Crandon, WI (June 15-16, 2019) — The 2019 Lucas Oil Midwest Short Course League kicked off Saturday, June 15th with the 26th Annual Forest County Potawatomi Bush Run at Crandon International Raceway. The Greaves Duo once again saddled up to tear into the dirt of the famous Crandon track. The Greaves team also continued to support Gray Leadbetter in her Sportsman Stock SXS UTV. Both Johnny and CJ brought home wins in the Pro4 class and CJ swept the Pro Stock SXS UTV class with wins on Saturday and Sunday. Gray also had a good showing. On Saturday, she was making her way to the front when she ran into the rear of a stalled UTV on a restart that ended her day. On Saturday, she started 34th and made it as high as 7th before a mechanical issue took her out of the race once again.
PRO STOCK SXS UTV
SATURDAY: CJ Greaves lined-up his Monster Energy Yamaha Racing/Maxxis Tire/Yamalube YXZ 1000R in the middle of the pack for the landrush start in the Pro Stock side-by-side UTV class on Saturday. CJ took the holeshot through the FC Potawatomi turn one, however, a crash brought out a caution and a complete restart. This time they started with a rolling two-by-two start with CJ on the 3rd row. He quickly moved up to the front and by the end of lap 2, he took the lead which he held through the 10 lap race for his first win of the season.
SUNDAY: CJ followed his Saturday win with another Pro Stock SxS UTV win on Sunday, but not without a very exciting battle with Houle and his cousin Kyle Greaves. In the final laps, CJ and Houle put on a great show for the Crandon crowd with nose to tail racing all the way to the finish line. Houle led up to lap 6 of the 10 lap race when CJ made a charge in the gravel pit turn for the pass that ultimately gave him his 2nd win of the weekend in his Monster Energy Maxxis Tire Yamalube Yamaha UTV.
PRO 4
SATURDAY: Using the short track configuration due to the late hour Johnny and CJ joined the 6-truck Pro4 field. Early in the race, Andrew Carlson spun out in the gravel pit turn. CJ, trying to avoid the crash, also went around. The 3rd place running Johnny Greaves took advantage of the situation and flew past CJ and Carlson. CJ was able to regroup and get back into the race behind the elder Greaves. While Johnny’s familiar black and green Monster Energy Maxxis Tire Toyota checked out from the field on his way to the checkered flag, CJ developed a mechanical issue that caused him to nurse his truck through the remainder of the race. With only 3 trucks left of the track CJ managed to hold off Carlson and finished in 2nd place.
SUNDAY: The Pro 4’s ran first on Sunday during the noon hour. Johnny had mechanical problems on the first lap and had to pull out of the race. CJ was in a three way battle with RJ Anderson and Andrew Carlson.
In the 2nd half of the race, the top 3 continued to battle. CJ was able to pass Carlson and Anderson for the lead. Anderson spun out on the back side of the track and collected Carlson leaving CJ smooth sailing to the finish line to get his first Pro4 win of the season.
SPORTSMAN SXS
SATURDAY: Gray Leadbetter started in 12th place in the Sportsman Side-by-Side race. When the green flag flew, she got pushed wide into the rough on the start drifting her back to the rear of the pack. Gray made multiple passes and attempts to get to the front. She had made her way back up to mid pack, but on the restart following a caution, the UTV in front of her broke and never took off at the green flag causing Gray to run into the rear bumper. This resulting in a front end problems on Grays Yamaha causing her to pull out of the race.
SUNDAY: Gray Leadbetter lined up 34th in the huge field of nearly 40 Sportsman SXS UTV’s. She immediately went to work following the rolling 2×2 start, picking off one car after another in the 8 lap race. By lap 5 she had worked her way up to 5th before a mechanical problem sidelined her once again.
COMMUNITY CUP RACE
The final race of the Crandon weekend was the Community Cup race where the Pro 4’s take on the Pro 2’s. Both Johnny and CJ lined up with the other Pro4’s. Johnny was able to put his engine back together from the earlier race and was up to the challenge of catching the Pro2’s.
The Pro 2’s were given a 50 second head start, which made it almost impossible to make up the gap with the conditions of the track being almost perfect.
After the head start, Johnny and CJ gave chase to pass the entire pro 2 field. Johnny and CJ ran first and 2nd as they tried to catch up to the machine of Keegan Kincaid, the Pro2 leader. Johnny was the first of the Pro4’s and needed at least 2 more laps to catch Chad Hord and Keegan Kincaid, and another lap to pass them. The Pro2’s and Pro4’s ran a flawless race, there were no issues for either division, the Pro2 just had a big advantage this time.
In spite of the huge advantage, Johnny got close enough to grab the 3rd spot on the podium.
The Greaves Duo will head to Elk River, Minnesota for the next rounds in the Lucas Oil Midwest Short Course League on July 12th and 13th.