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Monster Energy’s Paul Thacker Qualifies For Winter X!

World snowmobile distance jumping record holder to compete in Snowmobile Speed & Style Final at Aspen/Snowmass (Colo.) ESPN Winter X 12


CORONA, Calif., (Dec. 27 , 2007) – – Monster Energy-backed Paul Thacker , who's jumped a snowmobile farther through the air than anybody on the planet, will get to show off his mad skills this January (24th) in the ESPN Winter X Games 12's new Snowmobile Speed & Style competition at Aspen/Snowmass, Colo.

"This is really a dream come true for me,"said Thacker, fighting back fake Hollywood chick tears like he'd won a Grammy® or something. "For real, I'm pumped to be representing with Monster at Winter X this January. The new Speed & Style event should be cool for the fans, allowing us to really show what can be done on mountain with a sled. People are going to be into it – –big time."

Thacker, a former collegiate hockey player and banker-turned Sledneck, is looked up to as one of the world' 's premier sled riders in the world by his peers – including Monster Energy's Chris Burandt , himself a Winter X gold medal winner ('07). And though Thacker's attempt to qualify in the Snowmobile Freestyle (like FMX) discipline came up a bit short (6th when they took the top four), Thacker got a call from ESPN officials inviting him to compete in the Speed & Style event.

"Thacker's kind of a bag of potatoes when it comes to freestyle –although he's getting better,"said Burandt laughing. "So Winter X basically had to come up with an event to suit him on account of it takes all of us two separate jumps to fly as far as he can one. The Snowmobile Speed & Style event is right up our alley. So it'd be nice if we could pull a 1-2 for Monster – –with me getting first, of course (more laughter)."

Said Thacker: "I'll just be happy to carry Burandt's silver medal around to the bars in Aspen while he's doing my laundry."

For more information on the upcoming Winter X Games 12, link to: www.expn.com


Monster Energy supports the sport. Be it sleds, road racing, MX, supermoto, off-road, FMX, skate, MTB, off-road, surf, snow, BMX – –name it – – the athletes are rocking' 'Monster Energy more than anything these days. Check out all the types – –Original Monster Energy, Monster Lo-Carb, Monster Assault, Monster Khaos, the new Monster/fruit juice hybrid called "M-80"and the ground-breaking Java Monster premium coffee & cream supercharged with our Monster Energy blend. Paul Thacker digs 'em – –so will you. On the 'Net at www.monsterenergy.com.

Andy Finch Featured On " The Daily Habit"


Tune In

Andy Finch Featured On " The Daily Habit"
Thursday, December 27, 2007

Airing Thursday, December 27, at 9:00 pm Eastern Time (6:00 pm Pacific Time) and telecast three additional times, pro snowboarder Andy Finch will appear on The Daily Habit.

One of the most powerful snowboarders in halfpipe, whose big airs have earned him the nickname " Finch Airlines," Andy Finch is back to fill us in on his latest endeavors. And, our newest correspondent, Cheyenne goes to the 2007 American Music Awards to find out who' ' s the biggest diva of all. Plus, Jordan Morris and pro snowboarder Sketchy D head to the 2007 Ski Dazzle Expo to unite skiers and snowboarders once and for all. Andy' ' s sponsor include: Rip Curl, Palmer, Monster, Giro, Northstar, The Collection, GO211.com and Porters.

Andy Finch

" The Daily Habit" is FUEL TV' ' s first original daily series, telecast weeknights at 9:00pm ET (6:00pm PT) while re-airing later in the evening at 12:00am ET (9:00pm PT), and the following weekday at 2:30pm ET (11:30am PT) and 5:30pm ET (2:30 pm PT). " The Daily Habit" encompasses the world of the action sports enthusiast, mixing the best in pop culture with today' ' s top action sports personalities, cutting-edge music, product reviews, and comedy.

About FUEL TV
FUEL TV is the action sports lifestyle network for skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, BMX, freestyle-motocross, and wakeboarding. A unit of Fox Cable Networks, FUEL TV was launched July 1, 2003 and is seen in 24-million U.S. homes. To subscribe to FUEL TV, call 877-4-FUEL-TV. For program times and other information, visit www.fuel.tv.

