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Straight Up Racing and Motor Sports, Inc.

Owner / Operator: Bill Payne

4108 West E Street
Bremerton, WA 98312

straightupracing@hotmail.com

June 10th, 2008 - Rock Star Turns Up the Heat to Start the Summer!

After a wild championship event in Pocatello, the Straight Up team returned home with lots of damage to repair and a short time to do it in. Bill and Teri worked day and night putting Rock Star and Miss Behavin back together in time to head out for Kalispell, MT and the Outlaw Monster Truck Spectacular at the Majestic Valley Arena. Taking on Scott Anderson's Arachnaphobia and Shattered trucks, both Bill and Teri would have solid runs in the one night, freestyle-only show with Bill taking the night in Rock Star.

The following week Tony Canedo would represent the Straight Up team well at the Silver Dollar Fair in Chico, CA and the next week Bill and Teri were on their way up to Canada to compete in Chris Arel's Monster Spectacular at the Enmax Centrium in Red Deer, Alberta. Bill was on his game all weekend, nailing down wheelie and freestyle wins both nights, but the Saturday night freestyle victory would come at a cost. Setting up for the reverse move, Bill nailed the accelerator heading for the cars. As Rock Star hit the cars, it became apparent the throttle was stuck and with no time to react, the truck hit the cars at full speed causing the truck to rotate past vertical in reverse. As the truck came down, the pitch carried it to land directly on the cage, sliding across the floor as the motor gave its last breath in a burst of flames. Bill would be none the worse for wear, but it would be another long week of putting Rock Star back together for the Straight Up crew. The important thing was that the fans had a great time and went home with a story to tell!

The month of May would see a couple weeks to regroup as Bill and Teri spent time upgrading the motorhome and working on the trucks. Then it was off to Santa Rosa, CA for a two day freestyle-only event featuring the Straight Up threesome and Joe Cypher with Airborne Ranger. Team rivalry would cause the fans to be treated to a wild show each night as Bill, Teri and Tony pushed each other to go bigger and faster. In the end however, neither Teri or Tony could stop the Rock Star as Bill picked up two more freestyle wins.

The next weekend out would be an exciting one as the entire Straight Up team was invited to participate in the big Monster Trucks Showdown event in Mexicali, Mexico. Performing in front of over 20,000 people and racing in a 10 truck field is always a blast, and it would be Bill's first time driving Rock Star at one of the MTS events after he put on a great show driving Deal Breaker in Tijuana last year. Bill wasted no time nailing down a wheelie contest victory to start off the show as he walked Rock Star all over the stadium floor. Freestyle would see great efforts from many trucks and Bill would end up sharing the win in a three-way tie with Sam and Ronnie Sturges.

To start off the month of June, Teri and Bill would be invited back to Ukiah, CA for another wild event at Ukiah Speedway. The folks at Ukiah always put on a great event with some of the wildest freestyle objects out there. Bill was at his best this weekend and no one would be able to touch the Rock Star as Bill swept it all, all three wheelie contests, all three racing wins and all three freestyles. Meanwhile in Sacramento, CA, Tony Canedo was taking on Bounty Hunter and more at the local Raceway Park. Play'n 4 Keeps would make an impression as Tony was the only driver able to pull off wheelies over the course of the weekend.

2009 continues to be a strong year for Bill Payne as the Ukiah weekend gave him his 25th overall win in racing and freestyle contests, 11th overall in all of monster trucks. Bill's 67% freestyle win percentage ranks 9th overall as well. Next up on the schedule, the Straight Up team heads back down to Mexico for another wild Monster Trucks Showdown event, stay tuned for details!

April 8th, 2008 - Bill Payne Takes Runner-Up In Pocatello Racing & Freestyle!!

Bill Payne and Rock Star entered the Pocatello, Idaho Monster Truck Grand Nationals championship event fifth in points with a mathematical long shot at the title. Basically to win, Bill had to sweep both racing and freestyle to get the job done. Strapping in knowing exactly what he had to do, Bill tore up the racing course in qualifying, laying down the fastest time by over a second! Teri would be bit by bad luck however, as a bad bounce put Miss Behavin on its nose. Teri made a great save to bring the truck back to all fours, but a broken rear axle housing would end her night.

Teri’s early exit would give Bill a bye into the semi-finals of racing, where we made quick work of rookie Tim Missentis in Excaliber. That would setup a final round match-up versus championship leader Larry Swim in Bigfoot Bad Boy. Landing after the bus, Bill pulled Rock Star into a slap wheelie which carried the truck a little too wide into the turn. That combined with an unbelievable turn from Swim would result in a runner-up in racing for Rock Star. With Swim’s racing win, that would clinch the championship, but Bill would still be gunning for second overall in freestyle.

An early draw would mean Bill would have to really impress the fans to earn a high enough score to win freestyle. Rock Star roared to the track and Bill immediately began leaping over the big objects, taking on each bus stack and pulling the truck into great slap wheelies twice off the center stack. But coming over the huge metal mountain, Bill tried to cross it up a bit, resulting in a hard rollover for Rock Star and huge damage underneath the front end. The run would score high, but not enough as Larry Swim laid down a great run later in the competition to earn a perfect 30 and the win.

Two runner-ups in CFP’s biggest event of the year would result in a third place overall for Bill and Rock Star. That stat is all the more impressive when considering how many more events the other drivers in top five had than did Bill. A valiant effort and a great performance from Bill and Rock Star in Pocatello—look out next year! Now its back to the shop to fix lots of carnage and then on to Kalispell, MT for next week’s Outlaw Monster Truck Spectacular!
 

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