Monster Jam’s only female competitor, the famous Madusa, will make her debut in the Millennium Stadium on Saturday 6th June and future Wales stars Jason Tovey, Dan Lydiate and Lewis Evans turned out to welcome her at the home of Welsh rugby.

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Definitely one to watch, Madusa is a serious competitor for Saturday’s event when the iconic stadium transforms its atmospheric bowl into a monster truck paradise with over 3500 tonnes of dirt brought in for some thrilling side-by-side racing and freestyle competitions.

Dragons trio Tovey, Lydiate and Evans were named in caretaker head coach Robin McBryde’s original training squad for the current tour to North America yet travelled with their region to Italy to secure Heineken Cup qualification, with a 42-17 victory over Rugby Calvisano last weekend, and are yet to run out in red at the spiritual home of Welsh rugby.

“It’s every rugby player’s dream to play in front of the crowds at the Millennium Stadium. It’s a fantastic venue that’s enjoyed by the fans as well as the players that I’m sure will be a hit with Madusa and the other trucks this weekend, ” said Tovey, who was last season’s Principality Premiership Best Newcomer and also reached the semi-finals of the Junior World Championship with Wales U20s last year.

“I’m sure I speak for all players when I say that it’s a privilege to play at a stadium not only shared by rugby legends but also world-champions from other fields such as motorsport’s Madusa and the other trucks that we’ve met today.”

Madusa (‘Made in the USA’) won the co-championship at the Monster Jam World Finals for freestyle in the first-ever three-way tie in 2004. She was the only female competitor in the Superbowl of Motorsports the following year and won the Racing Championship in the Monster Jam World Finals.

Born in Milan, Italy but now resident in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the former WWF women’s wrestling champion is thrilled to make her racing debut in the world-renowned Millennium Stadium for Monster Jam’s only UK show.

She said: “I’ve been fortunate to travel the world, but this is my first time in Wales and I’m so excited to meet the fans and see the sites. I’ve heard about this Millennium Stadium and how it allows the drivers to push their trucks to their absolute limits because of the massive floor size. As a city, Cardiff is hands down a tour favourite.

“When you combine the city centre location of this fantastic stadium with four world champion drivers (Madusa, John Seasock, Damon Bradshaw and Tom Meents) and eight of the 12 trucks that have competed in Las Vegas, you never know what is going to happen, but you know it will involve destruction.”

Regional team-mate of the Dragons trio Luke Charteris received the call to international duty earlier this week as McBryde’s team to prepare to face USA on Saturday – where Monster Jam is one of the biggest and most popular entertainment events. Over the past three years Cardiff has become a second home for the remarkable monster trucks that have wowed nearly 100,000 fans in Cardiff to date.

Each truck is around 11 feet tall and 12 feet wide and weighing in at a minimum of 9,000 pounds. The beasts are built for short, high-powered bursts of speed and generate 1,500 to 2,000 horsepower, hitting speeds of up to 100 miles per hour and jumping a distance of 110 to 115 feet and up to 25 feet in the air.

Millennium Stadium venue sales manager Alex Luff brought Monster Jam to Cardiff after visiting the show in the United States three years ago and is confident that the venue can deliver a spectacular event alongside Monster Jam promoters again this year.

He said: “Motorsports at the Millennium Stadium has taken off more than we ever could have expected and we’ve seen tremendous support from the public who have turned up in their thousands to enjoy events such as Monster Jam, Speedway and Rally over the years.

“We are the only UK motorsport venue for Monster Jam and are looking forward to putting on a spectacular family show with two brand new world champion trucks in Maximum Destruction and Grave digger, as well as crowd-favourites Donkey Kong and Monster Mutt and the arrival of Madusa bringing the all-new girl power to the stage.

“Monster Jam has always been enjoyed by boys and girls of all ages here in Cardiff and once again ticket can be snapped up at a family-friendly half price for what promises to be a great event.”

Tickets can still be purchased via Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.co.uk or 08705 582 582, and Ticketline 02920 230 130. Tickets for children are just half price and a family of four can go for £50 (subject to booking fee).