Monster Energy Team Dakar USA Prepares for the 2008 Dakar Rally

This year, the 15-stage epic off-road race starts in Lisbon, Portugal on January 5th and concludes on January 20th in Dakar, Senegal. The preparation for the 2008 Dakar Rally is in its final stages as the support vehicles, loaded with all the spare parts and equipment, begin their trip across the USA today to Savannah, GA where they will then travel by cargo vessel to Lisbon. It is much more of a challenge for the Anaheim, California based team than that of their European based counterparts. The majority of the top teams participating in the Dakar Rally are based in Europe, which allows them more time to prepare unlike Team Dakar USA. Logistic preparation for Team Dakar USA is a very important dynamic to the success of the overall program. Fortunately, the Hummer H3s are airlifted only days before the start, giving the team added time to test and perfect the race vehicles.

As Team Dakar USA enters its third Dakar Rally with the Monster Energy / Toyo Tire Hummer H3, Gordon has also added a second Hummer to his elite off-road team. He has enlisted the help of fellow American Dakar veteran, Ronn Bailey to pilot an identically prepared Hummer H3. Bailey, who is CEO of Vanguard Integrity Professionals, an enterprise security software company, will participate in the next three Dakar Rally events as an integral part of Team Dakar USA. The Vanguard Integrity Professional H3 Hummer entry will be very strategic to the teams overall objective of becoming the first American team to win the Dakar Rally.

With the added pressure of a second team, the team also has to prepare for the increased course length. The organizers of the Dakar Rally (the ASO) have lengthened the course by more than 1,000 km (621 miles) for a total of 9,273 km (or 5,762 miles). Therefore, the team needs to prepare for this added challenge by making sure that the parts will withstand the grueling desert terrain, that there is enough fuel ordered to make it to the end, and that support vehicles and team members get the rest needed.

For Gordon, the support of Ronn Bailey and the second entry easily outweighs the overall strain of the preparation for the additional team. “If you look at the results of our Dakar effort, you’ll see they parallel to our efforts in the NASCAR Cup Series. Every year our programs continue to get better. We fell out of the Rally the first year after not making a checkpoint. Last year, we managed to become the first American team and manufacturer to win a stage. We finished in eighth place overall. This year, aside from drastically improving the Hummer, the next best thing we could do is try to level the playing field to be more like the multi-car factory-supported teams. Now we have a teammate in Ronn Bailey, and he is every bit as passionate about winning this race as I am.”

Bailey, who in the past had tackled Dakar with his own effort, clearly sees the wisdom in joining forces with Gordon. “Robby is building some of the most impressive off-road vehicles – it’s amazing just to watch the Hummer suspension work. For Robby and I to team up for Dakar makes sense on so many levels. It consolidates two strong American efforts in to one powerful team. For both of us the combined resources will provide advantages that will be undeniable.”

While the logistics of getting to the start of the Dakar Rally alone might seem overwhelming, Gordon and Bailey clearly have their eyes set on making history by becoming the first American team and drivers to win the legendary Dakar Rally.

