MONROE — The annual demolition derby at the Green County Fair put on a show for the crowd in its first year with Hollywood Motorsports Entertainment to close out the fair July 21.

With the first couple classes running in smaller numbers, the full-size class was filled to the brim.

“This is the hardest Monroe derby I’ve ever ran in,” said Jake Trickel, who took second in the full-size class. “The full-size car count was good. Hopefully this was a step in the right direction.”

Mike Mowery took home first place in the full-size, with Jake and father Nate Trickel finishing second and third. Roy Pfeifer was fourth and Cody Jacobson took fifth.

“(I) was happy Dad and I were able to place in the top three together,” said Jake Trickel.

Ryan Rohan was the winner in the Bone Stock, taking home the purse. Elliott Drain was second, with Dezmond Hanenberger third, Mike Garrity fourth and Justin DeBaere fifth.

In the semi-stock mid-size, Kevin Pannkuk finished at the top with Josh Gochel and Bradley Bernet second and third. Steve Deininger won the Bone Stock Compact over Luke Miller, and in the Y2-ton truck event, Doss Shaltis defeated Bryce Winken.

“Full-size class is back,” said Rick Harrington, the head of Hollywood Motorsports Entertainment. “We need to work on finding classes that fit Monroe. I think we have two classes set. We took a swing at it (this year) and we hit 50%, and we’ll work on it for next year.”

While the highlight on the track was the flying dirt, loud engines and hard smashes, during the derby introduction, Jake Trickel raffled off a derby car. During the offseason, with the help of sponsors, Trickel built a full-size demo car to be ready to go for the show. After months of selling raffle tickets — and a booth at the fair to drive interest — over 1,000 tickets were sold and more than $4,000 were added to the purse. Trickel’s goal was to help keep the derby afloat in Monroe. 

“Nowadays demo derbies are all about money. Nobody wants to come and compete for a couple hundred bucks at a county fair anymore — there’s too much time put into it,” Trickel said to the crowd before raffling off the car. “We went out and got sponsors and have been selling raffle tickets since March. Every single dollar went into the purse, so we could attract drivers and keep this county fair derby alive.”

Harrington thanked Trickel for his effort, as well as the sponsors involved.

Steve Stettler, the owner of Decatur Dairy and one of the sponsors of the car, won the raffle prize, which surprised Jake Trickel enough that he exclaimed into the mic “Are you (kidding) me?” twice, which drew the crowd into a parade of laughter.