McCracken pulls off victory at RedBud
Published 9:35 pm Monday, August 12, 2013
BUCHANAN — If you were anywhere near RedBud this past weekend, you probably heard the thunderous sound of engines capable of producing 900 horsepower and felt the ground shaking beneath your feet as thousands of pounds of metal, rubber, and fiberglass went soaring through the air and made many violent landings as the truck off-road racing (TORC) series took over the world famous Motocross track this past Saturday and Sunday.
The upstart series (fourth year in existence) rocked RedBud patrons for the third straight year with its impressive brand of racing that garnered plenty of “oohs” and “aahs” from the raucous crowd.
There were also plenty of familiar faces from RedBud events of yesteryears for fans to see again. The notable of which was legendary motocross star Ricky Carmichael, who made his TORC racing debut in the PRO-Light division.
Seven-time AMA champion, defending TORC PRO 4×4 series champ and TORC series founder Ricky Johnson was on hand as well.
The weekend proved to be a huge boost for Johnson’s quest for a three-peat in the series’ premiere PRO 4×4 division. He had a third-place finish on Saturday and finished second on Sunday to overtake the series’ point lead from Johnny Greaves.
Greaves had a disastrous experience at Redbud finishing fifth after taking a black flag in the first race and ninth after getting turned around on the track trying to avoid a wreck in Sunday’s race.
Series veteran Mike Jenkins won his first PRO 4×4 race in three years and his first Oakley Bomb (award for fastest lap in a pro division race) of the season in the main event on Saturday evening. Sunday saw the all-time leader for wins in off-road racing, Rob McCracken, add another “W” to his resume as he beat Johnson by a solid 12 truck-lengths to secure a victory. McCracken also won an Oakley Bomb in his performance.
In the 2WD-PRO division, two-time defending champion Bryce Menzies dominated the weekend winning each race and raising his total points’ lead to 279 points over MacCachren’s 241 points. Menzies also won an Oakley Bomb on Sunday.
The RedBud experience wasn’t all bad for the Greaves’ family as Johnny’s son CJ added to his series’ point total lead in the PRO-Light division by winning a race on the first day and finishing second on Sunday.
Doug Mittag won the PRO-Light race on Sunday. Carmichael finished 12th and eighth in his first set of races.
The TORC series will pick back up on Aug. 31 on the sport’s biggest stage at the Crandon International Off-Road Raceway in Crandon, Wisconsin.
Class Results
PRO 4×4
Saturday
Mike Jenkins
Adrian Cenni
Ricky Johnson
Oakley Bomb: Jenkins
Sunday
Rob McCracken
Ricky Johnson
Scott Douglas
Oakley Bomb: McCachren
2WD-PRO
Saturday
Bryce Menzies
CJ Greaves
Rob McCachren
Oakley Bomb: Menzies
Sunday
Bryce Menzies
Rob McCracken
Jarit Johnson
Oakley Bomb: CJ Greaves
PRO-Light
Saturday
CJ Greaves
Keegan Kincaid
Cam Reimers
Sunday
Doug Mittag
CJ Greaves
Brad Lovell