CRANDON, Wi. June 29, 2014 — Johnny and CJ Greaves headed to the Big House this weekend for the first of two races at the legendary Wisconsin-based Crandon International Off-Road Raceway for the TORC Series rounds 7 and 8. This “monster” sprawling track features long straight-ways, big jumps, sweeping turns, and of-course, the famous landrush start and Potawatomi turn one.
Both Johnny and CJ were looking to protect their points leads in Pro-4 and Pro-2 classes. CJ did some practice laps in the Pro-4 with some speculation that he might try his hand in that class but the team decided to hold that card for later.
The weekend ended with CJ grabbing back-to-back wins in Pro-2 and Johnny narrowly missing 2 wins also. He took a 2nd Saturday in a photo finish with a flat tire and a dominating win on Sunday. Things didn’t go as planned in the Pro Light class with mechanical problems taking CJ out of contention in both races. He made up for it in the Community Cup race by landing 2nd on the podium, ahead of the Pro-4 class and just behind Chad Hord. Both Chad and CJ run Maxxis Tires.
In Saturday’s racing action: CJ was looking strong in the first race, the Pro Light class. After the first start was scratched due to a roll-over, CJ was in 3rd behind Keegan Kincaid and quickly passed Brad Lovell to take 2nd. But, he lost power steering and fell out of contention for the race.
CJ Greaves regrouped and climbed into his Pro-2WD Monster Energy / Toyota / Maxxis Tire / FC Potawatomi / Method Race Wheels / MagnaFlow machine and lined up 6th due to the inversion for the famous “land rush” start Crandon is know for. He maneuvered through turn one and was in 2nd at the gravel pit turn. With Chad Hord in the lead, CJ and Hord pulled away from the field. One lap before the competition caution, Hord pulled off the track with mechanical issues. CJ moved up into the lead.
On the restart, Jeff Kincaid attempted to pass but CJ was too strong. The top 2 checked out and CJ cruised to the checkered for his 4th win of the season.
Johnny Greaves got the holeshot in the Pro-4×4 class and set a blistering pace ahead of the rest of the field. Scott Douglas was behind him as they both took the competition caution after 4 laps. As the race wound down, Johnny was still running strong in first. On the white flag lap, Johnny’s left rear tire went down due to contact with a very large bolder. It looked like Douglas would pass him for the lead but he also had a flat. The crowd watched as Johnny tried to hold off Mark Jenkins as he was able to make up a lot of ground with both Johnny and Scott limping along on flat tires. Jenkins made the pass at the finish line in a photo finish. Johnny still managed 2nd place.
Sunday’s racing was in reverse order with the Pro-4’s on the track first. Johnny lined up 5th in the 6 truck field. Johnny won the holeshot and checked-out. He pushed his Monster Energy Toyota to a comfortable lead and coasted to another win.
“The track was awesome today,” said an elated Greaves. “I wanted to keep driving around when the race was over. Thanks to the track crew and especially the fans for the great time in Crandon.”
CJ lined up in “the sweet spot,” 4th on the line for the hair-raising landrush start. He beat the field to the turn-1 holeshot and quickly jumped out to a comfortable lead. CJ lead from wire-to-wire, taking the checkered with more than a 3 second advantage. This was his 5th win of the year.
Things didn’t go as planned for the Pro Light race. After 2 compete restarts due to a roll-over and mayhem in turn-1. CJ was looking strong though. He threaded the needle in turn-1 and was 3rd in the field of 21 trucks. The complete restart was issued when Nick Baumgartner rolled. At the second restart on the line, he noticed something was wrong. He reved the motor and it just went flat, after the competition caution he was able to make one lap to qualify for the points. CJ realized however that something was wrong and was not able to finish the race. Despite the DNF’s, CJ only dropped one place in the standings to 3rd.
The final race of the weekend was the Community Cup race sponsored by the FC Potawatomi where the Pro-4’s squareoff against the Pro 2’s. A Pro-2 truck has only won 4 times in the 19 year history of the race. Johnny won the race last year in a photo finish over the Pro-2 truck driven by none other than, CJ Greaves. The Pro-2’s got a 12 second head start over the Pro-4’s. CJ was in 2nd behind the holeshot winner Chad Hord. The top 2 Pro-2’s checked out.
When the Pro-4’s hit turn-1, Mike Jenkins bicycled and got into Johnny sending him off the track. With the loss of time and damage, Johnny was unable to continue.
Hord and CJ however continued at a blistering pace for the 10 lap race with no competition caution. The Pro-4’s had nothing for the Pro-2’s. The closest running Pro-4, Adrian Cenni, was nearly 20 seconds back when Hord and CJ took the checkered flag. This was Hord’s second Cup win and CJ taking the runner up spot on the podium.
The next race is the “Throwdown in the U.P.” at Bark River, Michigan, on July 19th and 20th. The first Bark River race can be see on the NBC Sports Network at 5PM ET on July 13th. The Crandon race can also be seen on the 13th at 6:30PM and the Cup race at 7:30PM ET.