DATE

START

FINISH

CONNECTION

SPECIAL

CONNECTION

TOTAL

05/01/08

Lisboa

Portimão

104 km

120 km

262 km

486 km

06/01/08

Portimão

Málaga

15 km

60 km

460 km

535 km

07/01/08

Nador

Er Rachidia

182 km

372 km

163 km

717 km

08/01/08

Er Rachidia

Ouarzazate

29 km

356 km

199 km

584 km

09/01/08

Ouarzazate

Guelmim

188 km

498 km

148 km

834 km

10/01/08

Guelmim

Smara

66 km

454 km

105 km

625 km

11/01/08

Smara

Atâr

198 km

619 km

12 km

829 km

12/01/08

Atâr

Nouakchott

44 km

450 km

37 km

531 km

13/01/08

Rest Day

14/01/08

Nouakchott

Nouhadibou

37 km

525 km

86 km

648 km

15/01/08

Nouhadibou

Atâr

111 km

552 km

22 km

685 km

16/01/08

Atâr

Tidjikja

35 km

524 km

133 km

692 km

17/01/08

Tidjikja

Kiffa

131 km

398 km

2 km

531 km

18/01/08

Kiffa

Kiffa

25 km

484 km

6 km

515 km

19/01/08

Kiffa

Saint-Louis

326 km

301 km

130 km

757 km

20/01/08

Saint-Louis

Dakar

239 km

23 km

42 km

304 km

TOTAL

1 730 km

5 736 km

1 807 km

9 273 km

Monster Energy’s TJ Lavin’s On The Mend, Walking Again And Putting Out Music In His Spare Time



December 5, 2007


CORONA, Calif., (Dec. 5, 2007) – – Hearing Monster Energy’ ’s TJ Lavin talk about his gnarly BMX dirt jumping wreck the Dew Tour is enough to make your socks roll up and down.

“ “Everything was going great. I was going for a Decade on the last set and over shot the landing a bit,” ”said Lavin. “ “My foot came off the pedal and hit the ground just right.

“ “And I felt my shoe come up and kick me in the knee.” ”
Compound tib/fib, national TV, surgery, rod, screws. It’ ’s a story Lavin’ ’s had to tell dozens of times. But six weeks later, the story he’ ’s telling now is even more compelling.

“ “I just started to walk again. Well, limp,” ”he says. “ “I started physical therapy like two weeks after it happened. Went at it hard, training in a pool. So the feeling’ ’s pretty great that I can walk again.” ”

And the feeling’ ’s coming even though there’ ’s no feeling in Lavin’ ’s big toe. “ “Yeah, my big toe’ ’s paralyzed, which is kind of a bummer,” ”he said. “ “But I’ ’m hoping with some electro-stim and more PT that it’ ’ll come around. If not I’ ’ll have to have it fused to my other toe in order to get it to work properly.” ”

During his down time off the bike Lavin’ ’s had some more time to mess around with a longtime passion of his, music. Honing his skills at producing music at his Vegas home otherwise known as "Lavs Lab" the past decade, Lavin’ ’s proved he’ ’s got a knack for it – –at least that’ ’s what his friends think.

“ “Everybody’ ’s been telling me ‘ ‘Man, you’ ’ve got to put out a CD,’ ’” ”said Lavin. “ “My buddy here in Vegas, Tom Parham, has 30 years experience in the music industry and has helped show me the ropes. So with this recent down time I was able to get up the nerve to put out a CD.” ”

Lavs: The first set , according to Lavin, is a “ “hip-hop, viby mix that’ ’s a little bit underground – – something that you wouldn’ ’t likely hear on the radio.” ”Check it out at: http://www.monsterenergy.com/troops/bandDetail.php?bandID=62 and www.lavslab.com

“ “But I fell in love with producing music like I did with BMX bikes,” ”added Lavin, who’ ’s worked with such notable artists as the Kotton Mouth Kings and Big B.

As for what’ ’s up next, Lavin says in no way should the legion of Monster Energy drinkers rule him out from BMX competition. In fact, if his burgeoning TV (MTV’ ’s “ “Challenge” ”series) and music schedule allow it, he’ ’ll be back for sure full time in ’ ’08.

“ “All this injury did was really give me some time to think about how much I love to ride my bike,” ”he said. “ “I’ ’ll come back from this, no problem. I’ ’m not scared to send it!” ”

Monster Energy supports the sport. Be it BMX, music, SX, off road, MX, MotoGP, road racing, supermoto, off-road, FMX, skate, MTB, surf, snow – –name it – –the athletes are rockin’ ’Monster Energy more than anything these days. Check out all the types – –Original Monster Energy, Monster Lo-Carb, Monster Assault, Monster Khaos, the new Monster/fruit juice hybrid called “ “M-80” ”and the ground-breaking Java Monster premium coffee & cream supercharged with our Monster Energy blend. TJ Lavin’ ’s diggin’ ’‘ ‘em– –so will you. On the ‘ ‘Net at www.monsterenergy.com

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