. The first event up would be qualifying and racing on two different tracks as they would qualify on a U Shape track and racing would be on Straight Line but in the end, it wouldn't matter as Hurricane Force would take quick time and win racing over Loud and Dirty to take the early event lead. Then we would have the two-wheel skills competition and the winner once again would be Steve Thompson and Hurricane Force with his moonwalk that would see him slightly overrotate and end with rubber side up. Then after the intermission, the track would be set up for every popular axle snapping wheelie popping freestyle action and the crowd ever have a treat with the areil assault between Hurricane Force and Loud and Dirty but in the end by crowd applause Hurricane Force would complete the afternoon show sweep. Gallery

Perry Como and the Loud and Dirty launch it over the car stack during freestyle. Gallery

Gage Bursey and Excavator launches it over the van stack during his freestyle run. It would be the second night of action from Saratoga County Fairground and the Versus Monster Truck Tour and with way better conditions the drivers would step up their game and the crowds would also come out by the hundreds for the show. It would be the same five trucks in action as the previous night with Gage Bursey and Excavator, Jordan Healey and Joe Fly, Joe Jenkins and Killer Bee, and Shawn Olben and Webslinger along with the Outlaw Quad Racers with Team New York taking on Team Carolinas. There would be a change in racing from the previous night as they would go back to the traditional straight-line drags and when the dust settled the winner would be Shawn Olben and Webslinger over Jesse Como and Temperature Rising as The weekend would end with Killer Bee and Webslinger getting a win. Then it would be onto the Two-Wheel Skills Competition and the winner would be Temperature Rising as he would balance it on two wheels after hitting the side of the car stack he and Killer Bee would get wins on the weekend. Then during the intermission portion of the show, it would be the Outlaw Quad Racing as once again it would be a 2-1 contest for Team New York but this time to finish off the third race it would be a relay race with only racers from each team on the track at a time. Then to finish off the show it would be the popular tailgate dragging axle snapping monster truck freestyle. We would start with Gage Bursey and Excavator and he would fly the track over the van stack on his third hit but when landed it would end him up in the shop as he would snap the rear tierod. Next up would be Jordan Healey and Joe Fly and once again the front-steering Germans would come up and bite him early in the run. Next up would be Killer Bee and Joe Jenkins and he would hit everything in sight and give the crowd their first donut of the evening to take the early lead in the contest. Then we would have Webslinger and Shawn Olben and he would give the truck everything it had but it would come up just short of Killer Bee. Then it would be time for Jesse Como and Temperature Rising to finish off the night the run would start slow but he would pick up with a donut and then give the crowd a great stoppie over the ramp and then finish off the run he would park it on top of the van stack after he added in some two-wheel balance skills to get the freestyle win on the night. The Versus Monster Truck Tour will take a couple of weeks off as they will return to action at the Penn Can Speedway on June 29th and 30th with Stone Crusher, Lumberjack, Crushation, Hooked, Excavator, and Towarseus Wrex. Gallery

Webslinger and Shawn Olben would edge out Killer Bee Joe Jenkins during the first round of side-by-side racing as he would also defeat Temperature Rising in the finals for the event title. Gallery